Wrote a letter to Walmart...

[Bill M.]

So I went to two Walmarts today.. one I was please with.. and one that I wanted to drown the employee in the horrible water.... I wrote a letter to corporate:

Attn: Lee Scott, CEO Walmart Stores Inc.

For the past 10 years, I have been keeping aquarium fish. Among the aquatic community, purchasing fish at Walmart has been a taboo for years. I have seen countless fish departments with horrendous conditions in thier tanks. I've seen tanks infected with ich, fish with dropsy, and in many cases, tanks littered with deceased fish. Not only does this taint the rest of the fish, possibly infecting them with the listed diseases, but it also lowers the appeal to customers dramatically. The only exception to the above statement is the store located at 1575 Space Center Drive in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The tanks are upkept very well, deceased fish are immediately removed from tanks, and all of the fish look extremely healthy. The staff seems rather knowledgeable, and they are polite and readily available to assit customers. This store should be the model for every other Walmart in the US. My solution: either shape up, or ship out. Not only are helpless fish suffering in horrible tank conditions, but customers are beggining to shy away from purchasing fish with your company. I hope to be informed through email on any changes that will be made.

Sincerly,
Bill Moorman

pfft.. i am pisored...

[Lady Hobbs]

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Just so happens I have the corperate link since I have also complained about them.

[1MileCrash]

i've heard horrible things about wal-mart fish as well...but i have to say that i got all of my fish there and well...aside from one or two issues here and there...have had no problems. my tinfoil barb and bala shark both got over 5 inches and were close to 2 years old...died from ammonia...thanks mom.

i do have to say though that my wal-mart does usually have ich in most of the tanks. a few fish that i got from there had it when i got them home but after treatment it went away and had no problems thereafter.

[Lady Hobbs]

I was discusted because my WalMart is a new superstore and had only been open less than a year. Within months the tanks had gone so far downhill it was sickening and there would be at least 7 dead fish sucked against the filter tube in every tank.

I did complain to corperate and within 2 days got an email for the store manager. Seems corperate got on him but he promised my next visit I would see a big change. I did and it's been cleaned up ever since.

[1MileCrash]

there rarely seems to be anyone actually near the tanks except during certain times of the day.

i did find out that my local wal-mart gets their fish shipments in on tuesdays...at least that's the last i knew but that was a year or so ago now. anyway. they clean out the tanks fairly well before putting in the new fish but i don't know if they put the new fish in the tanks that are infested with ich or not...kinda scary.

i always got down there right away when they got their shipments in to make sure that i got the fresh fish before they got picked over and got to exposed to any potential diseases in the holding tanks. that and i figure why let the fish get settled and then stress them out again to take them home. just keep em stressed a bit until you get them home where they can relax permanently.

[Lady Hobbs]

My thoughts exactly. Stress once, not twice.

[naiku]

The problem with Walmart, Petsmart (any big store you care to name) is that the majority of staff don't care or have enough knowledge. Think about it, how many people do you know at school/college who said they wanted to work in WalMart when they grew up........... you can probably count the number on 1 hand. The people that work on the aquarium dept probably applied for a job, and were told thats the department they will be working on regardless of how much aquatic experience they have.

Take that into account and its no wonder the tanks are always such a mess, poorly taken care of etc.......its hard enough to get staff for a supermarket, let alone find someone who actually wants to work there and takes a good amount of pride in their job. There are exceptions, and thats why the one store you went too had good tanks/fish.

A Petsmart near where I work has awful tanks, I went in there last week and 75% of the tanks had 0 fish in them, the rest of the tanks had at least 1 dead fish in them, yet another Petsmart near where I live always has good clean tanks and at least 2 members of staff always around them.

[SkarloeysMom]

The walmart closest to us has only been open a couple of years and they had such horrible tanks. They finally took them all out and reduced the size of their fish supply section. It was probably more because of sales numbers but they may have gotten complains about their tanks too. There was never anybody around to help you if you did want to buy a fish. I'm sure that it just wasn't profitable for them.

