you should'nt have told anyone the tanks were turned off.at least the fisah would be put out off their misery.i have to show my woman this thread tonight so she can tell you about 30 dead fish a day and the things she saw there before she quit.she showed me their set up once.they used a tidepool filter with nothing in it.the water just flowed through and one hour a month they ran carbon.all the fish were fed seaweed.every fish i ever bought there died within a week.she was'nt aloud to give advice,so she had to watch as customers were told incorrect advice.being ignorant is one thing but she was'nt aloud to help them.well i'll let her add to it since she's the one that worked there.
Petco, where I dont go...Anymore!(img INTENSE)
- Thread starter MAreefer1
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White Tiger
New member
"...30 dead fish a day..." (ziggy222, 2006)
And they are still not bankrupt?
And they are still not bankrupt?
ziggy222_lady
New member
i worked at a petco in my area for a month and i quit due to the poor care that not only the fish got but the very delicate animals such as the birds got as well. i myself personally "scooped" out atleast 30 plus fish a night. they are idealy supposed to be "scooped" every hour but are usually left until the end of the night. their SW section is very small and very sickly. i felt so bad for all the fish that were just left to die in tanks with lava rock and no carbon running. they told me when i asked them what kind of filter system they had set up that it was just a regular setup and that they ran carbon once a month for like an hour!!! the skimmer they had was overflowing and not setup correctly. i watched a blue spotted puffer die slowly over a period of a week due to poor conditions. had i had the room for the fish in my tank i would have taken it home with me, as i only had a 5 gal setup at the time i couldnt do anything but tell the head of the fish dept about it and ask why they hadnt done anything about it yet. this is the real kicker though...... the head of the fish dept, the so called expert in aquatics wasnt familiar with SW at all!!! she was a FW specialist and had no clue about any of the SW fish that she was keeping!!! when i informed her that she needed to take all the lava rock out of the SW tanks she told me that it wasnt going to hurt the fish b/c she had it in the FW side and those fish were all fine......NOT TRUE. most of the fish i scooped out were FW. they have about 6 SW sections and the rest are all FW. i no longer shop at petco nor do i tell anyone i know to go there. it just isnt worth buying a fish that will most likely die on you a few days after getting it home because they arent taking care of them properly. it makes me sick to think of all the poor fish that they kill due to incompitance. and as far as them getting reimbursed for the fish, you put them in a little black baggie and someone comes at the end of the month and picks them up and they get credit for the dead ones. which i guess makes it easier for them to loose so many and not go bankrupt. it is my opinion that petco should just close down their aquatics section of the store and stop killing fish, unless of course they want to actually hire ppl who know what they are doing and want to keep the fish alive!!!
ziggy222_lady
New member
and while im thinking about it....... they didnt feed the fish the right foods either, EVERY FISH got seaweed even the fish that ate meaty foods like puffers and triggers. how did they expect to keep the poor fish alive and healty?
ziggy222_lady
New member
ok as i read through the threads i have to say something else about the wonderful world of "petco". they were selling fish that were sick. there was a whole tank of neon tetras that had ich and they were just treating them and selling them at the same time.... not telling the customer that the fish was sick just gettin it outta the store. then they use the same net to sccop the sick fish out as they do the rest of the fish. so the ich spreads to other tanks. and they never QT any of the fish they get , the fish go from the bags they came shipped in to the tanks and get sold "as is".
The dead fish put in the little black baggie are actually sent out for cremation to keep the PETA folks happy. They don't get credit for them. The only credit they get on dead fish is Dead on Arrival's. No wholesaler would or could give them credit on fish that die after delivery. BTW 30 FW fish cost them less than $10 when they are primarily swordtails and common tetras. That is why they don't go bankrupt. More money walks out of a store that size due to "five finger discounts" in a day. It's just chalked up the cost of doing business. Sadly it's live animals being affected.
AngeloM3
New member
1st off........... the ONLY stuff i ever by from petco or petsmart is equipment (heaters, veggie clips, some foods etc...)
