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December 18th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| free entertainment...just read deathco's care instructions
Unfortunately I had to fork over some money to deathco today cause they were the only place to get a med I needed. However, I did get some free entertainment while there (my mum dropped me off when she went grocery shopping so I was there for a while). They have a big sign up in the fish section talking about fish care.  I read a bit of it in between skimming fishkeeping magazines and had to try reaaaalllly hard not to break down laughing in the middle of the store.
My favorite tip was by far "Ask a Petco employee for help deciding which fish are compatible", followed by "A new tank takes 48 hours to stabilize."  But one tip was very useful...useful in understanding how they think they can get a bunch of huge fish in a 10gal..."The rule for stocking is one fish per gallon of water." OK so that's 55 Oscars in my 55 gal...  And then the one I really don't get..."Artificial lights shouldn't be left on more than 8 hours a day." Huh?? Don't they want you to burn through your lights quicker?  I don't remember most of them but it was all pretty funny. Anyway, I used to get so annoyed at stuff like this at chain-type stores but I've realized it will take a looooong time before they'll listen to all the fishkeepers who have been complaining, so now I just laugh at their stupid advice. (Takes my mind off the dirty, overstocked, disease-filled death-contraptions lined up along the wall...  )
Last edited by 0morrokh; December 18th, 2007 at 11:39 PM.
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December 18th, 2007
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| | ID master
| I don't have the opertunity to visit a local Deathco, so I wouldn't know how they treat their fish, but that is pretty funny. All the stores I go to sponser the local fish forum I belong to and a member of the aquarium society, so they kind of have to have their tanks in tip-top shape. Thanks for sharing.
Tom | |
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December 19th, 2007
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
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December 19th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by COBettaCouple  |  | |
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December 19th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| Wow. Unbelievable. I'd rather they didn't give advice at all. 48 hours?
Am guessing the lights for no longer than 8 hrs is against algae? | |
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December 19th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| Man that's totally stupid....the chlorine MAY be gone in 48 hours but it's far from cycled.
For our store we are having species care cards: common name, scientific, size and tank size and the info you'll need to keep the fish. IMO most fish places are lazy and about $$$$ not the fish. | |
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December 19th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Most business is about  not the consumer or the product. These big chain stores want you to feel like a fish tank is effortless and heck if you lose a few fish you'll likely blame your self. You read the sign right? Did you do everything it said? Well, then what did I do wrong? Well, I better go back and ask and get more fish. So, it goes round and round. PetCo PetSmart, both do it. I love to intervene on bad fish sales.
Anyway, I'm on my way to the store to pick 150 Iridescent Sharks. Here I thought my tank was overstocked. | |
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December 19th, 2007
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| yea, what WERE you thinking!  Quote:
Originally Posted by Gozer_1 Anyway, I'm on my way to the store to pick 150 Iridescent Sharks. Here I thought my tank was overstocked. | | |
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December 20th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| just a bit ironic...
This is a bit OT but I didn't want to start a new thread...
I was just at the drs office to get a shot...they had a nice looking cichlid tank in the main lobby. Except, about half of them had gill flukes. Sick fish at the medical clinic. | |
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December 20th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| You should wrap up a box of Parasite Clear and give it to the DOC for Christmas! | |
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December 20th, 2007
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| Quote:
Originally Posted by theessigs You should wrap up a box of Parasite Clear and give it to the doc for Christmas! | They'd probably charge you for an office visit if you did that. | |
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December 20th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| Well I've just lucked out, I have a nice petco without too many ammusing signs, though my walmart has signs like that, except the light part, for some reason they say nothing about that and all their tanks have no lights on.
Well you know petsupermarket isn't a whole lot better. I heard a guy ask if iridescent sharks were good community fish and the employee has the smart response of if it's by the window tanks they are aggressive fish, if they are in the middle aisle they are our community fish and the customer gives her a funny look then politely says thank you.
