Petco Picasso "mislabel" thread

Not only that, but a person told me that the Petco had some purple tangs for 30 dollars.... my LFS sells some small ones for $177 dollars
 
I saw a coral beauty dwarf angel with what looks like marine ich, didn't look closer, so I'm staying away from my petcos for the foreseeable future :)

They do sell juvenile (1-2") tangs for around $30-$40 though, and if you find one for that much, hey!
 
i tried to get lucky and NOPE. most salt tanks were empty but no livestock looked like they had ich. a tang, two looked like dragon wrasses???, 1 false perc, goby......the price for the tang was 37.99 and i know i've seen it at my lfs selling for close to double that price. if you can catch it once they stock it and QT. then i don't see a problem.
 
I'm not defending Petco here because my local Petco store usually has some pretty poor looking tanks, but the manager did tell me that I could request a fish and pick it up when it is delivered. That way it never enters their tanks. Just sayin.

Oh, and there were no Picasso's at mine.
 
IMO, the only difference between Petco and the businesses that sell to and comprise our 'LFS' is that Petco is on display for everyone to pick apart. I suspect that we would all be shocked by the conditions and loss/lack of care at all of the distribution points. We would all like to think, because it makes us feel better, that our favorite online store or LFS is doing all the right things but the reality of running a business says otherwise. Are we to think the LFS or distributors or collectors all change their MH lighting every 12 months or their PC bulbs every 6 months? Do we *really* believe that the animals are feed at an exact schedule with an apropriate diet as defined by each individual animals requirements? If we do, we are fools. Granted its not an excuse for Petco or any other of the *many* stores I have personally visited to provide less than survivable conditions, but in reality, fish don't live in a store or your house, they come from nature. Turns out filling nature's shoes, so to speak, is a tough job just for what we have. How can we persecute others with a 100 times more responsibility much less single out any one of them if only because they are in the public eye. Sometimes the enemy you know is better. ; )
 
In response to the post above:

There's a big difference between a responsible pet store and your typical Petco.

First off, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone at Petco that knows a thing about salt water fish. It's an expensive hobby to be in, and Petco doesn't pay anyone who really knows what they are doing enough to actually want to work their. Have you ever seen what kind of systems petco run behind the scenes?

Good local stores are run by hobbyists. There's a good chance the owner, at least, knows what the heck they are talking about. 1 person out of 3-4 might not be ideal, but it is better than 0 people.


Not changing a metal halide bulb or pc bulb isn't going to detrimentally affect corals or fish. Yeah they might brown out a little, but they will still be healthy if the tank is kept in check.


Do we *really* believe that the animals are feed at an exact schedule with an apropriate diet as defined by each individual animals requirements? If we do, we are fools.
Click to expand...

I kind of chuckled at this. I have 3 local stores close enough to drive. 2 of the 3 do exactly what's in the quote. The fish don't have a hard set feeding schedule, nor should they. But they are fed appropriate foods (Greens, NLS Pellets, Mysis for the majority). The 3rd store is a piece of crap, always has little/no livestock, and is about to go out of business.


You're selling quality lfs short I think. Then again, you may just have a ton of crappy ones in your area I suppose.

I expect a LFS to provide a suitable SHORT TERM environment for their livestock. I expect that the stuff they bring in can survive in said environment, not necessarily thrive (that would be a little far fetched).
 
There was move by Petco a year or so ago where certain stores did up their SW game, but these were select stores, so between that, and hit and miss on which Petco, and who's in charge of that Petco makes me not bundle them as a whole anymore.
Some are better than others.
Also, there really is a big difference in collection practices between suppliers.
But really, the safest bet is to just QT every fish anyway.
 
found a few at petco and they looked like they were mislabeled for a reason. they weren't the nicest looking fish or definitely wouldn't have won a beauty clown fish contest. understood why they didn't make the cut from ORA.

but yes, they seem to be available. some may get luckier than the other. please post pics if you buy them!!!!
 
this isnt a cheap hobby. if i found a deal i would jump on it, i wouldnt care who or what store. i think it is all in what you want.. but i would watch out for ich or somehting on a fish that is that cheap. it could be that price for a reason
 
First off, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone at Petco that knows a thing about salt water fish. It's an expensive hobby to be in, and Petco doesn't pay anyone who really knows what they are doing enough to actually want to work their. Have you ever seen what kind of systems petco run behind the scenes?
Click to expand...

Interestingly enough, the local petco has 2 guys that formerly worked at my only 'true' LFS that handled saltwater. The 'lfs' went under with the hurricanes an they had to find employment somewhere.

That being said, any real 'problems' petco's have start at a corporate level... want change then start addressing them and not the poor folx in the store. :-) The local one, put in their 'special order' (3x normal order size) out of that order they recieved... 1 condy & 6 damsels.
 
davocean said:
There was move by Petco a year or so ago where certain stores did up their SW game, but these were select stores, so between that, and hit and miss on which Petco, and who's in charge of that Petco makes me not bundle them as a whole anymore.
Some are better than others.
Also, there really is a big difference in collection practices between suppliers.
But really, the safest bet is to just QT every fish anyway.
Click to expand...

