Petsmart Experience = A+

kribensis12 · Nov 6, 2009

I have finally had a good Petsmart experience! I went there yesterday to buy some fish food. Here is a shortend version of the conversation:

Me: Hey, do you guy's still carry HBH Super Soft Sprinula food?
Guy: Nope, I'm sorry, it was on clearance a while ago. You may want to try Sprinula Flakes of some sort
Me: No thanks, I already have some infused with Garlic, I needed the one's that sink for my Yellow Labs.
Guy: I know what you mean.

LATER after I do some poking around

I hear the guy talking to some people " These fish will not do well with livebearers they will stress them out and eventually, kill them. Algae is a big part of their diet, but green algae is the kind they prefer, as it has more the nutrients they need to survive. Then he asked what kind of tank they have ect. And how certain fish need a heater ect.( which I was very impressed by over all as most of the workers there in my experience may have a hard time writing their name).

So, he comes to help me again:

Me: May I have 3 Black mollies?
Him: Sure, 1m/2f I am assuming?
Me: yep. May I have that male right there( points to a beautiful male ).
Him: That's the one I was going to grab for you, he's gorgeous and is displaying to all the females.
Me: Any 2 females will suffice.
Him: There ya go! Just to let you know, we can't sell fish to people under 18, but you seem to know what your doing, so I will let it slide this time.
Me: Do you keep fish? You seem to know more than the average worker here.
Him: Yep, I have a 90 g SW tank and a 20g freshwater ( filled with misfits from the store that were not ordered ). I also clean residential and bussiness tanks around here.

I have to say, this was really surprising to find someone who actually knows what they are talking about!

MHunt · Nov 6, 2009

kribensis12 said:
I have finally had a good Petsmart experience! I went there yesterday to buy some fish food. Here is a shortend version of the conversation:

Me: Hey, do you guy's still carry HBH Super Soft Sprinula food?
Guy: Nope, I'm sorry, it was on clearance a while ago. You may want to try Sprinula Flakes of some sort
Me: No thanks, I already have some infused with Garlic, I needed the one's that sink for my Yellow Labs.
Guy: I know what you mean.

LATER after I do some poking around

I hear the guy talking to some people " These fish will not do well with livebearers they will stress them out and eventually, kill them. Algae is a big part of their diet, but green algae is the kind they prefer, as it has more the nutrients they need to survive. Then he asked what kind of tank they have ect. And how certain fish need a heater ect.( which I was very impressed by over all as most of the workers there in my experience may have a hard time writing their name).

So, he comes to help me again:

Me: May I have 3 Black mollies?
Him: Sure, 1m/2f I am assuming?
Me: yep. May I have that male right there( points to a beautiful male ).
Him: That's the one I was going to grab for you, he's gorgeous and is displaying to all the females.
Me: Any 2 females will suffice.
Him: There ya go! Just to let you know, we can't sell fish to people under 18, but you seem to know what your doing, so I will let it slide this time.
Me: Do you keep fish? You seem to know more than the average worker here.
Him: Yep, I have a 90 g SW tank and a 20g freshwater ( filled with misfits from the store that were not ordered ). I also clean residential and bussiness tanks around here.

I have to say, this was really surprising to find someone who actually knows what they are talking about!

I agree, my local P@H in Gateshead has one guy who is really knowledgeable about his fish. It's the staff that make a deptartment good or bad, not the store. The stores really need to make sure they employ decent staff, and train them properly, not just stick a net in their hand and say go fish!

kribensis12 · Nov 6, 2009

I've had people who have worked in the fish area tell me they don't even own fish, they have dogs and cats!

marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk · Nov 6, 2009

sounds like a good experience. its nice when you go into a store and like you say they know what they are on about

kribensis12 · Nov 6, 2009

I truly was, and still am impressed. I might stop there occasionally now just to browse, even though they don't sell the food I need.

gremlin · Nov 6, 2009

eventually

GuppyGoddess · Nov 6, 2009

kribensis12 said:
I truly was, and still am impressed. I might stop there occasionally now just to browse, even though they don't sell the food I need.

I've had both good and bad luck with Petsmart. One good I notice is they feed their fish veggies (one other store cautioned me not to). One bad is that I've seen *a lot* of dead fish in their tanks and they all share water so if one group gets sick another can, too. There is one fancy (non-chain store) by me that had two tanks of cichlids with ich and they were still selling them. The Petsmart by me *does* put a sign up saying not for sale until feeling better.

ALL the employees by me claim to have fish tanks, but sometimes I wonder. . . one girl listed a bunch of fish in her 100-gallon, including sharks and flounder. She had about 5 other species. I just had the feeling she was making it all up.

MHunt · Nov 6, 2009

I think with all LFS's, you find a good one with decent staff, or at least good stock if you know what you're looking for you'll go back again and again. It's equally true of small independents and large chains.

kiriyama · Nov 6, 2009

Have to agree it does make a huge difference when you have a positive experience in these places , I have found any time a staff member talks to you it's just to kill time and avoid doing any work. :grr:

Have visited my local Dobbies garden centre recently and it was a revelation, I went in the summer when I was scouting for a tank and fish , place was a dump, staff were all weekenders and the fish tanks were in a mess , lots of dead ones and mostly bread and butter fish. Swore I would never go back, hmmmm I phoned recently and got very helpful staff advising me of various stock etc , offered to order what I wanted if they did not have it. Was told another staff member to speak to if I wanted to know about particulsr species etc. He had phoned back as promised with advice etc. I went in late evening and spoke to part time staff , he asked if I had been on the phone before , he had some lists and prices and notes put by for me by the first guy and even advised against certain purchases. :good:

I phoned today and the recomended guy was on this time and he obviously knew what he was talking about , gave him my stock list and he's going to try order it up, awesome.
Also wanted to say the new staff have got it together , tons of various cichlid tanks and very good plec selection, even had some Tangs :drool: