# Update on Puffer tragedy at [email protected]#[email protected]*#



## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

(the beginning)
We received a phone call after submitting complaints to the store and headquarters, and we're still not satisfied. One thing that irked me is that the store manager was clueless to both our concerns and life in general. One thing she said in our conversation was that she initially wanted some jack dempseys but she couldn't find any small and colorful ones??? I began to tell her that the colors show up later, but that would've been like shooting a dead terrorist, although it would've felt good it wouldn't make a difference. Stupid is as stupid does. Anyhoo, I'll post the new letter in just a moment...


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## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

August 5, 2005

Wal-Mart Supercenter
Central Park
1800 Carl D. Silver Parkway
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Phone: (540) 786-2090

To Whom It May Concern:

I write this letter to express a concern I have with Wal-Mart’s continuation to sell fish and its lack of care for such a product. I visited the Wal-Mart Super Center at Central Park in Fredericksburg, Virginia on July 19, 2005 to purchase some necessities. 

As fish are one of my hobbies, I visit local fish stores, large pet stores, and aquariums alike on a regular basis. I own numerous varieties of fish and have several aquariums. I pride myself on researching the proper habitats and companionships of my fish and those of interest.

I was excited and then horrified to find that Wal-Mart decided to stock a species of puffer fish. When I noticed that store had placed not one puffer but several (more than 5), in a community tank (less than 10 gallons in size) with other fish, I was alarmed. Let me explain why.

Puffers are a unique variety of fish, because of their cartoon-like movements and appearance, permanent smile, and their social interaction with their outside world. As an experience aquarist, I appreciate fish that are unusual and present a challenge in the aquarium and the puffer fish fits the bill. 

There are three different types of puffer fish. Those that live in fresh water, such as ponds, the upper reaches of rivers, lakes, and streams; in the brackish waters of river estuaries, deltas, the lower reaches of a river and mangrove-type habitats or salt water (marine); and the marine varieties require a high level of specialized marine mix salt. Most of the species seem to reside in true marine conditions, though there are a few puffers that are strictly fresh water. In fact, most species of brackish water puffers can actually be kept in full marine conditions.

The species that Wal-Mart stocked is commonly known as the leopard-green spotted puffer. These puffers originated in South East Asia and reside in brackish to marine water conditions. Wal-Mart had them in FRESHWATER. Although often sold as a freshwater or brackish water fish, this species requires full saltwater conditions as an adult to really thrive. They should only be introduced to a fully cycled aquarium matching the salinity they were being kept in previously. The salinity should slowly be raised to at least 1.015, preferably full marine conditions. This species will not do well for an extended period in freshwater conditions. They need high-end brackish water to full-marine conditions as they grow. The green-spotted puffer is an active fin nipper and will predate smaller fish and invertebrates. Most of the puffers I observed were bitten on all of their fins, some missing a tail and side fins altogether, not to mention the other fish in the tank were missing fins. Although a peaceful fish, a puffer should still be kept in a solitary tank that is no smaller than 30 gallons.
Just for the record, I have not purchased a puffer because of the level of care that is involved in taking care of this precious animal. Apparently, Wal-Mart does not share my concern for the health and safety of these living creatures. I attempted to rescue one of these puffers by purchasing it and a small tank. However, after careful inspection of each fish, I realized none of the badly bitten fish would survive, or they were overcome with ick (the most common external parasite) . 
Having seen all I could bare, I returned home and composed a letter to the headquarters of Wal-Mart. 
Much to my surprise, I received a phone call from the Central Park location. I spoke with a daytime manager with regard to my concerns. In truth, she seemed clueless to the true distress that I was under for the lack of care her store gave to their fish. 
We discussed the fact the puffers were purchased in attempt to increase sales as the “fish of the month” and that they would probably not purchase any more of this species, and seemed content on purchasing more fish they knew nothing about in the following months. I expressed to her my feelings that her vendor was also to blame for the lack of respect these fish were given, not only had they sent them damaged, but, obviously, had not educated her or her staff on the proper care of such fish or made certain her store could properly stock them. With all that was discussed, she assured me she would talk to her manager and resolve the problem. Later that same day, I received a message from her stating that they were going to send the fish back to the vendor.
Although I have shopped at Wal-Mart on a regular basis, I am truly hurt that they would treat these animals with less respect than their perishables in the grocery aisles. If Wal-Mart cannot supply a proper environment for the fish they intend sell, then they should not be a proprietor of pets. Even though fish are not fuzzy and cuddly, that does not mean that they are not loved pets. They are not toys, fads, or decorations for home or office and should be taken very seriously. 

