Do stores always buy fish back?

[tropfish]

I have decided that i want to get rid of my buenos aries and tiger barbs, along iwth the lemons and the lone glowlight. do stores always take them back, there in good health and aren't that old. How would you take them back to the store? I go to petsmart, do people give them there for credit?

[AquaQueen]

I dont know about Petsmart's policy but my little hole in the wall LPS will take them back even if they are old, or fully grown the only way they wont take a fish back is if they test your water and the levels are all out of whack. Some stores will trade fish for fish or just give you store credit, they never give you cash or anything like it to use at another store. As I said tho I don't know how Petsmart is because I never go there. Maybe you can call and ask what their policy is for returning fish.

[tropfish]

ok thanks foor the help!

[tropfish]

i waso n their website and they said without a recepit youd get sytore credit for any returned merchandise, i'm pretty sure that would pretain to fish too. how would you bring fish back to the store? in like ziplock baggies or does anyone have another method?

[hungryhound]

i waso n their website and they said without a recepit youd get sytore credit for any returned merchandise, i'm pretty sure that would pretain to fish too. how would you bring fish back to the store? in like ziplock baggies or does anyone have another method?

I would call them and specifically ask about an older fish. I believe that there is a 14 day return policy on fish at petsmart, so the general return clause will not apply to them. You should call them and ask them directly.

[tropfish]

ok i will. thanks for the help you guys. i want to change up my tank, i was thinking of maybe just getting a school of smaller fish, either rasboras, whiteclouds, or a kind of tetra.

[zackish]

Some do some don't, some don't even take fish back even for free. My LFS's don't, I decided I don't want one of my Gouramis but now I have nothing to do w it, I might start a 5g and put it in there.

[Kuli_Loach]

Mine gives you store credit for your fish.

[tropfish]

do you go to petsmart?

[SkarloeysMom]

I took some guppies back to PetSmart once because they were harassing my other fish. I just told them I didn't want them and I didn't want any money back. I'd had them for a couple months so I wasn't expecting any refund. They took them and said they'd put them in quarrentine and if they were in good health they'd put them back out for sale.

I took mine back in plastic kid's cup with a top from Chili's.

[tropfish]

thanks for the info! :22:

[Nick_Pavlovski]

The LFS's here all use a certain type of toughened plastic bag that they seal using rubber bands.

I keep them, rinse them, sun-dry them for a few days and put them in my fishtank-stuff-box.

Then, if I want to return a fish, I can use the exact same bags and bands.

[tropfish]

thats a really good idea. i have to remember that.

[Lady Hobbs]

I used to hear of people cycling with fish then returning them to the store. I just think this is awful. Who wants to go to the store and buy a bunch of fish that just went thru a cycling? Terrible policy, I think.

[tropfish]

well thats not why im doing it. it was my brothers tank and he got tired of it so he gave it to me. i had a 10g at the time that i cycled and everything. i also got his fish. i would like to add my own touch to the tank so i finished off the school of tiger barbs he had, i have lost a couple over the cople months i've had them, and the buenos aires tetras are just to high energy. i'd rather have one school of fish, along with my main fish.

[Rue]

Frankly, I don't want to buy other people's fish in general...

[tropfish]

some people do like to buy full grown fish tho. at our store they sell sm. med. and large of the same fish for different prices. they do this with tiger bards and other schooling fish.

[AquaQueen]

Yea my store does that too, they always have big & small fish... like the Angels, molly's, pleco's, and even their feeders are all different sizes. I bought one of my JD's already grown from them (he was labeled "Aggressive" because he supposedly ate all of the previous owners fish...I never seen him eat a fish other then tiny baby guppy's).
I can honestly understand why some people wouldn't want to buy an adult fish or one used for cycling, or even not knowing the fishes history but, sometimes ya have feel bad for the misfits don't ya? I know I always do. As for transporting fish I have done it many different ways in a baggie, in a bucket, now I have use one of those small plastic tanks that they sell at Wal-Mart. I think it is like 1gal or something. I have seen some people use them for spiders or to transport small pets to the vet. They don't cost that much either.

[zackish]

The LFS's here all use a certain type of toughened plastic bag that they seal using rubber bands.

I keep them, rinse them, sun-dry them for a few days and put them in my fishtank-stuff-box.

Then, if I want to return a fish, I can use the exact same bags and bands.


I saved a few but a heavy duty ziplock bag does the trick for me.

[Specialty]

No, we don't. I work at PetSmart. You have to have a receipt first of all, and we don't take it back unless it was within 14 days. We mainly do it that way because we don't want people buying other peoples fish and theres always the possibility of contamination of a customers tank or ours.

Any Petsmart that does otherwise is violating the company policy and could get in serious trouble for that.

[salman]

They will return it, but lets say you spent $20 dollars on the fish, they might just give you $10 of a little less store credit for them. But, call them and make sure before you do anything. When i take fish back, i usually put them in a cooler. Depending on the quantity of the fish.. the more the bigger.. But there are millions of sizes, if you dont have a small one, i would suggest you go out and buy one, because they are cheap and you may need it on the long run.

[tropfish]

ok thanks for the replies, but according to specialty they do not take fish back.

[Specialty]

ok thanks for the replies, but according to specialty they do not take fish back.

Yeah we require a receipt for a fish return and thats for dead fish. If theres no receipt then its up to a manager but if its been longer than 2 weeks then we can't take them...

[tropfish]

ok thanks for the info! :22:

[SkarloeysMom]

Frankly, I don't want to buy other people's fish in general...

Well, no matter where you shop you're buying somebody's fish. I've found that even if you buy from the best LFS in town you can get sick fish. Whether they are sick from the breeder, during shipping or somebody's returned fish, most of the time you just don't know what you're buying. I'm really starting to think that buying fish is just a crap shoot.