PetCo Fish

J

JohnMcNic

New member
Hey all, still rather new to the hobby and I'm currently cycling my 75g main tank and setting up my 15g QT. I've been looking around at all mu LFS, and haven't been very impressed yet. For the most part, all the stand alone stores are nice, but way over priced. Online is an option (most likely LiveAquaria, heard lots of good stuff about them), but I was in PetCo just the other day and was looking at their marine fish. What they lack diversity, they make up for in price. If memory serves a firefish was $10, and a nigher trigger or panther grouper were both $26, the list goes on. I asked the sales person how long he had the fish, whether or not they were caught using cyanide and a bit about saltwater in general, he knew nothing. While I may have caught someone that doesn't normally deal with marine fish, those are some basic questions I think anyone working in the fish dept. should know.
I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with fish from PetCo and could enlighten me on the subject. It's difficult to pas up fish that are less than 1/2 the price elsewhere, but I don't want to sacrifice health/quality or promote improper capture techniques.

Your thoughts.....
 
When i first tried reefing i went there and they told to do things which ruined and caused me to quit reefing for a couple of years.But now im back into it and i just dont deal with that store at all any more. The people in the fish department watched finding nemo once and now think there experts. Most of there animals are sickly too.Chances are youll bring a fish home and it will have ick or some other diease.As you can tell i hate that store with passion my advice stay as far away from there as you can.
 
When i first started, i knew of only Petsmart and Petco. Dont get me wrong they are awesome for accessories, but when it comes to live stock forget it. I bought a medium size yellow tang for $22, brought it home, acclimated it. then in 2 days it died. Petco was nice enough to take it back, but ill never go there again.

What happened was about 8 of there holding tanks had numerous diseases in them (me being new in this didnt realize it) and these people that knew nothing about this, dipp the same net into all the holding tanks to retrieve fish thus infecting all the tanks.

The $22 fish was nice for 2 days, but i had to quarantine my whole tank and do a 20 gallon water change twice a week for 2 weeks.

So in the end $22 isnt worth it, i just go to an aquarium store that deals with specifically what im looking for, and ive never had a problem since.
 
3 of my fish came from PetCo and I've had absolutely no problem with any of them. Infact, the fish I've gotten from the LFS have had more problems including the corals. My Black Clown had popeye and cottony growhts that showed up about a week after I purchased and 2 of my corals ended up dying.

I'm also under the impression all Petco products are bred and nothing they have is wild caught. This goes for all their animals.

I have absolutely nothing against Petco (however, I'm not gonna ask them for advice) and their livestock seem in good condition. You should still do the usual stop in, see how it is, go back a day or 2 later to check up on it and then buy it kind of thing.
 
I have dealt with Petco several times. I recommend checking their water parameters prior to a purchase. Extremely long acclimation periods are warranted. I also recommend QT.
 
I have had good experience with 4 PetCo fish. The only one that I have lost was from the independent store! I do not know about capture and shipping techniques used by PetCo suppliers. What I know is this: regardless of store, plan and research your stock ahead of time, learn how check out a tank and the fish in it before buying, use a QT before introducing your fish to your main tank, and GO SLOW! Don't use PetCo for advice, be wary when you get advice from the independent stores - get two opinions, and don't hesitate to ask questions here. Hope this helps!
 
The stores I've seen in my area either have no saltwater livestock at all or have livestock that doesn't look healthy at all. (Come to think of it, even some of the "specialty" stores around here don't inspire much confidence.) Anyway, I'd agree with those who have said to make sure you quarantine anything you buy. Good luck!
 
Ive had 2 people from petco tell me this, that they just dip the same net in every tank. Its just best to go to a specialty store so you can ask questions, because each and every fish is there business. At petco all the employees care about is whens break.
 
I could be in a minority but I've actually had good luck with them. We've got a few good LFS here in town, including a Petco with a full reef section, unlike most Petcos that only have fish and no corals. I've purchased fish and corals from all the local stores, including Petco. I've had good and bad luck with all of them. I will say that of the 2 fish I've had die from Petco, one jumped out of the tank and the other vanished. I'm of the opinion that my Flower Anemone got it...lol.
 
Wow! Thanks for all the info guys! Lots of mixed reviews, but I think research and patience before purchase will help me wherever I buy!
 
If you do a slow acclimation and quarantine them for 4-6 weeks, even if the fish was sick and you didnt know it, it should be fine. I got a scooter blenny and a haitian anemone from petco, and both are still alive, although not in my tank. The nem got HUGE and I had to trade him in, and the blenny didnt have enough pods in my tank to put a dent in her appetite.
 
But why by a fish for $15 cheaper and have to quantine it for a month and a half, thats alot of patience for $15.
 
Most PetCo's you should probably steer away from. A few of them however do have really nice specimens. The one near me, not very well upkeep, I bought my yellow tang there and it had black ich and then white spot ich and it did get through it, it kept eating. This other PetCo a little ways down has some amazing things. Nice upkeep on their system, they have diversity in specimens, most of the time they are healthy fish unless they forget to take one out that is not doing well because they didn't see it (I found one behind a rock for them).

Otherwise, Live Aquaria is probably top of the line for fish. Probably worth the 34$ overnight air because 1, you get a 14 day warrenty and 2, you get amazing customer service.
 
I've had bad luck with specialty stores to... bottom line is that if you're not going to QT, you're taking your chances no mater where you shop.
 
I think it just depends on the Petco in each location, it depends on the staffing, how knowledgeable they are and how much they love their job, I have seen some good Petco's and some bad ones (as far as fish dept goes) I guess for me I simply go in and ask silly questions that I know the answer to and see how they answer it, for example "Is it ok for me to put an eel in with my clownfish" maybe Im just silly but I test fish stores by playing stupid and see what they have to say and I just browse alot before buying to see how they care for the fish and watch the health of the fish
 
I agree w/Purple Penguins. I to play stupid to see if they know what they are talking about!
And as far as the PetCo issue goes, I have 2 near me, one is fairly good, the other one not so much....
 
i work at petco and the reason some people have trouble with our livestock is that we keep our tanks salinity super low so people who don't drip acclimate for long periods of time have trouble, we have very low ich occurance though as a result of the low salinity
 
I have had different experiences with them. No matter who you buy your livestock from, set up a QT tank. Your other livestock will thank you.
 
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