link for petiton to end PetCo abuse of marine life

[Fin Mike]

How many millions of animals a year die in this hobby?

How many live highly extended lives in some peoples tanks? Life is cheap in the ocean. One false move and it is over for that guy. Fish are eaten constantly on the reef. So the one that ends up in a fish store could have been whacked by a big grouper the next day. Who's to say!

Also, I highly doubt that millions of fish die in this hobby in any year! A true marine enthusiast isn't going to buy fish from petco anyway. There failure to profit from SW fish will drive them out of offering them to the public. Seems like that is what is happening right now anyway.

 

[Garage1217]

No offense but if you were all so high and mighty on the end abuse and all that stuff, then you should all be investing in prop facilities for breeding fish in captivity or coral farms and never purchasing a fish from the wild. Most of you do not even realize how many fish actually die just to get a few specimen to any LFS let alone petco. If most of you saw the BIG picture and really cared that much, then you should not buy any saltwater fish. I will buy them, it is a part of the hobby. But I do try to buy tank raised stock if I can help. it.

Fish that go to petco or any other place come from the same sources. If a store is keeping the tanks in poor condition and fish are suffering, then it should be brought to the store attention or the regional reps attention. That simple. And if abuse continues then make a stink about that particular store in your local forums and tell others to complain. A petition is not going to do squat for any of you. Hate to say it but it will not.

Best of luck to all of you, your intentions are good. No question on that!

 

[clamwhisperer]

http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/News/LRF/10/LRF10-02.htm

The marine aquarium trade (MAT) includes the capture and shipment of over 1000 species globally, particularly smaller species, and often juveniles of medium-sized reef fish. Mortalities may be associated with physical damage, use of sodium cyanide, poor conditions in holding and transport, and stress (Wood 2001). For example, in the Philippines, a major source of aquarium fish and where cyanide is often used, mortalities can reach 20 per cent within a few days of capture when fish are held under poor conditions prior to collection by middlemen (Baquero 1995). The inclusion of species that cannot withstand capture and shipping or do not adapt readily to aquarium life adds further to overall losses (Wood 2001), while as much as 40 per cent of species currently traded may not be suitable for the average aquarist (Sadovy and Vincent 2002). A survey of over 300 aquarium fish retailers indicated that mortality levels of fish imported from the Philippines (where various middlemen are often involved) ranged from 30 to 60 per cent within three days of arrival in the United States (Rubec et al. 2000). On the other hand, in countries where the collector is also the exporter, good practices often keep mortality levels very low.

 

[stugray]

One thing I cant stand is people complaining about how we "kill" X number of fish because of our hobby.....

If you think about it.... WE CATCH AND EAT far more fish per year than we "kill" trying to make it to our tanks.

There are some animals ( certain Cephalopods ) that are considered endangered species that we cannot import YET... in other countries they are considered delicacies and are sold on the street corner, fried - would you like fries with that octopus?

We cannot import certain cuttlefish live, but we can import their skeletons for our birds to chew on!?!

I also agree that the care of animals in Petco is awful, but they are still treated better than the specimins at the local seafood shop.

Stu

 

[havingfunin08]

When I was new. They sold me a tang they new was sick! They where dosing it with something in a separate tank by itself and said oh look at this you might like it, took it out to show me and I said yes I do like it. I did ask why it was by itself and they said it had ick but is now 100% just making sure it is healthy. Its fine and sent me on my way. next day it was dead! So I called the store and wanted my $34.99 back and they said sorry no refunds. I then called the regional rep. and she was rude and very ugly with me! She said that she was there in the store when I bought the fish and remembered me and there was nothing wrong with the fish. So I told her that she was not there and a young boy sold me the fish and no one else was around and he told me the fish was sick but now better he will be fine. (so they knowingly are selling sick fish) She still said, oh well sorry there's nothing I can do for you. I called the corporate office and asked to speak with the president of the company and I was told that I could not talk to him and that he doesn't talk people like me... so after that I told them my story and they said sorry call the regional rep and talk to her, I said I did and she was no help. I told them my attorney would be contacting them shortly and she said wait a min. well maybe there's something we can do. They finally said they would refund my 34.99 but would not refund me the $200 of fish that also died that was in my tank because of the sick fish.. also they would not give me My $ back only a gift card worth $34.99 So I sold it to someone for 30 bucks and I never went back and never will.. it took me over a week of calling every day to get my money back..Great customer service huh?

