Should Walmart sell fish?

[lokel]

I was at Walmart today in the pet section, checkin out their fish, when I saw their feature of the month, the Knight Goby.
On the index card that tells customers about the fish it said that the Knight Goby starts out in freshwater and gets converted to brackish. To convert the water to brackish the customer needs to put Aquarium Salt in :eek:. I told the pet section lady that the card was incorrect. That to make the water brackish they need to put in Marine salt, not Aquarium salt. She said she would tell her supervisor.
I was a lil surprised to see that. I dont think place like Walmart should sell fish. Specially since they dont know anything about them. Mind you neither does my LFS. :duh:

What do you guys think?

[tetramoon13]

Hmmmm,

I dunno about that....I didn't know WM had a pet department. I know I would not feel comfortable buying pets from any WM around here. Don't get me wrong, I shop at WM all the time, I just would not want to buy any kind of living creature from there. The place is always disorganized and most of the time quite messy and dirty, nevermind having the variable of fishkeeping thrown in.

Chris

[tmtpowers]

Oh I hate walmart! Well the fact that they sell fish anyways! I went just the other day and oh my! The gold fish tanks were cloudy and WAY over crowded! They had 3 1.5-2 foot Kois in there along with oh I'd say 50-75 5" goldfish in there too! Even worse, one of the gold fish (5" one) had a massive ulcer! Approx. the size of a .50 piece! They had small tetras in with tiger barbs! African Cichlids in with freash water fish! Oh the list goes on. I did get a nice go to he$$ look from the guy working in that department when I mentioned the terrible shape the gold fish where in.

[beblondie]

No but I don't think petsmart or petco should sell living creatures either as at least the ones by me tend to be horrilby understaffed and or poorly informed as to care and maintenence-Anne

[msouth468]

I think with Walmart or any large chain store are perfectly fine for dealing in the aquarium trade. 90% of the time the person who is supposed to be taking care of the fish are simply not doing thier job. I won't condone all the store's for the neglect caused by a few. I've personally been to dozens of WalMart stores and some had great fish care and some had bad fish care.

[fishcatch22]

no, wal-mart should not be allowed to sell fish EVER!! they have no idea what they're doing!! they put 10 dragonfish in a freshwater tank last week!! their tanks are always filled to the brim with dead fish, and the lazy female dogs and illegitimate children keep ghost shirmp in every tank so they don't have to remove the dead fish!!

[msouth468]

no, wal-mart should not be allowed to sell fish EVER!! they have no idea what they're doing!! they put 10 dragonfish in a freshwater tank last week!! their tanks are always filled to the brim with dead fish, and the lazy female dogs and illegitimate children keep ghost shirmp in every tank so they don't have to remove the dead fish!!

That earns my "Best Post of The Day Award".

[Jason1976]

most of the wal-marts in my area are nice and clean. and the pet areas are ok. but i was at one wal-mart thats like a 30 min drive from me and it was nasty. i walked by the fish and the tanks were full of dead fish and it stunk like rottening fish. then a few months later i went back to that same store and it changed big time. the tanks were all clean nothing dead in the tanks and it stopped stinking. i guess it depends on who they have working in the pet area. if people are doing there jobs. i hardly buy fish at wal-mart. there is a pet store thats about 1 mile from were i live and every sunday they have buy one fish and the 2nd one is 1 cent. if they dont have something i want i just drive to lancaster pa. home of www.thatfishplace.com and buy them there. its only like a 35 to 40 min drive from my house. its the biggest place to buy fish i have ever seen

[UncaBret]

Some BigBoxMarts are better than others. We have one that has nice clean tanks and healthy looking fish. Unfortunatly, they don't sell anything bigger than a 20 gallon tank and a lot of the fish are id'ed wrong.

[UncaBret]

Speaking of BigBoxMart;

http://www.jibjab.com/JokeBox/JokeBox_JJOrig.aspx?movieid=122

[125gJoe]

My opinion is Wal-Mart got many interested in the hobby. Even though that may not be the case for the majority, I think they helped others get interested by selling fish. It's a shame they don't take better care of their fish...

