I haven't seen a Walmart actually carry fish for years, but I know of another competitor store that does sell fish. The situation there is precisely the same as that of Walmart, with people who have never dealt with fish not even bothering to figure out how to keep them alive until they sell. They crowd 500 goldfish into one 20 gallon tank, and then starve them half to death, so what the customer gets to see are a bunch of sluggish, scrawny, pathetic looking fish, most of which have the stressed look, with clenched fins and nearly no movement at all. You also get to see 5 or 6 (or more) dead fish in each tank, which is extremely unhealthy for the living fish -- not that anyone cares. The situation is just as bad for the tropical fish, which are pretty much kept in the same temperature water as the goldfish, which stresses out those fish as well, until the entire population of the fish section of the store is in dire straits. It is bad enough that the people who actually do appear beside the tanks, (you have to place a call to get someone to show up to help you) have no idea what you're talking about when you ask for a certain number of male and female guppies. I thought everyone could easily tell the difference between a male and female guppy. These people readily admit they have no idea what they're doing, and also admit that there is no specified person who works in the pet department. They just shuttle the closest available associate over to that section when someone asks for help. I have seen people standing in front of the fish tanks for an hour or longer, hopelessly waiting for someone to help them and I even saw a guy go for a little baggy and a net, and scoop out his own fish once because he was tired of waiting. It's just an all-around ridiculous situation.
