*****: good or bad? ( i need lotsa opinions on this)

[spankr]

Originally posted by Marty:
<strong>originally quoted by spankr
Man, you must travel ALOT to be able to give these percentages. I must live in the 5-20% of the country that has the ok to good conditions. The local ***** is decent, not wonderful, but neither is the lfs store either. BTW, when did you come to Dallas to check these stores out?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Just to clarify! I obviously didn't go to every ***** in the country. But, I have been to several of them across Minnesota and stick to my percentages <img src="graemlins//urrr.gif" border="0" alt="[urrr]" /> . All but one of the *****'s have SW ick. Last summer they wiped out 8 tanks that because of a underpowered filter system. They tried to fix it themselves, and guess what. Two weeks later they killed the next batch <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" /> . Obviously there are good *****'s when you find one around Minnesota let me know <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" /> . I have never been to one that even comes close to the care that most of the private stores provide. And before everyone goes ape on me, I have been to some pretty bad private stores. The difference is that the small guy won't stay open if he continually puts out a crappy product. ***** on the other hand is so diverse that it is not impacted as much.

 

[marty]

If *****'s are so bad, why does everyone seem to buy things (i.e. fish) there? The reason: price. I can get fish 50% cheaper at ***** than the local lfs. Yes, *****'s are diverse. I have 3 golden retrievers that I buy Nutro dog food for. Yep, I buy it at *****, sometimes PetSmart. Both stores are relatively the same for dog food prices, ***** has marine fish, PetSmart doesn't. All of the fish I have bought from ***** have been very good. The only reason some have died was because of my stupidness and inexperience AND because my lfs was even more stupid (notice lfs, not *****). The lfs nearby wants my money even more than *****. They will try to sell me things I don't even want or desire. And I have seen dead fish floating around in their tanks too. The lfs a little further away has better control of their tanks and I have never seen anything wrong with them, but again, it seems like the almighty dollar is all that matters to them. Sell, sell, sell.
If your ***** is so bad, talk to the manager or whoever. Talk to the customers looking at buying things there. Show them the bad things. Don't buy their fish. Don't buy their dog food if that is what you want to do. Send an email or visit the links ijji provides.
If an lfs nearby sucks and has bad tanks, do you go back and visit it often? Is it worth looking again and seeing how bad the fish have it? I know there are some bad lfs stores here in Dallas (at least I believe they are). You know what? I haven't been back to them. Not worth my time. And if it was a "chain store" or "superstore" that I didn't like one store, I probably would be avoiding all of the same chain stores throughout the country. Why go back to someplace you obviously do not like? Spread your opinion to your friends and whoever will listen that you believe *****'s are bad in the fish dept.
Just my 2.5 cents worth tonight.

 

[just_got_tanked]

I live in Denver, CO and here the ***** stores around here suck. I have been to five or six of them out here. Only two of them have saltwater fish. A big company like that does not pay to have highly experienced people working for them. They beleive in high cost training. They can hire someone that has LITTLE experience in saltwater tanks and train them so they can save money.

 

[spankr]

Originally posted by Marty:
<strong>If *****'s are so bad, why does everyone seem to buy things (i.e. fish) there? The reason: price. I can get fish 50% cheaper at ***** than the local lfs. Yes, *****'s are diverse. I have 3 golden retrievers that I buy Nutro dog food for. Yep, I buy it at *****, sometimes PetSmart. Both stores are relatively the same for dog food prices, ***** has marine fish, PetSmart doesn't. All of the fish I have bought from ***** have been very good. The only reason some have died was because of my stupidness and inexperience AND because my lfs was even more stupid (notice lfs, not *****). The lfs nearby wants my money even more than *****. They will try to sell me things I don't even want or desire. And I have seen dead fish floating around in their tanks too. The lfs a little further away has better control of their tanks and I have never seen anything wrong with them, but again, it seems like the almighty dollar is all that matters to them. Sell, sell, sell.
If your ***** is so bad, talk to the manager or whoever. Talk to the customers looking at buying things there. Show them the bad things. Don't buy their fish. Don't buy their dog food if that is what you want to do. Send an email or visit the links ijji provides.
If an lfs nearby sucks and has bad tanks, do you go back and visit it often? Is it worth looking again and seeing how bad the fish have it? I know there are some bad lfs stores here in Dallas (at least I believe they are). You know what? I haven't been back to them. Not worth my time. And if it was a "chain store" or "superstore" that I didn't like one store, I probably would be avoiding all of the same chain stores throughout the country. Why go back to someplace you obviously do not like? Spread your opinion to your friends and whoever will listen that you believe *****'s are bad in the fish dept.
Just my 2.5 cents worth tonight.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I totally agree with you. I also have a dog and an amazon parrot. I goto ***** for dog food and parrot toys. I have been complaining at one local ***** for about a year. I recently found out that they hired a woman that had good knowledge about sw fish. I went in and the tanks looked good.
I am just saying that smaller petstores seem to be geared towards one group(fish,dogs,birds,ect.) and when you specialize in fish you better have good quality or you will not survive. If ***** only sold fish we wouldn't be talking about them right now, they would be bankrupt. Pardon the pun, but it is the birds,dogs and cats that keep ***** afloat .

