Petoc - MyFishTank.Net Freshwater Saltwater Aquarium Fish Forum

unwritten law · 06-30-2009, 12:29 AM

I'm at school for the summer only taking one class and a lab.. and with this new SW tank I could use some extra cash... My good LFS is basically a one man place, and the other is very dirty... sooo

Well I joined the team at petco... they got me stuck in the back for the next few days on a computer learning how to be nice and use common sense. I'll be working with the fish and doing the best I can to inform people but as far as saving fish I think that's a lost cause...

I'll let you guys know how it goes...

unwritten law · 06-30-2009, 08:20 PM

So far it seems like the people that work at mine know what they are doing... but its hard to be critical about people's set ups when you want to keep their business...I only had to scoop out 5 dead fish today and today we got new guys so that's not too bad... 3 were guppies and I think they aren't the hardiest....

unwritten law · 07-02-2009, 12:01 PM

So yesterday these two college kids came in for a fish bowl.... I sold them a 55 with stand, hood, light, canopy, filter, heater, gravel, test kit, water conditioner, the works. Yeah I am an awesome salesman there...

So they want bala's a tigers...and they should work together.... I said you can get a small group (3) of smaller sized balas. I know they are pushing it but the tank is a 48" so it should be alright for these guys... Basically that is the biggest tank we sell soo if they want bala's that's what Im selling them.

Here's the question. Obviously they want fish now, so I handed them a care sheet about cycling and told them they can do a fish-in but they need to watch it. Obviously they want the sharks first. Would it be okay to fish-in cycle with 3 smaller (3.5") bala's? I think they are hardy enough but I just want to check. I'll make sure they know about keeping the levels down. Otherwise they will start with like 6 tigers...

tropicalcrazy · 07-02-2009, 02:06 PM

if your talking will tiger barbs mix with bala's i can say in my experience i had no trouble when i had 2 bala's and 8 tiger barbs, 4 albino and 4 regular and with platinum green ones and green ones. so i would say yes they work together. im surprised that your coworkers knew what they were doing. there have only been a few workers at petsmart and petco that have been knowledgeable that i have ran across. so with you employed at petco do you get a discount on fish and fish equipment? i was thinking about picking up a part time job at either petsmart or petco but only if one or the other gives discounts on those things.

jo3olous · 07-02-2009, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unwritten law

So yesterday these two college kids came in for a fish bowl.... I sold them a 55 with stand, hood, light, canopy, filter, heater, gravel, test kit, water conditioner, the works. Yeah I am an awesome salesman there...

So they want bala's a tigers...and they should work together.... I said you can get a small group (3) of smaller sized balas. I know they are pushing it but the tank is a 48" so it should be alright for these guys... Basically that is the biggest tank we sell soo if they want bala's that's what Im selling them.

Here's the question. Obviously they want fish now, so I handed them a care sheet about cycling and told them they can do a fish-in but they need to watch it. Obviously they want the sharks first. Would it be okay to fish-in cycle with 3 smaller (3.5") bala's? I think they are hardy enough but I just want to check. I'll make sure they know about keeping the levels down. Otherwise they will start with like 6 tigers...

Honest opinion I think it's hilarious if they think they can keep a group of balas in a 45G forever. Balas need 100G++ just because they are active like tiger barbs but can grow > 12 inches in length. On the other hand, great sale you made props to the business end of it

tropicalcrazy · 07-02-2009, 02:55 PM

yes yes i agree a bala shark should be in a 100 plus gallon as of their size that they grow to. mine is getting so big i need a large tank to transfer him to.

bmoraski · 07-02-2009, 03:49 PM

congrats on the job !
my last experience at petco was awsome the kid actually had multiple tanks ( none planted though, darn ) lol
until that visit all the people doing the fish didnt even have fish ! LOL

bmoraski · 07-02-2009, 06:56 PM

if i didnt already work 2 FULL TIMJE JOBS i would love to get a job working with fish
although having to come home from work and having to perform regular maintenance on your own tanks might get a bit much ! lol
just had to throw that in there
im home, online and the wife and kids are at inlaws
yee haaa !
lol

unwritten law · 07-02-2009, 10:22 PM

Yeah.. most people there in the fish section know as much as me or more... they are really just better at asking the routine questions when someone's tank has hit the fans....