I am attempting to appeal to a larger audience, in hopes that something more will be done for the fish stocked at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, I do not believe much can be done for the poor little puffers I saw just a few weeks ago. I hope someone, maybe you, can help me to make this more than a cry from my heart and help put an end to an attempt to sell a product that Wal-Mart does not seem to care about. 

I trust you will take this letter seriously, given that you have a heart, and address the issue immediately with those individuals in the Wal-Mart organization responsible for the massacre of this living being.

Sincerely,



Cc: 

Wal-Mart Online Customer Service
http://www.walmartstores.com/wmstore/wmstores/Container.jsp?template=OnlineForm.jsp 


Fredericksburg Animal Control
P.O. Box 828
Fredericksburg, VA 22408
(540) 373-3122

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
501 Front Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 622-PETA


American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
424 E. 92nd St
New York, NY 10128-6804.


The Nature Conservancy
4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100
Arlington, VA 22203-1606

World Wildlife Fund
1250 24th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037 
(202) 293-4800 


Letters to the Editor
The Free Lance–Star
616 Amelia Street
Fredericksburg, VA 22401


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

i don't know about everyone's opion but i liked it


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## blixem (Jun 13, 2005)

Speak of the devil, maybe you are the reason...

I was shopping at the local Wal-Mart day before yesterday and checked out the fish section for the hell of it. There was a sign taped onto the puffer tank that said, "These fish are for advanced fish keepers, please do not consider them unless you have spoken with a sales associate first."

I was amazed, and happy.


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## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

SWEET! THAT'S AWESOME

I guess it did work. I spoke with a rep with The Coral Reef Alliance (CRA), they said if it got into their hands they'd stomp a mudhole in WM's (o), so they suggested for me to give them a chance to fully remedy the situation before they step in.

I donate money regularly to the CRA, so if anyones interested I can get some info.


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

Excellant work! YOu should be commended.


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## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

I can't be for sure if the GA WM put up the warning sign on account of me and my girl, so I won't take credit for it. I'm glad that at least 1 WM is concerned about the fish they're keeping.


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

Great job! Congrats for doing something to make wal-**** hopefully change!


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

Wow, nice work. I dont ever see anyone in the fish department at walmart unless theyre kids looking at the fish.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Hhrrrmm. You should have left PETA out of it. The involvement of those morons tends to destroy any credibility the cause may have had.


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## mrmoby (Jan 18, 2005)

You are definitely to be commended for your efforts! I do have to agree with Old Salt though as far as PETA is concerned. Good job though!


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

I would have sent the letter not to the Super center but to the home office in ARK. That usually gets you a little farther.


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## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

Well thanks everyone. She said she needed stamps, so we'll omit PETA.

We'll also add the home office as one of the recipients. If you could hook me up with that address Lexus, that would be great. What's the fish of the month supposed to be next? We should all be prepared for the worst. Someone said that they had stingrays a few months back?


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

Well last month was Albino Rainbow Shark... dont know lol

This is listed on the site... I take it everyone knows where walmart mail goes

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

1-800-WAL-MART


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Oh, you haven't sent it yet. Okay, good. 
I thought it was already too late, but your letter could stand some polishing before it's sent. Okay, a lot of polishing. I don't want to insult, but if you want this letter to have any impact, it has to be perfect.
Grammatic errors aside, it is too vague in some areas and too detailed in others. You want to deliver the correct message and in such a way that the readers understand what the problem is and why it's a problem, all without losing them in a haze, and you want them to get the impression that you are someone with whom to be reckoned.
As currently written, this letter conveys the message that there is something possibly very wrong, whatever that may be, but the person who wrote it is likely some flakey treehugger safely brushed off with a patronizing form letter. I know that sounds snarky, and I'm sorry about that, but you have to consider these things when going up against the corporate machine, which will always do it's level best to ignore any outsider it can.