 

[reefnjeff]

I occasionally shop at my local (*****) in duluth, mn for fish and this is my experiance with them, last week I bought 5 neons and 3 angels, I have one neon left, 2 weeks before that I bought 6 neons, 2 redtail sharks, 2 glowlights at wal-mart I lost one neon so far......I have bought several saltwater fish I have had like a 90% die off, to survive has been a yellow tang and niger trigger, I get better guarantees shipping from half way across the country than a store in my own back yard, sounds like a bad deal to me.....P.S i'm not even going to blame myself for the loses, I been keeping and breeding fish for over 25 years. *****!!! stick to the dry goods.

 

[daluminum]

not trying to flame ya.. but with 25 years.. ya should have known better than to buy THAT MANY fish in the last week and not expect a huge die off.. If I did the math right.. you bought SIXTEEN FISH.. in 2 weeks.. all from a corporate chain.. and your tank says its a 75 gal.. man... I would hope that you dont blame that on *****.. put your credit card away and buy some patience of of ----.. that ALOT of fish..

 

[y2says]

Well, here's my experience. I've purchased some fishes from them. My first one was my volitan and it's twice as big as before 6 months later. I have two percs that alive and strong and my 3" koran angel is growing. I've purchased percula clowns and angels from them and they died, not because they were bad fish, but because I was inexperienced. My brother (beginner) bought a butterfly from them a few days ago and it had fin and tail rot all over him. I called the manager (which I talk to all the time) and he took it back. I've gone to a lot of pet stores and lfs around Seattle and I've seen the goods and the bads with all of them. My favorite lfs keeps large imperator angel (spelling?) in a 55g with other large fishes. Nothing is going to be perfect. I think if you know how to look at fish for signs of diseases, you'll be fine. Sometimes we are so excited about buying a new fish that we overlook it's condition. All I know is if you find the right ones you can get a real deal like: yellow tang $13, purple tang, $40, coral beauty and bi-color $19, etc.

 

[jrruss]

Food for thought....
I love this hobby and do love my fish...
But maybe we should not be taking fish out of their natural habitat and trying to keep them in tanks.....
And believe me it is purely for our enjoyment not theirs...

 

[wally]

If you go to any and I mean any fish store you will see fish that have ich or are dead and/or dying. Its just a fact of life in this hobby. The difference is that "good" stores will have staff people that go around and pull out the floaters a lot more and keep the tanks clean. I find it funny that as S.W. hobbyists we all b*tch about stores like ***** mistreating fish but then turn around and buy wild corals and fish often captured with cyanide. A lot of these fish die even before they get to your LFS. Not to mention the 1,000s of tons of live rock that get yanked from the reefs every year. If you have anything other than aquacultured live rock in your tank than YOU have destroyed a little piece of the reefs. That is why it was banned from Florida and other places in efforts to protect the reefs.
One thing ***** does do is sell captive raised S.W. fish which they should be applauded for. Its easy to pick on large chain stores like ***** of Petsmart but I bet for every bad chain store location there are 2-3 bad mom and pop fish stores. At my petsmart here in Erie, PA the fish are cheaper and better looking than the saltwater fish in the biggest mom and pop fish store. I was in the mom and pop store this week and every fish in every tank was covered in ich yet in ***** I saw no fish with ich.

 

[jakob4001]

LOL...there's always an exception to the rule; but that is pretty much; compared to an area that has at least 3 LFS w/ at least 10 chain stores in the same area;more times than not, the chain stores have fewer merchandise fish wise & less quality; both are governed by profits, but chains also have to deal w/ chain store politics too (like rules that states ALL,dead/dying, fish MUST remain in recieving tanks for at least 1 business day or more; first hand knowledge speaking w/ managament of local *****; will have to say that while PETSMART only carries FW fish only, they do seem to put emphasis on clean healthy facilities;let's not even bring up fish section in walmarts;NOW there's a chain that should not sell live goods; you forgot to mention us folks who enjoy feeding live foods not just for "needs" of fish, but for our enjoyment

 

[swtanks]

I'll go with the minority and say that I had a very good experience with *****.
A few years ago I bought a gorgeous powder blue tang from them. It was $25. This thing was bulletproof. Never got sick and ate everything I fed it. I wish I still had it but it eventually outgrew the 55 (should have upgraded tanks back then) I had it in so I sold it to another hobbyist.
Belive it or not, the ***** by me blows away most of the small LFS. I would never buy ANYTHING at some of the stores but ***** is not bad. There is even a Petland Discount by me that has nice livestock.

