Frustrating!

[MrDrums]

Was looking at the fish in a local pet store yesterday.....not the big chain stores, just a small store - sells birds, lizards, fish, ferrets, etc.....

There was a couple buying their daughter a goldfish, which are kept in rubber tubs underneath the regular tanks (the tubs are filtered or at least have air stones). As the clerk was trying to net a fish, she first fished out at least 10 (no exaggeration) dead ones, probably more....these are the ones with the fancy tails, spotted, etc....The people buyng the fish did not bat an eye at that, only commented that the water really smelled bad.

I could not help but chime in and politely advise them, at the very least, not to take a fish from that particular tank, but they ignored me. Unbelievable! All the goldfish looked horrible...lots of dead soldiers floating about.....but the fish up in the tanks looked O.K., if a bit crammed into the small store tanks. The only fish that looked really good were the discus - beautifully displayed in a nice, big tank.

This is why I never buy fish from a place like that. Too bad the store owner is not more adept or educated at fishkeeping.

[labnjab]

I've noticed a lot of stores take better care of tropical fish then their goldfish. At walmart, all the goldfish look sickly (and not just feeders, even black moors and koi) and there tanks are always full of dead ones, but the tropical fish are taken care of way more, never a dead one and their always healthy.

Our lfs takes fairly good care of everything but feeders, but they don't have any real knowledge of fish.

[fishymommy]

I hate going to walmart and seeing their poor display of fish. The one near us makes me sick just to see how poorly the fish are treated and maintained. Here they don't attempt to keep any fish better than any others. Makes me sad. I wish I could rescue them but I know they would only make mine sick and they would all die.. I hate my walmart fishkeepers grrrrr

[bluekrissyspikes]

our local walmart had a tank full of oscars that were all covered in ich and they sold some while i was there. i told them straight out your fish have ich, you shouldn't be selling them. you know what they told me? they aren't sick anymore because i treated them last week.... so the person bought them anyways and agreed that they weren't sick they just still had the spots....

[labnjab]

Our walmart has one knowledgeable person, and since she's been working there the goldfish side has gotten better, I've bought 6 guppies and 7 cories from there recently and they seem to be ok, but I've bought a few goldfish in the past from them and they died in less then 3 days.

I usually buy from my lfs, but they don't have a real good selection. The only place that has a decent selection is petsmart and petco and their an hours drive away.