I can help if you'd like assistance and aren't too mad at me.

Don't bother with the Nature Conservancy either; they're not much better than PETA, and their focus is on an arena quite different, that is, there's nothing they would do even if they could.


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## Vivid-Dawn (Jan 18, 2005)

*Letter draft?*

I have to agree with Old Salt. The letter is nice, if you were writing to maybe a small, LFS... but for a corporation, it's a bit too... I dunno, "soft". It sounds like you're pleading and _asking_, rather than _telling_ them to be better. "Please be nice to the little fishies", is what I got.
While you obviously don't want to be offensive, you also need to be firm in the request (maybe make it seem almost more like a demand).
Old Salt would probably be a better choice for helping you with a final draft, but I could give some ideas too if ya want.

I also have to agree with a few others. It may not do much. I'm surprised you got a phone call. I would've expected a form letter. Maybe if hundreds of people complained, they _might_ take it into consideration. But if this is one of only a few (even a few dozen), they'll probably just think "well, nobody else has issues, why bother?"
I know that seems pessimistic...but I like to think of it as realistic, because it's what DOES happen in large companies like that. If they're making money, they don't care what a few bleeding hearts think.

I just quit buying fish from WM... the tanks at my store LOOK clean. And the Neons are wonderfully vibrant...but every time I bring something home, Ich breaks out (and even with medicine, I've had 2 sets of fish die anyway).


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## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

I always appreciate straight forward opinions, olSalt. We had mailed them off moments after the post, but if we do anything more in the future I'll consult you.

My girlfriend is in fact, a tree huggin hippie from the sticks, so you're right on the money. We don't want to go global and be on the news or anything, we wanted someone to get those puffers out of there. After the first letter we knew that it just got blown aside, so we targeted a larger audience and tried to better explain our concern. The store manager said she was going to send the fish back to the vendor, but that didn't happen. They did isolate all the puffers to one tank, and out of the 25-30 original fish, there were 5 left, and they were looking tattered and engulfed in Ich. 
Oh, and they labeled the fish "highly aggressive".

We got a call yesterday from Officer Worthy, he read the letter and contacted the store, and stated that they don't know what they're doing - nor do they know what they've gotten themselves into. He asked permission to forward the letter to the Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, and we kindly agreed.

C


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## Jonno (May 22, 2005)

I'm so happy there are no wal ^%^$ in the UK, but i have been to a place like that but not so bad, anyho well done u should be knighted!


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

nice work eurasian!! Now that you've got someone on your side, maybe you can get somewheres now! :-D


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## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

thanks you all, a lot of credit goes to my girl. she's a southern belle with a huge heart. we level out pretty well, i'm a "wrap my hands around your neck" kind of guy, she writes letters in these situations, thank god. the US is known to have the best customer service in the world, who ever lowered the bar should get kicked square in the doh, i mean someone should have a talk with that guy. i don't like getting ripped off, seeing someone that doesn't care about anything, or talking about my momma. wally world is guilty of #2.

The Dept. of Agr. & Consumer Affairs left message tonight, we're returning the phone call tomorrow.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

whoa...back up...wally world was talkin about your mom?


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

Lol that's what I thought of first too. I think he was referring to this sentence "seeing someone that doesn't care about anything" haha at least I hope so.


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## Beerleader (May 31, 2005)

My Walmarts puffers are still in horrible shape and mixed w/ Neon tetras and some other tetras, they look miserable! I hate it for them


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## amelia (Aug 11, 2005)

I am usually VERY concerned about our walmart's fish stock. A lot of the fish, like cichlids and tetras, danios, plecos, those chinese algae eaters, barbs... well, they all look "okay." A few ripped fins, but nothing too bad. The livebearers are always in horrible condition though, it seems, and the goldfish are even worse. I've purchased a few goldfish from wal-mart, one has lived over a month.. one i just got yesterday--It had been at walmart since the purchase of the first goldfish. I bought two koi, as well. One koi jumped the tank last night and died, and the second has fin clamp but is doing well as far as I can tell. 