 

[bt_1999_66]

*****....? Yes I have been there more than once, here in Houston, and honestly, every single time I have been there I walk out without what I was looking for. ie; The other day I was looking to purchase some Marine white sand. I called before getting there and they stated that it was in stock. Drove 15 minutes to get there, which in Houston is about 6 blocks, due to the traffic, and guess what, they had been out of it for approx 2 weeks.
That was just the latest experience....
I have only been there once to try to buy any live animals (Fish, anemonies, or whatever was in good condition), that was when was setting up my 110 gls. I did not only not buy any of their Sorry looking, substandard, not cared for, nasty, ich ridden, animals out of their filthy, not cared for, graveyard looking tanks, but I as a newby, back then, had much more knowledge than the untrained, lazy, space caddet looking young man that was standing at the Sw fish area. Notice I said standing, while the fish suffered. I know that some people may live in areas that the ***** may be the last cocacola in the desert, but that may also have to do with the quality of other stores that are in the area, if any. <img src="graemlins//evilwhorn.gif" border="0" alt="[Evil Horn]" />

 

[turbojoe]

....Thats why I BUY AQUACULTERED LIVE ROCK ONLY......PERIOD!!!!!!!...I just returned from a local *****......the conditions in the SALTWATER AREA were HORRIBLE...and I do mean HORRIBLE. Bubble anemones rotting.....Ich haveing a field day everywhere.....heaters just laying in the bottem of tanks ......algea growing on everything in sight.....salt creep that was falling onto the floor......It was almost too the point of having to CLEAN the outside of the tanks so you could even see what was in the tanks....If you find these types of conditions at a LFS.....STAY AWAY....If you find them at a CHAIN STORE..STAY AWAY......Its that simple......Believe me...at *****...IMO...the FIRST ORDER of business is too make MONEY...just like any business......but ***** Is staffed In the MANAGMENT department that has too BE ACCOUNTABLE TOO INVESTORS......Not the ANIMALS that SUFFER becuase of the GREEDY ways of CORPORATE MENTALITY.There are TWO things that I can say about ***** that are GOOD....ONE..they are purchasing some livestock that Is captive bred and tank raised...the other is that they do allow the local SPCA to put cats in there stores for adoption...other than this..I THINK ***** IS A SORRY COMPANY....IMO. <img src="graemlins//yell.gif" border="0" alt="[yell]" />

 

[keitho]

well, from what i've seen of the ***** stores in richardson, plano, and allen, tx, it seems to me that tangs and surgeons are the species that particularly suffer the most due to their susceptibility to ick. other fish like damsels, groupers, and clowns tend to fair better either because they are tank-raised or are generally more hardy. having said that, the large yellow tang in my tank came from ***** as did the pair of skunk cleaners, coral beauty, yellowtailed damsel, blue damsel, keyhole angel, AND false percula. all of these fish/shrimp are living and are doing great AND they've all been with me for the better part of a year. it seems to me that a small, nonzero percentage of dieoff is the norm (though not necessarily acceptable) with saltwater fish. maybe ***** should just stop carrying tangs or even stop carrying fish that aren't tank-raised. in fact, i would actually prefer to see a lot MORE tank-raised fish carried by them, even at an increased price
one more thing they could do...charge a little more for their fish and hire MORE COMPETENT clerks for the saltwater fish section (and NO high schoolers that only need an afterschool job and don't even have a tank of their own).

 

[jakob4001]

hey BT_1999 what LFS do you use in houston area?

 

[whipple]

I'm gonna go to the local Pet Co just to see how bad it is today, I will post what i see later tonight. This is the Fresno CA Pet Co.

[hr]
Bill

 

[goober]

we have two petcos around here one is just horrible and the other one is ok. Everytime ***** gets tangs they always have ick on them. some of ther fish are good but i always see at least one dead fish there, <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" />

 

[kris walker]

Wow, such a long list of posts, this is really encouraging news for the tangs! As for *****, I've been to two in my area (SF Bay area) and it is terrible for salt water, and not that bad for fresh. The main problem IMO is that they either (1) employ people who have no idea what they are doing, and can therefore not react appropriately to certain situations like when a fish gets sick, dies, etc, (2) the policy of the store does not let some knowledgeable employees adapt to a situation for the benefit of the fish, and ultimately Pecto's pocket, or (3) the tank setup is not adequate for keeping the saltwater fish they have healthy.
This is not a ***** only problem. This happens with big corporations everywhere, and ***** should place responsibility on the individual store managers.
sam

 

[wally]

One thing this post and others like it that appear from time to time all over the net is the need for fish stores in general to hire more or better staff. That is far more easily said than done. There are simply not that many people out there who know about fish who can afford to work for what a fish store can pay them. I would love to work at a fish store but I can not live on the salary I would make there. Fish stores simply do not have the money to pay for a better staff. If they pay more than it will cost all of us much more for fish and other things and we all already b*tch that they charge to much.

 

[kris walker]

Good point Wally, but you don't think it is possible for a fish store to "train" their minimum wage people? All a single company or big corporation needs is one quality person to put together a training video and buy a reference book. This is not hard IMO, and it may cost say $5,000-10,000, but the company will save so much more in the long run.
Just my opinion,
sam