Who would charge who for an office visit, the fish or the doctor?  | |
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December 20th, 2007
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| lol, the doc.  Quote:
Originally Posted by atmmachine816 Who would charge who for an office visit, the fish or the doctor? | | |
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December 21st, 2007
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| | Fish Bum
| the petco near me has very nice lookin tanks and healthy fish BUT I GET MY ADVICE HERE | |
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December 21st, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| The closest PetCo to me was a fairly nice store. Over the last year they degraded to a dump. I shopped there for awhile because the food was cheaper, but as the conditions got worse I just couldn't shop there. PetSmart is down the road but also getting a little dingy and they quit carrying Marine stuff. Both have terribly incorrect labels including the one I read on the Iridescent Shark tank that is full of a swarm of baby giants. | |
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December 30th, 2007
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| | Fish Bum
| I will say that my local Petco and Petsmart have nice looking, clean tanks and most of the time are "dead fish free". When i was brand new at this hobby i was taking their advice.....then i found this site. I bought 2 Pacu's for my 29g tank and the "professional" told me i would be "just fine". lol. I returned them after finding out about these fish. So i get all my advice here now. I wish Wal-mart would just stop selling fish all together. No lights on the tanks when i was in there last. They actually had some pacu's, and their label for max. size read 10". LOL. Wal-mart's filters and equipment is . The starter kits they sell arent a bad deal for the money, but if you plan on staying with this hobby youll have to upgrade. I mean a 29g with a hood and lights, cheap HOB filter, cheap heater, net and some chemicals isnt bad for $94. So i guess i am blessed with a decent PetCo and Petsmart as far as fish quality go.  | |
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December 30th, 2007
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| yea, the walmart closest to us has a pacu tank with that on it.  | |
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December 31st, 2007
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| | Moderator
| There's actually a petco nearby that has very nice looking fish tanks. However, they also have a rack of fifty to a hundred cups of sick bettas, and every shelf in the fish section is lined with the "Bettas live in mud puddles" propaganda.
Aside from that, the corporation sends out a vile little form letter every time a person contacts them regarding the advice they give about bettas, claiming that "veterinary experts" have come up with the advice that they give, and insinuating that, just because I've done my research, and happen to know that the "knowledge" that this advice is based on is a lie, I'm an idiot, and know nothing about keeping fish.
So I told them they won't get my money for fish, cat, or anything else, until they change their advice on keeping bettas.
It seems I'll be waiting for them to be changing all of their fishkeeping advice.
Too bad it would be a waste of fish's lives to go out to Petco, buy the largest tank they've got (probably 90), get ninety of the biggest, most expensive fish they have, and then sue them when the fish die off. | |
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December 31st, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| I got my Iridescent Sharks at Walmart. They had the same 10" max size label. Oh how wrong they are. Too bad I didn't know about FishLore when I bought them. I haven't seen the Irs since I gave em a piece of my mind. They still have the tank full of 20 Pacu, 20 Oscars, and 20 Tin Foil Barbs with a little sign making you feel like you could fit all those fish into one little tank. Every time I say something they just say, "We don't have any control over the inventory. We just get whatever they send us." They finally quit selling Columbian Sharks too, with out any input from me lol. Unfortunately both nearest PetSmart and PetCo refuse to believe anything anyone tells them. They still carry all the fish no one should buy. PetSmart discontinued their Marine stock though. Probably a good thing. PetCo never had them. Like wise probably a good thing. Every store any where near me has the bazzillion cups of Bettas and every one of them sells them to put in stupid flower vases and little "desktop" bowls. Every one of them does their best to perpetuate the Mud puddle myth too. My question for them is.... How do they think the species multiplies? If each betta was trapped in 3 cups of Water it would be kind of hard for them to mate. Does the female flip out on to the ground and flop around til it falls in another puddle, hoping there's a male there? I mean come on really. What would the babies do? Just because they can breath air doesn't mean they're amphibous lol. | |
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January 1st, 2008
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| That's what I hate about Deathco - the total disregard for the life they carry in their stores. They KNOW better, but try to bully customers who complain by telling us we're stupid, when they know we're right. The only experts that gave them the advice they put up is the experts on how to kill fish faster and send home as many sick fish as possible so they can make more money. It's in their best interests that our fish die and get sick.. or so they think. The only thing we'd get there is something that we needed and can't find anywhere else (ie: the 6.6g tanks perfect for bettas).
