Best fish store story ever

[CVV1]

I was talking to the guy about neon tetras. He said some lady he knew had about 200 tetras in an 8 gallon tank and they lived for years. Then he said some guy came in and asked for 2 Bala Sharks, 2 colombian sharks, and 12 neon tetras. He asked the guy how big his tank was and he said "10 gallon, with sponge filtration" i was like Then the pet store worker asked how long it had been running. It was set up the day before yesterday (so 1 day) the worker refused to sell the fish I was pretty astounded.

[SBDTHUR]

Sounds like my lfs. Was it like a petsmart? Usually Petsmarts are actually honest about the fish they sell, but they will really bend the rules when it comes to tank size though. Just not that much. :P

[CVV1]

The guy told me hes in it fer the fish not the money

[Scuba Kid]

Petsmart is honest about their fish? Since when?
Wow, that's a laugh.


Good to hear CVV1. If only there were more fish store owners like him.

[TheOldSalt]

Uhm... it sounded to me like he didn't care one bit about the size, but only about how long it was running. If it had been an established tank, I'd've bet anything that he would have sold the fish without blinking.

[fishbguy]

since about 3 months ago. i was trying to buy 6 neon tetras for my 20 gallon and the lady wouldn't sell them to me because i told her what size my tank was and what fish were in it. she would, however sell me 6 white clouds for my half filled 10 gallon. i was pretty astounded but it was cool to relize that they are actually refusing to give people fish. and she wasn't being lazy, it was almost as if she actually cared about the fish.

[ChromeLibrarian]

The big chain stores vary from place to place. If you happen to have a real fish person working in the fish department, they may actually may give a rat's butt about the fish. On the other hand, in our local petsmart, I've seen dead fish float in the tanks for days before they were removed (or eaten by the other fish).

[danni42683]

Any time I have gone to get fish at petsmart there is ONE girl that works there that always askes me what size tank the fish will be going into, what kind of fish I have in the tank, and how many are already in the tank. She did refuse to sell a couple fish to my neighbor while I was there one day because she said they would not "get along" well with the other fish! Walmart on the other hand "go ahead put that oscar in with your baby guppies, they will be fine." LOL as long as they can run and hide real d@$m fast!!

[CVV1]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

Uhm... it sounded to me like he didn't care one bit about the size, but only about how long it was running. If it had been an established tank, I'd've bet anything that he would have sold the fish without blinking.

No, I dont think so, these guys are really cool dudes, He knew those fish would get to big, and the tank wasnt established, and it would have about 40 fish in it.

[Buggy]

We talk down about the people that work at our local pet stores, especially the chain stores like PetSmart and Petco but it's really the owner/managers that are at fault. The employee has to do what the manager tells them to do or lose their job and if that means selling fish to someone that doesn't know beans about fish....well. I've met some employees that are completely clueless about fish and some that really know what they are talking about. They can ADVISE a person not to buy a particular fish but if the customer is dead set on having it, what can they do? If they refuse to sell them the fish they can lose their job. The employee isn't really in it for the money...they get the same paycheck whether they sell the fish or not. It's the owner/manager that makes a profit from the sales. That would be like a fast food counter worker refusing to sell a burger and shake to someone that is obviously obese. It's the consumers responsibility to make informed purchases.
Just my 2 cents worth. You can go ahead and blast me now. lol

[swordtailbreedr]

i agree with you buggy

[Obsidian]

I agree Buggy. I have seen first hand the difference between a knowledgeable sales person and an uninformed one. Even the uninformed one at Petco was hesitant to sell what the customer was asking for, but eventually sold the items (Very large Tiger Barbs... going into a 10 gallon set up the day before with what the customer thought was also one other very large "tiger thing" and a bunch of fish she just couldn't remember the name of, plus a frog). Although she sold them the fish she also told the customer "Based on what your talking about you will need at least a 55 gallon tank really soon." I made a quick "second" to that motion. Same worker then turned around and tried to act like I was insane for being upset about the Ich through at least 6 of their tanks that was so bad to the point that several fish were loosing fins over it. This same store has a really good employee who I have seen refuse to sell fish for various reasons, and lead the customer to more appropriate stock.

[spacemom]

This one is sort of a "Good News/Bad News" story...

I wanted to return a few Blue Paradise Gourami that I discovered were waaay too aggressive for my tank to Wal Mart, where I mistakenly and naively bought them.

The woman was so aghast at me returning "live fish" that she copped an attitude and decided then and there that she WAS NOT GOING TO BE HELPFUL...

Well, my daughter and I offered to return the fish to the fish department for her so we could have our butter bowl back that we had brought them in, when the woman took them from us and poured them into a Wal Mart sack and tied the top shut! She said, "We are just going to kill them anyway." and then she threw that bag of live fish in the trash can!!!

My 8-year old daughter was hysterical, I was absolutely flabbergasted and speechless and did not know what to do.

I went immediately to the fish department and found a fish employee who ran up there to Customer Service and saved those fish and put them immediately into a tank with other gourami fish---no problem and no killing!!!

Can anyone top that one???


Spacemom

[Scuba Kid]

Well the woman at the Service Counter was semi-right. Those same fish are probably dead by now, due to the fact that Walmart doesn't give a damn about the fish they sell and do a pretty horrible job. I cringe when I walk past their fish department. Actually, I haven't shopped at Walmart in quite some time....

[swordtailbreedr]

ya me too i have not been for ovrt 5 yesrd i think they are horrible ethics and not that much savings...plus the saving u get just takes food away from poor workers overseas