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"Fun" Petsmart stories...

12K views 125 replies 52 participants last post by  HatsuneMiku 
#1 ·
So today when i stopped in petsmart just for the heck of it, I asked what they fed their bettas since Xan wasnt eating anything but blood worms... Well the lady i was talking to proceeds to tell me that bettas should only be fed once a day or every two days. And that they like "dirty dirty" water because they live in puddles. And she said that i was probably changing his water too much and that i shouldnt run the filter -at all-... took every ounce of control i had to not tell her she was wrong wrong wrong wrong...
 
#31 ·
I have a Petco story. Today I went in to get two females, and the guy at the register asked if I were going to put them together. I said that I was but with three more, and that it'd be a sorority. He was laughing at me, saying that they were all going to kill each other! :mad: The guy at the register right next to him asked how big my tank was, I said ten gallons and he said it was fine if I had hiding places and such. At least he knew something about Betta's. Geesh. That made me so mad! I know the risks in putting together a sorority, I don't need to be told by someone who hasn't read anything about it that they're all just going to kill each other. :(
 
#51 ·
That basically happened to me today when I bought three girls to start a sorority with...of course, I put them in the tank 20 minutes apart and there is no fighting, and I usually see all three of them within a couple inches of each other. Like right now, looking at the tank, theyra all hanging out in the same corner.
 
#32 ·
Yeah..the stupidity of people is limitless... I wish that they would at least do SOME sort of training for their employees on Bettas and the other fish since they'll be relied on for care information... Ugh. At one point i thought these people knew what they were doing. Its kind of like a trust that wont be repaired. :p
 
#33 ·
Bah I have had to beat so many people (metaphorically) it kills me sometimes. I work at petco and sometimes I want to beat the fish guy but the problem is betta are very disposable cost wise... the good news is I have only seen one case of velvet in over a month their so its getting better.
 
#34 ·
all these bad stories of Petco are just bumming me out O____O i got my new betta there last night and he was sooo pretty, the only flaw that made me want to choke somebody O_O is that someone POURED a male betta into another male bettas cup! and one was lying helplessly on the bottom getting nipped to death by the other, luckily my mom found the empty one, and poured the nipped betta in, i would have bought him, but the one i bought was a rare find in a store like that o_o
 
#36 ·
A week ago, I went with my niece to pick out a Betta fish for her birthday. on the Betta shelf was a display tank, a marina Betta kit, with a poor royal blue Betta with fungus covered eyes and severe fin rot. The tank was puny, had no filter or heater, and had a sharp plastic plant. Usually my petsmart takes decent care of their fish, so this horrified me. If I hadn't been with my niece, I would have talked with the manager. I did say something to one of the employees, so I hope they treated him, although that's probably unlikely.
 
#38 ·
It made me cry, I was so angry. I think the fish in those tiny display tanks have it worse than the Bettas in the cup because people are less likely to buy them and they are just forgotten.

On a lighter note, this wasn't at petsmart, but when I went to my lfs, the lady tried selling me this tiny Betta tank, telling me Betta fish live in "rice puddles". What in the world are rice puddles?! I told her their ancestors came from rice paddies, but she didn't believe me. But then again, this is the same store that told me I was stressing my Betta out by keeping him in a tank as large as a 3 gallon.
 
#40 ·
Hearing all these stories makes me want to work at Petsmart/Petco and open up a betta care class so that they can teach their customers the right stuff. Of course, being 13, that's not gonna happen for me ):
 
#41 ·
Today I went back to petsmart, and they still had the display tank but with a new Betta. So I assume the old one died, since he was pretty far gone when I last saw him. Anyways, I told the girl working there that plastic plants like the one in the tank can actually tear their fins. She was shocked to hear this, took the plant out, and assured me she would talk with her manager. So, yay, small victory!
 
#65 ·
Apparently not. I went back and the plant was back in the tank, so I guess the manager didn't care. The poor dragon they had in there wasn't looking too healthy. I also found out that petsmart doesn't even sell silk plants anymore, so the only plants they can recommend for betta fish are tiny plastic ones that I know will tear up their fins. :(
 
#43 ·
XD Yeah when i was looking for a little cave thing for my new betta, my mom was with me and had to get all stupid and ask the people there even though i knew what i was doing. The lady said "any of them would be fine for a betta" and i was like, um no..some of them will rip fins.. durp. I just ignored her and kept looking on my own. :/ I'm glad i havent seen anything super bad at my petsmart though. Just bad information. Some of the bettas have bubble nests in their cups too so i guess they're being treated alright.
 
#44 ·
I just got my first betta from Petsmart, the one where I live actually takes fairly good care of their bettas. Unfortunately, though, one of the cups appeared to be growing red mold on the upper edge and a few of the bettas had serious fin rot. I have a sneaking suspicion that those "rotten apple" cups with fish that were struggling were the fault of the suppliers, not the store.
 
