I think I'm crazy but I bought this clown at Petco

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11548196#post11548196 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scatty25
I work at petco and as far as I know we don't get anything in from ORA.

um who breeds all your clownfish than? our lord and savior perhaps? ;)

that is an ORA A. Percula clownfish
 
The petco here in town always has a few misbars when they get a shipment in,and there maroons have awsome stripping,but yeah there tanks always have ich,and u tell them and there like yeah oh,wow........which one do u want,its a bummer because they have such great prices.I get fish from them now and then but try and get them when they first come in.They had a guy there for awhile that cleaned everything up but he quit and yep back to sick fish all the time.
 
i got a marron to pair with my other maroon and the lil maroon i got has a cool random dot on him

<a href="http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/tbrest/?action=view&current=mytank006.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/tbrest/mytank006.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
Thats a very pretty misbar. I would also be tempted to pick him up. I agree that a petstores reputation is based upon its empolyees, not chain name. My local petco isn't great with its aquatics section, but the petco 20min from me is great. Hehehe, one of the employees was a very active forum reefer. She spent 15min telling me how she only will sell fish to someone once she approves of their setup. xD I knew right then and there that she had to part of some online reef forum.
 
Tom-kat
I got marrons like that as well,with little dots and misbard stripes,ones stripe even shoots out horizontal.I know they will grow up to be mean nasty guys but they looked so cool i couldnt help it,lol
 
i have bought several clowns at my petco and they have been healthy. I have bought the false percs and even a black ocellaris. So far as havent lost anything i have bought there but like featherduster said it is going to depend on the employee, i can go to another store 30 miles away and i would never buy a fish there..

most important thing is quarantine so you are off to a good start. I treat mine for a week with lifeguard, some people use formulin. just to be on the safe side and so you dont introduce any problems into your main tank.
 
That is a really great maroon. I hope they pair up easy for ya. Good find. Thanks for all the comments. He still seems to be doing very well. We'll keep him in QT for six weeks probably. I hope things keep going as well as they have so far.
 
I would just like to chime in an say that I work part time as an 'aquatics specialist' at petco. I would like to give you my two cents..

Yes, we do get our clowns from ORA, and a few other things. This does very from store to store, region to region. The bulk of our stock come from other vendors, who I personally feel aren't doing a spectacular job.

Definitely talk to the people you are buying fish from. That goes for any store you go to though. There is a lot of antiquated and misinformation that is passed around in this business as a whole, not just at Petco . I don't think there is a customer I dont refer to this site, or to several others, as well as to buy a book or two. My personal mantra is not to trust someone who is selling you something. Ask your peers. (I am obviously preaching to the choir here though, heh).

Also, trust your instincts. If someone tells you something you think sounds weird, ask them. They should be able and willing to take the time to explain things to you. If it still doesn't jive with you, do some of your own research. There is definitely no rush to buy anything, I guarantee you that it wasn't the last in the world :)

I am always more than happy to explain something for a customer, and if I dont know the answer to something, I tell them to come back, because I jump online (which is one reason why I am here) and do some research. I also dont sell fish to people if I feel they aren't suited to take care of them (I think I turn away a large chunk of my customers, especially people who want to buy goldfish).

Personally I feel that is a quality you should look for when buying your fish. I look for it when I go to buy my fish.

In my personal opinion, I think buying more common, traditionally hardier fish is perfectly fine at petco. I would go somewhere else to buy a more expensive fish, though. Just one example for why is because Petco doesn't have any guarantee on Saltwater fish, where as all the other Saltwater stores where I live have atleast a 24 hour guarantee. This may not be as important to some people as others, but I'm sure you all know many yourselves.

If you do decide to get fish at Petco, give them a good look over for ich or anything else. By far the most common thing I see pop up is ich, and we seem to get it frequently. Not to say that is a common thing in all stores.

(In case you wondering why I dont do something about that, though, it is because since I only work part time, I am scheduled all over the place, so I can't be consistent with anything I do in the fish department. Even more frustrating, is that when I am working, I am usually forced to do something else, like man the register. In short, It is a broken system, and the fish suffer as a result. Which is very sad. Our store seems to be unique from the others here in town, they aren't as busy and more people can help with those things.)

I apologize that my two cents sort of turned into twenty bucks, :lol:, but it is important stuff, and I could go on about Petco for hours. I wont bore you though. As a parting note, if anyone ever has questions about petco, let me know, I would be happy to help you.

Not everyone at petco is aquatics illiterate. You just need to search around to find a good reefer sometimes.


To the author, I dont think you're crazy, and I think you will be very happy with your new clowns :)
 
I bought my two B/W clowns from Petco and they are doing great for almost a year now.

About Petco being marked as "deathco", I think our own lfs have some livestocks died under their care, some have ichs too, they are not perfect like petco. I think when we purchase our livestocks, it is our own responsibility to inspect the fish or whatever before we purchase. just my .02
 
Back
Top