Haven't been there very long, have you?
Petco Frag Tank
- Thread starter AC2020x
- Start date
Haven't been there very long, have you?
ken55
A wing and a prayer
Eric- yeah I see what your sayin'. I agree. Systems tied in together suffer or thrive together.
I should have been more specific. The point I had in mind was that it's just as easy to wipe glass algea with a mag-float in FW as it is in SW. It's also just as easy to run a gravel vac across a FW tank as it is a SW. The "one sick fish" theory should also hold true with a FW system that has multiple tanks tied together.
It just seems to me that they take better care of the FW tanks. This of course is just my observation.
I should have been more specific. The point I had in mind was that it's just as easy to wipe glass algea with a mag-float in FW as it is in SW. It's also just as easy to run a gravel vac across a FW tank as it is a SW. The "one sick fish" theory should also hold true with a FW system that has multiple tanks tied together.
It just seems to me that they take better care of the FW tanks. This of course is just my observation.
AC2020x
Marine Conservationist
As we all know most freshwater fish are just better able to adapt into a larger range of conditions.
One question I have often wondered is if Petco uses Petco salt in their tanks. I don't really know anything about it.. but i've never heard of anyone using it or recommending it so I feel like it probably can't be good and I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
Also, I'm not sure where petco gets, or used to get their supply from. But I feel like their SW fish are already in bad condition upon arrival. Perhaps because travel is harder on SW fish?
Just a couple thoughts
One question I have often wondered is if Petco uses Petco salt in their tanks. I don't really know anything about it.. but i've never heard of anyone using it or recommending it so I feel like it probably can't be good and I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
Also, I'm not sure where petco gets, or used to get their supply from. But I feel like their SW fish are already in bad condition upon arrival. Perhaps because travel is harder on SW fish?
Just a couple thoughts
ken55
A wing and a prayer
But that doesn't have much to do with cleaning the tanks.
Perhaps my point is not well understood. ItsoK. It probably wont be the last time.
CoralReeferGal
New member
i dont shop at petco anymore... the first thing i ever bought for my fiances SW tank was from petco; it was my first experience with SW and of course, HAD to have "nemo" and a nem. the manager (who I was told was their SW expert) answered the questions i had, since I was surprising him with the new additions, and didnt want to call and ask him. She sold me an ocellaris clown with a condy nem, assuring me they were DEFINITELY compatible. Thankfully, the clown didnt try to host, and we actually lost the nem before the clown, but regardless, their "SW expert" sold me a very incompatible pair. There wasn't much of a SW selection at all the last time i was there anyway...
I don't have any experience with Petco, but I do go to Petsmart quite a bit. I buy my food from a LFS (its actually $1.00 less expensive at I get another 0.5oz of frozen shrimp). But petsmart is where I buy medications, supplements, etc. Their staff is mostly highschool or college students, and not very knowledgable in saltwater anything. The store has a very limited amount of saltwater products. The big corp fish stores, in my limited experience aren't where you should go for info on much (LFS or RC is for that 
. The great thing about these stores is that many of them have an on-staff vet. And the vet in the petsmart in my city happens to have a degree in marine biology. My buddy has a puppy and cause my buddy is a hypochondriac for all intensive purposes, I make it a point to go with him to all the vet appointments there and pic the vet's brain on marine life
. The great thing about these stores is that many of them have an on-staff vet. And the vet in the petsmart in my city happens to have a degree in marine biology. My buddy has a puppy and cause my buddy is a hypochondriac for all intensive purposes, I make it a point to go with him to all the vet appointments there and pic the vet's brain on marine life I never considered what you said as being offensive, just talking. Usually its because some stores have an inexperienced worker who probably doesn't know or doesn't care or both.
I work with fish all day, then I come home and do the same thing. I treat all of my tanks the same way, whether at work or at home.
Everyone has an opinion and i am 100% ok with that. Even though it is a corporate job, I love my job and every person I have come into contact with through the company has been polite and very willing to help. Its what you make of it.