I've found that certain of the PetSmarts are better than others in our town. We have 3 within a reasonable driving distance. One in particular has a guy who seems to really care and know what he's talking about. Their tanks are very well kept there too.

Oh and as far as LFS go I've found that they can be hit or miss too. One I've visited just stinks and the tanks are covered in algae and the other smells clean and the tanks look a lot better.

[Lady Hobbs]

The problem with Walmart, Petsmart (any big store you care to name) is that the majority of staff don't care or have enough knowledge. Think about it, how many people do you know at school/college who said they wanted to work in WalMart when they grew up........... you can probably count the number on 1 hand. The people that work on the aquarium dept probably applied for a job, and were told thats the department they will be working on regardless of how much aquatic experience they have.

Take that into account and its no wonder the tanks are always such a mess, poorly taken care of etc.......its hard enough to get staff for a supermarket, let alone find someone who actually wants to work there and takes a good amount of pride in their job. There are exceptions, and thats why the one store you went too had good tanks/fish.

A Petsmart near where I work has awful tanks, I went in there last week and 75% of the tanks had 0 fish in them, the rest of the tanks had at least 1 dead fish in them, yet another Petsmart near where I live always has good clean tanks and at least 2 members of staff always around them.

You hit it right on the head. I couldn't get anyone to even come to the fish section to wait on me because all the staff was working in the outside nursery. Ofcourse during planting season, that department was packed and the help was busy so the fish suffered. That and the fact that these stores hire so much summer help and hardly anyone works over 20 hours a week.

[zackish]

You guys need to realize...it is walmart and they could give less a you know what...
You have to also realize that I bet one person on the staff of any given walmart knows absolutely nothing about fish other than they live in water.

[YaYgoldFish]

You guys need to realize...it is walmart and they could give less a you know what...
You have to also realize that I bet one person on the staff of any given walmart knows absolutely nothing about fish other than they live in water.


Well maybe some care if they cleaned it all up for Lady Hobbs.

[RobbieG]

Taking the time to fill out a survey or write a letter can have a big impact in many cases because companies realize that it took a bit of effort on the complainers part. They know that people that take the time and effort to write a letter are very likely to also take the time and effort to write to the local SPCA - board of health - etc.

You can walk up to a manager and chew his ear off and he will have forgotten you before you leave the parking lot - but write a letter to the home office and you will almost always get some kind of response. It may be a BS letter thanking you for your concern or it may result in some improvement - but either way al least SOME notice will be taken.

[cocoa_pleco]

all the wal-marts here have up on fish, i think drayton valley still does though since their only competition is a small pet store. the sad thing is that the wal-mart there sells 98% dyed fish

[tropfish]

i'm pretty lucky in my area we have two petsmarts very close that have staff that knows about fish and takes care of them.They ask about your tank and tlel you if the fish aren't compatible. The tanks are all clean and healthy and the fish have no visible diesases or damage. Howver the petsplus near us is horrible their tanks are dirty and smelly. You can see dead fish alot. They keep the discuse and other expensive fish tanks perfect but the lower priced freshwater tanks are horrible, but they get buisness because the other 2 pet stores don't sell saltwater. Also the petco near us is excellent in salt and freshwater, but i've seen some of them traveling that are horrible.

It really is a hit or miss thing

[A340]

It really is a hit or miss thing

Agreed. Our local Wal Mart has an excellent fish department, there are a couple of employees there that are also avid fish keepers and give excellent advice.

But, as we had a simillar discussion a while back about Petsmart, Wal Mart is a chain and they have policies and procedures that the stores and employees must follow. It is a business (just like all pet stores) and the main thing is to make money.

Also, you have to look at the customers who buy fish at Wal Mart, most people who do buy fish there are the people who up and decide they want a fish so they buy themselves a little kit and a fish at the same time, go home, fill it with straight tap water, throw the fish in and forget about it. That's where real customer service comes into play. The employees here will make sure that you at least buy some tap water conditioner with the kit and explain cycling to you. They also have the tanks clearly marked with which fish go with each other and which ones don't.

