New Wal Mart = Disappointed

The town I work in built a new Super Wal Mart, so I went to check it out Friday and was extremely disappointed to see that they have a fish department!

There is not a Wally World within 100 miles of me (that I've been in anyway) that sells fish. The one in my hometown stopped selling them YEARS ago, so I thought they had phased out the selling of live animals. (Heck, I remember when they sold parakeets and small furries when I was a kid!).

And as if to prove the reason for my disappointment, there was a group of teens who were getting an associate to bag them up a "shark" (redtail or bala maybe? I didn't actually see it in the tanks).

*giggles* "A shark?? OMG, seriously? There's a real shark in there?"
"Yeah, it's a real shark!"
"OMG, we totally have to get it, get someone over here so we can get the shark!"
"A real, live shark? OMG shark SHARK shark shark SHARK!"



At the same time a 4-5 year old girl was begging her mom for a betta, so the mom was looking at the different tanks and bowls and picked up a .5 gallon "Complete Betta Kit!" that was on the shelf.

If that lady had acted as if she would actually purchase the .5g and the fish, I would have stepped in and told her I'm a hobbyist and offered advice (even though I'm a newbie, I at least know more than any WM employee could have told her). But she put the little tank down and walked off.

I hate that chain pet stores sell live animals (I do reptile rescue and have seen the worst of the worst), but Wal Mart is just a whole other circle of hades for those animals. I'm half tempted to print out little care sheets (especially for the bettas) and leave them laying around the pet section, but I know they'll just be found and destroyed in quick fashion. I might reach a couple people, though, and that would be worth it!

Just venting!

 

sadly the walmarts near me sell fish too.... tanks look awful =/
I hardly see anyone tending to the fish, as they are off in some distant corner of store
I think the fish stores have been getting worse IMO..........
a LFS that I really liked ... like THE cleanest healthiest lookin fish around, been getting degraded :<.....

and I got suckered into getting bala sharks when I started keeping fish (unsuspecting teen) ..D'OH! >=o...... starting to get too big for my 55 :/

 

I know what you mean. I walked back to my local Walmart's fish area just for giggles. I saw the usual, platys, guppies, goldfish, etc. What I couldn't believe was they also have green puffers. I thought to myself....they're selling an extremely special fish with high care demands at the freakin' Walmart fish section. A place where only ignorant people would go to buy fish anyway, seriously?!?! Redic!!

 

That is weird, I went into WalMart today as well to buy a 5 Gallon Starter tank to start a shrimp tank I was surprise to see "Live Fish"...they did not look healthy at all. They had assorted Gouramis in one tank and all of them were all floating on the top of the tank (sad sight).

I actually wrote a letter to Wal Mart corporate today detailing the despicable living conditions of their fish and also informing them that they have certain species mixed together when they shouldn't. We'll see if I get a response.

 

yeah.. not all walmarts are bad, by some miracle some even seem to have clean tanks, but one I was in, looking at gravel...
employee 1: why are you catching fish?
employee 2: I'm getting out dead ones. They're the only ones I can catch.
me: *facepalm*

 

Good morning,

Not everyone (myself included) that purchases fish from WalMart are ignorant. Some of us are smart shoppers and need to save when and where we can. The economy isn't getting any better.

I had the option to pay $25.00 per Blood Red Parrot at PetCo or purchase them from WalMart for $8 per Blood Red Parrot. Which do you think I chose?

Talk amongst yourselves. I'll wait.... If you get the wrong answer, Lucy will send you to Time Out!

Ken

 

Talk amongst yourselves. I'll wait.... If you get the wrong answer, Lucy will send you to Time Out!

Ken

 

Wal-Mart is Chinese-made...

So when you're buying fish from Wal-Mart, you're supporting China.

Go China!

 

^^ everything is made in china anyways lol ^^

 

China made the fish? I thought they were natural..

 

The fish came from China, no doubt!

 

China made the fish? I thought they were natural..

 

I seen puffers at my local wally as well. I really don't like how they mix all the fish together. I would only buy from them if I was doing a new tank and my LFS couldn't get the fish I want.

Yeah, a $25 or $8 is a huge difference. If they looked really good, I would go for the $8 as you said, the economy sucks badly.

 

My local walmart has stopped selling live fish at least. No more live animals period only supplies.

 

Good morning,

Not everyone (myself included) that purchases fish from WalMart are ignorant. Some of us are smart shoppers and need to save when and where we can. The economy isn't getting any better.

I had the option to pay $25.00 per Blood Red Parrot at PetCo or purchase them from WalMart for $8 per Blood Red Parrot. Which do you think I chose?


