# WARNING when buying fish from Walmart



## small fry

Hello. 

You guys are probably thinking that I am going to talk about how TERRIBLE walmart's fish dept. is, and to check fish VERY throgholy for any signs of ich, fungus, and finrot, which are all common fish diesases found on fish that are at walmart. Although those things are highly important, and I never recomend buying a fish at walmart unless you have to (have to?), that is not what this warning is about.

I can't prove this is true because it is something I heard from an employee, but better safe than sorry! It sounds logical so I will report it...

The checker said passively as I was walking away,"oh, when you get to the sensor gates on either side of the door, lift the shrimp over the electronic gate or they will die." She explained that the electronic field between the gates would send an electric charge throught the water and kill the fish!

WHY DIDN'T ANYONE EXPLAIN THAT EARLIER!?

She said that it wasn't likely to _kill _fish (I was buying shrimp, that appearently would have been killed), so nobody really says anything.

WHAT KIND OF RESPONSIBILTY IS THAT?

Way Walmart sees it, if the fish dies, chances are you will come back to the walmart to get more fish. That is a shame. Why does walmart have to be that way...so selfish.:-(


----------



## stevenjohn21

Hmmm sounds like an urban legend to me ! If that is true then wouldnt anything flammable go Boom when the "electric charge" zaps it ?


----------



## small fry

stevenjohn21 said:


> Hmmm sounds like an urban legend to me ! If that is true then wouldnt anything flammable go Boom when the "electric charge" zaps it ?


Well, supposedly the "elecrtic charge" will show no noticeable signs of shock. It sorta makes since with water, but with flamables, it is the vapor that is flamable, not the liquid. Without a spark to agnite the vapor, there will be no effect, perhaps even if the liquid was electrically charged.

Anyone had any negative effects walking through the gates w/ live fish/inverts?


----------



## koda22

ive heard that too! but i dont really care, im one of the guys that walmart is the only place with fish within 125miles....but they thing about walmart is they have a 72hr replacement....if it dies within 72hr take it back and get a new one...


----------



## small fry

koda22 said:


> ive heard that too! but i dont really care, im one of the guys that walmart is the only place with fish within 125miles....but they thing about walmart is they have a 72hr replacement....if it dies within 72hr take it back and get a new one...


I forgot they had a policy.:|. Maybe they can't help being bad.


----------



## zof

I hate to tell you this but the sensors at the door are magnetic based not electric based, the chances of them killing anything living even if it sat inside the sensor bars for a day would be less then one half of one percent. It sounds like this lady is just very misinformed or she was yanking your chain.

So lets go theoretical here for a moment and say they were electrical, and were pumping enough energy out to harm some water creature. Well first of all the charge would be so great you would feel the static electricity in that area as the hair on your arm would stand up. And electrical devices such as phones and pacemakers would short out.

In short there pretty much no danger from the magnetic tag sensors, in fact you probably have a better chance of dead fish from getting ran over while walking to your car in the walmart parking lot.

Edit: Heres a wiki link about these magnetic strips http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_article_surveillance#Acousto-magnetic_systems


----------



## small fry

zof said:


> I hate to tell you this but...


No, that is good news.:-D. That means walmart is 1/2 of 1% better at fish keeping than I thought they were.


----------



## Mikaila31

I don't even know were to begin with this... :|


----------



## keowa

ok, i work at walmart in the pets department. AND i have a tropical fish tank (45gal) all fish of wich i have bought from my store. i have never had a fish die from taking threw the securitie gate however i have been told that the fish should not be taken over the scanner at the register. i have no proof that this is true BUT i do mention to every person i bag fish for that they should not let the casheer take the bad over the scanner.


----------



## Inga

Walmart here doesn't have much in the way of fish or fish supplies anymore. Admittedly, I am a little sad about the supplies. A few years ago, I was able to purchase a 29 gallon tank with the heater, filter, lights for less then $100. at Walmart. It was a pretty nice set up for the money. If I try to get that same set up here now, it would be close to twice that. 

