Aquagiant: Anyone use this Petco?
 

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Hello,

I noticed a new fish and aquarium supply store in my neighborhood
today. They're part of a chain local to Edmonton (Canada) called
Aquagiant (http://www.aquagiant.com), though this is the first time
that I've heard of them, or seen one of their stores.

Anyhow, I walked in there curious and was delighted to hear that
everything in the store was 20% off as a door-opening special. I
was ready to fork over some cash for some cheesy aquarium decoratons
that my wife and kids might like when I decided to check out the
fish-stock section.

It was appalling how many unwell, dead, or half-eaten fish were
present. There was one tank that had a fuzzy lump of stuff with
spines comming out of it. The sign on the tank identified the
occupant as a Lion Fish.

Is anyone in this group familiar with Aquagiant? Is this pretty
typical of the chain, or is this somewhat of an exception. There
was only one person manning the store when I went there, presumably
the owner, or manager. Could this apparent neglect be a result of a
lack of staff (Edmonton being subject to a labour shortage due to
the Oil Industry draining so much manpower)? Even so, I find this
hard to excuse.

So, if anyone's had any experiences with Aquagiant I'd love to hear
about them. I'm even open to well thought-out advice from those who
haven't had any direct experience with Aquagiant.

Thanks.

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--
W. Steven Schneider
Key ID: Key Fingerprint: GnuPG
0xD3378BA8 39D5 CA7B 4646 0C0D 6667 http://www.gnupg.org
BB51 C898 1345 D337 8BA8

Aquagiant: Anyone use this Petco?
 

Many times these chains open a new branch way before their tanks are cycled
and water is OK. It is the cost.

Aquagiant: Anyone use this Petco?
 

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* Alpha [2007-10-12]:
Many times these chains open a new branch way before their tanks are cycled
and water is OK. It is the cost.

That's disgusting. Not too surprising, but disgusting nonetheless.
You'd think that the cost of having to replace all of those lost
fish would be incentive for them to do it properly, but obviously
the value of a fish isn't worth that much on the market.

This must be hard on the wild population of fish though, as I'm sure
most of them aren't bred in captivity. What can we do as fish
keepers to help prevent, or correct this sort of behaviour from
LFSs?

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--
W. Steven Schneider

Aquagiant: Anyone use this Petco?
 

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* Tynk [2007-10-11]:
On Oct 10, 10:38?pm, Steven Schneider
wrote:
It was appalling how many unwell, dead, or half-eaten fish were
present. There was one tank that had a fuzzy lump of stuff with
spines comming out of it. The sign on the tank identified the
occupant as a Lion Fish.

Sadly, it's pretty typical of most chain pet stores.

:-\ Perhaps we should being doing more in our communities to
prevent these sorts of abuses? I could boycot Aquagiant, and
discourage people from shopping there, I suppose. However, if I'm
successful, and they go out of business and another store/chain
opens up elsewhere in the area, have I really helped? Should we (I,
I suppose) being doing something to help and educate the people who
own and run LFSs?

There's one LFS in this city that I know has a good reputation. I'm
willing to do all my shopping there exclusively, if that's what it
takes.

I'm sorry, but that experience really bothered me. There was a pet
store in West Edmonton Mall that had a LF section, I don't recall
the name anymore, with a fair number of dead fish. I never went
back to that store for _anything_ pet related! This was worse, the
dead Blue Tang I saw in Aquagiant would have made my three little
girls cry (the oldest is only five).

So what do I do. Simply boycot, educate, some combination, or
something else?

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--
W. Steven Schneider
Key ID: Key Fingerprint: GnuPG
0xD3378BA8 39D5 CA7B 4646 0C0D 6667 http://www.gnupg.org
BB51 C898 1345 D337 8BA8

Aquagiant: Anyone use this Petco?
 

"Steven Schneider" wrote in message
...
So what do I do. Simply boycot, educate, some combination, or
something else?
====================
Boycotting is the safest option for you. Shop elsewhere.
--
RM....
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Aquagiant: Anyone use this Petco?
 

"Steven Schneider" wrote in message
...
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* Alpha [2007-10-12]:
Many times these chains open a new branch way before their tanks are
cycled
and water is OK. It is the cost.

That's disgusting. Not too surprising, but disgusting nonetheless.
You'd think that the cost of having to replace all of those lost
fish would be incentive for them to do it properly, but obviously
the value of a fish isn't worth that much on the market.

I knew very well some fish store owners....the markup on livestock can be 10
or more times wholesale cost. For 'trade' fish a great percentage of loss
is considered acceptable.

Aquagiant: Anyone use this Petco?
 

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* Reel McKoi [2007-10-14]:

"Steven Schneider" wrote in message
...
So what do I do. Simply boycot, educate, some combination, or
something else?
Boycotting is the safest option for you. Shop elsewhere.

Okay, thanks. At least I know where I can go. :-)

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--
W. Steven Schneider
Key ID: Key Fingerprint: GnuPG
0xD3378BA8 39D5 CA7B 4646 0C0D 6667 http://www.gnupg.org
BB51 C898 1345 D337 8BA8

It was alarming how abounding unwell, dead, or half-eaten angle were present. There was one catchbasin that had a down-covered agglomeration of being with spines comming out of it. The assurance on the catchbasin articular the occupant as a Lion Fish.