Petco- Butterfly fish
- Thread starter nursedude
- Start date
lespaul339
Reefer
I did something I never said I would do. I bought a fish from Petco a couple weeks back. I was surprised to see the quality of the tanks and fish health had gone up since last time I had been there. It's either that or they just got some new fish in and that's why everything was looking better since disease hadn't set in yet.
Anyways, I bought a coral beauty angel. Just couldn't let the pretty fish meet it's doom there. Plus, it was only 30 bucks. I really liked the color of it and it was fat and healthy and eating. It definitely came with ich, but I get fish with ich from pretty much every vendor now. Whether I order online or buy locally it seems all fish are infected now days.
The coral beauty is almost on it's last tank transfer and now shows no signs of ich. She's gone through a couple rounds of prazi, and a formalin dip. After a month of observation she is going in my display if all goes well.
Anyways, I bought a coral beauty angel. Just couldn't let the pretty fish meet it's doom there. Plus, it was only 30 bucks. I really liked the color of it and it was fat and healthy and eating. It definitely came with ich, but I get fish with ich from pretty much every vendor now. Whether I order online or buy locally it seems all fish are infected now days.
The coral beauty is almost on it's last tank transfer and now shows no signs of ich. She's gone through a couple rounds of prazi, and a formalin dip. After a month of observation she is going in my display if all goes well.
justindinh24
New member
I think it just depend on store manager who hired staffs. I have no issue with my local petco. I bought all fishes from them all time ( purple yellow safin tangs and flame angle).
RobZilla04
Active member
I haven't had a problem with anything I've purchased from my local Petco in St Augustine FL. I know they take delivery of new stock on Tuesdays so typically I'll wait until the end of the week to purchase to ensure a healthy live animal.
I think you'd be better off buying them Tuesday as soon as they arrive. They get their fish from quality marine, just like live aquaria. It's not the fish that are the problem. It's the care they give them and the water quality so the less time they are handling them the better. Obviously pretty much all of their systems have ich but that is true of pretty much every fish store (even if it's not visible in many cases).
ncaldwell
New member
Company policy is they aren't aloud to treat for disease except for a couple of the fake snake oil cures that don't really work for saltwater. No cupramine, prazi or formalin. They are easy to cure though in a quarantine tank. I like going there first to see if there's anything to save. Like going to the pound instead of a breeder type thing, at least in my mind
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
RobZilla04
Active member
Good point, I always wondered which was better. My initial thinking was let them stay a few days so if they developed anything it would be noticeable. Guess I'll be going on Tuesdays. Thx
KingOfAll_Tyrants
New member
Same here for all my local bigbox PetPlaces. The worst are the bettas - a whole rack of things that have been in for too long, and are just waiting a few days to die. You feel sorry for the occasinal alert one.
Funny, local petco was selling live rock with an aiptasia on it for like $10/lb.
KingOfAll_Tyrants
New member
Glad you had a good experience.
Seriously, a shop is only as good as its people; so an LFS builds/loses a reputation, so BigBox stores of course vary. It's especially true if they sell products that require specialized help, i.e. it's more than just putting stuff on shelves, like in Petco's reef section. All that being said, I could not bring my self to even semi-professionally devote space and effort to raise quality fish fry or corals, only to see the local store treat them the way they did at my local BigBox PetPlace.....
CrayolaViolence
New member
I was in a petco yesterday and they had a stars and stripes puffer with obvious illness (idk or marine velvet take your pick). Anyhow, when I spoke to one of the cashiers she said that corporate office would not allow them to administer anything that was't "natural". I.e. they could not give the animal medication.
I don't doubt she was telling the truth. Corporations are all the time coming up with odd rules like this. Rules that often seem against common sense (and usually are) but are done so from a legal standpoint. Idk what that legal standpoint is in this case. I suspect it has to do with practicing veterinary medicine without a license but it's not as if the fish was purchased and then they are treating it.
I really wish petco would come to their senses on stuff like this.
CrayolaViolence
New member
And I agree with what others have already said. The store is only as good as the people who run it. Most of the people in the fish department are barely paid minimum wage if that. The only knowledge they are ALLOWED to have is what the big box store tells them. When you work for these place you are given "classes" and "tests" which you have to pass. Even if the information is WRONG in those test you'd better have what THEY think is the right answer. You are retested on these anywhere from six months to a year. They don't want people to be knowledgable. They just want people to do as their told.
Zatoichi
New member
The first time I saw coral and fish in a Petco I was a bit flabbergasted but luckily they looked pretty healthy... Seems like they need to hire at least one expert per store or do some better training of the people maintaining these systems
Sent from my SM-J700T1 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-J700T1 using Tapatalk
Elricsfate
New member
I went to my local Petco to see if they had an ammonia product with which to start my cycle. The woman working aquatics said, "You don't want ammonia in your tank". I asked her how she advised people starting a new tank to cycle the tank. She said, "Put your water and rock in the tank and wait 4-6 weeks". I asked her how she expected nitrifying bacteria to grow with no food source... she just looked at me. No clue whatsoever.
Similar threads