#46 ·
MY gosh i have one. I was at my local petsmart about a year ago getting tetras for my 50 gallon and i decided to look at the bettas and when i got over there , there was this little boy who was stacking the betta cups one on top of the others, the secon he heard me ask what he was doing he must have tiped a cup or bumped it or someting but the damn tower fell over it was ike 5 cups tall and 3 of the cups landed on the floor and i think 2 poped upen , the other fish that didnt fly out of the cup was so freaked and stressed he was breathing so fast and very upset :( i found the manager and flipped on her. asking her why there was NO ONE in the fish department and then got on her about the poor quality her fish were in. i was so very upset by the ordeal i havnt been back to any petsmart since. Ill only shop at my towns petco. very very nice store, my moms discus breader guy works there part time so the fish are very very well kept. i cant wait till tomorrow were going to go look at lil bettas :p so excited to see what they have :)
 
#47 ·
sadly corperate pet stores like people who are good at being cheery, seeming like they know what theyre doing even when they dont, and selling stuff. most people who are the best at animal care don't have the qualities companies look for as storefront people
 
#48 ·
my store had a salt overdose and wiped out 90%of stock
so they got more in and the supplier provided them with stock that developed ich within 12 hrs
they lost most of that stock by now
 
#49 ·
they are getting fresh stock this week hopefully they dont find the same fate
 
#50 ·
okk so i went into petco today to look at their stock of bettas, and omg there like all half dead laying on the bottom and everything, one was laying on its side bobbing up and down kinda so when the guy walks over i said ( hey you know you have a few sick bettas right) i shoed him the lethargic corwntail and then the one who was basiccally upside down . he then taps on his cup andmade him move a lil and then said" there see hes not dead , they sleep that way ...." i was like really the fish sleeps almost upside down gasping for air.... riiiggghhhtt.. >.> morron
 
#53 ·
And that's why I ask nothing when I go to a petstore besides: "Where do you keep the dog treats/fish food?" And if they have brine shrimp. Everywhere else usually asks what fish I have and I hear some interesting stories. Some people I talk to actually say: "Really? I love betta's they're so much fun to watch." Or. "Betta's are cool but I love (insert freshwater/saltwater fish here) myself. Got a tank at home."

I love it when I'm speaking to fellow fish keepers.
 
#54 ·
I work at a Petco I recently sold a man and his daughter 3 females to start a sorority with and had to argue with register that it is normal to put females together :/
 
#55 ·
Since this thread seams to have become "fun" stories from any petstore, here's another Petco facepalm.jpg:

I was at Petco today talking about my divided tank setup and this guy looked at me like I had four heads when I said it was filtered and heated. As if even though it was a 10 gallon aquarium it was totally ridiculous to have proper equipment for 'just bettas'. The guy was like "wow, you filter your betta's water? they don't need that you know!"
I proceeded to tell him he didn't "need" to ever take out his trash so why not try doing it for a week. I think he was still trying to process that when I left.
 
#56 ·
I was at my Petsmart today and I went to ask one lady what size tank I should get, 1.5 or 3.5. She then proceeded to tell me that they "didn't need a lot of room and I should get the smaller one". I thanked her and got the 3.5 gallon one.
The woman who seems to run the fish department, Leslie, said that it didn't matter, but it's always better to have more room and she seemed to know more a LOT about Bettas than the other girl. Hmph!

I'm scared to go to Walmart and look at their Bettas. I may wanna take some home with me.
 
#57 ·
I was at petco the other day to see if by chance (I knew it was slim) if they had any dragon girls. I was looking over the babies, the water looked at least decent, like it had been chaged at that morning or the evening before. Despite this there was one little girl that was gone. I carried her around until I could find an associate that wasn't with a customer at the time. I find one, say politely that this particular girl is no longer with the living and give her to him. He gets all huffy like I gave her to him at the worst possible time. All he was doing was bringing carts in and I waited until he situated the bunch he had just collected. But yeah, I was completely polite, and he gets all snotty huffy about it. Get over it dude, it's your job!
 
#59 ·
I have to comment on this, because I've seen it a million times and have long since realized where that attitude comes from.

As a general rule, I've noticed petstore employees tend to get kind of butthurt when a customer points out a dead or sick animal to them. Be it the one or two dead mollies floating around in the sales tanks when people getting fish comment on them, to the two kids pointing out that the rare $100+ lizards that "were fine this morning!" are "dead in the tank", to the hamster in the corner around pink-tinted bedding with a clear case of wet-tail.

It's the feeling of inadequacy, the desire to ignore this failure only to have it pointed out to you by 'the public eye'. A mixture of embarrassment, shame, and sadness manifests itself into a defensive posture of irritance and even anger. Forced to accept the error, many feel judged (and often are) when faced by a customer regarding the health of an animal. Whether or not their role in the store played a part in the wellbeing of the live animals, there is a natural reaction of guilt for being affiliated with the company that is the 'culprit'. If they are involved with caring for live stock, the guilt is very real and probably results in a more curt reaction. If they are not responsible, you're likely to get a response that either downplays the situation or comes with a number of half-hearted excuses.

So in short, it's human nature. And only the best-trained petstore associates have learned to properly deal with it.
 
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