Petsmart Giving False Info on BGK

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xRage10

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2010
221
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Lake Mary, Florida
I'm sure it's a known issue, but I've never actually had this happen to me before. I went to Petsmart to get a Black Ghost Knife fish, and the employee tried convincing me that they were brackish water fish. I repeatedly tried to tell her that she was wrong, that every piece of research I've ever done on them has insisted that they are indeed freshwater fish, and that she was giving false info. However, she kept insisting that they were brackish water fish, and that not only has all of the research she's ever done on them said that they're brackish, but that they taught her when she was hired at Petsmart that they're brackish!!

On top of that, she tried telling me that they tell all of their customers that they are very hard fish to keep. Says they'll die after two weeks that they get them Petsmart, and that they'll likely do the same in your home aquarium. I'm telling you, this upset me on a level that I never thought it did. It's no wonder they're dying in two weeks at Petsmart. How can such a large corporation be giving terribly false info on such a beautiful fish?!?!

Needless to say, I'll be purchasing a BGK at my LFS within the next week or two. I'm starting to really dislike Petsmart at the moment, even if their prices are somewhat better than my LFS. I'd rather go where people actually know their stuff and just try to convince you with facts why or why not to buy a fish rather than go where people insist that they know their stuff.
 
i walk into petsmart and other big box pet stores assuming the clerks know squat, and usually walk out with that assumption intact. it is up to the fishkeeper, not the store, to be knowledgeable on what they are buying and keeping in their tanks at home.

are you really surprised at all that fish die in the tanks at petsmart? i liken their store tanks to the 'back room' at an animal shelter. sitting there, waiting their turn to die, unless they are fortunate enough to go home with somebody that has brains and a heart to care for them properly.
 
its very sad for the animal but smart for buisness.giving wrong info allowing a animal to die quickly ( mistake or not ) is good buisness by bringing a repeat customer, im always sad to hear anything dieing for money or people not looking into its care.
 
just be sure to buy fish at your LFS and buy your supplies at petsmart. ive noticed that petco and petsmart dont keep their fish healthy but do have good prices on meds and supplies. your LFS is making its money off of their fish sales more than anything else. thats why they price their supplies high. to try to make a little more money on them.
 
It's exactly as I was saying though. I've done my research on BGKs and have even kept one before returning it to my LFS for it getting too big (rookie mistake, obviously) and am just appalled that they would still keep questioning after I told the employee that I've previously kept a BGK before. And what shocks me even more, is that this is the first employee that has tried telling me that they are brackish. Everyone else that I've ever dealt with at my local Petsmart actually seems to know stuff about the fish that they sell.
 
then i would calmly ask to speak to a manager about this employee's obvious mis-information. one day there may be a customer that follows their 'advice', takes a bgk home and plops it in a brackish tank, fish dies, and customer comes back to the store in a raging fury, getting up in the manager's face when it is most likely a case of the employee being wrong and misconstruing what they have been told (you mentioned 'but that they taught her when she was hired at Petsmart that they're brackish'). if the error is indeed at the managerial level, and whomever trained this one employee is also wrong, then take the message a level up, to corporate.

complaining about something is great when you intend to do something about it after you complain about it.
 
False info? When did they ever give out accurate info?
 
BigFishMommy said:
then i would calmly ask to speak to a manager about this employee's obvious mis-information. one day there may be a customer that follows their 'advice', takes a bgk home and plops it in a brackish tank, fish dies, and customer comes back to the store in a raging fury, getting up in the manager's face when it is most likely a case of the employee being wrong and misconstruing what they have been told (you mentioned 'but that they taught her when she was hired at Petsmart that they're brackish'). if the error is indeed at the managerial level, and whomever trained this one employee is also wrong, then take the message a level up, to corporate.

complaining about something is great when you intend to do something about it after you complain about it.
Click to expand...

Ideally yes, but the problem is with corporate. For example,..they still train their employees to believe ich is present in water at all times....."its just when the fish is weak that they get ich". If we really want to do something about it, we as hobbyists that spend countless millions of dollars each year, should boy-cot petsmart and petco as a whole. Not this, I won't buy fish there but I will buy equipment. Their biggest margins are not the fish, its everything else.... maybe then something will be done. It's only if we hit their bottom line, that they will listen.
 
you should tell them that research the net before they inform the customers about what they are selling. "petsmart" should change their name into "petshopthatknownothing"
 
Its not just the fish... Look at all of their sick injured animals. They keep most of their dying animals in the back room!
 
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