[1MileCrash]

bingo. some of the wal-mart employees, especially during the day, know their way around the fish tank. those at nite usually don't know much.

a friend of mine has at least 5 tanks, 2 of which are saltwater, and went to college for ichthiology and works at petco in the fish department so he definitely knows what he's talking about.

it's really just the random luck of the draw if you get to talk to someone that really knows what they are doing or not.

[zackish]

bingo. some of the wal-mart employees, especially during the day, know their way around the fish tank. those at nite usually don't know much.

a friend of mine has at least 5 tanks, 2 of which are saltwater, and went to college for ichthiology and works at petco in the fish department so he definitely knows what he's talking about.

it's really just the random luck of the draw if you get to talk to someone that really knows what they are doing or not.

Funny you should say that because I just applied to my local petco and petsmart and if I get the job I am gunna make their fishtanks the healthiest tanks ever.

[Bill M.]

If your interested in moving to Colorado....my local petsmart is hireing.....go figure...

[Rue]

Funny you should say that because I just applied to my local petco and petsmart and if I get the job I am gunna make their fishtanks the healthiest tanks ever.

Good luck! I hope you have the time! You realize that you have to look after all the small animals right? Not just the fish?

[Bill M.]

I still haven't had a reply from Wally World....go figure....

[cocoa_pleco]

the biggest BS part of the wal-mart here was they never HAD anyone due to staff shortages. the plant people used to double as fish, but noone worked at the plant place anymore so the only workers were customer service, toys, sports, automotive, and fabric.

the best tanks were at one of seattles wal-marts. all the tanks were clean, and all had gravel in them with healthy fish.

[Mark Lathrop]

Nobody at the 3 local petsmarts to me knew what cycling a tank was.

[zackish]

Nobody at the 3 local petsmarts to me knew what cycling a tank was.

Never heard of any petstore employees talk of cycling. They all try to talk me into that "cycle" crap.

[cocoa_pleco]

my petsmart actually knew about cycling. a new dumb employee was washing rocks from tanks because they thought it looked ugly and the other worker said " dont, youre killing all of the good bacteria on the rocks "

[Rue]

...that's just wrong...the Petsmart Petcare employees are all supposed to have some 'basic' training...

I'd b*tch to the head office...don't bother with the managers...because they're not supposed to have uninformed staff...

[cocoa_pleco]

and, of course, its the same store that didnt care about getting the heating system fixed. im going back there today to get some shrimp and killi's

[A340]

Never heard of any petstore employees talk of cycling. They all try to talk me into that "cycle" crap.
Point taken, but you have to look at it this way:

Customer - "I'd like some fish please"
Employee - "What kind of aquarium do you have?"
Customer - "One of those, I just bought it here yesterday"
Employee - "I'm assuming the tank is not cycled then"
Customer - "Whats cycled?"
Employee - Proceeds to explain cylcing and new tank syndrome
Customer - "No, I guess it's not"
Employee - "Well, I really don't think I can sell you fish"

Sorry, but that isn't going to happen, not a Wal Mart, not at Petsmart and not at 99.99% of any pet stores.

That is exactly why they have products such as Cycle, becuase aquariums are a business and in business you can't tell a customer no. For what it's worth, at least most pet stores at least make sure you have something like Cycle (or better yet Stability) to help your fish stay somewhat healthy and alive during your cycle process.

We know that it takes a certain amount of work to cycle a tank and keep a tank properly, but we also don't fall into the majority group of people who buy fish.

[Mark Lathrop]

...that's just wrong...the Petsmart Petcare employees are all supposed to have some 'basic' training...

I'd b*tch to the head office...don't bother with the managers...because they're not supposed to have uninformed staff...

I asked a girl at the local petsmart about ammonia once and she'd never heard of it...until she gleefully remembered seeing ammo-lock on the shelf.

The Petco a mile or two away had one aquarium specialist that really knew her stuff. The only problem was her hygiene was less than humane so it makes it almost worth it to endure some of the morons at the petsmarts.