I hate the idea of them selling fish though. Many years ago before I knew better I bought fish there. The pet area person wasn't around so someone from pharmacy came to dish up the fish. She had no clue and put a dozen largish fish in one bag. Her catching skills were not good and most were injured. All of them died within a very short time. I gave up on Walmart fish after that.


----------



## alysalouise

small fry said:


> Hello.
> 
> You guys are probably thinking that I am going to talk about how TERRIBLE walmart's fish dept. is, and to check fish VERY throgholy for any signs of ich, fungus, and finrot, which are all common fish diesases found on fish that are at walmart. Although those things are highly important, and I never recomend buying a fish at walmart unless you have to (have to?), that is not what this warning is about.
> 
> I can't prove this is true because it is something I heard from an employee, but better safe than sorry! It sounds logical so I will report it...
> 
> The checker said passively as I was walking away,"oh, when you get to the sensor gates on either side of the door, lift the shrimp over the electronic gate or they will die." She explained that the electronic field between the gates would send an electric charge throught the water and kill the fish!
> 
> WHY DIDN'T ANYONE EXPLAIN THAT EARLIER!?
> 
> She said that it wasn't likely to _kill _fish (I was buying shrimp, that appearently would have been killed), so nobody really says anything.
> 
> WHAT KIND OF RESPONSIBILTY IS THAT?
> 
> Way Walmart sees it, if the fish dies, chances are you will come back to the walmart to get more fish. That is a shame. Why does walmart have to be that way...so selfish.:-(


 
Its really true actually, they forwarned me to, even as i got the the sensers the lady there told me too, so i just lifted the bag up, their sensors aren't to high up anyway
At least their telling people who are buying fish from there


----------



## DKRST

keowa said:


> BUT i do mention to every person i bag fish for that they should not let the cashier take the bag over the scanner.


The laser light from the barcode scanners is potentially bad for fish eyesight!

Original post RE:*security sensor=fish death? Absolute nonsense*, and not scientifically factual.

However, considering the kids of some folks who are regular Wal-mart shopper's has me reconsidering the validity of my statement above about sensors being non-harmful...:lol:


----------



## Rip

i don't think any of the Walmarts i've been to here in Phoenix even have a fish department.


----------



## small fry

Wow, this is kind of an old thread. Interesting that there seems to be at least some supposed truths to this theory in most accounts. At least that the magnetic scanners can be harmful in some way.



Rip said:


> i don't think any of the Walmarts i've been to here in Phoenix even have a fish department.


Yeah, thank goodness my Walmart only has bettas. Here in this half of Texas (the East half), there aren't alot of Walmarts with fish in them (other than bettas). At least not in the 20 or so I have been in over the last year or 2 (I travel abit through parts of Texas sometimes). 

I do not appreciate the level of care (or lack of it in this case) that Walmart provides for their fish. They hardly seem to care wheater or not they have 5 or 6 dead, decaying fish in a tank. They don't seem to care (or even know) that they have multiple tanks infested with Ich and other terrible parasites and fungi. I think that their needs to be something done about Walmart's fish abusing tendencies. They should leave fish to the chains and indepenant pet stores who (mostly) know how to take care of fish.:-?


----------



## LasColinasCichlids

*My two cents...*



zof said:


> I hate to tell you this but the sensors at the door are magnetic based not electric based, the chances of them killing anything living even if it sat inside the sensor bars for a day would be less then one half of one percent. It sounds like this lady is just very misinformed or she was yanking your chain.
> 
> So lets go theoretical here for a moment and say they were electrical, and were pumping enough energy out to harm some water creature. Well first of all the charge would be so great you would feel the static electricity in that area as the hair on your arm would stand up. And electrical devices such as phones and pacemakers would short out.
> 
> *In short there pretty much no danger from the magnetic tag sensors, in fact you probably have a better chance of dead fish from getting ran over while walking to your car in the walmart parking lot. *
> 
> Edit: Heres a wiki link about these magnetic strips Electronic article surveillance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia





DKRST said:


