The Most Horrible Local Fish Store You Have Seen

[Supergeorge123]

I was inspired to start this by a store i was at not long ago. I dont want to say the name right now but the store was literal death, in that there was mass death in almost every tank they had. In the saltwater tanks almost all of the fish had marine ich, the water was filthy and a lot of the fish were barely moving or breathing. There was rotting leftover shrimp in almost all of them. They had buckets where they were "drip acclimating" the fish with this sludge water but there is no doubt to me that they would have been better off if they just sold them out of the buckets.

In the freshwater section they had some odd fish like "bullheads" "alligator gar" "bass" and "african lung fish". The tank water for them was brown and cloudy but they did not seem in poor health. Their smaller display tanks were packed with the usual species. Ich and fungal infections were everywhere, every tank had multiple dead and dying fish with Chinese Algae Eaters chewing on the bodies and even some of them had died off and were laying stomach up on the bottom being rocked around by the current. This wasnt the worst part though.

The worst part was their angelfish "display" tank. About seven large, beautiful scalare angelfish. Five of them dead either laying on the bottom or floating at the top in various stages of decomposition and covered in fungus. One barely swimming, engulfed in fungus and ich and the other gasping its last breath at the bottom blinded by its white, fungus covered eyes.

This place had one good asian themed display tank where everything seemed healthy and the water was clear. The african cichlid area was sickly but not as deathly as the other tanks. They also had "tortoises" "hermit crabs" "turtles" "frogs" and "tadpoles" for sale and dogs up for adoption. This was not a one off either, i have been to this place a few times and it has always been this way.

So whats your stories?

 

[Davidiator]

I wonder if all their tanks are connected and the disease transferred from tank to tank?

 

[Supergeorge123]

I wonder if all their tanks are connected and the disease transferred from tank to tank?

They may be interconnected but like i said, this place has been this way every time i have been into it. That also doesnt explain the horrible water quality or all of the rotting food they have in their tanks. Nor does it explain why they would leave large dead fish in their tanks to rot for days or weeks.

 

[krichardson]

That place must not smell too pleasant either.

 

[Supergeorge123]

That place must not smell too pleasant either.

It actually smells more from the other animals than from the fish. I havent been there since last year. I used to stop in every once in a while to see if they would improve but last time was the worst and i havent been back since. Hopefully they have changed since then but i doubt it. I know that you are more local so i will say that it was one of the pets plus stores if you have ever been to one.

 

[krichardson]

It actually smells more from the other animals than from the fish. I havent been there since last year. I used to stop in every once in a while to see if they would improve but last time was the worst and i havent been back since. Hopefully they have changed since then but i doubt it. I know that you are more local so i will say that it was one of the pets plus stores if you have ever been to one.

Wow,really? I was referring to the combined smells of all the animals that you mentioned.There has to be strong odors from them if they are being neglected.
Those stores used to be great years ago but I think they've spread themselves too thin in trying to mimic the big box stores.

 

[twentyleagues]

I went to a shop that I had never been to before no idea how long it had been there but was told later that day that it had been there more then 15 years. I had heard the name before but never knew where it was. So we were in the area and decided to stop in. First off its not in the best area of the town its in, Detroit. You enter from an ally and the screen door hangs on one hinge. After you step through the sreen door on to a "back portch" you are greeted by a big black heavy door. To the left is a pile of trash. Old boxes part of an old plywood tank build random boards with nails and so on. The place at this point looks abandoned. My wife says to me you've got your gun right? She grew up in Pittsburgh and really isnt afraid of much, she can also handle herself in a fight against a man as well as myself. So I say its probably no longer open the door will be locked and we will go. I turn the knob on the black door and it opens....well I guessed wrong its not locked. I peek inside its dark really dark. To the right though I see a huge pacu starring at me in quiet a large tank. Looks like they are actually open. Going inside its real dark the only lights besides tank lights are over the "front counter" there is a guy sitting behind a lap top. Now I'm not the friendliest looking guy around and neither was he. The place reminded me of a seedy strip club. To add to the ambaince most of the tanks were lite with a reddish light like a monster ray. Once our eyes adjusted we could kind of see where we were going and what was in the tanks. The inside walls, ceiling, and floors were black. There were holes in the walls, missing ceiling tiles and random buckets of dirty water sitting on the floor. Tanks were labeled but most were empty. They had a couple 40bs but most were 10g or 20gs a couple 40s were labled with stingrays and larger harder to get predatory fish. No fish in those though. Had a few standard african and sa/ca cichlids and tetras. Most fish looked ok a few dead here and there. As we were leaving the guy behind the counter who until this point had said nothing said we get a new shipment on wednesday see you then. ????. Lol
The wife has banned me from going back there. Not like she needed to.

