My girlfriends brother wanted to buy an oscar so I was taking him to 'petsmart' and to my LFS. Every oscar at petsmart was dreary in color the 'tiger oscars' were completely black with little to no coloration and the 'red oscars' were black and silverish no red. I asked the lady what they feed them she said flake food 1x daily and these were babies. Also they had 4 large oscars in one 10 gallon tank and they looked like someone had turned them in. How can you expect people to have proper set-ups when a fish store has 4 8"+ oscars in a 10 gallon tank. After this we went to my LFS all of their baby oscars had brilliant color and when he went to buy 1 asked him all about his tank-setup feeding and some other basic questions what they wouldn't have done at petsmart. As for the chain stores how can you claim to be all about animals and not know a thing it just really made me mad to see any fish in such bad conditions. They may have a wide selection of fish but they must have some health and development issues due to the way they are treated in their care. I think im done complaining it just was a hard thing to see.

Yes, have heard that often about petsmart, glad we don't have that here. I reckon health problems due to the way the fish are maintained there will mostly show effect once the people have them at home. Oh well, if the fish die, they can always go there again and get new ones hey? :angry: I'd probably feel the urge to save as many fish as possible from there, but would only increase their sales and make room for new fish.

Let's hope there are some exceptions.

The problem with these large stores is that they employ youngsters who no nothing about the fish. They are after all about making money and will normally sell the equipment at a cheaper price than a fish shop because they have bulk buying power. This means that the local little shops dont get the sale of the equipment just the fish. We had a large supplier who used to put a catalogue in every issue of a fishkeeping magasine and they were able to sell really cheap equipment but didnt stock fish thus creaming off the most profitable part. Of course if your heater breaks down or your pump goes then you have to send it back and get a replacement this took time. If you buy from a local shop then chances are that the shop would change it straight away. A use it or lose it campaign was started in the uk and it wasnt long before the large retailer was gone. At the end of the day we all have a choice of where we buy our fish large stores are not the right choice .

i agree totally the chain stores here are also just there for selling no one that works their actually has a clue,i support my local shop rather as the service and expertise is of a much higher level and the LFS gives u more personal attention where as the chain store you are just another number

Man, i hate those chain stores...the worst encounter there was when i was buying an extra pump for my 55 gallon tank at PETCO and a guy said, "I'll take one of those sucker things(plecos), two of those silvery ones(tinfoil barbs) and four of those striped ones(tiger oscars). The guy working there said, "Those striped ones get big, how big's your tank?" He pointed to one of the twenty gallons. The staff member said that was plenty big and rang them up...Makes me sad to think what some people must be keeping.

If you know a shop that does something you dont agree with dont shop there, vote with your pounds, dollars or deutchmarks or wherever you are from.

I personally wont shop anywhere where the fish dont look well looked after, the tanks are dirty, they sell dyed or tattoed fish, sell fish to people without the capabilities to house and look after them or where the staff are not knowledgeable. One shop i know had dyed fish and i will not buy from them. I am lucky in that the other shops around me mention to people about how big fish get. Some even have signs up saying how big each fish get.