Dead Fish at Petco

Is it normal to see this many dead fish in a goldfish tank? We saw this at Petco today. It's a brand new store, so the stock hasn't been there that long. They also had dead fish in other tanks, and some tanks with no stock at all.

 

I think Petco needs to read up on the Nitrogen Cycle.

The feeder fish tanks are horrible.

 

The feeder tanks suck. They fluctuate SO much in numbers that they pretty much constantly are cycling. I wish we didn't sell them. But quick answer is no, that's not an acceptable number of fish but it won't be fixed unless you bring it up to the management's attention.

 

It seems like it happens a lot? My lps all have massive goldfish dieoffs. About 50 or so goldfish just sink to the bottom and die.

I asked an employee about it once and she said it just happens sometimes >

 

I assume they stock the tanks like that because goldfish sell so quickly? It seems like most of the LFS I've been in treat goldfish like an afterthought.

 

If it helps to give anyone an idea I order 250 to 500 large sized comets twice a week. So we sell through them really quick, BB drops. Then we plop 750 to 1,000 in twice a week, BB goes crazy trying to catch up. Bottled bacteria isn't all that helpful. It's just an uphill battle with fish that aren't bred for health to begin with. I wish I could put a ton of pothos and aquatic plants in there but customers already have a hard time waiting for their precious feeders without any obstacles. Plus corporate would say no. Sadly, as long as there is demand, the store will meet with supply. If people would stop buying pint sized unfiltered tanks for Bettas we wouldn't sell them. It's frustrating.

What I'm trying to figure out is why they have the goldfish in the regular tanks. That's how PetSmart has them but I've never seen it at Petco like that. Most of us that that divided 120 with the sump underneath and the spot that collects dead fish isn't visible to customers. Strange