What Do You Do In the Store When...

The betta shipping bags are incredibly sad. I don't even know what to say In a way, it would be better if bettas didn't have labyrinth organs. Then the poor things would have to be shipped in more humane conditions.

Yet gouramis get better shipping, probably because they can be shipped in the same bag.

 

They're only in separate bags because they would rip each other to pieces in the same bag.

 

Exactly. It's the same reason they have to sit in tiny little cups instead of being in real tanks like they should be. The whole ordeal is sad and unfair to the fish.

 

Oh don't get me started, I'll save anything, no matter how small. If there's the tiniest microscopic fly in the water butt I'll spend an hour rescuing it and drying it out... I once spent ages rescuing a bumblebee that was just out of reach in a local lake. It clung to my finger all the way home, where I gave it some wet sugar and dried it with kitchen roll(?). You can literally see the gratitude when that stuff wicks the water right off them.

Half of my silver dollars are rescues...

I'm the same way. I was always rescuing things out my parent's pool as a kid, from bugs to bunnies. I rescued a mole once from neighbors dog that was chasing it, then the mole bit me, but it wasn't injured at all.

I also feed live crickets to a lizard. I figure that's part of nature, Reggie, the lizard, also bites their head first so it's a pretty painless way to go. Much better then drowning in a pool.

 

Yup, I knew that's how they are shipped. I agree that if no one bought, they wouldn't be brought anymore.So why do I still buy? Because I KNOW most people, even given this info will not stop buying and in this situation, I do believe it's best to save a fish or two if I can. That is what I can do to help(well ok, that and I'm addicted to Betta fish so what can you do?). I am actually seriously considering a 4-5 girls sorority in a 10-12G tank sometime this summer, partly because I really like female Bettas and partly because it would be 4 extra saved Betta girls(we all know the girls most often end up dying-either because of toxicity or injuries-because they are rarely bought since they look grey from stress and don't have flowing fins)

 

It's a no-win situation isn't it? You buy one to save it, and the shop replaces it with another one...

I once read a line somewhere which goes like "What you are doing is just a drop of water on an ocean---- yes, but what is an ocean but a multitude of drops."

I just hope that someday, proper practice of keeping fish would spread throughout the general population. I just do what is proper and when somebody ask, explain and teach.

 

Bringing this thread back because O.M.G. never before have I been more annoyed by a store employee.Walked into the petstore(a Betta boy caught my eye, of course) and the employee was "feeding" the bettas. I use " " because what she was really doing was DUMPING huge amounts of food in each jar. So I said to her: "That is A LOT of food for a Betta" and she snaps(I kid you not): " Ok HERE, I am putting less!!"(pours like 3 less pellets. "Look, they aren't even eating it, see, it's sinking and they aren't eating it". I had to walk out of the store because I couldn't deal with that without being rude...How hard is it to go online and check how much a fish should be fed? Dear God!

 

Gee, did they hire the pet care person from my LPS that just went out of business?!

 

Hmm, was she the one saying they aren't eating it? If that's the case then her lack of common sense is astounding. If something isn't eating, stuffing more food in its face isn't going to make them want to eat it any more. I would be surprised if those Betta would accept ANY food, given the stress they must be in under their circumstances.

 

subscribed, want to read through this thread but don't have time at the moment.

This is an awesome question, I feel the same way,

 

I'd love to hear what others say about this because I have been in this same boat many times.

I was once at a Walmart and saw a woman with a small child, maybe about three or four years old, in the fish section. An associate was helping her. She had three bags. One with three baby angels, another with around ten+ little shoaling fish that I wasn't close enough to identify, and the last had a couple of goldfish. The little boy kept saying, "fishies, fishies!" as the mom got ANOTHER bag of fish. I remember being kind of horrified, because if she was getting her fish from a Walmart she probably didn't know what she was doing with those fish, especially buying goldfish and angels at the same time. But I was too scared to go up and say anything, partially because I am young and also because I didn't want to upset her or her kid. People out here are so sensitive about getting corrected, especially by a stranger, and I didn't want it to end badly. You'd think if people are going to get fish for their kid they would look into how to keep them alive to avoid heartbreak for the kid. On a brighter note, this particular Walmart stopped selling fish a few weeks later. I took a picture because I was so happy, lol. I linked it at the end of the post.