[Mark Lathrop]

Point taken, but you have to look at it this way:

Customer - "I'd like some fish please"
Employee - "What kind of aquarium do you have?"
Customer - "One of those, I just bought it here yesterday"
Employee - "I'm assuming the tank is not cycled then"
Customer - "Whats cycled?"
Employee - Proceeds to explain cylcing and new tank syndrome
Customer - "No, I guess it's not"
Employee - "Well, I really don't think I can sell you fish"

Sorry, but that isn't going to happen, not a Wal Mart, not at Petsmart and not at 99.99% of any pet stores.

That is exactly why they have products such as Cycle, becuase aquariums are a business and in business you can't tell a customer no. For what it's worth, at least most pet stores at least make sure you have something like Cycle (or better yet Stability) to help your fish stay somewhat healthy and alive during your cycle process.

We know that it takes a certain amount of work to cycle a tank and keep a tank properly, but we also don't fall into the majority group of people who buy fish.

I've seen it happen at Petco.The girl there sent someone home with packets about the nitrogen cycle and sold them a new filter system. But of course, that was that one girl, and I've had some bad experiences with Petco.

[A340]

I've seen it happen at Petco.The girl there sent someone home with packets about the nitrogen cycle and sold them a new filter system. But of course, that was that one girl, and I've had some bad experiences with Petco.
Like I said, 99.99% of the time ... :ezpi_wink1:

[cocoa_pleco]

i went to petsmart, and had the GOOD worker. it's a guy that looks at a mountain man but hes nice and smart. they got the heater going, but their fish stock was low. i didnt even spend that much money, just fluorite for 35$, 2 killis at 6$ each, and a peacock eel for 12$.

[zackish]

That is what I am saying alizee, you hit it right on the head. You have to realize that we are talking about walmart and you can get the general gist of what type of store walmart is when you walk in the door and get greeted.

[Dave-id]

I believe wal-mart has stopped selling fish in all their stores in Canada (or at least Alberta). My girlfriend was the pets department manager at a wal-mart for a year or so. She looked after them very well, and did what she could to educate customers and staff. She drew up small signs for each of the fish explaining what to feed them, how big they get, size of tank required, attitude towards other fish etc.

It was a really tough job though, and stressed the hell out of her. The evening staff thought it was fun to put garbage in the tanks, "feed" them things like pop, or spit their gum in them. Sometimes they'd dump bettas in together to try and get them to fight.

The biggest problem was everybody always trying to feed them. She put up huge signs everywhere saying "please do not feed the fish", and kept the opened jars of food in a locked cabinet. Despite her clear instructions, and constant complaints to store managers and to the staffers themselves, they would not stop. They even took a crowbar to the locked cabinet, and busted it open to get the food. Or sometimes they'd just break open store merchandise, and dump half the container in. They'd often leave a note "the fish were hungry, so I had to feed them.". It was awful how often she'd come in to a tank completely full of rotting food.

[cocoa_pleco]

the biggest problem at my wal-mart was the species mixing. they had oscars mixed with sailfin millies mixed with gouramis in the same tank.

[YaYgoldFish]

My lfs don't even mix fish. Not even plecos.Except when i think about it, they mix crabs with rainbow and red tail black sharks. Sure enough the sharks are all dead and half eaten tho.

[Wallyfish]

Walmart has made serious cutbacks in carrying fish in my area this year. We have several stores that have eliminated thier tanks (selling the fish or killing them in the process). The only one where I still find that carries fish is the supercenter and its pretty bad with thier fish. Of all the walmart employees maybe one person knows about fish in the store. Hopefully thats the pet dept. manager. You can find him 7-4 mon-fri in most stores.

[A340]

the biggest problem at my wal-mart was the species mixing. they had oscars mixed with sailfin millies mixed with gouramis in the same tank.
The Wal Marts around here have fish sepertated, very few species in one tank if any (other than cories and plecos of course). But Malawi's are in a seperate tank marked "aggresive", oscars are in a a seperate tank marked "grow very large", scats are in a spererate tank marked "brackish" etc.

