Just went to Petsmart

[scubasteve06]

I can't see much from the pic. My petsmart is very very well kept and highly informative. Most of them are members here....

Most know what they are talking about...but let people buy fish that they know will not be suitable for their care, needs, or size. You cant see much?!?!?!?! Can you not see where the gravel is a tan color and where the gravel is covered in green??? I know its a crappy picture, but you can see that 2/3's of that tank is covered in fungus, and algae.

 

[bigspizz]

Most know what they are talking about...but let people buy fish that they know will not be suitable for their care, needs, or size. You cant see much?!?!?!?! Can you not see where the gravel is a tan color and where the gravel is covered in green??? I know its a crappy picture, but you can see that 2/3's of that tank is covered in fungus, and algae.

I see algae on the bottom. I am not saying you are wrong. Just saying mine is outstanding, and besides the algae, it is hard to see much neglect from the pics.

 

[scubasteve06]

Yea, its hard to see, but there are more tanks like this, my guess is that the pump still isn't functioning... I hope that mangement will do something now. I have another petsmart in Greensboro that is outstanding too. To each their own I guess, I just wish it didn't have to be that way. All the fish in that tank were emaciated too and looked like skelotons that they had just forgot in the closet. I wasn't saying you were saying I was wrong either spizz, just that in person it looks 10x worse.

 

[Vizzerdrix26]

wow that pic is horrid, the Petco where I live is allright as long as this one girl is working, I was in there when I "saved" my oscar from his 5 gallon tank when a man and a boy came up with a 5 gallon tank and wnted to buy one to the girl asked if that was the tank they were going to put it in and they said yes so she went through the time and effort to explain that oscars get really big and are a lot of maintnence so the guy lost interest and convinced the kid to get something else, needless to say I only go there now when she is working

 

[ilikewomen]

at my petsmart,there are like 25+ 3 in oscars in what looks like a 20 gallon with very filthy water, i too hate petsmart

 

[TrikkyMakk]

The pet smarts I have been too in the Tampa area are not actually that bad. The one on Dale Mabry has some nice looking fish in there. The ones I went to in California (mainly Azusa) used to be pretty well maintained (although their reptiles were not).

Keeping fish supplies stocked though is entirely different story.

Every Petco I have been to in the Tampa area has been horrible fish-wise. The one in San Dimas, CA used to be alright.

 

[bluegryffin]

Yea, its hard to see, but there are more tanks like this, my guess is that the pump still isn't functioning... I hope that mangement will do something now. I have another petsmart in Greensboro that is outstanding too. To each their own I guess, I just wish it didn't have to be that way. All the fish in that tank were emaciated too and looked like skelotons that they had just forgot in the closet. I wasn't saying you were saying I was wrong either spizz, just that in person it looks 10x worse.

I think that LFS (and "chain" ) stores have emaciated fish for this reason: most stores don't have the room for HUGE tanks to keep larger breeds of fish, so they feed them less than we do at home. The manager of a LFS explained that to me. Even with a huge filtration system like Petsmart's, their tanks are only probably 10-20 gallons (I'm guessing) so a 20 gallon tank with say. . . 5 well fed oscars, might be worse off if the fish don't sell.

As far as algae and fungus, etc. . . that's just lazy. I can't imagine a fish store being so busy they can't take care of that.

Personally, I think it would be tough to manage a fish store/ department. You would have to sell enough fish to make money, sell responsibly to responsible people, and keep the fish in store healthy. Let's face it, how many new customers per day or week have a 75 gallon tank waiting to be stocked? Personally, I'm amazed to see the same oscars in stores for a few months at a time.

My long-winded point is this: as much as we hate to see poor conditions (and I am all for improved conditions, ethics, etc) the people on the other side have a LOT to deal with, whether they are working in a LFS or chain-store.

BTW my petco is soooo dirty and their fish always look on the verge of death. . .

 

[Paullywolly]

For what it's worth the Petsmart in my area is generally pretty good, certainly very little fish knowledge and poor labelling (the biggest tank suggested was "over 29 gallons" for GT's, Oscars, Frontosas, Chinese hi-fin cat (the one that gets to 3 feet long) - this is a corporate problem since the tags are all pre-printed). BUT the tanks are fairly clean, the selection is decent, and the prices are usually good (since they often don't know what the hell they're looking at).

And when I bought a little GT recently, they handled him soooo gently lol, I actually smiled! Even put "stress zyme" in the bag.

 

[bluegryffin]

Yup, petsmarts fish labeling is definitely sub-par. I'm pretty sure the oscar tag says "40+ gallons). Hopefully if you ask them about it, they will say that you can keep a young one in 40g but will need a larger tank in the future (this the "+" part) even so, this is an obvious marketing ploy to sell more fish and more fish supplies (tanks and such). What a bunch of a-holes that run things on the corporate level.

 

[TMDragon]

Theres an Aquatic Superstore Petco (about half the store is dedicated to fish and has a wider selection than normal petcos) where I live and it used to have beautiful tanks as well as show tanks containing discus, with great looking fish. It was the only petco that I've seen sell a tank bigger than 75 gallons. I believe I saw a 180 on the floor, which is pretty good for a chain store. The last few months though, all their show tanks were getting dirty and were eventually sold. I'm guessing that the experienced person taking care of most of the fish either left or was fired. Now its just like all the other petco's...just with more fish. Tanks are fairly well kept, but are almost neglected compared to how they were before.
The only reason I ever go to a petco or a petsmart is for medication, maintanence parts, fish food, etc., but still...seeing the store fall from its grace is sad.