walmart

[BettaMomma]

of COURSE that's true.
I was completely clueless when I brought my first betta, Amos home.
BUT... being a responsible pet owner, I read and learned about him, and several months later, i'm still learning...
That should also be true for places who sell fish - in fact, it should be a mandatory state regulation. They should be educated on them so that when newbies come into the store they can then in turn educate new (potential) fish owners.

The fish section at WalMart, in my opinion, is a "self-service" area and is a disgrace. It should be shut down.

I COMPLETELY DESPISE WalMart and everything it stands for.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Its not even as if they'd loose money treating sick fish IMO. The LFS had tanks for treatment, treats customers fish, does free water tests, had gravel in most tanks and decorations in some, are very knowledgeable, have a GREAT selection (they do fish that I'm sure pets at home hasn't even heard of), are even cheaper in general than pets at home for fish, and manage to do all this while having half a shop full of reptiles as well! Its just a shame I can't go there every Saturday...

Oh, the point was that I'm sure they make a lot less money than Walmart.

 

[rabbitlady]

well, i understand all your frustrations but not all walmarts are like these letters
i have worked for walmart for 10yrs. and i am a pet lover so when i took over this dept. 2yrs ago i did alot of research about the fish we carry and pets that i would be helping my customers with also.
i have a sale rate that bets everyone around me district wise and i sell about $900 fish a week. i also have a very low death rate in my store like i said if we have death's i find out why..
as for walmart being unfit to sell fish that is not walmart it is the individuals who work in those stores that are bad either didn't get trained because no one knew how to train them or the individual just doesn't care..
in my store we care..
as for the letters to home office it isn't that we don't want you to write home office IF we can't take care of the problems at store level. i try to help and fix the problems with out getting management involved but if you must write home office then that is what you can do. we don't try to stop you from it just try to help before it has to go that far..
i my self love my job and i love animals if you care and want to make changes at your stores then by all means ask for the store manager and also ask for the (letter to the president ) because there is two letters they have to write up. you want the one i put on here. and i can tell you something will be done.. it just takes about a week or two with those letters home office calls us on them all..
also if you want i can maybe help too..just let me know what store # it is..you guys are right we don't want to lose your business you pay our way...thanks for listening

 

[Mariah]

I should also say, I feel so bad for the bettas there... I dont think anyone cares about them. Most look sickly

 

[BettaMomma]

See, the problem isn't going to be taken care of because we talk to a manager at a store. If someone from the big corporate level comes back down to the store level with complaints, things will happen.

I highly commend you for taking good care of your fish - I wish every store did this. HOWEVER... when you say it's not WalMart's fault for having bad people work in the fish area, it IS in fact their fault. They're not putting good people like yourself in ALL the WalMart stores, therefore the results are catastrophic (at least to the fish it is).

I am a complete animal lover - I've forgone many things for myself in order to have happy, healthy and very loved animals. For that reason, I think WalMart, if they're not going to go full bore into selling healthy animals and educating ANYONE that works in that department, they shouldn't do it at all.

It'd be the equivalent to me opening up a horse store. I don't know crap about horses and they'd probably all die once they became ill. It's just nuts.

Although.... if i were to open a horse store, at LEAST i'd go get some information on how to care for them, what to do if they get sick, how to make them happy, etc. etc. Too bad not all WM employees even care enough to fire up their computers for a few hours and look up some basic info for these fish. It'd make a MONSTROUS difference in their lives - well, the diff would be between life and death usually.

 

[rabbitlady]

so true bettamomma ,
i agree to a certain point about the carring about animals and doing the research .. i have rescued several animals along with the fish also..
i am a big animal lover as is my assoc.s i get upset when i hear that someone has sold one of my fish when i am not there because i can not be there 24/7 and told someone that ciclids go great with guppies and i find out who and why they do this.. also when i said talk to the store manager i also said write that letter. but make sure it is the one to the president that is the one to get attention. btw my tanks don' t have rocks or decorations in them just because of the cleaning issues but i do keep live plants in mine.. i keep them clean and not to full. the fish warehouse that we use is not the greatest either so it starts there..
if they bring a sick fish to me they don't leave it and i look them over very good before i except. anything but i have to say hopefully things will improve home office is starting to listen to those of us that do care..

 

[rdd1952]

Rabbitlady, you are absolutely right that no one has trained the people properly. Unfortunately, that is a problem with companies around the world in every business imaginable. Companies don't take the time to train people.
I did talk to an employee there Tuesday afternoon when I went back to rescue the last 2 bettas they had. The lady said they had showed her how to net and bag fish but not how to feed them or clean their tanks. She said the manager fed them once a week but she didn't know how often he cleaned the tanks. That store is store 1464 on South Tryon St in Charlotte, NC. The other I have been in that was so bad was store 1385 on East Franklin in Gastonia, NC.

