Pet shop goes the extra mile

Responsible pet store owner Peter Webber and manager Morné Mustard referred the Record to guides on how to keep healthy tropical fish.

This follows recent complaints from a resident against the pet shop of keeping a fish tank with apparent poor water quality.

“Water quality is really important for your fish.

“Besides many fish dying of being overfed, fish tend to get diseases like fin rot from water that has a very high pH level,” explains Mustard.

According to PetSmart.com, water tests should be performed at least biweekly to ensure that its pH levels, chlorine and chloramines, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, hardness and alkalinity levels are of a standard that suits your specific fish.

Webber said during an interview on Friday that he’d “rather turn away business from irresponsible or uninformed residents” than risk giving an animal an ill-prepared home or risk his stock and customer service being questioned.

“We’ve had this shop for nearly 20 years and I have turned numerous clients away over the years because they didn’t seem to understand their responsibilities towards their animals.

“Both myself and my staff members would offer advice, we don’t just sell products.

“I personally promote responsible pet ownership.”

PetSmart.com and Tetra tropical aquarium guides were selected as complete and informative guides for aquarium hobbyists.

PetSmart.com recommends:

• checking your fish tank’s water temperature daily

• removing 10 per cent of the water and replacing it with dechlorinated water weekly

• testing the water conditions weekly or at least bi-weekly to ensure normality

• scrubbing for algae weekly or monthly, whichever is appropriate for your specific fish

• performing filter maintenance monthly

• removing, cleaning and/ or pruning water plants monthly

More information:

Tetra “Caring for your tropical aquarium” guide

PetSmart.com “Aquarium water care” guide