Another time I was at Petsmart and overheard two different customers talking about their tanks. They both had goldfish in their bags and they were talking about what they each do with them once they get too big for their tanks. One guy said, "Yeah, I usually just flush 'em down the toilet once they outgrow my tank." The other lady replied, "I just give them to Petco, they have my giant pleco now..." and the conversation continued but I just remember being so shocked that someone could flush a live fish down a toilet and have no regrets.

There have been so many other times. I suppose it is just how you approach the topic.

(Wow this post ended up being so much longer than I meant it to be)

 

Same here in my area, last week when I went to buy things for the tank, I saw a guy who was paying for 5 juvenile angels, 8 shubunkin goldfish, and a pleco. Overheard him telling the cashier why he was buying so much. "Him: oh, this is for my 40 gallon aquarium which previously housed an arowana who jumped just last night and was found on the floor dead. " I, was weak. Did not have the heart to tell him off on his stocking idea. He sounds prideful and I felt that if I corrected him and/told him off he would make a scene.

 

Flush. A perfectly healthy fish. Down the toilet. Because it grew too big.

I'll bite my tongue since these forums can be read by younguns.

I am thankful that my Walmart doesn't carry live fish.

I recently went to a petsmart to get snails and it seemed pretty understaffed. We told a lady we wanted to get some snails and she said that the fish guy would be over in a moment. So it seemed only one person was supposed to be working the fish section? I was actually offered a job by that guy after he asked me what size tank I have and what fish I'm keeping, what I feed them, and he realized that I actually knew a great deal more than most folks going in there. I didn't take him up on the offer but found it flattering.

 

Flush. A perfectly healthy fish. Down the toilet. Because it grew too big.

I'll bite my tongue since these forums can be read by younguns.

Yeah, I know. I was horrified. I just don't understand how someone could do that and not feel bad. There are so many alternatives to flushing.

Same here in my area, last week when I went to buy things for the tank, I saw a guy who was paying for 5 juvenile angels, 8 shubunkin goldfish, and a pleco. Overheard him telling the cashier why he was buying so much. "Him: oh, this is for my 40 gallon aquarium which previously housed an arowana who jumped just last night and was found on the floor dead. " I, was weak. Did not have the heart to tell him off on his stocking idea. He sounds prideful and I felt that if I corrected him and/told him off he would make a scene.

Yep, that's exactly how they are where I am. It's horrible.

 

Cef, if I had been close enough to the guy I would have acted shocked and concerned and asked about his water parameters. I could have made it sound totally innocent and still probably managed to get my information across without causing offence...at least not until much later after he'd had a chance to think about it

 

I guess some people really have a "just fish" mentality. I was talking even to a friend of mine and while I was explaining how much work goes into providing a fish with a comfortable environment, they literally used the words "they're just fish" and I had to hide my hurt feelings because I didn't wanna make a big deal about it. I see these things as my babies and treat them with the same love you'd give a dog. That said, there's plenty of people out there that treat their dog horribly too..luckily that friend of mine isn't interested in fishkeeping anyways.

And I feel as though there's no talking sense into folks like that. Flushing healthy fish down the toilet. Obviously this kind of person does not care about fish whatsoever and I doubt confronting them about it would make a lick of a difference. Something like that should be an arrestable offense :/ not only is that terrible treatment for a living creature but doing things like that is how foreign species can be introduced into different environments. Just terrible all around.

Okay enough rant for now. These things are why I love this forum, helping inexperienced fishkeepers like myself and others learn new things on the daily.

 

I think flushing live fish is illegal, is it not?

