Last night I went to a large national pet store (not sure if I can mention their name) I am sure you know who I mean. In the tropical fish section there was 3 dead fish. I am sorry I don't know the species names but they looked like they had been dead for some time. One was floating to the top and it looked like it had its gills eaton by the other fish in the tank. In another tank I could see fish that looked like it was decomposing and other fish we trying to eat it. And another which was lieing on gravel. I was shocked to say the least. When I stock my tank I don't think I will be going there. I just wish I had told the staff there. As if that was not bad enough I overheard one the members of staff say to a family that 5 regular goldfish would be ok in a 14L tank. I am still shocked.

When the time comes to stock my tank I will be going to local inderpendant store. They seem much more helpful and their prices are pretty similar to what this place charges.


I know my knowledge of fish keeping is very limited but I would think that something was not right.

Pets at home ?

Some of the big chains seem to be like that, both the P@H and Acorn near me are. I don't shop in them now. There are some good chains though who employ people who actually know their stuff. All the Maidenhead aquatics i've been too are very good, as are the Dobbies. Just goes to show, if you bother you can run a good chain store that cares for its fishies.

dont supeise me 1 bit....
my pets at home is exactly the same i would never buy a fish from there they employ people that no nothing about fish
every time ive been there there is always 3/4 dead fish i have complained many times but it is always the same

The odd dead fish is always going to happen - it's when there are a lot of them or it's obviousy long dead that you really worry, shows they are not inspecting their tanks often enough, and if they're not looking at the fish, what else aren't they doing ... and also how they respond when you point out the dead fish - do they go and get it out quick, do they look blank, do they offer you that one for half price (assistant found that much funnier than I did - that wasn't in p@h btw)

Yes it would put me off, by leaving the fish dead in situ not only are they neglectful and unclean, but actually massively increasing disease transmission issues. Many fish will contract diseases from the flesh of the dead, depending on what killed them. It also shows that fish that are showing signs of illness are not watched, not segregated , not quarantined and not treated appropriately, might also have been subject to intolerably long transit times, and probably not acclimated properly.Its also a good sign of underfeeding, I have a large colection and on the very rare occassion I get a death out of the blue, and havent spotted it being sick days in advance rarely is the corpse eaten by the same species. Most well fed fish don't bother to feed on the flesh of their fallen shoal members. I have herbivores, predators and omnivores alike, and even if I had a fish dead for a couple of days having come back from holiday or something, rarely is the body touched by the others.

I suppose its inevitable they get the odd deader, but to not take them out ASAP, and check for problems in the tank is just plain slovenly. It would read to me as if things are not under control, and that would be enough to prevent me from considering them as a supplier of livestock. Theres no excuse for it.

When I worked in a shop I would check all the fish every few hours, even if we did get a dead fish in the system which was rare because i'd usually have spotted illness days before death, and should a dead one be spotted it would be removed immediately.It isnt nice for the customers, and I might stick a not for sale sticker on if I suspected disease or stress. Fish in a state of fragility should not be for sale because they would have to go through it again when bought.

3 days ago I bought 12 cardinals from PAH. Today they are all dead from white spot. Is this because they had it before I bought them. My tank is 200l and well established.

Sorry to read about that. It may be that they had it pre-purchase (eg others in the tank had it) or it may be that the collective stress (of their journey to the shop, then from shop to home, and then new environment in possibly slightly different conditions than in the shop) was all too much for them and they succumbed to it.

More importantly, though, if you didn't quarantine them for a month or so in a quarantine tank and instead put them straight into the well-established 200L tank, those fish in the main tank are now at substantial risk of succumbing too. It would be worth treating the main tank with eSHa Exit or Waterlife Protozin.

One or two dead fish is only to be expected as the volume of fish in the shop far exceeds anything we are likely to have in our own tanks.

P@H does appear to be rather bad in this department but my local one always acts fast if a dead fish is pointed out (usually by my daughter).

Most dedicated fish/reptile centres are much better, after all they specialise in scaled life and most have an ongoing maintenance schedule. Usually on the tank I am interested in buying from.