2nd unfortunatly they do have to keep sick fish there until they are FULLY dead! My brother works at a PETCO (he and other Fish Dept Reps have EXTENSIVE SW knowledge) and they get the animal rights activist picketing outside and stuff like that all the time. So to please everyone they HAVE to keep the fish until they are floating around belly up.
My brother has made plenty of suggestions... like to seperate sick fish or have QT tanks set up... but CORPORATE PETCO doesnt see that as being necessary
Just my $0.02
2nd unfortunatly they do have to keep sick fish there until they are FULLY dead! My brother works at a PETCO (he and other Fish Dept Reps have EXTENSIVE SW knowledge) and they get the animal rights activist picketing outside and stuff like that all the time. So to please everyone they HAVE to keep the fish until they are floating around belly up.
My brother has made plenty of suggestions... like to seperate sick fish or have QT tanks set up... but CORPORATE PETCO doesnt see that as being necessary
Just my $0.02
ziggy222_lady
New member
i would like to say that maybe not all the petco's out there are as bad as some but i wouldnt work there again if they paid me twice as much. it just isnt worth it to see animals die. there was NO SW specialist just a FW specialist. im not bashing all of the petco stores, dont think that is what i was doing. i agree that in some places they probably do have ppl there that know their ****. just saying that the one i worked at and the few i have been to did not have such ppl.
Chad Vossen
New member
i work at a LFS and my boss crams all kinds of anemones in a 18x18 space. i often seperate the anemones the best i can but they move and get messed up.. PLUS most of the anemones are pure white and he sells them as if they were perfectly healthy. his fish selection is fine. all of the fish are in tanks that are treated with copper power. it works is all i can say about that.
he has a reef tank that he sells live rock and corals from, well he thinks running the skimmer is a bad thing and runs it 1 day per month and his shipment of live rock which was covered in caroline algae quickly turned into green rocks.. his corals dont do much better either. actualy on a second thought, i hate my boss lol. he acts like he knows all but after all i have learned and experienced, i know he is an amature.
im moving out of state and plan to take up a job at some petco because of the decent pay and my interest in the job. i think i can improve the conditions if they are poor.
White Tiger
New member
"they were selling fish that were sick. there was a whole tank of neon tetras that had ich and they were just treating them and selling them at the same time.... not telling the customer that the fish was sick just gettin it outta the store." (ziggy222_lady, 2006)
The Petco in my area quarintines fish that are sick. Furthermore, they actually will not sell you a fish that is sick.
The Petco in my area quarintines fish that are sick. Furthermore, they actually will not sell you a fish that is sick.
armagedon48 i don't know what you concider decent pay, but the petco out here pays minimum wage.unless your planning to be the regional manager i think you'll be in the poor house.in my neighborhood,if your not making $15 an hour you won't be able to afford a one room apartment.my neighbor is a doctor and lives in a house trailer.
angels mcgee
New member
Did you guys here, petco was bought out by a private company
MyCatsDrool
Premium Member
Hi there!
One of my good friends is the aquatics and reptiles dept manager at my local petco.
This is how corporate petco is/was before the very recent takeover.
He has oodles of fish care experience, having at once time run a business with his family on tank setup and maintenence in NYC. In fact, I trust him to baby sit my fish when I am out of town and often go to him for GOOD advice.
He is NOT allowed to medicate a sick animal.
He is NOT allowed to removed and quarentine a sick animal
He is NOT allowed to modify stock, in the store or what they are/will receive.
He is NOT allowed any control over their diet
The list goes on and on. He has to simply watch helplessly while fish die.
However, he does work hard to educate the customers who purchase the fish. He has broken rules on occasion, and done what he felt was right.
The petco employees in the store are usually not responsible. The corporation is. Their rules are VERY strict. It makes my friend miserable most of the time. He is working on creating enough customer base and money to start a biz of his own down here.
One of my good friends is the aquatics and reptiles dept manager at my local petco.
This is how corporate petco is/was before the very recent takeover.
He has oodles of fish care experience, having at once time run a business with his family on tank setup and maintenence in NYC. In fact, I trust him to baby sit my fish when I am out of town and often go to him for GOOD advice.
He is NOT allowed to medicate a sick animal.