 

I think flushing live fish is illegal, is it not?

I would assume so and hope so!

 

Aquaphobia , I was disheartened too when I noticed that most buyers are just buying fish for aesthetic purpose and supernatural beliefs (fish brings good luck and absorbs bad luck). They don't even know that they have to check for water parameters. I am super glad and thankful that I have found this forum.

 

Speaking of supernatural beliefs, that's how we ended up with some of our invasive fish species like snakeheads. They're illegal here but they're still smuggled live into markets and somebody actually came forward and admitted to buying the fish as a medicinal food for a sick relative who then got better before he could cook them. So in thanks he released them into a local lake

 

There has to be some way we can at least TRY to make fish abuse illegal, proof that they can think, stuff like that. If breaks my heart reading these stories. Spread awareness, maybe start fish clubs. I understand this is far fetched, but something has to be done about this.

 

I think we have simply by being here and supporting each other while gaining and spreading information

 

Yeah, but we are the people who actually care. How are we going to get the point across to that mom buying all those fish, those guys who flush live fish like they are a piece of garbage, especially with finding dory, more people will be getting fish than ever before! I'm gonna start another thread so we don't derail this one, but seriously, something needs to be done, and we can only say so much, a lot of people know I'm 14. That makes me seem unqualified to be telling people they are doing everything wrong.

 

But they're not doing everything wrong! They're getting fish after all

What you need to do is start with the positive and steer them in the right direction from there

 

Link to new thread^
I guess, but still, who takes a teenager seriously? I sure wouldn't.

 

I've had some adults take me (a fellow teenager) seriously on the topic of fish. Some employees at fish stores and stuff have realized how invested I am in the hobby and had conversations with me about stuff. I think it's just about the way you present yourself. I totally understand where you're coming from. I HATE it when people judge me and my intelligence/knowledge of a topic on just my age.

 

I think I'm about to go against the grain and admit that I usually DO say something to strangers, but only when I know with absolute certainty that the information I'm about to give them is correct.

My my most recent exchange was with a lady buying six neon tetras. I made a post about this previously, how that Petco had a massive (and I mean massive) outbreak of ich in a tank of guppies and I complained to a manager about it, took pictures and sent them to their corporate office. I showed up the next day and the guppies were gone but the exact same substrate and ornaments were in the tank, in the same positions too! The tank was utterly untouched, but now there were neon tetras instead of guppies there. Needless to say they didn't treat the tank, they just took the guppies out and put a batch of healthy fish into an unhealthy tank.. Anyway, there was a lady there buying the tetras and as soon as the sales person walked away I said "Listen, I was here yesterday and this tank had a horrible ich outbreak, they haven't treated the tank." And she just stared at me! I was like "do you know what ich is?" And she said yes but that she'd never actually seen it before. And then said that even if the guppies were sick, the neons looked fine. I replied "Well, yes, they look fine only because you can't see ich until you
SEE it and it's too late." She said. "Well, if they get it I'll just treat the tank then." Wait... What...? She was adding these neons to a tank with several other neons, Gouramis and cherry barbs, according to what she told the sales person. Why would you add a batch of fish you KNOW we're exposed to a highly contagious parasite in with your perfectly healthy fish?? I couldn't convince her not to buy the tetras, but she did "promise" to buy a quarantine tank... When she got to the register she had the bag of fish, but no quarantine tank. We all know the neons went straight to her community tank.

Even though MOST people won't listen to a random stranger off the streets above the "qualified" advice of someone trying to make a sale.. I always educate. So what if they get offended? The fish can't speak for themselves. They have no voice. In the very least this stranger might tell me off, but maybe, just maybe they will go home and Google what I said to see if there is any veracity to my statements. You have to try, the worst thing that can happen is a stranger rolls their eyes at you.

I'm not a fish expert.. I'm still learning. But I will share the knowledge I have thus far.