We have a petco near us, but go out of our way to go to a petsmart if we need anything urgently enough to not get it online. They may not be a whole let better, but between the 2 chains, petco has earned the right to lose our business more. Quote:
Originally Posted by sirdarksol There's actually a petco nearby that has very nice looking fish tanks. However, they also have a rack of fifty to a hundred cups of sick bettas, and every shelf in the fish section is lined with the "Bettas live in mud puddles" propaganda.
Aside from that, the corporation sends out a vile little form letter every time a person contacts them regarding the advice they give about bettas, claiming that "veterinary experts" have come up with the advice that they give, and insinuating that, just because I've done my research, and happen to know that the "knowledge" that this advice is based on is a lie, I'm an idiot, and know nothing about keeping fish.
So I told them they won't get my money for fish, cat, or anything else, until they change their advice on keeping bettas.
It seems I'll be waiting for them to be changing all of their fishkeeping advice.
Too bad it would be a waste of fish's lives to go out to Petco, buy the largest tank they've got (probably 90), get ninety of the biggest, most expensive fish they have, and then sue them when the fish die off. | | |
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January 1st, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| I've never been to a PetCo and from the sounds of it I never will. There are two Petsmarts that I can go to near me. Each is 30 mins drive away.
There is another store about 1 hour away but they also don't just deal solely with fish. However, I have heard some good stuff about them so I may take a trip up there in the future.
Then there's a dedicated fish store about 45mins away but their prices are highly inflated. 
So for decent value, right now I get my fish at Petsmart and my supplies online. | |
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January 11th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| I work at PetCo
I am an employee at PetCo and am proud of it. Since I started there a few months ago, I've been getting a lot of compliments on my service and how clean the department/tanks are. I pretty much took over the aquatics department. My general manager will even call me up once in awhile with a question that a customer has. I think that the tanks I take care of are by far way cleaner than any of the LFS tanks here in Kalamazoo, MI. When a customer comes in wanting to set up their first fish tank, I give them the complete run down. Cost, cycling, test kits, which fish they want to keep before they buy the tank. You have no idea the amount of people that come in there wanting to put for instance, a green spotted puffer in a 3 gallon tank or something ridiculous like that. I refuse to sell any fish to a customer that does not have the proper set up for the fish. I learned everything I know on this site and feel like I pass on a great deal of information to my customers before they buy. I have 4 fish tanks and can tell people what to do by experience also. So please stop calling my store DeathCo. I agree that some of them are not well managed, but if you are ever in Kalamazoo, MI stop by the PetCo and check our selection out. And another thing, if we don't know everything about a specific animal; we go and look it up in our computer system and print out the care sheet for that specific animal. Then if the customer and I decide they can take care of it, we make sure they go home with that care sheet. Many times I will also write the name of this site down onto their receipt so they can look up any info they want. Sorry about the ranting and raving, I just hate when people put down PetCo when they all aren't bad. | |
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January 11th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| I wish you worked at my closest petco.  Unfortunately it seems like your store is an exception...most petcos I've been to or heard of have a pretty poor fish section. I think it's excellent that you work at petco and can help them manage their fish section properly, and our criticisms certainly don't apply to the few petco's that take excellent care of their fish. Don't feel like we dislike everyone who works at petco, we just wish more people like you could run the stores. And the petco caresheets are pretty inaccurate too. | |
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January 11th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| That sounds like the petco round here! Their freshwater fish guy who works Thursday nights is one of the most helpful people I know. I could swear that he is a member of fishlore but I cant confirm it. They take great care of their fish and I really enjoy being there thursdays (That is the night he works and everyone else dosent know what theyre talking about.) | |
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January 13th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| Well I am glad that the PetCo that I work at is not the only one taking great care for their fish section. Really it is in the company wide policy to do the routine maintenance and all that, but you know that in chain store's policies never really work out. I just can't figure out how some of them get away with it because we have unexpected visits by district managers and such. I guess the other stores' managers don't really care about their jobs. And I would just to say thank you to everyone on fishlore.com for giving great information so I can do my job the right way. | |
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January 13th, 2008