I believe wal-mart has stopped selling fish in all their stores in Canada (or at least Alberta)
Might be Alberta, we still have fish in BC and according to the employee's their, they haven't heard any news if they are getting rid of them or not.

On a side note, I went to Petland today to browse, they had a whole tank fo tetra's with fin rot, must have been a good hundred fish in there. Nice.

[Lady Hobbs]

I've worked in stores before and they have their bar codes. They only carry what their computers have programmed into them and therefore, the stock does not change. And their tanks are tagged so they will not change all the labels, etc, to bring in different fish.

I didn't work in fish but did work in convenience stores and it works much the same. The products they carry are authoritized thru the cooperate office and they only carry what cooperate says they can stock. Management can do nothing about changing that.

It would be nice if people would inform you of cycling, etc, but it's assumed
you know what you're doing or would not be buying fish. Walmart is not a fish store but a department store. There are never enough employees and those that are there are mostly part-time students and know less than you do. They do not have time, even if they knew, to explain all about cycling to people all day or their work would never get done.

When starting out, I did everything wrong, as well. Got the wrong fish, didn't cycle my tank first, etc. It's just the way it is for most of us but really, it was not Walmarts fault I didn't find out what I was doing before I got into this.

This is all a learning curve for us and we learn as we go. But the mistakes I made were my mistakes, not those of the kid who sold me my fish.

I do think that in LFS, since selling of fish is their main job, that they could hand out fliers on the process of cycling. You have to keep in mind these people are also selling filters, products, mopping the floor, cleaning tanks, etc, and to stand and answer questions for hours is not time-allowed for them.

[Rue]

...I agree...

...I will add...in Petsmarts defence...they do have little care pamphlets...that are reasonably accurate...

...and in the tank section, ours has a little book available that suggests tank sizes for your fish! And it's not bad! Bigger recommendation than I had anticipated given what's on the species info. stickers on the display tanks...

I don't know what's up with people not educating themselves...with the internet and Google...it's really fast and really easy...no excuse not to have the basics...

...and for those without internet...the library still exists...

[Lady Hobbs]

It didn't take me a week of having fish to start the research. I made my mistakes on the first one and wasn't about to go that route again.

[Rue]

LOL...and look at you now! Your the Angel Queen!!! Heehee! Way to go!...

[RobbieG]

...I agree...

...I will add...in Petsmarts defence...they do have little care pamphlets...that are reasonably accurate...

...and in the tank section, ours has a little book available that suggests tank sizes for your fish! And it's not bad! Bigger recommendation than I had anticipated given what's on the species info. stickers on the display tanks...

I don't know what's up with people not educating themselves...with the internet and Google...it's really fast and really easy...no excuse not to have the basics...

...and for those without internet...the library still exists...

The Petco's in my area have all that info posted too. Most of the workers will tell the shoppers 20 times that they can't have 10 Koi in their 10 gallon starter kit They don't seem to know much about cycling but they all seem to at leat know you are supposed to do it and it is supposed to take a while.

I think a lot of people think fishkeeping is going to be like caring for a puppy - maybe what they need is a "This is going to be much harder than it looks" sign!

[Bill M.]

So.....I am 100% done with Walmart.......As many of you know, I got some snails in my tank, so I went to the Walmart near me with the best tanks to take a look at some clown loaches...*I went to petsmart first and they were like 9 dollars for small ones* so I thought I'd check wally world for kicks...So I get into the fish dpt and start lookng at the fish... First I see some Serpae with a few roughed up tails, I didnt worry too much... I know they are fin nippers and nothing can be done about that other than seperate.. but whatever..... so then I spot a White Killifish. I have never looked at one closely, but boy am I glad I did. He had ich spots all over his tail and dorsal fins. I figured maybe it was just him and they would take care of it. Then I looked at the gourami's. Same case. Then the Black Skirts *my all time favorite fish* Same case. Serpae. Same case. Danios. Same case. Every tank, including the feeder rosy reds were infected with ich. By this time I was livid. I went to the service desk and asked for assisance in fish. The worker paged a employee to the fish, but after ten min, no one showed up. I was pissed * excuse my french....* I went to thier little fish desk, grabbed a sharpie * the one to write upc codes on bags* and a sheet of paper towel. I wrote this:
Just so you know,
Your white killifish, Black Skirt, Serpae, Gouramis Danios, and even your rosy reds, are all infected with ich. See the white salt like crystals on thier bodies and fins? They need to be treated, or everyone will die. Sorry for the note, I would have rather talked to your face, but theres NEVER anyone here. Get your stuff together!
~A concerned customer