EricSIny
New member
Not taking a shot at you here, but if they were such a great company who truely cares for the well being of the pets they sell I believe they would go through the proper procedures in the hiring process to ensure they have a qualified human being overseeing their aquatic dept, which in most cases they do not. It appears they lucked out hiring you and hope they look for more enthusiast like yourself in the future to fill these kinds of positions.
I don't mind productive talk or creative criticism. I'm just here to say that I know I can't fix everything on a national level, but I will show anyone who comes into my store that I do care about the aquatic life and they are cared for properly, and that I like what I do. I know that I'm not a complete mental library of everything and anything saltwater, and will probably never know absolutely everything there is to know about reef keeping, but I try and I learn as much as I can.
I also hope the same thing as you. Unfortunately, as with many other jobs, some people lie about things on their application or positions go unfilled and businesses need anyone with a pulse to have it filled.
Consider this situation: A kid who can change oil and swap brake pads on their Civic needs a job, so they apply at a local garage and say that they have 2 years of experience with engines/brakes/suspension. Obviously there is a hell of a lot more to engines/brakes/suspension than just oil changes and replacing pads and rotors. This situation can be compared to someone who has a goldfish and think they can run an aquatic section. Thats not PETCO's fault, or Petsmart, WalMart, Country Max, etc.
Having a frag tank would be awesome though.
GSMguy
New member
I did a 9 month Bid at our local Petco as the Companion animal department manager. The fish were well taken care of in our store. Ordering was fun I could order small orders from ORA and SA that a LFS could not because I was with Petco. The small animals on the other hand were not taken care of propperly.
The cages for the rodents were broken badly causing mice and rats to easily escape and breed. They also were not secured to the wall and almost fell on me once while I was cleaning I sent numerous requests to corporate for them to be fixed and mentioned it on every corporate animal care walk. Nothing was ever fixed. That was two years ago and the cages are still there.
The real problem pertaining to animal care was the employees. The company pays poorly and does not drug test or do background checks besides checking that you are who you say you are. The employees are given very little training before being asked to care for a tremendous diversity of animals.
I was a manager and bagging crickets and selling pets 20 minutes after my 1st interview.
The cages for the rodents were broken badly causing mice and rats to easily escape and breed. They also were not secured to the wall and almost fell on me once while I was cleaning I sent numerous requests to corporate for them to be fixed and mentioned it on every corporate animal care walk. Nothing was ever fixed. That was two years ago and the cages are still there.
The real problem pertaining to animal care was the employees. The company pays poorly and does not drug test or do background checks besides checking that you are who you say you are. The employees are given very little training before being asked to care for a tremendous diversity of animals.
I was a manager and bagging crickets and selling pets 20 minutes after my 1st interview.
This is my only peeve, bagging crickets and running the register when I have a lot more important things to do.
reeferstace
I'm a little people
I think many Petco fish come from QM which is a top fish wholesaler.
westohooligan
New member
It's not just the employees. I think having a system that can actually support the livestock within would be a good start. The newest Deathco here, that was just opened a year ago, put HUGE chunks of crushed coral substrate in their DTs, and of course diamond gobies were housed in them. Ever watch a diamond goby "sift" crushed coral...
Most retail or previous retail employees here, I'm sure, are familiar with Plan-O-Grams. For those that are not; a plan-o-gram is a blueprint for a particular dispaly or section showing the employee what goes where. As a previous retail manager at Best Buy, I am all too familiar with these, they work great for non-perishable items, but not so much with livestock. I love seeing anemones put into tanks with one florescent strip light because a plan-o-gram told someone to put them there. So yes, quality employees are a start, but they are powerless when it comes to corporate direction. I've shopped at the newer one here, and the perc in my Host thread actually came from there. The employee there that runs the dept is VERY knowledgeable about salwater, but again, cannot due anything about lighting etc as he's not the decision maker.
So yes, better employees is a start, but sounds to me like an overall understanding of marine aquaria and maybe mandatory training for managers and the higher ups would help a lot as well as proper life support systems.
Sorry for the rambel...just my .02.
