# Petsmart...who would have thunk it...



## TNprogrammer (Jul 28, 2008)

Just thought I would share this...I went into the Petsmart store here in the area of Nashville where I work. I was blown away by what a nice fish department they had. AND, they had tons of cichlids that were all properly named. I was SHOCKED. The tanks were all very well taken care of too. I've been to several other Petsmart stores and they were NOTHING like this. Wonder if they are all stepping up their game?


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

There are I believe 5 in metro Charlotte (the city I live in)...

Two of them I wouldnt trust to buy a fish from to save my life...

One has a decent manager who cares but employees who don't, so it's hit or miss...

The other has a guy who is a member of our local fish club who works at it everything is top knotch there... At least this was true last time I stopped in. Come to think of it I haven't heard from him in a while...

Oh, and the other one I know nothing about...

But the moral to the story... Any store can only be as good as it's employees... and every store is as good as it's employees...


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## car0linab0y (Aug 10, 2009)

Toby_H said:


> There are I believe 5 in metro Charlotte (the city I live in)...
> 
> Two of them I wouldnt trust to buy a fish from to save my life...
> 
> ...


which one is the good one? I wasn't too thrilled with the one on University City Blvd.


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## locomotive282 (Jun 2, 2009)

i still wouldn't buy fish from petsmart, they have their employees take out the fish that DONT have ich and dispose of them. They guarantee ich with every order.


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

never got ich from petsmart but did buy two peacocks with parasites in hickory nc


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## TNprogrammer (Jul 28, 2008)

I spoke with the girl that runs their fish dept. that day. She was actually very knowledgeable about fish and was an avid Cichlid keeper.


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## iheartmycichlids (Mar 10, 2009)

Every fish I've purchased from Petsmart was ich-ie... Unfortunately, that is the ONLY fish store in the area. If I want anything other than an ich fish, I have to drive to Shreveport, which is 3 hours away or order online!


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

^ Wow!


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## KATALE (Jul 25, 2008)

i would have to say that quaranteening any new fish is a good practice.. especially from big dept stores like petsmart.. if u have the room,, keep them alone for up to 10 days and have meds on hand.. the last thing u want is to add diseased fish into your current stock


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## Matt B. (Jun 29, 2005)

locomotive282 said:


> They guarantee ich with every order.


 :lol: :lol: :lol: .....it's funny because it's true

although i don't know how true that statement about throwing out fish without ich, is...

the petsmart in my area was decent when it first opened (about 13 years ago).... I used to buy fish from them back when I was into tropicals (barbs, tetras etc.), and they seemed alright at the time (with my limited aquatic knowledge)
.... a couple years later, after several of my new purchases from petsmart died inexplicably (I say inexplicably because, at the time, I had no idea hot to spot illness in fish), I stopped buying from them.

in the last few years, they have really been increasing their selection of cichlids (which are ridiculously overpriced), and I have tried to purchase from them several times (they carry a lot of albinos and things like that, which I can't find at any reputable dealers), but every one that I buy has had ich or some sort of fungal disease (luckily I quarantine my fish, and return every one of them for full cash refund)......

I also noticed that petsmart keeps their filter system off for most of the day..... I have no clue why they do it, but one of the employees told me that they only run the filters at night

sorry for rambling....just thought i would mention that...


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

My Petsmart is very clean, every time I stop in there to check out the africans they are constantly vacing the gravel and cleaning the tanks. I don't know if it's a coincidence if I spelled that right lol. But they are constantly taking care of the fish. I bought 2 fish there and knock on wood I haven't had any problems.


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

I agree that employee's make the store; either chain or privately owned.

The current shop I go to is owned by a very very knowledgeable guy who used to manage the fish department at a large chain store where I live. Now he went and opened his own store, but when he ran the department at the chain, it was surprisingly a good place to go for fish. When you go into a store that's run by people who love what they do, as opposed to a teenager who's parents forced them to get a job (no offence to kids who were forced to work this summer), you really see the difference.

I have friends in England I visit often, and when I went to Aquarium shops there, I noticed something that doesn't happen here in North America; alot of the managers and owners of these places have University Degrees in Marine Biology, Icthyology, Fishery Management, etc. I don't know why that doesn't happen here. Maybe there isn't as much prestige in it as over there. :-?


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## Matt B. (Jun 29, 2005)

Cento said:


> I don't know why that doesn't happen here. Maybe there isn't as much prestige in it as over there. :-?


well.....you have to realize that the petsmart employees get paid minimum wage, and managers only get paid around $5 more per hour (this may not be the case in all chain stores... and privately owned stores may be completely different) ....... so I would think that someone who has a university degree in marine biology etc, should be making more than a few dollars over minimum wage.


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Yes, that makes sense.. I guess what I meant to indicate by "prestige" is, that obviously the requirements to work in these shops and the wages for these positions is far lower here then in Europe.

