Pet shop trouble?

Question

I went to this pet shop/garden center today to get some neon's. The placed looked nice and the people working there seemed ok. When my son and i got to the tanks there were loads of dead fish about. There are about 80 fish tanks and you could say there were 1/2 dead fish in every second tank. When i said about it they said its from the children banging the glass but school had only just finished. You would think that some one would be there with the fish all the time while they were at work, making sure if there are any dead one they would take them out so that the tanks look nicer. What can i do as they dont seem that bothered about the fish.

Sorry its such a long question

Answer 1

report them to the rspca.

that doesnt seem right at all. even if kids are banging on the tanks.
anyways why havent they removed the dead fish?

Answer 2

In large scale retail, it's much more difficult for them to maintain water parameters on fish. Most of the time the supplier delivers once a week. Well, if the tanks have emptied a bit in the previous week due to fish either dying or being sold, then there is going to be a huge ammonia spike after adding so many fish at once. Even an established tank, if it doesn't have ammonia problems, will run into nitrate problems. Plus the pH in those systems are horrible. Most have filtering systems that can take out the chlorine in the tap water, but the pH is probably going to be about 8.0 or sometimes higher. So yeah, there's an art to it.

I've seen customers really mess up those tanks too. Not by tapping on the glass though. I'm not going to say exactly, because I'm sure there might be some pathetic people out there that would try it.

It wouldn't be profitable for most retail chains to have someone assigned to just the tanks at all times, but there should be someone checking on them in the morning and in the evening to at least cull out the dead fish, because it isn't pleasant for customers to look at. I suspect the person usually responsible for it might have called in sick that day. If it's a continous problem, fill out a comment card or speak with a manager.

Answer 3

Well, yes, a fish could be shocked to death by banging on the glass, so that could be the simple explanation. And I think we all pretty much know that, unless it is a specialty store that ONLY sells fish and a manageable selection at that, the employees of stores that sell a multitude of items are being asked to split their time up in too many directions and don't have enough time to devote to the fish, so that department isn't going to be well-kempt. But, the big question is, how can you be sure that the fish ONLY died from banging on the glass by kids? You should never buy fish from tanks where there are dead fish because the likelihood is much higher that they are sick. When you see dead fish, it's time to take your business elsewhere. Should you report them? Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt, but to be honest, I doubt that any city is going to make dead aquarium fish a priority because they are already understaffed, underbudgeted and most people don't understand the love some of us have for fish and they just wouldn't care anyway.

Answer 4

The best thing to do is to take your business to another pet store - and let the store owner/manager know why!

I don't know why the fish died - but it wasn't from kids banging on the aquaria! They may have a parasite or the tanks may have high ammonia/nitrates. If the dead fish aren't removed, this could spread infections to the other fish (and to your home tank if you bought one) and will only increase the ammonia levels causing higher stress to the still-living fish.

If nothing else, you'd think management would want this taken care of because they're losing money - in their cost of the fish and loss of profits!

Answer 5

wow thats disgustingly horrible! im a manager at a petstore, and i know first hand the fish die. we keep our tanks in practicly perfect condition. and the majority of fish that die are the bad ones from the batch we get in. but we do a fish loss count every morning, and we are always on the prowl to get the dead ones out and treat the tanks accordingly. i am soooo sorry that that petstore has to be disgusting. call the store, ask to speak to the manager and the owner. if they dont do anything about it, im not quite sure who you could report it to. spca?? we call the cops when we find out a customer is abusing a dog, i wonder if the cops would be able to help?

Answer 6

Not really much you can do but turn them over to the Better Busness Buero. I have watched pet store sell fish out of tanks that are infected with ick and Dropsey It really dose suck

Sorry

Answer 7

i would suggest you find another store. tanks full of dead fish are not caused by children banging on glass they are caused by improper maintenance. poorly maintained tanks breed bacteria and parasites that kill fish. the sad truth is often i go to stores and see the same thing. i have done several rescues (of bettas mostly) and few are ever successful.

i find it creepy they would lie to you about dead fish. fish die from illnesses not from kids banging on glass.

Answer 8

Tell them you're a member of a local fish association & everyone in it will avoid buying fish & supplies from them unless they clean up their act. It might work, but then, if they're such slobs they probably won't care, unfortunately....

Answer 9

call the main office of the pet store, talk to someone in management. if you don't get an answer, go to the health department and report them. it is not safe to have dead fish floating around. some kid could put their hand in the tank and get some kind of disease. it is very unsanitary. you could also try the animal control and see if there is something you or they can do.
good luck

Answer 10

did you happen to be at my local walmarts fish department? lol
if there are dead fish in the tanks DO NOT buy fish from them.