Most retail or previous retail employees here, I'm sure, are familiar with Plan-O-Grams. For those that are not; a plan-o-gram is a blueprint for a particular dispaly or section showing the employee what goes where. As a previous retail manager at Best Buy, I am all too familiar with these, they work great for non-perishable items, but not so much with livestock. I love seeing anemones put into tanks with one florescent strip light because a plan-o-gram told someone to put them there. So yes, quality employees are a start, but they are powerless when it comes to corporate direction. I've shopped at the newer one here, and the perc in my Host thread actually came from there. The employee there that runs the dept is VERY knowledgeable about salwater, but again, cannot due anything about lighting etc as he's not the decision maker.
So yes, better employees is a start, but sounds to me like an overall understanding of marine aquaria and maybe mandatory training for managers and the higher ups would help a lot as well as proper life support systems.
Sorry for the rambel...just my .02.
firebirdude
User and Abuser
This is true in any labor industry. Once in awhile you stumble across an employee who also does his job as a hobby. They genuinely care about the products they sell and the job they perform. They research and learn more about the practice in their off time. Great for the customers in that area. But you can't rely on finding that one perfect employee for every location across the country. You need a training system put in place with solid management to back it up. When Petco can't take any random soul off the street and turn them into someone who can care about/for saltwater aquaria, it has a problem.
"Lucky" for me, my local Petco doesn't carry any saltwater livestock. I will also add that their freshwater livestock has never looked well.
jgraz
New member
Why? +2
Petco is what it is. I go there often cause frankly all the ones by me have a pretty good level of care. Ive seen LFS's that have far worse conditions, but the staff is quite knowledgeable. To me that is a problem. No place is gonna be perfect. This just happens to be a nationwide chain and is farly easy to pick on. Im sure if a thread was started asking people to talk about problems at their LFS the thread would be far longer then most on the site.
BTW I love how people are picking on the store for keeping certain fish for sale in smaller tanks. Show me that LFS that has tanks larger then 2'-3' long. Next time you go to your highly touted LFS and look at the tank they are storing their new stock of Hippos in.
krustofsky
Member
As a former petco employee who managed the aquatics department, it's frustrating to hear complaining about the employees. Sure you will have some that don't care or just don't know how to maintain a petco system. But, in my experience the majority of of employees do care and try to keep the systems healthy.
The problem is not them. It lies at the corporate level where they decide what is best for petco as a whole without any real knowledge of what goes on day by day in an aquatics department. Employees are hamstrung by a limited staff, limited setups and limited access to the right equipment and medications needed. There is a process for quarantine but requires a significant amount of time, and when the aquatics specialist is being called to do other store duties, his/her percentage of time per week actually working in the department is diminished. They do require the use of petco salt, they do limit what meds can be used and they don't allow the employees to retrofit any systems for the specific needs of different animals as referenced earlier in this thread with the diamond gobies.
While I completely understand people's desire to stay away from petco, I encourage those who do to not blindly bash the employees as they are, for the most part working hard to create healthy systems, even with one hand tied behind their back.
If I had my preference, I would like to see them remove saltwater systems from their livestock selection because the other option would require more time and money than they would be willing to invest. It is frustrating to not only those who shop in petco, but also to those who work there. End rant.
The problem is not them. It lies at the corporate level where they decide what is best for petco as a whole without any real knowledge of what goes on day by day in an aquatics department. Employees are hamstrung by a limited staff, limited setups and limited access to the right equipment and medications needed. There is a process for quarantine but requires a significant amount of time, and when the aquatics specialist is being called to do other store duties, his/her percentage of time per week actually working in the department is diminished. They do require the use of petco salt, they do limit what meds can be used and they don't allow the employees to retrofit any systems for the specific needs of different animals as referenced earlier in this thread with the diamond gobies.
While I completely understand people's desire to stay away from petco, I encourage those who do to not blindly bash the employees as they are, for the most part working hard to create healthy systems, even with one hand tied behind their back.
If I had my preference, I would like to see them remove saltwater systems from their livestock selection because the other option would require more time and money than they would be willing to invest. It is frustrating to not only those who shop in petco, but also to those who work there. End rant.
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Islandfever
New member
+20. CORPORATE SUCKS!!! SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES. :celeb1:
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