Our walmart doesn't ever really keep anything "unusual" except they stuck some dragonfish in the tanks with some livebearers last week... I've only tried keeping dragonfish once, and I think they may be a bit brackish (correct me if I'm wrong.. I didn't ever look up on the fish) but mine died within a day.. It wasn't a wal-mart purchase. They're fairly docile, I believe, but I don't understand why they would keep them with livebearers.. 

Walmart where I live likes to mix the fish up in very idiodic combinations.. Oh well, its not like I can tell them "YOU'RE KEEPING YOUR FISH IN WRONG COMBINATIONS! CHANGE NOW YOU FOOLS!".. and the fishkeepers there aren't too good, either. I had to show one how to use the gravel vaccum the other day.. ugh. KUDOS TO YOU!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Yep you are correct amelia, they are brackish, their health quickly deteriorates in a fw tank. If you ever do happen to get another dragonfish and keep it in brackish water, I would suggest spot feeding it bloodworms krill and other meaty items.


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## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

The Dept. Of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs said that they didn't handle fish, and to call our local animal control (they forwarded the letter to them).


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Dragon Gobies are filter feeders. They scoop up big mouthfuls of mud and sift through it for anything edible. A bit of a challenge to keep.


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## amelia (Aug 11, 2005)

Are all gobies brackish? I kept about 5 bumblebee gobies in salted water.. nothing more than a couple of tablespoons in the tank, though.. Of course, I usually apply more than what's needed of anything.. The gobies lived for about a year and a half, healthy as they could be. Could my slightly oversalting of the tank be what kept those fish alive? The thank that I kept my dragonfish in was not salted at all.


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## dfortunato (May 21, 2006)

good job,i saw the same thing at out local wal mart in toledo ohio,so i bought all the puffers they had in stock.luckily garys tropical fish in maumee took the bulk of them off my hands and i have three of them still,


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

If you buy all of the puffers they have, they'll just buy more and subject them to the same treatment. I know it sounds cruel but its better to leave them there to die so they won't be as inclined to get any others and waste their money. And this advice comes from a serious puffer lover.


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## RubyGrace (Jun 19, 2007)

I bought a puffer from wal-mart a few days ago. I was very excited because I have always loved puffers and thought I had found a small fresh water puffer. My mother will not allow me to keep salt fish she says they are too expensive and too much trouble to keep. However, we noticed when we got him home that he started eating the little snails in our tank. Also, today he has started biting our other fishes fins. Anyway, the puffers were in a tank by themselves at wal-mart with the exception of a baby parrot fish who was missing it's left eye. A few of the puffers had small pieces of their fins missing but they all looked pretty well for wal-mart fish. They should really either take better care of their fish or get rid of them. 

I wrote this post to let anyone who was reading know how things stood now and also because I need some advise. My mother has agreed to let me keep the puffer, (Neelix) even thought it is a sw fish, in a new tank since we already have him and because we all love him. How do I need to take care of him? I know that puffers needs a large sw tank, a good filter, heater, lots of places to hide, and dried krill to eat. Is there anything else I need to know? Also, what fish can I keep with him since I really don't want him to be alone. Thanks.


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2007)

What kind of puffer is it? And you will probably get quicker advice if you make your own thread, instead of digging up very old ones...

Most puffers should be kept alone, however you haven't said what species you have.


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## Rza1 (Sep 25, 2007)

Great stuff from Downunder... I saw south Park walmart is bad Tree hugging hippies are good  It just goes to show one person can make a difference

opps didn't realize it was old thread sry


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## Kurtfr0 (Nov 2, 2008)

I know 2 wal-marts who have puffers, which is where I got mine and yes I did NOT do my research. 500$ later I finally have most things i need -.-. I will be making some phone calls to them . Also if all else fails I will run through wal-mart in my underwear in protest.


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