I ended up selling those kids 6 tigers today...they came in and also got flakes, wafers, bloodworms, and a python.. yeah I sold these guys the works... the tigers were already 2" in size... I told them to wait on the balas for a few weeks and check the readings tomorrow...Our smaller balas look like ich but we'll see. They really don't know anything so I said at least a 48" tank for the balas but they do get easily over a foot so we'll see... Gotta make a sale somehow.

Some people that come in don't know ****... like got multiple types of tetras in a 5 gallon... some people know A LOT... one guy helped me out when talking about africans the other day. Some people just have way too big fish... one guy has a 100+gallon tank with an arowana... and another tank the same size with like oscars and stuff...He's hard core asian which is strange for west virginia but hey what ever.. apparantly he built the tanks himself and after all the equipment and such cost like 4 grand... WOW

It's a pretty easy job.. hardest part is juggling all the customers while doing tank maintenance.... we get really busy all the time and if im not talking to someone I'm either checking on the health of fish or cleaning some tanks... thank god they got a python...

unwritten law · 07-25-2009, 08:31 PM

I think I'm gonna keep track of all the stupid stuff I hear and observe at work in here. One crazy thing is that with dead fish we dont flush them we keep them in little bags and place them in a HUGE 5 foot long, 4 foot high, 3 feet deep freezer. So everyday I have to open it up and see hundreds of bags full of dead fish. Some bags are BIG so maybe a small animal, bird or reptile?

Yesterday the best one was that another employee said, "I dont even know if I'm even allowed to be netting fish cause I'm pregnant. Like how I'm not suppose to eat them."...wow

A customer asked, "Do you carry any freshwater seahorses?"... serious

Another person came in and got 12 feeder goldfish for wedding centerpieces... she said she didn't care what happened to them after that and it was 5 minutes till closing so neither did I. I hope she listened and at least took them out of the bag I sold them in for over the night.

Someone bought an Angel Fish for a 1.5 gallon tank... nice.. I had a bad day and they said they had a bunch of tanks at home that they planned on putting it in soon...

Basically people wonder why petco employee's don't care.. its cause we deal with tooooooo many stupid people and it does wear you down after a 7 hour shift.

06-30-2009, 12:29 AM	#1 (permalink)
unwritten law Super Fish Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: WVU Posts: 1,244	Petoc I'm at school for the summer only taking one class and a lab.. and with this new SW tank I could use some extra cash... My good LFS is basically a one man place, and the other is very dirty... sooo Well I joined the team at petco... they got me stuck in the back for the next few days on a computer learning how to be nice and use common sense. I'll be working with the fish and doing the best I can to inform people but as far as saving fish I think that's a lost cause... I'll let you guys know how it goes... __________________ 20 Gallon High Reef 2 orange skunk clowns, 1 yellow watchman goby, soft corals, zoas 46 Gallon Planted 6 tiger barbs, 2 yoyo loaches, 2 keyhole cichlids, 1 cherry barb, 1 blue gourami 29 Gallon Planted 11 harlequin rasboras, 3 cories, 1 betta

06-30-2009, 08:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
unwritten law Super Fish Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: WVU Posts: 1,244	So far it seems like the people that work at mine know what they are doing... but its hard to be critical about people's set ups when you want to keep their business...I only had to scoop out 5 dead fish today and today we got new guys so that's not too bad... 3 were guppies and I think they aren't the hardiest.... __________________ 20 Gallon High Reef 2 orange skunk clowns, 1 yellow watchman goby, soft corals, zoas 46 Gallon Planted 6 tiger barbs, 2 yoyo loaches, 2 keyhole cichlids, 1 cherry barb, 1 blue gourami 29 Gallon Planted 11 harlequin rasboras, 3 cories, 1 betta