 

[RicksReefs]

petitions online is just a business making money by inciting emotions and getting you to their site. thier 'petitions' never amount to anything and are a joke.

 

[benzreef]

What everyone should realize is that every store has a GM who is responsible for hiring competent staff who have a passion for animals. Some managers just fill a position and we see the end result of that. Other stores that hire passionate workers see outstanding results. You hear a lot of people complain about Petco's 'evil' policies. In reality, their policies (knowing them inside and out) are quite clear about conservation and proper husbandry practices. They give each store a budget to purchase the proper supplies they require based on what the appropriate personnel sees fit for maintaining optimal conditions for every animal. Now, it is completely up to the GM to decide which individual is competent enough for the task. Stores that have a GM without an animal background or have a passion for the animals that are in their care see the terrible results of their ignorance. On the other hand, stores with GMs that are very pet-oriented can utilize their staff to provide the best pet care and service. I am a proud employee of Petco for the last 6 or so years. It is my job to keep our entire FW and SW departments looking and feeling their best. The company gives each store the ability to order supplies for anything and everything we would need at our disposal to properly care for all of the aquatic life, and the same holds true for all of our other animals. To be completely honest, when I started working for Petco, I had no SW knowledge. Everything i learned was through the customers, fellow employees, and ultimately this website. It depends on the individuals tending to the systems. So I guess what I'm trying to get at is this: Give them a chance. If you walk in and you don't like what you see, walking out won't make a difference. You need to speak directly with the GM for them to understand that what they are doing is hurting the animals chances for a long and happy life. If that doesn't work, ask to speak to THEIR boss. You'd be surprised.

 

[RicksReefs]

no I wouldn't. they're a bunch of hacks that don't care about anything but the bottom line.
it's corporate policy NOT to medicate sick animals and that's why I never go into a deathco.

 

[vito is hooked]

I SAVE a fish from there every once in a while. It is about the fish, aint it?

 

[Fishfirst]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13919333#post13919333 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by benzreef
What everyone should realize is that every store has a GM who is responsible for hiring competent staff who have a passion for animals. Some managers just fill a position and we see the end result of that. Other stores that hire passionate workers see outstanding results. You hear a lot of people complain about Petco's 'evil' policies. In reality, their policies (knowing them inside and out) are quite clear about conservation and proper husbandry practices. They give each store a budget to purchase the proper supplies they require based on what the appropriate personnel sees fit for maintaining optimal conditions for every animal. Now, it is completely up to the GM to decide which individual is competent enough for the task. Stores that have a GM without an animal background or have a passion for the animals that are in their care see the terrible results of their ignorance. On the other hand, stores with GMs that are very pet-oriented can utilize their staff to provide the best pet care and service. I am a proud employee of Petco for the last 6 or so years. It is my job to keep our entire FW and SW departments looking and feeling their best. The company gives each store the ability to order supplies for anything and everything we would need at our disposal to properly care for all of the aquatic life, and the same holds true for all of our other animals. To be completely honest, when I started working for Petco, I had no SW knowledge. Everything i learned was through the customers, fellow employees, and ultimately this website. It depends on the individuals tending to the systems. So I guess what I'm trying to get at is this: Give them a chance. If you walk in and you don't like what you see, walking out won't make a difference. You need to speak directly with the GM for them to understand that what they are doing is hurting the animals chances for a long and happy life. If that doesn't work, ask to speak to THEIR boss. You'd be surprised.