There were no Wal-Marts around when I got into the hobby.

http://asms.k12.ar.us/armem/clark/timeline.htm

[fishman1979]

i cant say that all walmarts should not sell fish, but at least the ones around me have absolutely no business in that area. every time i am in there i walk past the tanks and just look. half the time the tanks are nasty and dirty, and covered with dead fish, and the other times they have diseases. the last time i walked through, there was 5 or more seperate tanks with fish that had ich. i did buy a female beta there once, she was beautiful and couldnt pass her up, sad to say she lasted a whole 3 days once i got her home.
but like mentioned above, it all depends on the store. i am sure that some walmarts out there have a great fish section and the people there know a little about this hobby, but the ones around me, not a shot.

[Shelby_Tempo_GT]

I would like to see them NOT sell fish. Just as they have doen with so many Mom & Pop stores, Wal-Mart threatens to shut down our LFS's.


And once those stores close, all thats left is Wal-Mart selling Goldfish and Guppies.

[polocrosseplyer]

nope they suck at taking care of them, but i've noticed in a few new superwalmarts they've been putting in down here, that they havent put fish tanks in, which is nice, at least they arent selling them.

[msouth468]

I would like to see them NOT sell fish. Just as they have doen with so many Mom & Pop stores, Wal-Mart threatens to shut down our LFS's.


And once those stores close, all thats left is Wal-Mart selling Goldfish and Guppies.


Wal-Mart doesn't drive out LFS. They don't carry near the quanity of supplies that even the smallest LFS would. I think the biggest problem they have is that they are behind the times when it comes to fish care. I personally have had good and bad experiences with Wal-Mart in the sense of how they care for the fish. Course I've also had that with the Mom and Pop's places too. I just think that Wal-Mart is more of a target just because everyone can relate to it.

[supgourami]

It really all depends on the walmart I guess.


I have bought 2 of my fish from walmart, 2 dwarf gouramis. Butch and Matty. I felt bad for them just because they were in a walmart, but they were completely healthy when I brought them home. This was probably 3 months ago when I bought them. Though, Butch is sick at the moment.




But I also plan on going back to buy a couple giant gouramis. They are the only place that has them near me.
(Not the ones that get 2' long, but the ones that get like 5" long.)

[fishcatch22]

every wal-mart tank I ever saw in my life has been a fish an plant graveyard, with death and cannabalism everywhere. I have heard too many stories where someone bought a fish from wal-mart and brought it into their tank, and then the next day, all their fish had ich or velvet or even fish lice. even the good LOOKING ones have problems if you look hard enough. my point: never buy fish from wal-mart, and boycott them selling fish.

[msouth468]

every wal-mart tank I ever saw in my life has been a fish an plant graveyard, with death and cannabalism everywhere. I have heard too many stories where someone bought a fish from wal-mart and brought it into their tank, and then the next day, all their fish had ich or velvet or even fish lice. even the good LOOKING ones have problems if you look hard enough. my point: never buy fish from wal-mart, and boycott them selling fish.

Never had that problem in the Wal-Marts I have been in.

[125gJoe]

Never had that problem in the Wal-Marts I have been in.I've seen bad, and average care for fish at different Wal-Marts. In this area, fish shipments come in on Thursdays, so that's the best day to buy if you are interested in their fish... If you can time it just right, get them from the wholesaler before the fish goes in the Wal-Mart tanks! :D
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[msouth468]

I've seen bad, and average care for fish at different Wal-Marts. In this area, fish shipments come in on Thursdays, so that's the best day to buy if you are interested in their fish... If you can time it just right, get them from the wholesaler before the fish goes in the Wal-Mart tanks! :D
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That is some shady business there. :devil:

[125gJoe]

That is some shady business there. :devil:I don't know...
I call it good timing! :D

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