Wal-Mart ending fish sales.

[ConnivingFerret]

Tldr: Walmart getting rid of fish you might be able to get very cheap or free according to management at my store.


So according to a manager at the Walmart I work at (yes I know they don't take care of their fish I hate it too but it's the only place that would work around my college schedule) Walmarts Nationwide are stopping there sale of live fish. Or "live" fish I should say. our Walmart already has the fish on sale gouramis for example are $0.92 each at the moment. All betas are under two bucks. Almost all the fish are actually under two bucks now including Cory cats, rainbow fish, Oscars. Might be worth it to check with your local Walmart if you're willing to go through the process of quarantine and getting them all back healthy. I got myself a few fish to try to nurse back to health tonight normally $32 worth for about 10. Including the one sole surviving blue gourami. It honestly probably won't go best in my tank but I've seen people say online that they had success housing them with a lot of the stuff that I have so if it goes well it goes well if it doesn't I'll go to an actual mom and pop live fish store that we have about an hour from here and give them the gourami. Also according to management they want to tear the fish tanks out at the end of the month(next month at the latest) and any leftover fish will most likely be just given away for free....

 

[Colin_T]

Their shop tanks will probably be sold too, so you might be able to get a cheap second hand tank. Just be sure to give it a good clean before using it.

Out of curiosity, any idea why they are discontinuing live fish?

 

[ConnivingFerret]

I actually plan to try and buy their tanks and redo all the plumbing, when our store remodeled the auto-motive dept they auctioned the old lifts off, they ended up selling for only $180 each... dont know for sure probably cause so many die due to the poor conditions they cant turn a profit...i literally had to piss and moan to management to let me clean the tanks. they told me no for two years now because "its not your dept" yet i still had to go bag fish *shrug* finally had enough customers complain they gave me an hour to clean all i could. couple of the tanks u couldn't even see into because of all the crap built up on the glass...

 

[Colin_T]

It sounds like they need to hire better staff or a manager that knows what to do

Every boss I have had in a pet shop has always said, clean the tanks. If you have nothing to do, go clean the tanks. If you weren't doing something, go clean the tanks. It's all they ever said, clean the tanks. Perhaps we need to send some Australian bosses to the US to order the staff around

 

[ConnivingFerret]

Uh so the gourami just spazzed out darted around the tank and slammed into the glass....might have gave itself a concussion. ideas? it only a 10gal tank for quarantine so i know its a bit small... but its ttemp and hes only bout the size of a half dollar. tank is medicated with api gen cure...

 

[Colin_T]

Depending on how long the gourami has been in the tank, it is either a major change in water chemistry or an overdose of medication.

If the fish came from acid water and was put into alkaline water, or vice versa, it would stress it out.

Cover the back and sides of the tank and make sure you have some gravel or sand on the base. Turn the tank light off and have the room light on. Put some floating plants in the tank.

------------------------
Make sure you don't overdose with medications. To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it. There is US and UK gallons and they are different amounts.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[ConnivingFerret]

tank is half gravel half sand (since its the quarantine tank i have it set that way incase i have fish that prefer finer substrate and burrowing in it) the gen cure is 1 packet per 10gal so i put bout 90% of the packet in to account for the tank not being filled to the brim. i have some floating plants (duck weed and hemianthus callitrichoides that didn't root well and floated) i didn't increase aeration so i have done that now.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

That I should very good that they are getting rid of their fish sales.

They take AWFUL care of their fish. I have a buddy, who works at Walmart, and he said one day he saw 12 betta fish die in one day, on those murderus shelf’s.

I think they are getting rid of their fish, because...

1. No one is buying them.
2. So many are dieing, and their not making enough money.
3. And lastly, they honestly have no clue what they are doing.

(Btw, where do you live @ConnivingFerret ?)

I will be on a look out for cheap fish and tanks.

 

[ConnivingFerret]

I'm from Michigan, and yeah the bettas cups urk me. And people buying bettas for their super young kids urk me more.. had a lady and a child try and put a betta in a little probably 1/10gal bowl from the craft section... kid you not the bowl was bout the size of my fist. In the end i was only able to convince them into buying a 1/2gal clearance "betta tank" water conditioner and betta flakes (they're were gonna give it goldfish food) Now i cant preach the small containers are bad thing, cause we have a betta in a 1.5gal but we do 75% water changes weekly, have it filtered, heated. and aerated. also my med tank for bettas is a 1/4gal "betta tank" cause It was all i could afford at the time. my third betta lives in a 55gal community tank. i have 2M and one F... If the bettas end up free I'll probably try to snag all of them, keep the females for my self and start a sorority and give the males to the mom and pop store bout an hour from me... heck I might try and snag all the fish that go free to give to them, maybe keeping the ones i already have some of...ie corys since even tho they come from that nasty place they seem to be bullet proof.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I use to defend betta sororities and swore that mine was a success. It was for about 6 months and then they all started coming down with diseases from stress. All 11 died one by one. I no longer encourage betta sororities but good luck!

 

[ConnivingFerret]

whelp... i can always do a divide tank i guess xD

 

[Peepss]

I’ve always hated this and I’m so glad they’re getting rid of that tragedy. Most of the new stores aren’t even built with them, but it has been 10+ years since I’ve seen an actual dedicated pet department employee at one.

I still see them sometimes in the smaller Texas towns and they’re disgusting. Horribly maintained with dead fish by the dozen being eaten by the others. And you can point it out to the employees/management like hey maybe just do the absolute bare minimum and take out the dead ones- but it’s nothing to them.
It’s neglect and abuse at its finest, but it’s not big news because no ones got a commercial with Sarah McLaughlin talking about stop the aquatic abuse lol

Anyway all that to say good riddance and I hope the people that do rehome the fish can rehabilitate them and give them happy lives.

Good luck @ConnivingFerret Gouramis are my favorite

 

[Back in the fold]

Well that explains the sign in the pet department at the Wal-Mart here. The tanks were shut down and the fish were gone. Does not hurt my feelings at all one bit in any way, shape, or form. Good riddance to a very bad practice. I've hated Wal-Mart period for years because of what they did to the small stores here and I am ashamed to go there but they are all that's left. We just recently got a Winco and they are knocking Wal-Mart down hard. One bully beating up another bully. Did I mention that I am not a particularly big fan of Wal-Mart ? They treat their help like galley slaves too.

 

[ConnivingFerret]

i talked management into selling me all the female bettas for 1$ each. and i got the few remaining neon tetras, so far one causality. trying to source some decent size containers for the males, so i can try and get them healthy and re-home them.

 

[FishGuest5123]

whelp... i can always do a divide tank i guess xD

I even made my own dividers. Google how easy they are.