Worst Tankbusters at a Local Chain!!!
- Thread starter Oddball~
- Start date
Ideas
I think in general all of the pet departments including Wal-Mart need to do a better job of informing customers about what they are buying. In most of the stores I go to, which include the big chains, all I usually see describing a fish is a general adult length and a very general compatibility rating. I.e.: Community/Semi-Aggressive/Aggressive. When John Doe from sporting goods comes over to get you your fish at Wal-Mart he has no idea that a seemingly small Bala Shark wouldn’t be a good fit for a 5G tank.
What I would suggest is that they show a cut out outline of the full size fish. When you see a full grown Pacu cut-out next to the 5G aquarium box you just bought I would hope that would raise a flag to the customer.
Another idea would be to have some one trained in keeping aquariums develop recommend stocking plans/options for the size aquariums they sell and post that in the fish area of the store. :dance
I think in general all of the pet departments including Wal-Mart need to do a better job of informing customers about what they are buying. In most of the stores I go to, which include the big chains, all I usually see describing a fish is a general adult length and a very general compatibility rating. I.e.: Community/Semi-Aggressive/Aggressive. When John Doe from sporting goods comes over to get you your fish at Wal-Mart he has no idea that a seemingly small Bala Shark wouldn’t be a good fit for a 5G tank.
What I would suggest is that they show a cut out outline of the full size fish. When you see a full grown Pacu cut-out next to the 5G aquarium box you just bought I would hope that would raise a flag to the customer.
Another idea would be to have some one trained in keeping aquariums develop recommend stocking plans/options for the size aquariums they sell and post that in the fish area of the store. :dance
good idea btw i like the cutout idea, but that would lose these sales. They serve that portion of awuarium people that chooses to learn nothing and dump fish after fish into a small tank and watch them die.
walmart itself do not invest enough time and resources for a real aquariums section. You need to ssave your time and fish by hitting a real LFS and you willl be all around more happy.
avoid any place that sells fish in a bare tank.
i have to shop there for my food ect but i refuse to buy any fish stuff,those poor betttas... dont get me started.
walmart itself do not invest enough time and resources for a real aquariums section. You need to ssave your time and fish by hitting a real LFS and you willl be all around more happy.
avoid any place that sells fish in a bare tank.
i have to shop there for my food ect but i refuse to buy any fish stuff,those poor betttas... dont get me started.
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what wal-mart NEEDS is to stop selling fish. It is just another product to make them money and put the LFS (who has a better chance of having a clue) in charge of fish. Walmart doesnt care that their staff isnt knowlegeable. And if you are some kid getting paid min. wage to be there, I doubt you'd care much either. Maybe a neat Job for a bit, but I doubt people are going to reasearch for the benefit of the public. And I dont think that walmart cares about customer satisfaction in that respect. they are sooo widespread, it is futile.
LFS needs to do a good job, because a few lost customers will break him. And word of mouth will effect him. Those are the people who I wouldnt think you'd waste your breath on, giving info/suggestions.
bottom line, if you're going to buy it, someone is going to sell it, and putting a whale in a soda bottle wouldn't effect walmarts heart, as long as they had their cash.
Sorry that was a downer...I have had a rough two weeks.
Happy Bunny day!
Lisa
LFS needs to do a good job, because a few lost customers will break him. And word of mouth will effect him. Those are the people who I wouldnt think you'd waste your breath on, giving info/suggestions.
bottom line, if you're going to buy it, someone is going to sell it, and putting a whale in a soda bottle wouldn't effect walmarts heart, as long as they had their cash.
Sorry that was a downer...I have had a rough two weeks.
Happy Bunny day!
Lisa
Cutout? HA! How the heck would they fit all these cutouts of a Clown knifefish and a Pacu? They would be bigger than the tanks themselves!
They wouldn't need to fit them anywhere, just have them stashed away and used when someone needs to see how large a fish will get. They could just hold them up to a tank to show adult size.Oddball~ said:
Though common in the hobby, I disagree that Senegal Bichirs and Oscars are even tank busters to begin with. I'd give a min tank size of 90g for an Oscar and 75g for a P. senegalus. Hardly in the same class as pacus, clown knives, and many readily available catfish.
Ive gotten some fish from walmart. Last time I did I used the self checkout and only punched in the numbers for one ADF but walked out with a bag of 4.
Suprisingly, I have had just as good luck with wal mart fish as I have LFS or petsmart fish.
I saw how petsmart handled their shipment of bettas and I was very angry to see that. The kid was talking about how he once cut a betta in half when he was opening the bag, he kept dropping the fish every time he went to drain the (miniscule amount of) water out of their shipping bag, few times dropped a betta in a cup with another betta and he would fish it out by hand. He dropped one betta about 5 feet from eye level into a cooler on the floor (where he was pouring the water) and picked it up with his free hand to throw it in the cup. Plus their cups are substantially smaller than the wal mart betta cups.
Speaking of overcrowding, I know a guy with 4 oscars, 1 other chichlid (not sure the species) and a full grown pleco in a 55g. He doesnt see any problem with it and wont listen when I tell him they are overcrowded. In his 10gallon he has 2 black tetras, a small pleco (which he insists isnt going to grow to be more than 4"), and an angelfish.
He does pretty infrequent water changes, too.
Suprisingly, I have had just as good luck with wal mart fish as I have LFS or petsmart fish.
I saw how petsmart handled their shipment of bettas and I was very angry to see that. The kid was talking about how he once cut a betta in half when he was opening the bag, he kept dropping the fish every time he went to drain the (miniscule amount of) water out of their shipping bag, few times dropped a betta in a cup with another betta and he would fish it out by hand. He dropped one betta about 5 feet from eye level into a cooler on the floor (where he was pouring the water) and picked it up with his free hand to throw it in the cup. Plus their cups are substantially smaller than the wal mart betta cups.
Speaking of overcrowding, I know a guy with 4 oscars, 1 other chichlid (not sure the species) and a full grown pleco in a 55g. He doesnt see any problem with it and wont listen when I tell him they are overcrowded. In his 10gallon he has 2 black tetras, a small pleco (which he insists isnt going to grow to be more than 4"), and an angelfish.
He does pretty infrequent water changes, too.
That cut out idea is cool. To take it one step further (primarily as a theoretical exercise) you could have full scale models of the adult fish so you not only have an idea of how long but also how wide the fish will get and what the body/finnage ratio will be. I'm sure that this will never see the light of day in an actual LFS but I like the idea anyway.
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