> The laser light from the barcode scanners is potentially bad for fish eyesight!
> 
> Original post RE:*security sensor=fish death? Absolute nonsense*, and not scientifically factual.
> 
> *However, considering the kids of some folks who are regular Wal-mart shopper's has me reconsidering the validity of my statement above about sensors being non-harmful*...:lol:


 
:lol:I laughed so so so freaking hard at the quotes I have bolded, underlined, and colored red up above!!! Thank you so much for those laughs that are also valid!!! LOL :lol:

On the Walmart fish note... I too am in Texas...Irving which is just outside of Dallas. Thankfully my closest Walmart hasnt sold live fish in well over 2 years. Yet sadly, the Walmart near my best friend in Fort Worth (about 45 minutes away from me) her's sells not only common Petsmart fish, but even are selling a bit more exotic ones including dwarf cichlids, multiple kinds of puffers (Dwarfs, GSP, and fiqure 8s) and more!! :evil:

There should be some sort of regulations on who and how a company can sell fish. I mean, I am the person that I walk into Petsmart and the aquatics department tells me I need to work there and refer their customers to me when I am in the store!! :|

As far as a 29 gallon tank set up from Walmart... I got mine cheaper than Walmart had theirs at Petsmart. Even some of the fish food and algae pellets Walmart sells costs more than Petsmart! The same bag of Hikari Veggie Rounds (same size and all) I pay like $2.50 for at Petsmart, Walmart has it for $4 something. 

Dont get me wrong, in general I love shopping at Walmart, just not for live fish...but they ocassionally have a nice selection of live plants for my garden. :-D


----------



## Mikaila31

Meh its walmart. I guess I don't expect much of them to start with. Though I do get bait worms from there and a month ago their bait fridge had froze all the bait... more of an inconvenience then anything. At least they were all doomed to die one way or another:lol:. Last time all they had were green dyed worms... 

As far as their fish selection goes its quite poor IMO. However if you ever need female Dwarf gouramis its like the only place to find them. My local one has gotten in at least two shipments of bamboo shrimps, for $7.50 each. As much as I dislike the store I can't pay $20 each for those at the nicer fish stores. Though the one shrimp I bought last time did not really need the half gallon or more of water in the bag:roll:. Shrimp are all I get from walmart fish-wise. Inverts don't carry many fish diseases, but the water can. I usually resort to giving them a short copper dip(I know). Never had any diseases introduced and the shrimp become quite happy and healthy once settled in.

Petsmart pricematches most anything for me at my local one. I rarely buy from stores though, unless I get a giftcard. Though I enacted the no petsmart/petco giftcard rule, they don't honestly carry much stuff I need and its expensive. I usually just wipe out their food supply. I've got a ton of fish food now though... Most everything I need I get from auctions and craigslist or from trading fish for store credit with private shops. Then you get the odd tank every year or too. You know the one off the curbside or some friend or relative dumps on you...


----------



## small fry

LasColinasCichlids said:


> As far as a 29 gallon tank set up from Walmart... I got mine cheaper than Walmart had theirs at Petsmart.




My Walmart still carries a 30 gallon tank (I think). 6 months ago, you could buy a "fully setup" 55 gallon tank there w/ tank, heater, hood, filter, etc. for $135. Not a bad deal IMO. I find stuff way cheaper than that on craigslist, though lol. Alot of my bigger tanks are used.





LasColinasCichlids said:


> Dont get me wrong, in general I love shopping at Walmart, just not for live fish...but they ocassionally have a nice selection of live plants for my garden. :-D


My mother buys 95% of her plants at Lowes when they have their seasonal closeout sales. At times when cases of plants are $0.50, and other plants are cheap as dirt (lol). She does occasional buy plants from Walmart, but not often.

I am glad that my Walmart has aquarium supplies and not fish. I get air tubing, filter cartridges, the occasional tanks and tank decor, some fish food, etc. from there. My Walmart also takes excellent care of their bettas. I have gone to other Walmarts and seen bettas in messy blue water (certainly some kind of conditioner, probably promising to keep the water clean and healthy), next to containers with partially dead, rotting bettas in them. The water in some of the containers looks like it hadn't been changed in at least 2 weeks.