07-02-2009, 12:01 PM	#3 (permalink)
unwritten law Super Fish Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: WVU Posts: 1,244	So yesterday these two college kids came in for a fish bowl.... I sold them a 55 with stand, hood, light, canopy, filter, heater, gravel, test kit, water conditioner, the works. Yeah I am an awesome salesman there... So they want bala's a tigers...and they should work together.... I said you can get a small group (3) of smaller sized balas. I know they are pushing it but the tank is a 48" so it should be alright for these guys... Basically that is the biggest tank we sell soo if they want bala's that's what Im selling them. Here's the question. Obviously they want fish now, so I handed them a care sheet about cycling and told them they can do a fish-in but they need to watch it. Obviously they want the sharks first. Would it be okay to fish-in cycle with 3 smaller (3.5") bala's? I think they are hardy enough but I just want to check. I'll make sure they know about keeping the levels down. Otherwise they will start with like 6 tigers... __________________ 20 Gallon High Reef 2 orange skunk clowns, 1 yellow watchman goby, soft corals, zoas 46 Gallon Planted 6 tiger barbs, 2 yoyo loaches, 2 keyhole cichlids, 1 cherry barb, 1 blue gourami 29 Gallon Planted 11 harlequin rasboras, 3 cories, 1 betta

07-02-2009, 02:06 PM	#4 (permalink)
tropicalcrazy Medium Fish Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: des moines, iowa Posts: 331	if your talking will tiger barbs mix with bala's i can say in my experience i had no trouble when i had 2 bala's and 8 tiger barbs, 4 albino and 4 regular and with platinum green ones and green ones. so i would say yes they work together. im surprised that your coworkers knew what they were doing. there have only been a few workers at petsmart and petco that have been knowledgeable that i have ran across. so with you employed at petco do you get a discount on fish and fish equipment? i was thinking about picking up a part time job at either petsmart or petco but only if one or the other gives discounts on those things. __________________ 55 Gallon 1 Bala Shark (Balantiocheilus melanopterus) 9-10" 1 Albino Rainbow Shark (Epalzeorhynchos frenatus) 6" 1 Cuvier Bichir (Polypterus senegalus) 5" 1 Clown pleco (P. maccus) 3" 3 Yoyo loaches (Botia Almorhae) 2" Moss, 6 Java ferns, and a Amazon Sword 2 Aqua-Tech power filters 30-60g 330gph Whisper 30-60 air pump Marineland stealth 200 heater (rated at 55g) 48" 6500k spectrum plant bulb

07-02-2009, 02:55 PM	#6 (permalink)
tropicalcrazy Medium Fish Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: des moines, iowa Posts: 331	yes yes i agree a bala shark should be in a 100 plus gallon as of their size that they grow to. mine is getting so big i need a large tank to transfer him to. __________________ 55 Gallon 1 Bala Shark (Balantiocheilus melanopterus) 9-10" 1 Albino Rainbow Shark (Epalzeorhynchos frenatus) 6" 1 Cuvier Bichir (Polypterus senegalus) 5" 1 Clown pleco (P. maccus) 3" 3 Yoyo loaches (Botia Almorhae) 2" Moss, 6 Java ferns, and a Amazon Sword 2 Aqua-Tech power filters 30-60g 330gph Whisper 30-60 air pump Marineland stealth 200 heater (rated at 55g) 48" 6500k spectrum plant bulb

07-02-2009, 03:49 PM	#7 (permalink)
bmoraski Medium Fish Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 560	congrats on the job ! my last experience at petco was awsome the kid actually had multiple tanks ( none planted though, darn ) lol until that visit all the people doing the fish didnt even have fish ! LOL __________________ 2.6G Fry ( snails + water spider ) 10G Guppies 20G Guppies, Pleco + ( Hornwort ) http://mysite.verizon.net/vzet42j1/index.html Bryan......................

