I have seen some good fish stores and plenty of awful fish stores all through my aquarium hobby journey.
One local fish store/pet store which has just recently closed had some good times and some bad times. At points when managers shifted and new employees were hired, the fish room suffered. Bettas looked god awful some even dead and the stench coming from the betta area was horrendus. Dead fish floating in a big majority of the tanks. Big fish mixed with little fish. 6'' plus Oscars were being mixed with tiger barbs, roseline sharks, and the like. They had people's large trade ins like oscar and pacus kept in rubber maid tubs with a single sponge filter. One pacu and red tail cat had serious ammonia burns and gill curl.
Prices were over the roof expensive. Who in the right mind thinks a large Oscar is worth $100?
The good thing about this, is that this store was apart of a local chain. It was perhaps the only bad egg of the chain.
However, once they hired an aquarist as there fish room manager things drastically changed for the better. Trade Ins stopped, and the fish room got a huge overhaul. Tanks were crystal clear and the fish looked healthy. Plus, they had more selections bread and butter and the oddball stuff like silver arowanas, monsters, etc. Prices got drastically cut as well.
One of my favorite fish stores is currently going on a down fall. Hopefully something changes there. They just moved into a mall last year so maybe it's still a transistion. But, the freshwater section is dying down. Very limited selection only bread and butter. I barely see Oscars there. Saltwater seems to be there major attention and attraction. There prices have gone WAY UP since the move too. But the customer service is great so I don't mind buying aquarium products and the occasional fish I like.
I have more stories to share just have to think a bit LOL!