I was once a "competent" staff member for a petco in wisconsin... and I'll tell you... its NOT the staff that makes the store... My knowledge didn't matter, my skills didn't matter, my recommendations didn't matter to them...
The managers would buy dozens of fish I could never recommend to anyone even after confronting them about it.
Corporate cared only about the looks of the tanks... they wouldn't care about fish that were half dead from oodinium though.
We had a total of 2 medications for fish and WERE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THEM unless we got approval from the RCAC. Salt and freshwater dips could only do so much and I lost countless fish to oodinium. I even asked to switch vendors as the fish were coming in with fin rot, lost eyes, ich, oodinium, flukes, dropsy, and looked like crap... however no matter how bad it got (we literally lost 20-30% of our stock DOA) they didn't care... infact they baught more fish from that particular vendor because we didn't have "minimum presentation"
That is like a train wreck happened at grand central so to get all the people who need to get on the train they send more trains into the train wreck. It just didn't make sense... and I was in no way proud of my job.

Petco's policies are a joke to the industry and a their stores an insult to the hobby. At the current place where I work now, I am free to use my skills and learn more in one day than I did in two years at petco... and I lose less fish in a week than I did in one day at petco, its their policies that FORCED the issue here... and their mythology, ahemmm sorry, "knowledge" that killed all those fish and invertebrates.

 

[RicksReefs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13933923#post13933923 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vito is hooked
I SAVE a fish from there every once in a while. It is about the fish, aint it?

to us, ya, it's about the fish. but by 'saving' petco fish, all you do is give them money to get another one for the next person to save.

 

[vito is hooked]

Dont get me wrong, I with ya, BUT, when a certain fish makes eye contact with ya, it's pretty hard to just walk away when you know you can save him. Anyway, I hope they do change there way's.

 

[NCSUsalt]

My GM at the PETCO I work at lets me do whatever I see fit to the SW department, I medicate, quarantine, use only hi quality food that I bring in from outside that gets soaked in either vitachem or selcon, etc. etc. consequently I actually have very minimal losses, I know several of the LFS in town actually have higher losses than my store. and my PETCO losses are only slightly higher than the loss at the LFS I also work at (which I mostly attribute to the difference in the quality of the fish from PETCO vendors vs. some of the cali wholesalers). It does depend greatly on the staff and the management at each particular store.

 

[Fishfirst]

"My GM at the PETCO I work at lets me do whatever I see fit to the SW department,"

This is HIGHLY AGAINST Petco policy

 

[NCSUsalt]

I never said it wasn't, but I was emphasizing the point that many GMs know that the PETCO P&Ps are retarded and let their specialists basically ignore them. We just put on the "oh yes, we're following policy" faces when the DMs come around

 

[benzreef]

HIGHLY AGAINST store policy?? What's your deal here? Every single person above me in the chain sees us doing this on a daily basis to the benefit of all of the animals and they are very much FOR it. I completely agree with you fishfirst that some stores should lose their SW system from poor husbandry practices, but you have a completely one-sided view from bad past experiences from your previous job. What makes you think every single store in a 700+ chain are exactly the same? You're GM didn't even let you order fish? wow.

 

[Fishfirst]

I see your from Ashwaubenon... interesting as I would think you would have the same GM and RCAC that I did... but maybe not.

 

[Fishfirst]

"What makes you think every single store in a 700+ chain are exactly the same?"

I don't... however the underlaying policies and the enforcement of those policies make petcos bad. I can assure you that I suggested a lot of things to my GM, DM, RCAC, and higher... I didn't get a single time that they accepted my suggestion... Infact I had to order Seahorses to get corporate to send Mysis shrimp, as I couldn't order it if we didn't have any, just an example of how hard it was to do anything good for the store.

 

[brandon2432]

you are taking this thread to a personal level. Like stated there is now way to take down a corp. like petco or wal-mart lol... but some petcos are good some are not. I talked to a guy at a petco filling in for some one and he told me to come to the petco he worked at. It was way better. There are lfs/pet stores that sell corals and have nice setups but if bulbs aren't changed and water topoffs and filter cleanings aren't done fish will die and they will still buy more. bottomline ITS ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT WORK THERE!!!!

 

[brandon2432]

Oh I bought my violation lion fish at petco for $29.00. hell of a deal been alive for a few months now. Think he will keep it up.lololol