07-02-2009, 06:56 PM	#8 (permalink)
bmoraski Medium Fish Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 560	if i didnt already work 2 FULL TIMJE JOBS i would love to get a job working with fish although having to come home from work and having to perform regular maintenance on your own tanks might get a bit much ! lol just had to throw that in there im home, online and the wife and kids are at inlaws yee haaa ! lol __________________ 2.6G Fry ( snails + water spider ) 10G Guppies 20G Guppies, Pleco + ( Hornwort ) http://mysite.verizon.net/vzet42j1/index.html Bryan......................

07-02-2009, 10:22 PM	#9 (permalink)
unwritten law Super Fish Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: WVU Posts: 1,244	Yeah.. most people there in the fish section know as much as me or more... they are really just better at asking the routine questions when someone's tank has hit the fans.... I ended up selling those kids 6 tigers today...they came in and also got flakes, wafers, bloodworms, and a python.. yeah I sold these guys the works... the tigers were already 2" in size... I told them to wait on the balas for a few weeks and check the readings tomorrow...Our smaller balas look like ich but we'll see. They really don't know anything so I said at least a 48" tank for the balas but they do get easily over a foot so we'll see... Gotta make a sale somehow. Some people that come in don't know ***... like got multiple types of tetras in a 5 gallon... some people know A LOT... one guy helped me out when talking about africans the other day. Some people just have way too big fish... one guy has a 100+gallon tank with an arowana... and another tank the same size with like oscars and stuff...He's hard core asian which is strange for west virginia but hey what ever.. apparantly he built the tanks himself and after all the equipment and such cost like 4 grand... WOW It's a pretty easy job.. hardest part is juggling all the customers while doing tank maintenance.... we get really busy all the time and if im not talking to someone I'm either checking on the health of fish or cleaning some tanks... thank god they got a python... __________________ 20 Gallon High Reef 2 orange skunk clowns, 1 yellow watchman goby, soft corals, zoas 46 Gallon Planted 6 tiger barbs, 2 yoyo loaches, 2 keyhole cichlids, 1 cherry barb, 1 blue gourami 29 Gallon Planted 11 harlequin rasboras, 3 cories, 1 betta Last edited by unwritten law; 07-02-2009 at 10:24 PM..*

07-25-2009, 08:31 PM	#10 (permalink)
unwritten law Super Fish Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: WVU Posts: 1,244	I think I'm gonna keep track of all the stupid stuff I hear and observe at work in here. One crazy thing is that with dead fish we dont flush them we keep them in little bags and place them in a HUGE 5 foot long, 4 foot high, 3 feet deep freezer. So everyday I have to open it up and see hundreds of bags full of dead fish. Some bags are BIG so maybe a small animal, bird or reptile? Yesterday the best one was that another employee said, "I dont even know if I'm even allowed to be netting fish cause I'm pregnant. Like how I'm not suppose to eat them."...wow A customer asked, "Do you carry any freshwater seahorses?"... serious Another person came in and got 12 feeder goldfish for wedding centerpieces... she said she didn't care what happened to them after that and it was 5 minutes till closing so neither did I. I hope she listened and at least took them out of the bag I sold them in for over the night. Someone bought an Angel Fish for a 1.5 gallon tank... nice.. I had a bad day and they said they had a bunch of tanks at home that they planned on putting it in soon... Basically people wonder why petco employee's don't care.. its cause we deal with tooooooo many stupid people and it does wear you down after a 7 hour shift. __________________ 20 Gallon High Reef 2 orange skunk clowns, 1 yellow watchman goby, soft corals, zoas 46 Gallon Planted 6 tiger barbs, 2 yoyo loaches, 2 keyhole cichlids, 1 cherry barb, 1 blue gourami 29 Gallon Planted 11 harlequin rasboras, 3 cories, 1 betta Last edited by unwritten law; 07-25-2009 at 08:35 PM..