I'm sure that kind of eduction and qualifications reflects on prices of stock and supplies, but I'd rather pay a little more, then have to comb through the province/state for a reputable shop. I just think that the Aquarium Trade/Hobby is taken more seriously in Europe then here. If you wanna open a clinic for dogs or breed horses, any kid off the street can't just start up; there has to be a massive list of experience and qualifications and in the case of hospitals or clinics, you have to go through VET school. Where as it seems that anyone who'd like to, can work in the fish department here and call themselves a fish expert..

Sorry, didn't mean to make a small point drawn out, but its something I've always thought about since I went over there..


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## locomotive282 (Jun 2, 2009)

Cento said:


> I have friends in England I visit often, and when I went to Aquarium shops there, I noticed something that doesn't happen here in North America; alot of the managers and owners of these places have University Degrees in Marine Biology, Icthyology, Fishery Management, etc. I don't know why that doesn't happen here. Maybe there isn't as much prestige in it as over there. :-?


  Wow, that is amazing. Now when you mean "aquarium shops" would that be the equivalent to Pet Smart in England or are you talking Local Fish Stores? If so, that must mean that working at a aquarium shop across the pond must pay substantially more than here stateside. How many shillings is the average wage?

Not that I am generalizing all Pet Smart employees but I find the name very fitting, because I find some of the fish to be smarter than the people working there. :lol:


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Yeah, I don't know if there's anything like Pet Smart there, but a few of the places were franchises; Maidenhead Aquatics, Swallow Aquatics... I don't know what their wages would be, but I'm sure its more then their standard wages. It could be also that these are specific aqautic shops, as opposed to general pet stores. I'm sure if I looked harder and had more time there, I could find a chinzy little shop, but the ones I happened to visit had expert staff.

In England they even have this organization that governs a certification that kinda acts like ISO 9001, 2000 or whatever. Its called the *OATA* (Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association). If I shop wants to have reputability, it'll have this designation. They have their employees take these courses and exams to have them certified. It seems pretty well organized.

And, I guess, in the defense of all petstore chain employees, if they had these kind of regulations in place here in Northamerica, I'm sure they'd be far more informed.


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## becadavies (Apr 2, 2007)

Cento said:


> I have friends in England I visit often, and when I went to Aquarium shops there, I noticed something that doesn't happen here in North America; alot of the managers and owners of these places have University Degrees in Marine Biology, Icthyology, Fishery Management, etc. I don't know why that doesn't happen here. Maybe there isn't as much prestige in it as over there. :-?


Where in UK are these shops?

I only ask as *** never heard of LFS managers having Degrees....employees in the Fish trade can take an exam on fish keeping/husbandry but its not compulsary....

We also have Petsmart but it changed its name to "pets at home" - and it is the home of the dreaded "mixed malawi" tank -All community fish by the way :lol: also Ich and wrongly labelled fish.


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

The ones I went to were in Cardiff, Lancs, and Norfolk. The one livestock manager I spoke with had an HND and ND in Fisheries and Aquatic Management and the other guy at a different shop had the Advanced OATA diploma in Fish Biology...

I don't know geographically where Surrey is, but those are the cities where i visited the shops. And I've spoke with other fish keepers here, who came over from the pond a few years ago, and they feel also that the aquatic trade is less reputable here..

Hey, they say the grass is always greener on the other side! :lol:


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## becadavies (Apr 2, 2007)

Geographically Surrey isnt near any of those places 

But i dont dont doubt they had those diplomas/degrees :thumb:

Wish it was true of everywhere.....and just so you know...people in UK awe over what you have in US

So yes, the grass is always greener :lol:


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## iheartmycichlids (Mar 10, 2009)

Well, suprise, suprise! I went to Pet Smart (I like loco's reasoning behind that version) to get some more cichlids today because there's nowhere else to get them and I can't find anyone who will deliver overnight to where I live. Anywhoo, the girl got aggravated with me because I was being picky with which fish I wanted. I would point to the ones I wanted and she would get a different one and ask if it was OK... I said no... She got mad!! LOL!!! O well... goes to show she knows nothing about fish.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Not to be picky but Cardiff is not in England. I'm sure there are lots of Welsh people out there that would be quick to point that out. :wink:


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## becadavies (Apr 2, 2007)

To someone from US i would imagine its all the same :lol:


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Canada is not in the U.S. I am English living in Canada, when I tell people I am English they say things like "where from? Scotland?, Ireland". I have been asked by Americans when I was on vacation "which side of the road do y'all drive on? :lol:


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## nckiteflyer (Aug 4, 2009)

I had a friend who had a PHD in Marine Biology who worked for Scripts. He was paid poorly and spent most of his time diving in sewage outfalls. He gave it all up and opened a auto parts store. He made a ton more money and smelled a whole lot better too.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

i'm sure if you get lucky and the GM of your local petsmart treats the store like a local pet store and tries to only hire knowledgable people and hire a really good aquatics mgr, if i was the gm of petsmart here that's what i would do


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