Trying To Fix A Superstore

[pss_gold]

Start reading below the sigh if you know how super stores treat fish

I was at a superstore today to check on their fish like I've gotten into the habit of doing. They have tons of large shubbies and comets along with some koi. They all clamped and have some ich and have been there for many months. Today, they had moors, black oranda, and a couple fantails in there too. A few moor were dead, the oranda had bad ich and one was sitting on the bottom with a large lesion on his side. Needless to say, it was a sad sight.

I asked the woman who was working there if I could get 50% off since they're sick knowing I could at least give them a chance in a hospital tank with attention and your guys' help . She said she can't sell sick fish and came with me to see what I was talking about since she had sold fish from that tank earlier in the day. She was all like "oh they do have ich, who knew" and preceeded to completely over dose with an ich treatment. I stopped her and asked what she thought she was doing? Needless to say, she got an earful from me knowing those fish would probably all be dead within a few hours. It took 5 minutes to get her to take the already dead fish out of the tank. Needless to say, I called customer service and complained.

*sigh*

I'm going in tomorrow after filling out an application online so I can hopefully bring this store up to par with goldfish and general fish keeping. Does anyone know how a lfs cares for the fish in the cramped tanks? I guess turn over is their strength. Also, is there a trick to diagnosing diseases? I'll probably end up posting a lot in the diagnosis portion if I get this job. They manage to get some really pretty fish but they end up dying before people can buy them or people buy them sick. If you guys can help me with this task, that'd be awesome! I just hope my two black beauties will still be alive tomorrow so i can try to save them.

[ashlee18]

Omg...I just asked my lfs guy that today while finally buying some crushed coral. So at my lfs they do 100% water changes daily (or as close to 100% as fishily possible...get it lol). And they have 1000x filtration on each tank. At this lfs they do not have a large central filter but each tank has it's own filter so no spreading disease. They never have sick fish and have a whole wall of goldfish.

[pss_gold]

Woah that's amazing!! fishily possible tehe

I'm almost 100% convinced they have a central filter at least for the goldfish. The lady said other wise and I'll double check but there's not enough room for it to be anything else. It's a 3 tank high wall with a large wet/dry filter underneath. I also don't think they change the water often at all. There is a lot of green algae for them to eat at least but they also have plecos in with them. :/ 1000x is crazy but I guess that's what it takes to keep them healthy.

If I get the job, I'll get the specs and post them. It's time for these fish to live nice lives

[Cynders]

Well it honestly depends. It may be a lost cause, they will either fire you for not making enough money for the establishment. Chain stores are sometimes most often in it for the money and there will sometimes be nothing you can do to change it. If you do treat the fish, they will most likely make you buy the treatment yourself. It's a sad truth, the best thing you can do I think would be to work at a real aquarium store where fish are the specialties. Not every fish can be saved or are meant to be saved sadly.

[ashlee18]

I do have to agree that it might be a lost cause. The only reason why the guy at the lfs near me does everything he does is because it is a fish store and it's his livelihood. A place like pet$mart might not be so receptive to change, especially from a new hire.

[pss_gold]

Luckily this is a wall of mart and the manager seemed really disturbed by the state of the fish. I don't think he goes back there often. I'm going to talk to him tomorrow and see what can be done. A store like that shouldn't have live animals if it's not going to provide care for them before being sold.

Also, the lady said that if the fish die, they just get a credit; meaning that the supplier loses money on something that wasn't his fault. Not to mention that what she said is completely unethical since she has now murdered them. That's like getting a shipment of ice cream, leaving it out in the sun, then going to the supplier and saying you gave us bad ice cream. Terrible.

I think they care about their image and providing a good product since customer service took my call very seriously. Hopefully I can make this work. Is there a brand of salt that can be bought in bulk from a hardware store or something to treat for bacteria and stuff? If I had a brand name, they might think I have a better idea of what I'm talking about.