It is called the magnet program. Only 24 of over 1000 stores are part of it. These stores have a different primary supplier for marine fish, a frag tank, and most hav a display tank as well. Also an expanded assortment of drygoods. These magnet stores are held to a higher standard and more is expected from there aquatics department.
As much as everyone wants to bash Petco, does anyone ever bash the vendors that sell to them? Would ORA be doing as well as they are if they didn't sell to Petco? Isn't Petco, according to most a terrible fish store? So I guess that would make ORA terrible as well correct?

But back to the topic at hand. Yes the Petcos that receive there clowns from ORA(not all do)were receiving a kind of "semi-picasso" clown as a regular $18.99 clown. They went quick. Prob as stated it had to do with ORA getting rid of a bunch of fish that were stuck in limbo between classes and grades. And the Petcos that are part of this magnet program can get true picasso clowns and they sell them for 69.99 each. Not bad. If anyone has not been into a Petco store that is part of the "Magnet Program" I urge you to do so and you will be pleasantly surprised.
 
clowns101 said:
WOW!ORA did not send fish knowing they were valuble.ORA didnt even send "piccaso" clowns.I talked with a worker today and he had sent them percula clowns that were mis-bars.Plus how do we even know they were "ORA picassos"?Petco dosent buy much from ORA and ORA dsent sell much to Petco.And to say that ORA is sending fish that should be culled and then saying they have value is just backwards and wouldnt be done.ORA dosent send fish like that to Petco because:

1)Petco doset have a market for these fish.

2)Why dosent Petco have a market for these fish?
People who know the real true Petcos and watched investagation clips of Petco wouldnt buy fish from them even if they were cheap.

I think this topic has been kinda blown out of the water.Like I said "WE DONT EVEN KNOW IF THESE FISH ARE FROM ORA".And from my experince in the hobby and what I have been told by a worker of ORA,these fish more than likely arent even ORA.

And the idea that "ORA is selling high end fish to put out other breeders" is just stupid!ORA would be basicly destroying the market for these fish and if they done that what would happen to ORA?I know for sure that ORA's "picassos" wouldnt have the value of that they hav enow.And plus,how many fish would have to be sold to put out another breeder?By the time they have sold enough fish to put out another breeder,ever one would have
"picasso clowns" and there wouldnt even be market for them!

I think we ALL need to think logicly about this situation and think about the effects of what would happen if ORA was going to "put out the breeders"!

Im sorry for getting all up-hipe about this but 1/2 of the information said befoe me was "out of the wack"!

Thanks,
Austin/clowns101
Click to expand...

Petco is ORA's biggest customer. And in defense of Petco, if they order Ocellaris clowns and ORA sent "Picasso clowns" than the Petco would still sell them at the Ocellaris price, because that is what they ordered, not because they don't know what they are. And the customer would just get a great deal
 
couldn't find a list, but this is what one (at least claimed to be) employee said on another forum...

Ok so here it is I am the Aquatics Specialist at petco and I am one of 30 stores in the nation that is part of the magnet program. This means we have been one of the top Aquatics stores in the country and we have been cut off the leash we have no restricted species except those prohibited by law. I will now be carying Arowanas, knife fish, RTC, TSN and a list of African and South American Cichlids that will blow your mind. I have been told I can remove tank dividers and arainge fish any way I want to include the decore of the tanks. Any one who has ever worked for a chain store will know that a corperation allowing someone to break the cookie cutter image is huge. I have been told I can take down tank dividers to make an African display and that I should do the same with the south American Cichlids. I will be honest I feel a bit overwelmed at the moment I have always been told what to do in that department and now I am being told to get creative and that we have the full suport of the corprate wallet behind us. BTW this store is in Middletown NY if you have sugestions I would love to hear them and if you live in the area stop in and say hi and we can talk fish for a bit just ask for Tom. Stop in forget the old Petco you knew and I will try to order anything you want! I just scrached the surface of what is hapening I forgot to mention the 120gal reef focal tank and the saltwater explosion. But most important I need sugestions on what to do how to present and what to cary.
 
I've seen these percs, not at Petco, but at That Fish Place in Lancaster PA. My impression was that yes they are definitely the off spring of picassos, but as someone else mentioned there were only a couple that were approaching grade B level. I was talking with another guy who runs the fishroom at another local place and he mentioned that he gets them in from time to time. Basically what it comes down to is that the ratio of grade A picassos is something like 1:100 then there will be a few grade B. So what do you do with the other 90-95 fish? That would be a heck of a lot of fish to cull, so I'm guessing ORA is selling them as true percs.
 
Are you sure what you saw wasn't just a misbarred True Percula? I was in a PETCO and saw misbarred True Perculas that I suppose could be mistaken for a Picasso. They were mixed in with the ocellaris that were selling for $18.99. They were really nice looking fish, but they definitely weren't Picassos. It is my understanding that a Picasso clown spawn will only have a small percentage of nice Picassos in it. ORA would have to have a ton of pairs of Picassos to spawn enough fish to supply PETCO. I have a feeling what was seen were misbarred True Perculas that a PETCO associate either put in the wrong tank or forgot to put the price tag up for or ORA mis-shipped as Percula.
 
LFS in my area just got in a lot of "mis-bar" percs from ORA....they all look like what used to be B picassos
 
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