petco
- Thread starter dorky
- Start date
kallan
New member
I use to buy Blue Buffalo catfood at Petco. I winded up rescuing a Black Onyx Percula clown in October. She was ick and sap ridden. Also tried a Coral Beauty, but she didn't make it but a few hours. Most of the tanks had so much cyano slime present that you could not see through the glass.
Boycott them and maybe they will get the message and shut the department down. Employees there do not understand why they lose way over 50% of their saltwater fish!!! I tried to give the manager some advice, but she told me that they keep tank parameters according to corporate. I know for a fact that one week it was hyper and the next week hyposalinity. Also, on one of my trips, I found a large white rat stretched out in one of the aisles...still breathing...but not for long. My heart can't take those kind of places.
Ruby
Boycott them and maybe they will get the message and shut the department down. Employees there do not understand why they lose way over 50% of their saltwater fish!!! I tried to give the manager some advice, but she told me that they keep tank parameters according to corporate. I know for a fact that one week it was hyper and the next week hyposalinity. Also, on one of my trips, I found a large white rat stretched out in one of the aisles...still breathing...but not for long. My heart can't take those kind of places.
Ruby
i myself am not a fan of petco - been there a few times and store help was clueless about there departments - rather useless to ask any questions very little help and they try and get you to buy what ever and they say this should work - research before heading there or any chain store is the best advice
JaneG
New member
Don't you think that's a bit hypocritical? :twitch:
scionreefing
New member
Guys if you walk into a petco that has poor care they have hotlines that you can call. If they get enough calls something will get done.
Raffle grabber
Raffle grabber
Vadafallon
New member
We bought a fresh water fish Sunday for my kids tank. We got it home only to notice it had no fins or tail lol. Poor guy.
Vadafallon
New member
I gotta say though, the other Petco i visit from time to time is amazing. Cleanest tanks i have seen and all the fish look great.
psychobilly
New member
I have 3 stores by me. The one in Norman is great heathly fish great coral selection. The girl running it really knows her stuff. the Okc store is not very good and neither is the Edmond store
3Watt
New member
The PetCo in my area is great as well. The aquatics manager has a lot of experience in both fw and sw. It's the local fish store that is a nightmare of uninformed employees.
But IMHO people should worry less about pet stores, pay more attention to and put more into fighting the organizations that are trying to ban the hobby all together.
But IMHO people should worry less about pet stores, pay more attention to and put more into fighting the organizations that are trying to ban the hobby all together.
coralnut99
New member
When I first started with my current employer about 13 years ago, I found a Petco not far away. As this and other threads will attest, they didn't have a clue and really didn't care about fish. After a year or so I found a LFS nearby and never went back to that Petco. Well the LFS closed late last year, and I was looking for a piece of rigid plastic tubing for a new project in the fish room and thought that Petco may have some or an equivalent. Well, they didn't have any. And as I walked past all the fish tanks I remembered why it had been 12 years. Even the fancier goldfish in the displays were dead. There are surely some decent Petcos out there, but this just isn't one of them. I just walked out shaking my head. Sad. You really can't describe it any other way. An even bigger waste of my lunch hour.
ReeferHead84
New member
My local Petco has a filthy saltwater setup. Massive amounts of GHA all over the DT just turned me off to buying from them. Some petcos in my area closed down their SW tanks due to low sales. Why? its because they don't understand the chemistry needed to have a healthy SW setup. I think the aquatics dept workers should just focus on ONLY aquatics. Its not just a hobby...its a lifestyle.
Alastor0001
New member
my local petco is pretty nice, they keep the bigger fish like tangs in a 72g bowfront in the front of the other tanks and they have 1-2 fish in the smaller tanks look like 5-10g, so its not to bad, never seen a dead fish in any of them, and the corals look pretty colorful
only complant i have about my petco is one time i went in there asking where there live rock was and they told me there was no such thing lol.
only complant i have about my petco is one time i went in there asking where there live rock was and they told me there was no such thing lol.
Aquaticchaos
New member
I agree fully, the petco near me over stocks their tanks and always has a bunch of dead fish or very aggressive fish in tanks with passive fish etc etc etc, it drives me crazy....
ldballoon4
New member
Those supply chains mentioned above have sweet deals on SW fish at times. Unfortunately, the water conditions in their tanks are littered with disease and algae. Use a quarantine tank if you intend to buy there. If you wish to boycott, go ahead too.
Sidewaydaze
New member
most petcos in my area don't have any saltwater. i did buy a pair of tank bred black clowns from one store though. Everything at that store was well managed though.
ati70cutlass
New member
k, im gonna get some crap for this , but im a manager at petco now. i was brought on to be an asst. mngr to the gm and to revamp their saltwater. i will say there are some who have no idea what in the world they are doing but they do follow strict guidelines from corperate and they can not deviate from them. ive already had tons of comments from people saying how its changed and looking better. so at least one store is on the uprise. there isnt a whole lot of knowledge being spread within dealing with saltwater. i myself am teaching customers responsible reefing thru workshops. they can not treat them with any chemicals and must be done all naturally thru the guidelines that corp set. so do not blame them as this is thier structure. all we can do is constant water changes, feed, run carbon, and hope for the best. next time dont be so hard on ppl for things that are out of thier control.
I have said it before and I'll say it again.... the PETCO where I am is on point. The staff is is pretty well informed the manager is in to the hobby pretty big and they sure don't dump the fish in they drip acclimate everything. Most of the time they have better stuff than other lfs. Just sayin
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bif24701
New member
I shop at the Petco on Pebble Creek/ Estrella Parkway just off the I-10 (West Valley) in the Phoenix area. This Petco is way better than any other Petco I've been to and IMHO better than a couple LFS I've visited in the area as well. They have real LR, in a separate system not treated with any medications. There are some LPS and other nice inveterates. They recently expanded with more tanks for better selection and the guy who set it up is impressive to me with his knowledge and how he educated customers before their purchases. Though I do most all my shopping at my LFS, internet, and haven't needed live stock in a year I still buy my salt, food, and sand there. if your store is poor, don't buy there. If the live stock is good I don't see a problem with giving them business.
