When do customers start to take a lil responsibilty I mean people dont buy a saint bernard when they live in a studio apt , We as hobbiest need to buck up , how many people on here even research the fish and buy it anyway knowing they may never have tank space . Bottom line is petsmart is a buisness first and foremost they will sell what people want period to make MONEY .
What the hell petsmart
- Thread starter AQUAMONSTER
- Start date
albyoscar;4752520; said:
Thank you. With being with Petsmart for over 3 years now....noone understands this. LFS's sell these fish for just the same price or higher. The fish hobbyists need to do the research. They are a business!
Start your own fish business and don't sell fish just because they get over 6 inches and see how well you do. 
packer43064;4754522; said:Thank you. With being with Petsmart for over 3 years now....noone understands this. LFS's sell these fish for just the same price or higher. The fish hobbyists need to do the research. They are a business!
x2
Thankfully the private LPS I work for has a good rep locally we don't get many "repeat" offenders in the fish slaughter industry, But it does happen. It is VERY rare a LPS employee can talk a customer out of purchasing something for their tank infront of the owner/manager and not get fired/written up/ simply in the bosses bad graces.
Since you can't help everyone, You help the ones who want it. Simply refuseing a sale is not always an option. and sometimes it does come down to business. There has to be a line somewhere.
Personally the Petsmart i go to always has asked what size tank and reviewed requirements, probally varies by region and I am glad they are finally bringing in different fish rather then the same old stock which is tiresome who have a real pasion for aquaria.
All Petsmarts around me are notorious for saying many of the large fish will need a 50-90 gallon tank at adulthood. It's disgusting. Pacus and ID sharks (pangasius hypophthalmus) are the worst around here. It's not that they shouldn't sell them. It's that they need to hire people would can properly educate the people that are asking questions. The people there know nothing about fish other than how to bag them. AKA, I was just in a petsmart that sold a common pleco to a guy with a 5 gallon tank. I tried to correct the matter, they laughed at me, and I walked out of the place. Basically, they need to at least provide correct information to the customer.
In my opinion,i think that most MFK'ers here go to local LFS's(if there are any around them)i have even read countless times about people traveling an hour or two just to go to a LFS.I believe newbies(no disrespect intended) and people wanting to buy a "pretty little fishy" for thier child go to these big chain stores for fish.In a nut shell us fish keepers with a little knowledge go where either the sales clerk or managment can help(with honest) answers and suggestions and are willing to spend a couple of bucks more for a healthier fish and better advice.
like it's already been said, it's a buisness. I worked for a petco when I didn't know much about fish. If I didn't know something, I would'nt make stuff up like most empoyees would. I got on MFK for the first time and educated myself. I then made it my personal responsability to research every fish that I brought in to the store and oporated my aquatics section like an LFS. No other aquatics section in my area did this. The aquatics section for my store increased sales by 20% and decreased fish loss by 30% in the year that I worked there. When petco changed thier regulations for maintinence on store tanks making it impossable to proporly keep and treat fish, I left and went to a shop that only sells fish.
I do agree that it is the customers responsibility to research what they put in thier tank but in turn, if you have a question about a fish, a staff member in any given pet section should be compitant enough to give you a good answer or tell you they don't know instead of bull****ing you like this chick did. IMO every store should have internet available to employees so they can look up anything they need to on any animal that comes in the store. Almost every tag is wrong at petsmart/petco. Know what you are selling before you give it out. That's your job.
I do agree that it is the customers responsibility to research what they put in thier tank but in turn, if you have a question about a fish, a staff member in any given pet section should be compitant enough to give you a good answer or tell you they don't know instead of bull****ing you like this chick did. IMO every store should have internet available to employees so they can look up anything they need to on any animal that comes in the store. Almost every tag is wrong at petsmart/petco. Know what you are selling before you give it out. That's your job.
MonsterMinis;4754575; said:
I explain all the time that you cant keep a fish that gets 12in in a 29gal tank even if it is only 4in now. After I talk it through, I ask if they still want to go for it. If they're dumb and still want the fish, I bag it up and void the warranty. You get the info across and you still make your money. At that point it's on them.
[/QUOTE]im not saying they cant sell it but i mean of all the fish to sell. Next it will tiger shovelnose, GATF, AROWS[/QUOTE]
Ive actually seen this already lil tiny feed store someone would drive by and not give two thoughts about walk in there selling RTC, silver aros, TSN, needlenose gar, CK, hybrid channel cats.... the owners reason for buying them (i get what i like to watch) the only good thing about this is i got a TSN for $12, at another store i got a RTC for $13, a CK for $3.50, Aro $19, not bad i would considering a specialty store wanted like $60 for only a TSN and the same for RTC, ARO, and $25 for CK, its a gve and take relationship with the vendors that are a franchise and sell these kick @$$ fish it all depends on the knowledge of the buyer.
Ive actually seen this already lil tiny feed store someone would drive by and not give two thoughts about walk in there selling RTC, silver aros, TSN, needlenose gar, CK, hybrid channel cats.... the owners reason for buying them (i get what i like to watch) the only good thing about this is i got a TSN for $12, at another store i got a RTC for $13, a CK for $3.50, Aro $19, not bad i would considering a specialty store wanted like $60 for only a TSN and the same for RTC, ARO, and $25 for CK, its a gve and take relationship with the vendors that are a franchise and sell these kick @$$ fish it all depends on the knowledge of the buyer.
