Devastating Sight At The Pet Store

Last Friday I went to PetSmart to check their fish as I know they get them on Thursdays or Fridays.
Once I got there and started looking at the tanks, I saw many bags floating as they were acclimating the new fish. As I got closer I was so sad to see so many dead fish in the bags. Some seemed to have died recently, some were eaten and or looked like they had been dead for quite a while. I would say that about 35 to 40 percent of the fish were dead.

I don't know if this is a PetSmart issue or the distriburot's issue, but it made me feel so sad.
I am not trying to bash PetSmart as I imagine this is common when shipping fish en masse, I just never thought I would see so many dead fish like that.

I just wanted to let this out.

 

That is really bad... I don’t think I’d be able to buy fish from them again personally. I can’t see how that’d be making them money if almost half of what they buy dies and they can’t sell it.

 

Sorry to hear that. I understand about not wanting to buy from there. I discovered a LFS that had excellent Google reviews and was only 15 minutes from my house. The first time I went, I was so impressed, it had EVERYTHING! I have been there about 4-5 times since, and have been dismayed to see obvious ich and some deceased fish. Every time. I don't know how they got such wonderful reviews. It's a shame, I really liked that place.....

 

I don't know how it is here in England, but I plan to work part time at one of my lfs soon (over the summer), so I guess I will let you know if we have the same issue...

 

I really feel bad when I see so many neglected fish at different stores, Wal-Mart being the worst. I guess people don't care becaise they are "just fish". I can only imagine the chaos there woukd be if they were dogs, if puppies were treated the same way.

 

Sorry to hear that. I understand about not wanting to buy from there. I discovered a LFS that had excellent Google reviews and was only 15 minutes from my house. The first time I went, I was so impressed, it had EVERYTHING! I have been there about 4-5 times since, and have been dismayed to see obvious ich and some deceased fish. Every time. I don't know how they got such wonderful reviews. It's a shame, I really liked that place.....

Try it again in a few months, my LFS was great the first few times then it was columnaris, ich, finrot, and dead fish. Didn’t go for months. Recently went back last month and I saw hardly any sick fish and that’s not to bad considering they probably brought in a lot of fishfor an event. So yours may get better soon, sometimes they just hit a rough patch.

 

You've got to think, with the way they ship these fish, even if it's overnight, there has to be a ton of ammonia accumulating in that bag. I've seen my LFS unpack their fish, and while I've never seen a DOA with them, there are a lot of fish in a pretty small bag. Can't even imagine how chains get them in.


This is why if I can afford it, I prefer good individual sellers. They insulate well, you usually have only a fish or three per bag, and the fish are so much healthier.

Sorry to hear that. I understand about not wanting to buy from there. I discovered a LFS that had excellent Google reviews and was only 15 minutes from my house. The first time I went, I was so impressed, it had EVERYTHING! I have been there about 4-5 times since, and have been dismayed to see obvious ich and some deceased fish. Every time. I don't know how they got such wonderful reviews. It's a shame, I really liked that place.....

Same. Which was sad because they had awesome things like halfbeaks and croaking gouramis and all kinds of awesome things...

 

Try it again in a few months, my LFS was great the first few times then it was columnaris, ich, finrot, and dead fish. Didn’t go for months. Recently went back last month and I saw hardly any sick fish and that’s not to bad considering they probably brought in a lot of fishfor an event. So yours may get better soon, sometimes they just hit a rough patch.

I went there a few days ago, after not being there for a few months. Saw a beautiful tank of cardinals. Got closer. Covered in ich. *sigh*. I do like it there, but I won't get fish from there ever again, supplies only.

 

I can't stand to even look in the tanks at our Walmart. They are packed with many species of fish ... packed, as in ... can't believe they can actually swim. Very horrible and distressing. I also look at their bettas, but that's even more upsetting. I have been known to crack open a bottle of their betta water and add some water to some that had about an inch of water in their cups. I've also fed their bettas before. They had one that was super skinny, I poked the breather hole on top in a bit and added a few pellets. He snatched them up desperately. Poor guy. I went back a week later and he was still there so I took him home. Needed him like a hole in the head. He ended up being my first work betta.

 

Same. Which was sad because they had awesome things like halfbeaks and croaking gouramis and all kinds of awesome things..

YES! I finally saw honey gouramis in person there this weekend. Its unfortunate cuz they really have a lot of different fish!

 

YES! I finally saw honey gouramis in person there this weekend. Its unfortunate cuz they really have a lot of different fish!

My good LFS carries honey gourmis sometimes. Maybe that can be one of my next breeding projects someday. They're fun little guys!

 

My good LFS carries honey gourmis sometimes. Maybe that can be one of my next breeding projects someday. They're fun little guys!

I'm very tempted to get some. I need to get my tank in order first.

 

Aweful Joe !!!! Sometimes I shame myself being a human and in fact make other people do this to fish (or animals in general). Sometimes I think there is another meaning to "humanely"

 

In my lfs there has only ever been fin splits/mild fin rot, clamped fins (rarer) And other minor injuries.

One of my guppies was clamped when I got her but managed to nurse her back to health. She is now the most active in my tank

But either they remove all the sick fish they get or they just don't have any. I suspect the former...

 

As much as I hate PetSmart it hurts me to say it's not they're fault! It's the fault of the freight carrier. Fish will sometimes get what is called "bumped" especially around the holidays and have to wait for the next available flight. And sometimes they forget to put it on the next flight! I had a shipment (the worst shipment in my career of 29 year as a fish reseller) I had 80 boxes that were sent from Bangkok headed for San Francisco and ended up in Alaska setting outside on the runway in the middle of winter!!! Needless to say I had 80 frozen boxes of fish, I cried as I threw them away. Over 100,ooo fish lost there lives that day, and it was the carriers fault!!!

 

fissh Oh dear, that's sad.

 

fissh I imagine that was the case.
It breaks my heart to read about what happened to all those fish. I can only imagine how you felt.

 

it's sad indeed.
big box stores just order the cheapest fish and really don't pay much mind to them. however it is possible to order mass amounts of fish with little or no casualties. Watch unboxing videos on YouTube. Cory often gets fish from overseas and has very few fish deaths.
it's just disturbing how badly fish are treated at PetSmart

 

I agree that it's not petsmarts fault. I was at the store when they were unboxing an order and the fish manager was examining each bag carefully before floating them.

There was a whole bag of fish that had ick. They got sent to quarantine.

Because they quarantine and treat for diseases, they have some of the healthiest fish I've seen in my area.

 

In my lfs there has only ever been fin splits/mild fin rot, clamped fins (rarer) And other minor injuries.

One of my guppies was clamped when I got her but managed to nurse her back to health. She is now the most active in my tank

But either they remove all the sick fish they get or they just don't have any. I suspect the former...

Most LFS's buy from importers. It's the importers job NOT TO SEEL SICK FISH, even throw a lot of then do. the LFS get's the fish after they have been settled down for a day or two, at the importers and the dead fish have be picked out and some medications have been added to they're tanks. A good importer will not sell fish that have a problem, they try to make them well again or let them dye in they're tanks. That's why your LFS will have better quality fish in most cases. The importer I ran had a bit over 1000 tanks, and it was not uncommon to have 150 tanks in quarantine!

 

The only thing I ever bought from PetSmart was a (Coenobita Clypeatus) which is Purple Pincher hermit crab.