Have You Gotten Bad Advice From Petshop ?

[Nyboy]

Last night I hit 6 different stores looking for a Shubunkin or Sarasa to cycle my pond. Plenty of fantails and koi .Was told by one employee wrong time of year, goldfish are cold water don't ship in summer. At another place I was told koi where a type of goldfish, I should get one, when I told them my pond was not big enough only 300 gallons he told me that was fine people keep them in fish tanks all the time. All the stores where chain, LFS all where driven out.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Petco once told my mom she could keep two goldfish in a 2.5 gallon aquarium, and with no filtration. She didn't know any better at the time. They died within two weeks for obvious reasons.

The problem with places like that is that they hire people that barely know anything about the animals they sell, and certainly don't care about those animals. They're just trying to sell the 'product'.

 

[Nyboy]

In my area there is only petsmart and petco all other shops closed

 

[Lisak1]

That's a shame @Nyboy - a pet store is a place where you need knowledgable employees and as @JBtheExplorer noted, most chains just hire teenagers off the street and give them no training. I am surprised they didn't have goldfish though - our chains have them all the time.

@MitchM - are you the one with the directions on fishless pond cycling?

 

[Nyboy]

From the looks of the fish, they must have high die off. The ones they did have where sitting on bottom with clamped fins

 

[Lisak1]

Ugh. I hate that. And then some well meaning parent comes along and buys a pet fish for their child, it's dead by morning, and it's disappointment all around. Plus - dead fish.

 

[peter hillman]

In my area there is only petsmart and petco all other shops closed

When I kept aquariums the little local shops had the good stuff! Never to be seen again.

 

[CeeJayH]

See something similar starting to happen in the UK. Personally, I think it worth paying a little extra at the local shop to help keep him in business.

 

[MitchM]

...

@MitchM - are you the one with the directions on fishless pond cycling?

Yes down in my signature.

 

[Nyboy]

same thing is happening to family owned hardware stores.

 

[Lisak1]

@Nyboy - check out Mitch's instructions for fishless pond cycling. It doesn't solve your pet shop problem, but it will help you get your pond going without using fish.