Mikaila31 said:


> However if you ever need female Dwarf gouramis its like the only place to find them.


Why are those hard to find? My local fish store carries about as many females as males. Maybe even more females. Are you saying that chains are gender-specific, and don't want the genders to be mixed? That is weird.



Mikaila31 said:


> My local one has gotten in at least two shipments of bamboo shrimps, for $7.50 each. As much as I dislike the store I can't pay $20 each for those at the nicer fish stores.


I have seen bamboo shrimp at PETCO for $6.99. They looked very healthy, also. In a nice, undertstocked tank on a piece of planted driftwood.



Mikaila31 said:


> Shrimp are all I get from walmart fish-wise. Inverts don't carry many fish diseases, but the water can. I usually resort to giving them a short copper dip(I know). Never had any diseases introduced and the shrimp become quite happy and healthy once settled in..


I like to buy Ghost Shrimp from Walmart. They sell them as feeders for $0.33 a piece. You can get a very sizable colony for under $10. A colony too big for a 30 gallon tank (when I say "too big" it is refering to their aggression, not their iimpact on the bioload).

I'm cool with shopping at Walmart, as long as I don't have to look at dead/dying fish everytime I want to get some fish flakes.


----------



## Navthrfez Platy

I agree with the lousy fish keeping at walmart and lack of knowledge of the pet dept staff, I have bought fish there before and I think of it more as a rescue mission 

-WYRD n Latre

ps WALMART IS EVIL (but that's for other forums..lol)


----------



## Mikaila31

Yeah most shops around here both chains and private stores don't carry female dwarf gouramis. They are not as colorful which is the selling point of those fish. Its not just gouramis, same with things like boesemani rainbows they are often gender specific in stores. Stores that order better quality ones get lots of colorful males. Walmart buys cheap fish so they get poor quality males and quite a few females IMO. Its not unusual actually. Some fish are only imported as a particular sex. Anyone who as tried to find female scarlet badis knows its quite a difficult task...


----------



## keowa

i dont know where you are located at but i am in missouri and my store has everywhere from goldfish bowls up to 55gallon fish tank that is I THINK no more than $150 it comes with everything needed to start a tank. we have lots of diff filters, heaters, decor, food. we have 9 goldfish tanks filled with common goldfish (feeders) large and small black moors, large and small gold and calico faintails. large and small shebunchkins (spelled wrong lol) and large commets and sasersass. on the tropical side we have 18 tanks with oscers, assorted cichlids, kissers, blues and gourmes, blood parets black fin and bala sharks, small daineos, large dainios, dragonfish, glo fish, algea eaters, asst. platties, corys, tiger barbs, ghost shrimp hifin/red eye/ neon tetras (also 2 other tetras that i cant think of) puffers, mollies, male guppies (walmart wont let us carrie female guppies) also large and smal plecos..... oh yea and betas male, crowntail and female. 

i take care of the fish like they were my own. the dead get dipped out at least once a day but usualy twice a day. and tanks get hardcore cleaned (algea scrubbed and sifined) twice a week and sifined every other day.


----------



## keowa

oh yeah and when there is oneone in the pet department. everyone in lawn and garden and hba are trained to dip the fish for customers.


----------



## LasColinasCichlids

Being trained to catch fish and KNOWING about fish are two totally different things. Walmarts tanks are FULL of illness, and incorrectly labled fish (which works for someone like myself who could get a very expensive fish for a walmart price if I decided to risk it and actually buy a fish there). 

Most employees that work for Petsmart's aquatic section dont even know anything about fish other than how to catch them (and that usually isnt even right) and they know they are told to gravel vac and water change...they arent explained why or anything about a cycle. And this is also why so many of these chain stores stick aquarium salt in their fish tanks to mask the illness and try to prevent it as much as possible. 

Personally, Walmart should not be allowed to carry fish. The walmart you work for might be one of the better ones. However, I have a few family members who have and currently work for walmart...and it isnt anyway near what you describe. (and the family members I am talking about have worked for walmarts in FL & IN as well as TX). 

The kinds of fish walmart carries is the scariest part.


----------