[Helen]

i think if you get a job at a chain fish shop, you will be busting to run away from them. all they care about is sales. they may keep healthy looking fish in their tanks, but the reality is they have high turn over that they have created from their lack of educating their customers about the proper care of goldfish and others alike.. this is how they make money.. if you were to go against that, you would be unemployed very quickly and bitterly dissappointed that you weren't able to achieve what you set out to do.

there are a few members here that have experienced what i described and have been mentally scarred by the way LFS stores conduct their business. it's so cruel.

[pss_gold]

Yeah I've talked to people that work at the chain stores in the area.... they're just there for money and wouldn't even buy the fish they sell

One of the chains by my house really is amazing though. So I think it varies from store to store and the people they can hire and how the manager is. If I can't turn this exact store around, I know there's plenty others to try.

I know I can boost this store's sales if they have healthy happy fish to sell. Most of them look sooo sad

[Helen]

you know. you could always go and talk to the "boss" and just tell him how you like to keep fish and ask him if he does the same.. if he's the same, i don't see why he wouldn't consider hiring you!.. then we can recommend everyone to come to your store to buy stuff..

[number20121]

The problem with Wally World and the fish section is that at least in my area here (and there are several stores) they don't have an associate who is only responsible for that section. They don't even have someone who is only responsible for the pet supply section in general.

So they always get literally ANYONE who works there to get a fish out of the tank. I had a frickin STOCKER help me with a fish a while ago (which died after 2 days anyway). I honestly felt bad for him, because he was all nervous and had no clue what to do. He was thankful when I offered that I'd catch and bag the fish myself and have him watch me so no one can say I cheated.

[Cynders]

Even though you're keeping the fish in the store safe, that's not stopping the demand. Like stakos said the turnover is so high and people will continue to buy them. The best thing to do is to raise awareness to not buy from them. The demand will go down and they won't sell them anymore. This will get the breeders to stop selling sick fish and fish that have severe deformities. Edited October 13, 2010 by Haruka

[pss_gold]

Yeah I didn't have much luck today but I am going to talk to the boss tomorrow and see what can be done since I spoke with the guy who takes care of them and he said he wasn't going to be there all next week D:

Here's a link to my first project fish. He's already pine coned but he doesn't seem to care that he is.

Help the pine cone

I really hope they hire me. I know I can't be there 24/7 to help people with info and stuff but I've been making signs and flyers for my dad's company for years.

One interesting thing the guy said was that they arrive sick and nnnnnn "heals" them. I'm going to check that since I'm almost 100% sure their supplier is Apet. They were handling me like a customer which really irritates me. They can't handle people like...people. Oh well. I'm going to try again tomorrow and then try another store that's right around the corner. I'll keep going till I get a job to help educate people about the fishies we love

[Erica Stolte]

I like to think this could be possible with the right people. Then again I don't have the RL experience in this matter. When I applied to work at a place that sold pet fish, they didn't need anyone else.

[enesta]

I run into all these poorly kept fish all the time at big box stores, sometimes downright disgusting especially with the bettas. Sometimes I think about getting an employee and asking them to do something - but then I think that for every fish that lives, it's just feeding the machine to continue offering them.

[Calluna]

It's not a lost cause, Yuko! At my local Petsm@rt they have two WONDERFUL ladies taking care of the fish. I've never seen a chain store that well kept. It's on par with family owned LFS. Rarely if ever are there dead fish, even in the feeder tanks. When people go to buy fish they ask what kind of tank and existing fish you have and try to discourage people from overstocking. They own many tanks themselves so they are always available to give good advice

[fitfin]

Most of the profit that a retailer makes is not off the livestock but off the supplies. In the minds of most, lost fish are just casualties of "war" and sadly, are expected and accounted for. Independent retailers work much harder at keeping their stock alive as they know that they have to have something "a bit above" the chains.

[Erica Stolte]

Not sure if you can fix these problems, I know many people do try.

I hope you know that is It normal in the trade for some fish to die in transit. It is also normal that some die in the store tanks even in good store conditions before they are sold.

I think the only way around these deaths is to avoid the system of fish being shipped and housed in crowded tanks. Which means only getting locally bred fish directly from the breeder.