 

[white specter crayfish]

So there's a lfs that's been around for 30+ years, the owners an awesome guy, I've mentioned him before but won't see his name, he's a vet technician and he specializes with fish, but does cats, dogs, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, bugs, arachnids, you name it. He started his store and it got going really well and he opened up another one, let's call it fish store B. Fish store B is run by someone else so the owner has no idea what's happening there, but I saw a pleco skeleton in one of the tanks and the pleco looked to have been about 8 inches long, they had a mbu puffer with a fungal infection, almost every tank had ich, I saw some flowerhorns, frontosas, a creamsicle cichlid, and other VERY good quality super expensive fish there that were dying of HITH, I could even see an oscars skull from it. They had several dead bettas, they had a bunch of fancy goldfish that were dying. There were several skeletons of what looked to be a knife fish, a bichir, some sort of large cichlid, some sort of frog, and they had a dead arowana in the one tank. The place was an absolute hell hole, the owner himself is great, nicest guy you'll ever meet, he'll sit down and talk with you about your concerns and make sure you are happy with your services, but the other store he opened up but doesn't run is horrific, and this is just the fish, they have birds kept in 20 gallon terrariums and the birds (some of which were close to $2000, they had macaws, lorikeets, caiques, conures, parakeets, love birds, budgies, etc.) were attacking eachother, pulling out their own feathers, flying into the glass, etc. The reptile area was horrible ok-ish, but they had a tortoise, about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, absolute monster, close to 100 years old, and it was kept in an 8'x6' enclosure and just left to walk into the walls over and over again, almost like a robot, I remembered this tortoise from when I was younger because it was at the original pet store and he was awesome, he was allowed to roam the store and I (because I was 5 years old and weighed like 60 pounds) was even allowed to ride on him and now just to see him like that made me so sad. Then they had their hamsters and mice and stuff, they were attacking eachother because they were kept in such a cramped place.

 

[Go_redfish]

There's a few crappy one's here. The one closest to me specializes in birds, reptiles, a few small animals, and fish. They are pretty spot on when it comes to the reptiles but everything else in that store looks varying degrees of sad or awful. As soon as you walk in, the place always smells like a pile of dead hamsters. They have a sign over the guinea pigs and rodents that says "any female animals for sale may be pregnant at the time of purchase" because they are too lazy to seperate males and females and they usually have URIs if nothing else is wrong with them. The fish are always emaciated and he will tell you straight up that he barely feeds them. People will surrender big fish that have out grown tanks to him... If its something common like an oscar it won't sell. it will get stuffed into a tiny tank and you can come in over the course of a few weeks and watch it waste away. The feeder fish tanks are RIDDLED with disease. But all of the tanks in the whole store have atleast 2-3 issues going on. I buy a few supplies there every now and then because he does sell things you can't get in the big chain stores. The owner has asked me before, "You buy supplies here but why don't you ever buy fish?" I told him straight up "because my fish are expensive and healthy and your fish are cheap and would mine sick" ...So now he doesn't try to make small talk with me anymore. yay.

 

[Davidiator]

Well there is one near my house. I will mention name as a do NOT go here... Aquarium Solutions...

Every tank was full of dead fish except for ONE Arowana that looked like he would rather be dead...
I asked the owner how he can afford to stay open. He said and I quote “the fish aren’t dead son, they are just sleeping after their trip here...”

I simply left