Urgent Reply Needed Please!

[rocknurworld2006]

Hi im wring this post due to a visit to my local pets at home and are needing help of writing a letter to them!!

I was in viewing new stock and was looking at the new bettas they got in .

They had 1 male betta in with a tank of about 20 guppies!! (one of the main things not to put a betta in with)

They had another in with a tank FULL of hungry danios, as the betta swam all 20-30 danios would attack is fins it was awful viewing this i demanded to one of the workers she takes it out as the betta wud lie on the bottom of the tank to take cover or the very top corner on the surface basically trying to jump out.

Another was in with red tailed sharks which i dont think is very safe.

I need your help in writing a letter to these and any advice you can give me on dealing with this as i thinlk is cruel!!
I am going down tonight to write exactly what the bettas are in with and how bad condition there in so i can get an idea of how much damage

In addition there were three tanks of platies:

2 tanks had serious cases of fin rot meaning a couple had no dorsal fin at all

Another had 4 dead ottos lieing on the bottom completely white, so been a while and a couple of fish seemed to look like they had fungus problems along with fin rot.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[alessasavoca]

which pets@home is that?

 

[rocknurworld2006]

ABERDEEN

 

[SJ2K]

Sorry to sound so pessimistic but, good luck...

 

[rocknurworld2006]

bump

 

[oddball_lover]

I would just write what you saw, as you did in your first post. Send it to head office rather than the store though, then you'll be sure something will get done.

 

[K.J.]

Good luck, but I doubt it'll work. There are things like that all over America - it's nothing unusual.

 

[littlest]

ANother option would be to report the store to the council. All pet stores need a licence to operate and it is the council's responsibilty to issue these licence. Stores which break the terms of the licence face fines and even withdrawal or non-renewal of their licence.

here's a link to pet store regulations Pet Animals Act 1951

The link is to a particular council but the legislation is nationwide (I'm assuming in Scotland too)

One point they appear to be contravening is "14. No animal which is suffering from, or could reasonably be suspected of having contacted any other animal suffering from any infectious or contagious disease or which is infested with parasites shall be brought into or kept on the premises unless effectively isolated." due to the dead and diseased fish you mentioned.

Also "5.2 Any sick or injured animal must receive appropriate care and treatment without delay"

Not sure if there is anything specific about housing animals with inappropriate mates or not.

If you decide to write to the store and complain rather than the council, you can still quote the legislation or threaten to report them to the council if conditions don't improve.

 

[Reyn]

I often in the aberdeen Pets at home. i would advice you phone them (head office) as they have had a few complaints from people on other forums about 6 months ago and they had the big bosses in checking the tanks and getting them upto spec. i got a senegal from there about 2 weeks ago and was told by the girl that served me it eats them green things plecs eat and it would stay they size it was when i got it. found out it doesnt eat them green things. LOL and can grow to around 1 foot. so i spoke to another assis last week about it and ask why they werent giving people they right info and was told they didnt know. seem the store manager get to pick the fish and he thought they sounded interesting, being described as a prehistoric fish. he also order a fish that grows to around 3 foot and again it was a customer that told them. she told me they have a moto if you cant keep it at home they wont sell it.

I have to say that most of the staff in aberdeens pets at home are really thick. when i told they girl that how many tanks i had (when they do their silly checks) she said I right dont thinks so. so i was kinda rude after that.

for those who dont know. them green things plecs eat are algae wafers. LOL

 

[jourdy288]

Thants sick. I think we should boycott P@H!

 

[oddball_lover]

I just don't understand how they can get it so right in some stores, and so so wrong in others

 

[jourdy288]

How was the betta in the guppy tank? Some bettas are nice to gups, and some aren't.

 

[jennybugs]

I had a similar story only yesterday at my local P@H...
I always find myself getting really angry when I look at the state of the fish in my branch, so I was trying hard to resist the call of the tanks. It didn't help that my BF was mooching round them, but when he said 'Come and have a look at this', I had to go investigate.

It looked like they'd recently had a fresh delivery of fish. The tanks were full to bursting with stock, but the thing that caught our eyes were where they'd put the male bettas.

At least 6 tanks had bettas rammed in with other fish - tetras, danios, rainbowfish, gourami. I expect no less from them sadly, but when I saw they'd been put in with gourami I got so angry. In another tank a betta was hiding in the corner having been put in with serpae tetra. Needless to say its fins and tail were shredded to bits.

At the next tank I came to, when I saw there were 3 female betta in with a male and some danios, it was then that I decided to speak out. I asked the young girl if I could have one of the female betta. She looked at me in a puzzled fashion, saying 'No, there's a male in there'. I said you have 3 females in with a male and none of these should be in with danios. This is going to end in trouble as the male WILL harass the females and start attacking them and the danios will fin nip. She continued to argue with me (or try anyway) when I piped up that at least 3 of the other males they had should also be in different tanks. I then explained how I knew.

In coversation, she told me that they are given a big book of 'what fish can go with what' and she said the book said that bettas could go in with most fish except other male bettas. I corrected her and then she asked me where she could put the various fish.

So, to cut a long story short, after a fair while rearranging their tanks, I came away a little happier that at least this time, some of the betta were going to be a little happier than they had been and hopefully there won't be any unneccessary deaths for a while.

If i win the lottery, one of my ideal jobs to do for free would be to rewrite this so called information book and tutor the staff in these stores properly

 

[shelaghfishface]

wish you all the luck in the world!!
how come its "" ok"" to treat fish so badley
take this all the way,,,,,, and i hate pets at home

 

[modaz]

Do you actually know if the fish came in to them in this state (finrot im talking about)
I conduct business in regards to the general fish license and this is what should be done.

The tanks with finrot should be clearly labelled as quarantined and proof of treatment provided on request. but its hard if the tanks are all run of the same filteration as desease spreads rapidly.

Overcrowded tanks is not wrong in the eyes of the license because veryone has a different view of whats overcrowded, but i do personally think it is wrong.

True, ive also heard from a staff member that they are given memos to what fish can go with what.

Its not against the license to house bettas with any fish (as long as the fish are not infected) the license says (in my words only) that the fish must have filteration, temp control, quarantine proceedures if needed, lids on tanks are optional, lighting is optional.

The thing about adding bettas to tanks with danios, etc.... is b/c the customers with lack of knowledge and believe me it must be a ratio of 1000 lack ofs to 100 knowledgable fish keepers, the ones with the lack of knowledge will generally go for bettas b/c they are attractive fish and add them to their tanks, these customers usually have fish like danios (no offence meant to anyone who has vast experience and who keep danios, i hope you know what im getting at) when the lack of customers see the betta with the danios or whatever is classed as bread and butter fish (quick and popular sellers) they are more than likely to buy them so in turn profits go up.

A phone call and letter to their head office is more appropiate i think rather than going straight to the council.

The ottos, these fish when they die go white within the shortest period of time, trust me on that, they are notorious for being very sensitive to being acclimatized to tanks and suffer greatly at times, this is why we dont sell them.

good luck