 

And when that woman possibly loses some of her fish hopefully she will understand the usefulness of a QT tank or a stranger's advice.

Good on you for doing the hard work, confronting a complete stranger. It's hard to get people to understand that you're likely 10x more knowledgable than the people working the store, not to mention you're the one going out of your way to advise them with no real benefit to yourself, whereas employees will send you home with a 10 gallon and 3 goldfish and then when they die, test your water and recommend aquarium salt and sell you 3 more goldfish. Because $$$ and they don't actually know much better themself. And can you blame folks for trusting employees more than a stranger? No...they work at a pet store, they should know what they're talking about...RIGHT???...it's tough that way, but I've heard some success stories among us and the best we can do is suck it up and speak out, even if we feel ridiculous for it.

One thing I've done is enter fishlore into my advice. When I talk to people, I openly admit I am still new, I tell them honestly what I am confident on and what I am not sure of, and I tell them that if they REALLY want some good info on fishkeeping, they need to check out fishlore and talk to the experts that are on there.

 

Just thought I'd add that I love my LFS! They all keep fish themselves and one of the guys has been keeping salt water fish and tropical freshwater for almost 23 years. Whenever you ask about buying any fish, they always ask how big the tank is, parameters and what's already in there in case of compatability issues.
I did my work experience there a couple of years ago, and they really do care about what they are selling! And because of that, there are very rarely any outbreaks of anything in their tanks. The fish always look good and really healthy. (I also got to feed their 15" Oscar Victoria whilst I was there!)

I just thought I'd add this in as a little 'on the bright side' after reading some quite horrible stories.

 

You know what really sucks, is that as strangers the consequences for saying something are almost nothing. When you work at a LPS/LFS you constantly run the risk of offending a customer and getting corporate complaints. Luckily I am awesome at diffusing the situation but not everyone is reasonable and some people flip their lid instantly.

I had this older man and his granddaughter in who wanted more comet goldfish for their 3 gallon tank. Obviously that wasn't going to happen. By the end of that conversation he was SO offended simply because how dare I not just give him what he wants. Well they were in browsing the other day and my coworker and I come around the corner to find a snail in the girls hand that she plucked right out of the frag tank. My coworker immediately told her she cannot touch anything in the tanks. I was concerned for her because she could have had a cut on her hand and I don't know what all she touched, she was right by a zoanthid (Google palytoxin to understand concern). I quietly told him that they should wash their hands immediately because that was a saltwater tank and before I could mention bacteria and toxins and such, he just cut me off and was like "Yeah, thank you, you're a really great educator" about as sarcastically as possible. It's like dude, I'm literally just doing my job. Most people don't want the LPS/LFS to actually know what we're talking about. They just want us to tell them what they're doing is right and bag them up whatever they want.

 

That's so sad, Kwig Worse, the guy might have got really angry if you'd tried to tell them about palytoxins and probably raised a public outcry. Around here that would have cost you your frag tank because heaven forbid there should be anything not completely safe in their little world

 

I saw poor little bettas today. It's Friday and I believe that's when the store (a Petco) gets new fish so a lot of fish there were ones that'd been there all week and the bettas looked the worse. You could tell they were beautiful little guys but some of em had TERRIBLE fungal infection, just covered in the fuzzy stuff, sitting there in a cup with nothing they could do about it. if I had an extra tank I would've gotten one and tried to nurse it or something. I alerted the lady working there, although that doesn't do much for the Betta. Had to buy my fish food and get out of there. Neglected fish (and animals in general really) are such a sad sight.

 

I had to alert Petsmart to an all white (beautiful) Betta that had a HORRIBLE case of Popeye. There is NO WAY they couldn't have seen that. I wanted to buy him too, I always buy the underdogs and my quarantine tank has seen some terrible sights. But it's always worth it when they pull through. Unfortunately I can't house anymore bettas right now and my quarantine is full.

