Brie
BRA
Was reading over the PetHole© thread after one of my regulars came into my store to tell me about it.. Although he made it sound MUCH MUCH worse then it really was. lol. I appreciate the maturity of this forum and its members.
I've been a full time fish department manager[or "specialist" as the stupid company calls it. I hate the term. Basically the person who does all of the ordering, care, feeding, etc] for 3 different PetHoles over the past 5 years. I currently hold the position as the top "specialist" in Western Wa at the moment[although this is probably alot like winning the special olympics], as far as quality, care, knowledge etc goes. Although my store has its bad weeks like any other store, some of it is beyond my control. All in all I am a hobbyist first, Pethole employee second.. I bend rules to do things I know to be right, rather then what the company wants as far as animal care goes. To clear a few things up....
First, the whole cyanide catching thing. The company itself really has no say in the matter as far as how the fish are cought goes. But Pethole's official stance on ALL pets/live stock, is that captive bred is always first consideration. All of the clownfish, most of the Bengaii cardinals you'll see, psuedochromis species, cleaner gobies, and a good chunk of coral is CB/Aquacultured. For what IS WC, i'm sure the same amount of cyanide cought fish leaks into Pethole's stock as any other pet/fish retail establishment. Which is to say, not a whole heck of a lot of them probably show up. Also, the closest vendor is typically considered first so the livestock has a shorter distance to travel.
Secondly, yes. MOST stores in Washington will not longer be carrying saltwater livestock. This has already happened for the most part. I believe there's 6 of us left in Wa. This is all because yes, too many fish die and the company is taking too much of a loss on fish. Only the top selling stores who have the least "shrink"(IE death) kept their salt section. My store is also the only one who is allowed to have/keep a small reef tank to independently keep corals. Given that tank was in HORRIBLE shape when I arrived, and i've spent alot of my own money getting it into a somewhat presentable state.
All in all, I just wanted to say that not ALL Petholes are horrible, there are some good ones out there with a member of staff that really does care about the animals and does the best of thier ability to care for them. All my fish are fed twice a day, all of the salt life get proper food(frozen foods, phyto/zooplankton, veggies, etc) and most of my fish are sold in the bag as they arrive, or shortly there after. I also will not sell any fish that are A: in a tank with any fish that appear ill, or B: are ill. I flat out tell people the fish are sick and are not for sale.
Oh, and on that note, Pethole no longer treats anything with copper. Typically freshwater dips, Clout/Formalin treatment, or medicated dips are used by those who are knowledgeable enough.
Anyway, my little rant is over. lol.
I've been a full time fish department manager[or "specialist" as the stupid company calls it. I hate the term. Basically the person who does all of the ordering, care, feeding, etc] for 3 different PetHoles over the past 5 years. I currently hold the position as the top "specialist" in Western Wa at the moment[although this is probably alot like winning the special olympics], as far as quality, care, knowledge etc goes. Although my store has its bad weeks like any other store, some of it is beyond my control. All in all I am a hobbyist first, Pethole employee second.. I bend rules to do things I know to be right, rather then what the company wants as far as animal care goes. To clear a few things up....
First, the whole cyanide catching thing. The company itself really has no say in the matter as far as how the fish are cought goes. But Pethole's official stance on ALL pets/live stock, is that captive bred is always first consideration. All of the clownfish, most of the Bengaii cardinals you'll see, psuedochromis species, cleaner gobies, and a good chunk of coral is CB/Aquacultured. For what IS WC, i'm sure the same amount of cyanide cought fish leaks into Pethole's stock as any other pet/fish retail establishment. Which is to say, not a whole heck of a lot of them probably show up. Also, the closest vendor is typically considered first so the livestock has a shorter distance to travel.
Secondly, yes. MOST stores in Washington will not longer be carrying saltwater livestock. This has already happened for the most part. I believe there's 6 of us left in Wa. This is all because yes, too many fish die and the company is taking too much of a loss on fish. Only the top selling stores who have the least "shrink"(IE death) kept their salt section. My store is also the only one who is allowed to have/keep a small reef tank to independently keep corals. Given that tank was in HORRIBLE shape when I arrived, and i've spent alot of my own money getting it into a somewhat presentable state.
All in all, I just wanted to say that not ALL Petholes are horrible, there are some good ones out there with a member of staff that really does care about the animals and does the best of thier ability to care for them. All my fish are fed twice a day, all of the salt life get proper food(frozen foods, phyto/zooplankton, veggies, etc) and most of my fish are sold in the bag as they arrive, or shortly there after. I also will not sell any fish that are A: in a tank with any fish that appear ill, or B: are ill. I flat out tell people the fish are sick and are not for sale.
Oh, and on that note, Pethole no longer treats anything with copper. Typically freshwater dips, Clout/Formalin treatment, or medicated dips are used by those who are knowledgeable enough.
Anyway, my little rant is over. lol.
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