I wrote that verbatum, and used tape to hang up on the desk to make sure EVERYONE could read it, slammed the pen down, and walked out of the store.........And this was the same one that I had just complemented on how nice the tanks were...what a shame.....think I got my point across?

[Drumachine09]

So.....I am 100% done with Walmart.......As many of you know, I got some snails in my tank, so I went to the Walmart near me with the best tanks to take a look at some clown loaches...*I went to petsmart first and they were like 9 dollars for small ones* so I thought I'd check wally world for kicks...So I get into the fish dpt and start lookng at the fish... First I see some Serpae with a few roughed up tails, I didnt worry too much... I know they are fin nippers and nothing can be done about that other than seperate.. but whatever..... so then I spot a White Killifish. I have never looked at one closely, but boy am I glad I did. He had ich spots all over his tail and dorsal fins. I figured maybe it was just him and they would take care of it. Then I looked at the gourami's. Same case. Then the Black Skirts *my all time favorite fish* Same case. Serpae. Same case. Danios. Same case. Every tank, including the feeder rosy reds were infected with ich. By this time I was livid. I went to the service desk and asked for assisance in fish. The worker paged a employee to the fish, but after ten min, no one showed up. I was pissed * excuse my french....* I went to thier little fish desk, grabbed a sharpie * the one to write upc codes on bags* and a sheet of paper towel. I wrote this:
Just so you know,
Your white killifish, Black Skirt, Serpae, Gouramis Danios, and even your rosy reds, are all infected with ich. See the white salt like crystals on thier bodies and fins? They need to be treated, or everyone will die. Sorry for the note, I would have rather talked to your face, but theres NEVER anyone here. Get your stuff together!
~A concerned customer

I wrote that verbatum, and used tape to hang up on the desk to make sure EVERYONE could read it, slammed the pen down, and walked out of the store.........And this was the same one that I had just complemented on how nice the tanks were...what a shame.....think I got my point across?

*claps*

Bravo!

Walmart has begun to disgust me. Their blatant disregard for the well-being of the livestock they carry is sickening. Their conditions are horrible, and i cant begin to fathom how many fish have wasted away in those little glass prisons, cramped together, with un-compatible species. I am half tempted to liberate a water sample from their tanks to test it myself. Do you think they do water changes? Hell no. Do they ever bother to remove the bodies of the deceased fish? Hell no. It would take me quite a while to count how many times i have heard the fish department "employees" give absoloutely HORRID advice to customers that didnt know any better.

I am going to send an email to my local walmart. I will bring up all of the points i have discussed above. I will also note that there is NEVER anyone there. Walmart cannot take care of fish. End of story. If my email doesnt work, i will go in person. They might not take me seriously, because i am not exactly an adult. I am going to try though. Heres to hoping.

[Lady Hobbs]

In a perfect world, the fish would all be held in quarantine when they're brought in from the farms but department stores won't do that. They sell too fast and they haven't the quarantine tanks to hold them in.

[A340]

In a perfect world, the fish would all be held in quarantine when they're brought in from the farms but department stores won't do that. They sell too fast and they haven't the quarantine tanks to hold them in.
Speaking of quarantine tanks ... how many fish stores do you guys really think quarantine fish? Not very many I would think. In regards to Wal Mart, I stand by my opinion, it's a hit and miss (as with any big stores), our Wal Marts have a great selection of fish and I have never seen any visibily ill fish, every once in a while, you'll see a dead fish floating around, but you'll see that in any fish store. I've purchased several fish from Wally World and never had any problems with them what so ever. The only thing I wouldn't ask for their is advice.