He is NOT allowed to removed and quarentine a sick animal
He is NOT allowed to modify stock, in the store or what they are/will receive.
He is NOT allowed any control over their diet
The list goes on and on. He has to simply watch helplessly while fish die.
However, he does work hard to educate the customers who purchase the fish. He has broken rules on occasion, and done what he felt was right.
The petco employees in the store are usually not responsible. The corporation is. Their rules are VERY strict. It makes my friend miserable most of the time. He is working on creating enough customer base and money to start a biz of his own down here.
johnnybravo234
New member
I used to work at one and sometimes id remove "dead" fish and bring them home to my quarantine until they were well enough to be taken to my lfs hehe... I couldnt stand the place they should go burn in hell.
tkeracer619
New member
Went to the petkiller yesterday for some cat treats and some fish food. My jeeps not so well after an accident so I didnt want to go far.
they had 3 perculas that have rotted away jaws and fins. Thier whole body looks like its rotting with them alive. I tried to take some pictures. They would be good for this thread.
I used to try to get deals from petkiller but man thier tanks must have just been in great shape when I moved here. They need to loose the salt water section.
they had 3 perculas that have rotted away jaws and fins. Thier whole body looks like its rotting with them alive. I tried to take some pictures. They would be good for this thread.
I used to try to get deals from petkiller but man thier tanks must have just been in great shape when I moved here. They need to loose the salt water section.
tkeracer619
New member
you would figure with as many hits as this site gets per day. And this thread is on the front page of the responsible reefkeeping for months that.... someone in a suit would figure it out already. I vote for worst corporate managment. Go back to school petco suits, your not doing a good job, at all.
The problem could be an easy fix but you want nothing of it.
If I had the money to buy petco out. They would all turn into skate parks for kids in honor of all the fish you have killed.
The problem could be an easy fix but you want nothing of it.
If I had the money to buy petco out. They would all turn into skate parks for kids in honor of all the fish you have killed.
grimmjohn
New member
Way less than $10...most of the deaths per day are $.01 comets...and swordtails...and $.50 fantail goldfish...and $1 W.S. guppies used to be really bad till I started using IO to keep the guppy/molly/platy.swordtail system at half natural SW strength. What hurts the most is when a big blood parrot cichlid or a saltwater fish bites it out of the blue. Most individual petcos don't really seem to mind their fish profit or loses, one close to here is about $1000 in the hole for the past 18 weeks, but I run mine to make sure we make a profit and don't lose fish cuase I care about shrink and deaths etc...anyway, good post billsreef.
Dude, fix it! You can feed the fish anything in the freezer or on the shelf (or in a tank in the case of puffers, triggers, oscars etc..
)! You can order all the filters and carbon pads you want for free from the online supply system (and we run carbon 24/7 unless I'm medicating). "Wasn't allowed to give advice?"Then what were they being paid for? My petco doesn't have any room for somebody that doesn't know anything about at least one of the animal departments..and if they know it then they better share it or they are pretty much worthless. I agree that lava rock doesn't look the most natural, but in a system like the MARS I don't see anything wrong with it? Phosphates? A no issue. Silicates? No issue. A 10 gallon reef with a weekly water change? I'd leave it out, but in the MARS I can't imagine it hurting anything. We just got a big push of tangs and I threw some into the tanks to give everybody a place to hide and I haven't seen any problems yet...now that tufa rock is worthless...a few weeks in the tanks and you can crumble it up in your hands.
You wouldn't scoop out so many dead fish if A) you didn't keep so many of so many different things on hand, and B) you didn't order what doesn't sell and just sits in the tanks until they die.
'I watched a puffer die over a week due to the poor conditions.' That death is on you man. There's a wall of medications, all the water and IO you could use for water changes, carbon pads are free, the skimmer is easy to tweak and clean, freezer full of food etc...Assuming of coarse that the fish could be helped in the first place...which is a very big assumption and in that case it's not anybody's fualt. It is too bad that the fish CAS doesn't know SW, but it sounds like you could help out...they hired you and you know what your are doing and want to keep fish alive right?
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