Ken

You might as well set your $8 on fire as apposed to getting a fish in any of my local walmarts. The flame will last longer than any of the fish you would take home.

With that being said. it seems that your local walmarts seem to have a bigger selection. You can't get brps at any Walmart around here. I wouldn't want to anyway. Walmart should stick to what they do well. Infesting communities and driving small business out.

 

Well I got my first betta from Wally World and he lived 2.5 years. And that Walmart had a pretty bad fish section. Dead fish everywhere.


_______________
Makena: My name
'95GT: My 1995 convertible Mustang GT

 

I agree with aquarist48. My local walmart has really improved with their fish--thanks to one of the employees who really cares about those fin babies. I get a lot of my fish at walmart-not always in good health-I consider it a rescue sometimes. It's important to really look at the condition of the fish-good color, clear eyes, active, etc. There are going to be fish in poor condition in any fish store that you go to. It happens. My walmart has stopped keeping GSP and other brackish fish and they only keep compatible fish together--guess it depends on where you live

x2

 

I'm half tempted to print out little care sheets (especially for the bettas) and leave them laying around the pet section, but I know they'll just be found and destroyed in quick fashion. I might reach a couple people, though, and that would be worth it!

I actually did that once. I researched fiddler crabs and wrote out a nice detailed care sheet with a picture showing what their tank setup should look like, and I taped it up by them. Before that, I stuck post-it notes up there telling with the cliffnotes version of how to care for them, covering Walmart's incorrect care info for them. Some of them actually lasted a whole week.

 

I actually did that once. I researched fiddler crabs and wrote out a nice detailed care sheet with a picture showing what their tank setup should look like, and I taped it up by them. Before that, I stuck post-it notes up there telling with the cliffnotes version of how to care for them, covering Walmart's incorrect care info for them. Some of them actually lasted a whole week.

You go, girl. I might just do that....

 

Good morning,

Not everyone (myself included) that purchases fish from WalMart are ignorant. Some of us are smart shoppers and need to save when and where we can. The economy isn't getting any better.

I had the option to pay $25.00 per Blood Red Parrot at PetCo or purchase them from WalMart for $8 per Blood Red Parrot. Which do you think I chose?

Talk amongst yourselves. I'll wait.... If you get the wrong answer, Lucy will send you to Time Out!

Ken

Blood parrots are in the $80-$100 region here. I stick to 10 neon tetras for $15 when I want maximum fish per dollar!

 

$100 for a fish? Dude. That is one fancy fish.

I have a fantasy about walmart fish. It involves skI masks, a team of fish rescuers, and a getaway van. Any volunteers? (jk, I'm not actually suggesting anybody go out and pull a PETA.)

 

Fish are crazy priced in Australia. JD and oscars are a similar price to BPs, small discus are $40-$60, large (ha, like 8-10cm) rarer plecos can go for $500-$700 here. Stocking a large community tank can cost a couple of hundred if you pick particularly expensive schoolers!

 

$700. for a fish. What, am I paying tuition for this fish at medschool or something?! are these Australian $ or US$? (is there that much of a dif?) no offense, but in the words of a dear old friend "say what?! for that much I'd go out and catch my own fish.

 

Haha. It's obscene. Our dollar is at or above parity with the US these days, but things cost so, so much more here. It'd make you cry except education... Actually, that would make you cry, too, because we don't incur the same massive debts students do in the US. Our fish, petrol, food, mortgages, CDs, movies, etc are ridiculous but education is reasonable!

 

Well I have to agree with Ken here, just because we shop at Walmart doesn't mean were ignorant. every dollar helps. that's not to say that some Walmarts do not have less than desirable fish. If you do your research before you head out to any store (not just Walmart) you would have a better idea of the fish your purchasing.
Everyone speaks of Walmart this way but many don't understand the bigger picture. Walmart (and by the way, no I don't have any connection with them ) has never tried to hide the fact they are in it for the money. it is all about a register ring for them. that is the case with most LFS of all sizes for that matter. here is the difference between your LFS and Walmarts. LFS's for the most part take care of their own systems. they do the cleaning, etc. so if you see a dirty tank in a LFS it kind of gives you the idea of where they stand with their fish. Walmarts, on the other hand are not really in charge of their maintanence other than maybe scrubbing glass down and cleaning out dead fish. Walmarts fish are delivered by a VENDOR. his or her responsibility is delivering the fish and then cleaning the tanks when they get there. this is walmarts way are holding their vendors to a higher standard. trust me Walmart doesn't pay for that dead fish, they pull it out and count it to turn in to their vendor for credit. so when you see dirty tanks in Walmart it is really the vendor who didn't clean his tanks and not Walmart. just my 2 cents.