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| Unfortunately, a good fish department at a Petco is rare and the corporate offices policies towards fish are atrocious. You're an exact opposite of the 'fish expert' at the petco in my hometown, a store that has a habit of double-charging for items and a manager who thinks a bloated male betta indicates pregnancy. Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle88525 I am an employee at PetCo and am proud of it. Since I started there a few months ago, I've been getting a lot of compliments on my service and how clean the department/tanks are. I pretty much took over the aquatics department. My general manager will even call me up once in awhile with a question that a customer has. I think that the tanks I take care of are by far way cleaner than any of the LFS tanks here in Kalamazoo, MI. When a customer comes in wanting to set up their first fish tank, I give them the complete run down. Cost, cycling, test kits, which fish they want to keep before they buy the tank. You have no idea the amount of people that come in there wanting to put for instance, a Green Spotted Puffer in a 3 gallon tank or something ridiculous like that. I refuse to sell any fish to a customer that does not have the proper set up for the fish. I learned everything I know on this site and feel like I pass on a great deal of information to my customers before they buy. I have 4 fish tanks and can tell people what to do by experience also. So please stop calling my store DeathCo. I agree that some of them are not well managed, but if you are ever in Kalamazoo, MI stop by the PetCo and check our selection out. And another thing, if we don't know everything about a specific animal; we go and look it up in our computer system and print out the care sheet for that specific animal. Then if the customer and I decide they can take care of it, we make sure they go home with that care sheet. Many times I will also write the name of this site down onto their receipt so they can look up any info they want. Sorry about the ranting and raving, I just hate when people put down PetCo when they all aren't bad. | | |
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January 13th, 2008
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| | Fish Bum
| Quote:
Originally Posted by COBettaCouple Unfortunately, a good fish department at a Petco is rare and the corporate offices policies towards fish are atrocious. You're an exact opposite of the 'fish expert' at the petco in my hometown, a store that has a habit of double-charging for items and a manager who thinks a bloated male betta indicates pregnancy. | Wow, that is ridiculous. | |
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January 14th, 2008
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| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle88525 Well I am glad that the PetCo that I work at is not the only one taking great care for their fish section. Really it is in the company wide policy to do the routine maintenance and all that, but you know that in chain store's policies never really work out. I just can't figure out how some of them get away with it because we have unexpected visits by district managers and such. I guess the other stores' managers don't really care about their jobs. And I would just to say thank you to everyone on fishlore.com for giving great information so I can do my job the right way. | There is also the unfortunate truth that the company actively supports the lie that bettas are healthy living in plots of water that range from two cups to half a gallon. This is my beef with Petco, and until the propaganda is removed from the shelves and their website, and until they stop stocking so many bettas that the majority of them die or at least end up very sick before they can be sold, and until the response to a concerned customer trying to explain that bettas do not live in mud puddles, they die in them is no longer a form letter explaining what a big moron the customer is, I will not shop at a Petco, even one with a nice fish section.
I have made the same vow regarding fish stores in the area, as there are a couple that have the same policies on bettas that Petco has. | |
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January 16th, 2008
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| That's the problem with Deatcho - the corporate HQ. Unfortunately most stores and employees follow the atrocious policies and that's how 'deathco' was born.
I know there are good employees at some, even some stores that are good but overall the chain as a whole treats customers like they're fools, ignoring us and spouting advice to make fish sick and die. The changes need to be at the top and that is the biggest problem petco has. Quote:
Originally Posted by sirdarksol There is also the unfortunate truth that the company actively supports the lie that bettas are healthy living in plots of water that range from two cups to half a gallon. This is my beef with Petco, and until the propaganda is removed from the shelves and their website, and until they stop stocking so many bettas that the majority of them die or at least end up very sick before they can be sold, and until the response to a concerned customer trying to explain that bettas do not live in mud puddles, they die in them is no longer a form letter explaining what a big moron the customer is, I will not shop at a Petco, even one with a nice fish section.
I have made the same vow regarding fish stores in the area, as there are a couple that have the same policies on bettas that Petco has. | | |
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January 18th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| No offence to you Kyle but the bad PetCo's outweigh the good one's and their propoganda is well ... wrong.
Good on you that you are using and implementing the correct knowledge to your customers, wish there were more of you 
Hey, I have an  ... hurry up and get to the top so you can make some much needed changes  | |
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