As bettamomma said, I commend you for taking the time to learn about fish and to make a difference at your store. I am an animal lover too and have gone from a starter tank at Christmas (29 gallon) to adding 3 betta tanks and a 75 gallon that is delivering tomorrow. MTS strikes again. We also have a dog (sleeps on the bed with us) and a cat.

Unfortunately, fish aren't looked at by most people in the same light as a dog, cat or other mamal. They see them as "just a fish". Even before I ever got into keeping fish, I always felt sorry for the bettas in those tiny cups. I guess I could live in a 4x 4 room but I don't think I would like it very much.

There I go rambling again. I will try to make a point to go back to both of those stores and speaking with the manager about the problem. Keep up the good work. FISH RULE!!!!!!!!

 

[rabbitlady]

rdd don't forget to go to service desk and get the letter to the president it will help on top of the talking to the store manager.. also thanks for listening.
i have those store # 's and i will send them in to home office.
i do what i do cause i love my job and the animals.
as for the lady you talked to she maybe in another dept. and that is why she doesn't know anything about the fish except what she does. we have that here too we can't be there 24/7 so we have to have others that don't know to help sometimes.
as for the water changes and medications and all that only the dept. people deal with that we dont' have a company that comes in we do it our selves..

 

[BettaMomma]

rabbitlady, when I get my bettabus ready to roll, i'm coming to get you!
You're coming along on our "Better Bettas for everyBody!" tour.

LOL

 

[rabbitlady]

that would be great . i'll give them a ride on my new motorcycle..
check it out i will have new photos this weekend got to update that ..
inchworm glad to see ya still here.. if you guys have any request for new fish like i said we are doing the fish of the month thing now tell me what you think would do well at my store. next few months i am getting jack demsies , something called a firemouth cicilid , and black convicts. i have those already at home.. so know something about those. thanks to inchworm.

 

[dothedew]

I was browsing Wal Mart a few days ago, they had some red bellied pacus for a few bucks a piece.
Max size=8 inches

 

[Cheart99]

Well i got banned from my locl walmart b/c i was giving advice to customers about fish and tanks,ect.

 

[laboul]

Banned!? You can't be serious. Wow.... you must really have been exposing their inadequacies...

On the vein of Wal-Mart I got into fishkeeping only over a month ago and am learning a lot. But my mom has had goldfish for a year. She went to Wal-Mart recently and told them she had an algae problem and they suggested she buy an oto... all she needed to do was to move her tank out of direct sunlight, I think. So now not only is her tank way overstocked, she has a tropical fish in a goldfish tank... but since I just started this whole thing she doesn't listen to me, her biologist daughter... because I couldn't possibly know anything... she thinks Wal-mart knows better...

My parents just got back from vacation, I bet the oto is dead but she won't tell me.

 

[rdd1952]

The oto definitely won't last long in the goldie tank, expecially if it isn't heated. Otos are very delicate anyway and prone to sudden death. I have lost 2 myself. I would suggest taking him back but if their tanks are anything like the ones around me, that is probably a death sentence too.

 

[laboul]

I don't live close enough to do anything about it, unfortunately. I'm in Canada and they're in Virginia. Anyway my parents aren't the types to admit mistakes. My mother's in complete denial about the whole thing... overstocking, overfeeding, infrequent water changes... It kills me. My only hope is that she will figure it out for herself but I doubt that's possible. They had a goldfish die a few months ago and got TWO to replace it. So now there are 3 feeder goldies and an oto in a 5 gallon; it's disgusting. You ought to have to have a license to be in the actual business of selling animals and it should be approved by the ASPCA or something. There are too many ignorant people out there who don't know what the heck they're doing. Even worse, some of them know exactly what they're doing.

Take PetsMart for example. You cannot tell me they do not know something about fish. They do know and at the marketing level they are deceiving people. When I got my ten gallon from Petsmart (I know .. now ... ) it came with a video on how to set up the tank. There was NOTHING about cycling. It literally said to wait 24-48 hours before adding 1/3 fish. Then the next week, to add 1/3 of a tank more and the week after that to add another third. !!! I killed 2 fish and a snail before I found this forum and figured out what the heck to do. There was absolutely no information whatsoever in the video on what levels of nitrate, nitrite, or ammonia were acceptable or how to cycle the tank. Of course, that's because PetsMart would actually make less money if you were to wait to add fish! Because you would only be buying fish once instead of going back to the store to replace dead ones!!

This is even more disgusting to me than the conditions in many Wal-Marts because it's deliberate deception that they know will result in death and suffering. And I agree with whoever it was that said the fish business is not properly regulated because they are "just fish." Although the treatment of cats and dogs at pet stores is bad enough, it doesn't even rival the conditions fish are put through. If cats and dogs were kept in comparable conditions, the pet stores that sold them would be shut down.