Walmart GSPs

[weidjd]

I had to go pick up a prescription for the wife and went by the fish dept. They had at least 20 very small GSPs in what seemed like a 10g tank. I know many have said this before, I guess I have never looked since I already hate WM. My wife wanted me to buy them all. The little fins all tore up. So Sad.

[xrayjeeper83]

its very pitiful how those boor guys are treated

[Blaine]

I wonder,...is there any way we could start a petition or something to get Walmart to stop selling fish altogether. Every store I have seen contains 10-20 five or ten gallon tanks, with fish stuffed in under deplorable conditions. I would bet their mortality rate is pretty high. It should be a crime.

[weidjd]

I wonder,...is there any way we could start a petition or something to get Walmart to stop selling fish altogether. Every store I have seen contains 10-20 five or ten gallon tanks, with fish stuffed in under deplorable conditions. I would bet their mortality rate is pretty high. It should be a crime.

You could say that about Petco/Petsmart and many LFS, imo.

[Blaine]

I have no experience with Petco, but I have been to one PetSmart (here in Winnipeg, Canada) and it is a five star resort compared to Walmart

At least at the stores you mention the staff are only looking after pets,...not tools and blenders and TV's. Not to say that their staff are necessarily any better qualified.

[weidjd]

I have no experience with Petco, but I have been to one PetSmart (here in Winnipeg, Canada) and it is a five star resort compared to Walmart

At least at the stores you mention the staff are only looking after pets,...not tools and blenders and TV's. Not to say that their staff are necessarily any better qualified.

Some are much better than others. I agree that Walmart is the worst for many reasons.

[Pufferpunk]

Buy them all & they pack another 25 in there.

[PolishPuff]

I wonder,...is there any way we could start a petition or something to get Walmart to stop selling fish altogether.

Here it is

http://www.petitiononline.com/sickfish/petition.html

[RTR]

Clarification, by definition, to me a chain store is not a LFS.

[luna1580]

this is a repost of my thoughts on the walmart puffer situation, it was originally written towards someone who actually did buy the fish, not just think about it. please share these ideas with your wife:

and the following is NOT directed in bad faith at you, i've bought fish from big-chain-pet-stores for pets and fish for dinner from big-chain groceries that were very probably not responsibly sourced (and sold, in the case of pet stores giving accurate keeping info on fish....). we all have. -at some point we didn't even think about this stuff, and i wish there were more efforts to educate the general public about both buying pets and seafood.....

but we all need to realize for the future that we are not really "saving" puffers when we buy them from ill-informed/poor-keeping-policy stores like walmart.

sure, you did probably save the life of the individual fish you just bought (assuming you do good research like newpuffmommy here and learn that your new pet needs way different keeping than you thought/were told by the seller....) BUT simple supply-and-demand economics: if people keep buying walmart puffers walmart isn't going to care that the motivation driving sales is a combo of "fish rescue", misleading sales info, and pure cuteness. walmart only cares to make a profit: if they can sell 10 puffers a week they are going to order 10-15 more for next week and on and on forever. so if they actually see increased sales because people desire to "save" the fish they see from the awful way walmart is keeping them, it will make walmart stock more puffers (and other live fish) and more of them will die.

many will die in the process of catching them from the wild and shipping them internationally for sale (and the by-catch of other critters that die when accidentally caught with them), some will die in the walmarts and other stores that don't keep them in appropriate ways, and some more will die in the homes of people who bought them and really wanted to give them good care, but were totally mis-informed about their needs by the store selling them.

ultimately if we want walmart to stop selling puffers we just need to stop buying them (and educate as many people as we can to do the same). no demand means they will stop stocking the fish, as to do so would be a waste of money for them. this is the only sure way to "fix" the walmart-puffer-problem as a whole.

and this supply-and-demand concept applies to all trade in animals and plants, be they wild harvested, captive-bred/farmed, legal or illegal.

when i was living in iquitos, peru (amazonia) i happened to be visiting a friend-of-a-friend, a woman who has raised and studied butterflies there for almost 2 decades. she also keeps on her property some animals that have been rendered unfit to return to the wild after they've been used by humans as everything from personal pets/attempted sale (like a male jaguar who was brought to her very close to death from starvation after a guy tried for months to illegally sell him to someone) to trained capuchin monkeys used by street kids to snatch jewelry and cameras from tourists, but discarded literally on a trash heap when the animal became ill.

while i was there a 20-something female german backpacker tourist showed up with a juvenile 3-toed sloth she'd just bought on the street in iquitos. the girl was convinced she was "saving" it by buying it. wow did she ever get the supply-and-demand lecture from Gudrun, in none-too-gentle tones! (please visit Gudrun's site if you're curious: http://www.amazonanimalorphanage.org/ she is an amazing amazing woman!)

so the walmart petition is a good idea -as would be some kind of internet shaming that goes viral, a narrated video of the fish in a really bad walmart store maybe? but the bottom line is that walmart is always going to pay far more attention to their bottom line and only cease sales when sales cease to be profitable for them.....

[luna1580]

oh, here are a few pics from my story

[J-P]

That is very cool, and a very difficult task. Financial support must be a burden.

[hopkia]

do you think walmart even puts salt in the tanks for the little guys?

on a positive note, i recently rescued one of these from a walmart prison, some of his fins looked nibbled on a bit but now they seem to be coming back quite well.

[weidjd]

do you think walmart even puts salt in the tanks for the little guys?

on a positive note, i recently rescued one of these from a walmart prison, some of his fins looked nibbled on a bit but now they seem to be coming back quite well.

This one does have a care sheet that explains to use a certain amount of salt per gal.

[luna1580]

hopkia wrote:

on a positive note, i recently rescued one of these from a walmart prison, some of his fins looked nibbled on a bit but now they seem to be coming back quite well.

-please read the whole thread, for the future and so you can teach others that buying walmart puffs does NOT really "rescue" puffers....

as far as the salt- if they have all of their tanks being filtered on one giant system then not marine salt, -it would make all of the tanks brackish- but probably some aquarium salt as it can treat/prevent some fish health issues. pretty much all puffers that are not full marine are always sold in fresh water. you can totally ask any pet store to test the salinity/SG of their tanks for you then and there (so you can match it at home, check on their conditions, etc.) but walmart may have no idea what you're even talking about......

and if your fish has injuries like ragged fins adding some melaflix will really help. it's a good "tonic" for a new fish in general as it has both antibacterial and anti-fungal properties and aids in slime-coat health.

p.s. for hopkia and anyone else who did already buy walmart puffers or whatever, please don't think i'm trying to scold you, i'm not. if you weren't thinking of the greater world fish-trade when you first saw those poor puffs and were overcome with the desire to help them right now! i do understand. i just want you to see this as an opportunity to learn about the issue. then it will be on your mind next time you see those heartbreaking little guys... and -VERY IMPORTANT- so that you can become someone who will educate all your friends/family/classmates/coworkers/etc. about this before they also go and buy one trying to "help". it's the same economic deal as not buying puppymill pets, but very few people educate others about global fish stocks, the aquatic pet trade and such since you can't cuddle with your wet pets in an adorable TV spot. (and don't take your fish back either -walmart will flush it. find someone else to rehome it with if you realize you can't afford all of its gear or anything.)

thanks. and good luck with your new "pooch face"