Fresh water aquarium issues.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:05 am

Thats why I love API root tabs. Once you have them in and leave them for awhile, the roots grow so strong you cant move the plant! A few of my amazon swords have been growing riddiculously fast and I need to spread them out more, but I cant get the plant out of the gravel without ripping the roots off! Too strong maybe? haha

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:11 am

@Kirrie, I don't have anywhere I can get the API root tabs as no one local to me sells them. I have read a lot of good and bad things about the product but I've been anxious to try them anyway but now it sounds like ya have to superman strength to get them moved once they root down.lol

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:22 am

If you can find a Petco PetSmart around you they should sell them. I don't really mind them because I dont move plants all that often. When I do I just have to be careful pulling them out. I think they really help to get new plants established and keep them healthy and growing. I would give them a good rating.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:08 am

@Kirrie, yeah I've looked at the Pet-smart nearest me and they don't carry them and the closest Petco is about forty-five minutes away so I don't ever shop there.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:19 am

That's a bummer. I bought mine from Petco but I thought I saw them in PetSmart too. Maybe I was wrong. I don't really like the PetSmart here. Its a lot closer but their fish are in really bad condition. Every single fish I've bought there, with the exception of one betta, has died within two weeks. And that is with acclimating them and putting them in cycled, healthy tanks! That tells me their fish are sick and they aren't taking care of the problem. The first fish I bought there was a pictus catfish. He ended up with a bad fungal infection a few days after I bought him and died exactly 2 weeks later without infecting my other fish. The only other fish I bought there was a group of neons. After a week they showed signs of ich, died, and wiped out one of my dwarf gourami and 2 oto catfish. Every fish Ive bought from Petco is still alive, happy and healthy. So I have problems with PetSmart and will only go there for supplies. I did get one of my hermit crabs there though.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:35 am

@Kirrie, I go to Pet-smart for supplies only and have never had success with fish or hermitcrabs that I've bought from there except for one micro I bought back in 09' as an experiment on extended isolation times and their impact visa-vi improving survival odds in sick hermitcrabs.I still have that crab today but its molted so many times that it has gone from micro to small to medium in two years and has done very well.Every fish I've ever purchased from Pet-smart has died within twenty-four hours after purchasing it and that was with having an already established tank as well.I've bought fish from Wal-mart and had them live for six or eight years and that was with having a newly setup tank and subjecting them to the cycling process which I now understand to be very harsh on fish which is why I've adopted the fish-less cycling method using fish food when I set up a new tank and cycle it.I know at my local Pet-smart the filtration they used had to be re-done back in 08 because they had a batch of fish sick with velvet/ich disease come in from the supplier and because the filtration was supplying all of the tanks at the same time which spread the sickness to all of the tanks and infected all of the fish that were already there and wiped them out in two days.I went to do some shopping and noticed all of the tanks were empty and being sterilized and a new filtration system was being installed that filtered each tank independent of the others it took them a week to get the fish department back up and running..

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:56 am

I think thats why our PetSmart has issues. Their filtration for all of their tanks is probably all connected. That and the workers have no clue what they're doing.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 6:00 pm

@Kirrie, yeah I wouldn't doubt it, from what I've seen and been told the way they have their tanks filtered leaves a lot of debris behind when the fish are fed so the feedings only happen after hours and then the excess material is scooped out and you know their not getting it all.I know that my local Pet-smart usually hires high-schoolers to run the floor during the spring, summer and early fall then that group is temporarily fired and older people are brought in and neither one of the groups gets any kind of training they just go for one or two days to get the required seminars done and then they are out on the floor selling and caring for the pets in the store.I've seen guys that didn't know the first thing about fish trying to tell a family how they should be setting up their child's birthday present aquarium and he had them buying a ten gallon, around twenty fish and lots of chemicals to treat the water to supposedly insta cycle it so that the fish could go in the same day as it was set up and they ended up coming back in two days later with a bag full of dead fish because he told them the wrong way to go about setting up and keeping a fish tank... He acted like it wasn't his fault that they had done something wrong and killed the fish but they had only followed his instructions and were very mad that all of the fish had died.It's worse with the hermitcrabs they sell as they make a lot of money off of the cages and accessories made for the crabs which don't even come close to what the poor animals need so when I'm in the store and I see someone getting handed the wrong info and being talked into purchasing a bogus setup I just politely interrupt and begin a lesson on the proper way to care for the animal and then I help them find what they really need which ends up making the associate look like a dummy but hey I can't let the store rip people off and just act like its not happening.lol

Tongue Flicker · Post by **Tongue Flicker** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 7:50 pm

@crabber: wish our tap water was that soft lol@jenok: your danios are fighting haha. Did you get the bumblebee gobies?

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 3:56 am

@Crabber I find it very hard to go into a pet store sometimes because the employees are usually giving bad advice. The times that Ive spoken up and tried to give people the right information, they've just ignored me because the pet store employee obviously knows what they're doing right?It really bothers me when people just take everything they're told to be the truth just because the pet store employee's advice requires less work from them as far as taking care of their pets.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:15 am

@Kirrie, yeah I know it's very frustrating when people walk away with the wrong info and a completely wrong all in one kit just because the guy/gal working the floor told them to get it, I mean it's like the blind leading the blind their all going to fall into the ditch together at some point.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:36 am

That's exactly what it is. I don't know if Ive mentioned this already, but one of our members on MAC (my aquarium club) has written a letter to Petco about their mistreatment of fish and allowing their employees to work with them and give advice without being properly trained. Once she's sent it to Petco, shes going to edit it and send it to PetSmart. I really hope they change the way they do things.I actually really like the Petco I have here. I guess because its outside of town, the workers there are generally all older people because younger kids work in the city for the most part. The first time I went to buy fish, the worker asked me if I had my tank cycled. I wasn't aware what he meant at that time, but I told him no and he suggested I wait a week. It wasn't the best advice, because he could have told me the proper cycling time is usually more like 3-4 weeks, but at least it was something. I don't think the employees are really allowed to tell customers not to buy fish because then Petco loses money. Ive also gone in there a few times with questions and if the employee doesn't know he goes and grabs someone else. Its the same 3 or 4 guys too and they all seem to have their own aquariums. The PetSmart here is pretty much the complete opposite...

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:49 am

@Kirrie, I've been down the road of writing emails to the corporate office, having face to face conversations with the management and even getting the BBB or Better Business Bureau involved which was the thing that got some action out of Pet-smart.lolAfter all of that my local Pet-smart changed their hermitcrab enclosure and improved it to the proper standards and it has been that way for three years now.The fish tanks still need some work but they are better than they were several years ago.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:02 am

I really hope this works out. I also heard they were thinking about passing around some sort of petition.Right now Im just counting down the days until I can work at PetSmart (2 months and 21 days haha). Id probably enjoy Petco more, but PetSmart needs help.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:46 am

@tongueflicker I had bought 1 bumblebee goby to try out with my glo fish and unfortunately it died 2 weeks after getting it. I realized there was stuff growing in the tank so the water may have been getting bad or it wasn't brackish or may have starved since I wasn't feeding live brine shrimp I just don't know. There is a lot of different opinions on how to care for them, so I have decided at this point not to get another until I can have a separate tank better equipped for its needs.I have also decided to take down my "daughter's" small tank and put all the fish together in the 10g. This will put my total of fish to 8 fish, 1 whiskas shrimp, 5 ghost shrimp, a snail, and a bristlenose placo. Do you think that would be too much for a 10g? It has a large stump like cave and a few live plants not sure species but they have small leaves on a stem and grow straight up (don't feather out). I haven't done this yet so opinions please and how to acclimate them to the difference in water.