 

Hmm, was she the one saying they aren't eating it? If that's the case then her lack of common sense is astounding. If something isn't eating, stuffing more food in its face isn't going to make them want to eat it any more. I would be surprised if those Betta would accept ANY food, given the stress they must be in under their circumstances.

Yeah, she was saying they're not even eating all the food, suggesting that my concern is thus not valid.

 

I know this is an old thread and it's kinda depressing. But I have found a silver lining to pet (co or smart)s lack of experience. I went in today to help a family member get her betta and stuff she would need. I also decided to look at the shrimp, and figured if there were any ghost shrimp I would get some. Well long story short I ended up getting two Amano shrimp (knew I was getting one) and 1 ghost shrimp. They charged me for 3 ghost shrimp. 49 cents a pop, 1.50 something total. Single Amano 2 something. So there is some payout to their ignorance of fishkeeping. But not much.

 

I work in a big-box pet store and I highly encourage y'all to speak up. I do my best to steer customers in the right direction for betta care, but there are some things I'm not allowed to say.

I am allowed to refuse a sale if a customer wants to do something egregious with their pet, but my company unfortunately considers bowls to be appropriate for bettas. So if somebody walks up to be with a bowl for a goldfish, I'm supposed to refuse the goldfish sale but then redirect them to a betta.

And I can usually talk people into getting a better set-up, but my new manager just moved the betta cups away from the fish wall and to the front of the store. I used to intercept everybody shopping bettas and talk to them about proper care, but now customers can come in and grab a live animal and a bowl and go straight to the cash register (the cashiers don't know anything) without ever speaking for a care specialist. It's not right

 

I'm really glad that my thread is spurring discussion, and it's great to hear about how you all handle this. It's such a touchy subject and sometimes it feels like there's barely any middle ground between the fish enthusiasts and the people who say "it's just a fish."

I think it's easier to approach someone about poor fishkeeping when they just don't seem to care, and there are plenty of those people out there. But I think it's far more difficult when people who do care abuse their fish out ignorance or because they just wanted "easy" to take care of. Sometimes these otherwise kind people are the most proud or stubborn as well. It's not always easy to pinpoint which sort a person is.

Sent from my SM-J320P using Fish Lore Aquarium Fish Forum mobile app

 

one thing that's interesting, why don't pet stores have go to source for fish keepers when they buy fish? Like in case they have questions later on? maybe a business card to a website. ( fishlore ) or somewhere like that..

 

I've had some adults take me (a fellow teenager) seriously on the topic of fish. Some employees at fish stores and stuff have realized how invested I am in the hobby and had conversations with me about stuff. I think it's just about the way you present yourself. I totally understand where you're coming from. I HATE it when people judge me and my intelligence/knowledge of a topic on just my age.

Link to new thread^
I guess, but still, who takes a teenager seriously? I sure wouldn't.

Ive just turned 18 and today at a petshop in the next town over I was in to see what they had, its a small petshop with 6 tanks and just some food for animals toys etc , and heard the employee (it wasn't the guy that normally sells fish) trying to sell a female Betta as a Minnow, I subtly tried to correct her buy politley interrupting and saying "Excuse me I'm in quite a hurry would you mind if I bought that Betta right there and get going before I miss the bus" and she complied and while buying the lil girl she was saying how she had no idea that it was a betta since she doesn't normally sell the fish and that I should be the one doing it (jokingly). So some people genuinely just don't know better and take kindly to advice given to them as it helps them do their job a bit better, but for customers I haven't had any experience with that.

 

I've had some adults take me (a fellow teenager) seriously on the topic of fish. Some employees at fish stores and stuff have realized how invested I am in the hobby and had conversations with me about stuff. I think it's just about the way you present yourself. I totally understand where you're coming from. I HATE it when people judge me and my intelligence/knowledge of a topic on just my age.

If only my other half took me seriously. She'd rather take the advice of an employee over listening to me, who's done the research. (Neons with betta, a light that produces 5-8 PAR for plants that are expected to grow, better filter, etc)