We never buy fish from petsmart because we never have had any luck with those coming from there. But we got that stupid $5 coupon and decided we should get a couple more guppies to extend our breeding project, we got 5 females and 2 males last night. By this morning two males and one female had died. I hate petsmart as I am reminded how much they suck!
petsmart...
- Thread starter ballsmcgee1234
- Start date
The petsmart here is great.. all the fish I have gotten from them where perfectly healthy.. and that's where I got my angelfish, 4 corys, my convicts, my rubbernose which died yesterday.. stupid Rhino Pleco, and I have bought mollies, guppies, crabs( once), my catfish, my common pleco, my oscar, my 2 loaches, and some others from Petsmart.. Believe it or not, the petsmart here, plain rocks, but may not have much a selection, their fish are really healthy.. the only fish that I have not seen healthy there where 4 Oscars out of thousands of fish.
My local petsmart is good too. They are polite about asking how big of a tank you've got and whats in it already, will caution against incompatabilities, etc. And the only dead fish I see in the tanks any time I go is in the feeders, and even then only a couple.
Big chain stores suck! Be it petsmart, petco or what ever. These places ruin the pet hobby for many people by selling unhealthy animals and giving out bad advise. They will just about hire anyone with out serious if any knowledge about animals. These unknowladgable people are now the "experts" that novice people go to for help. It is freeking pathetic.
Even the rare truly knowladable employee can't be as helpfull as they would like to. It will hurt sales when you tell people to not buy a fish or don't buy (insert what ever product) because it won't help.
It is such B.S. the garbage I hear just about every day that the local chain store in my area tells people to do. THings like, "your water quality is bad, buy this product and it will fix it" or If you add this product to your aquarium, you will only need to do one water change per year" (i really do hear that) or 1 fish per gallon. All these things help the stores sales, none of these things help the customer.
Did I mention I hate these places?
Even the rare truly knowladable employee can't be as helpfull as they would like to. It will hurt sales when you tell people to not buy a fish or don't buy (insert what ever product) because it won't help.
It is such B.S. the garbage I hear just about every day that the local chain store in my area tells people to do. THings like, "your water quality is bad, buy this product and it will fix it" or If you add this product to your aquarium, you will only need to do one water change per year" (i really do hear that) or 1 fish per gallon. All these things help the stores sales, none of these things help the customer.
Did I mention I hate these places?
I don't want to disrespect anyone, or find fault. When I buy fish, I always take my time to see which is the healthiest. Usually, bright colors, active, no "fuzzies" on their fins and tails. Also, it's good to find out, how long have they've had the fish, and what type of food are they feeding, and what is it eating. It also depends on the person who maintains fish. I was speaking to a Walmart manager who is in charge of the fish department, and she tells me that the nightshift people plays around with their fish, i.e., they mix the oscars with the africans to see who would survive, and then put them back to their own tank. That spells disaster right there. But I buy plants from walmart because some plants they have is marked incorrectly. Like a potted plant of anubias is sold only for $3.99. Some other stores sells them for $20.00. 
Our local petsmart is great. they take great care of all of their animals and i know this because rallysb1tch works there. Not all petsmarts are bad. I've never got a bad fish from there, and I am confident when i buy feeders as well. I get an inside look on their care habits and our local store is better than most of the mom and pop fish stores...I know some suck because I have been to some of the bad ones, but not ALL of them are bad. It all depends on who works there IMHO
Petsmart here is the bottom of the barrel. Last time I was there they left the whole system filter and all turned off for cleaning. I was there for over an hour, and they hadn't turned it back on before I left. All of the fish were laying lifeless on the bottom of the tanks..... wonder why?
While I agree with Ornatapinnis I think that buyers need to beware. Many people half-ass things like this, they go to a store, see a fish and buy it. These are not true hobbiest. A person with a passion for fish and who wants to keep them healthy will research before they buy, anything less is lazy and they don't deserve fishkeeping success. The ones who really suffer are the fish.