petco

[James77]

You take offense at that? It is a general comment and it is for the most part true. This hobby serves no real other purpose than ourselvees. We have living animlas confined to a tiny fraction of the space that they are meant to be in....no different than a lion in a cage. All for what? Pretty much decoration.

You breed fish? Commendable, but still we are dealing with living animals, although an approach like that will help the wild reefs.

 

[James77]

:deadhorse: some people just don't understand that just because a handful of stores are doing things right doesn't mean corporate as a whole is and don't understand the grand scope of having this hobby thrive vs die by lawmakers in this country. The store I worked at did very well... but could have done much better if corporate would have stayed out of it... and there are a huge number of Petcos I have been to that are just disgusting, I have not been to a single one that was surprised me with good things. Ever.

And some people just don't get that it is pretty much a handful of stores doing the bad thing, but hey, at least you got to use the "dead horse" emoticon .

I have been to more atrocious LFS than I have the 3 or 4 Petcos local to me. It is a PETSTORE, I would not expect elaborate reef systems out of it, as it is catering to a wide market of fish, reptiles, cats, etc. All of the ones I have been to are more than acceptable. Compared to my LFS run by a marine biologist, they are top of the line.

 

[James77]

And leaving that fish in the ocean guarantees it's death as well.
Because again, everything dies. Don't tell me you're using appropriate data because you're not. You're taking information, and twisting it disingenuously to try and falsely prove a point.
.

That is a pretty silly view on animals. Just like chickens....they all die right, so lets stuff them in battery cages in dark rooms. There is a huge difference between a noatural life and death and one in captivity simply for our own amusement.

But if I can go into a store and see a handful of fish floating and polluting the water at one store, and not see that at another store, I'll go to the second one..

As you should, and is all that needs to be done for the bad apple petcos. A letter to them would be even better if you were that passionate to do so. The dead floating fish is no different thatn what I have seen at LFS, matter of fact i see less at Petco. Yes, it is one of those corporations, but I think alot of people would be surprised that its profit margin is not that far off from any typical retail business.

 

[Tin_Whistler]

@ Tin_Whistler. Yes, but keeping a fish in your aquarium guarantees it will die in your custody.

Here you're being more honest. Dies in your custody is different then insinuating you cause the death of that fish by taking ownership of it.

But with that statement, what's so bad about that fish dying in your custody? Consistent food source, and a lack of predators isn't exactly a bad deal for most animals. Also, can you tell if these fish are unhappy?

I can see if a fish is stressed, but when a fish isn't stressed what mood is it in then? Can you tell? I can't.

The difference is in the wild a fish's life and death contributes to the wellbeing of nature. In your aquarium a fish just contributes to appeasing your fascination. It is the reality of this hobby.

Sure the death of the fish you keep stops another fish from eating. Though I'd be willing to bet the fish in your possession doesn't mind not being eaten. Again, I can't speak to fish, or read their minds, but if the choice is between being eaten or living a healthy life...

I'm going to guess they'll pick "not in the belly of a predator." Though that is just a guess on my part.

But again, this thread is about Petco not the fish trade as a whole.

Petco's fish department is a dumpster fire. Too often they leave dead fish in tanks polluting water. They don't educate their staff on proper husbandry or care, which in turn leaves poorly educated consumers.

That is a pretty silly view on animals. Just like chickens....they all die right, so lets stuff them in battery cages in dark rooms. There is a huge difference between a noatural life and death and one in captivity simply for our own amusement.

There's a huge difference between keeping an animal as a pet, and trying to provide a proper home for it, to blatantly mistreating, and abusing an animal because you don't care.

 

[Jodah]

As far as Petco goes. it depends on the store. I've come across this same thread in many other forums. It all boils down to the individual stores. Does Petco on the whole provide proper training and company policies on fish keeping? Probably not as much as they should. So it comes down to the employee's to take the initiative. Quite frankly most of them are young kids who are just there to collect a paycheck. Very rarely do you come across one that actually cares about the animals.

 

[scionreefing]

Petco's fish department is a dumpster fire. Too often they leave dead fish in tanks polluting water. They don't educate their staff on proper husbandry or care, which in turn leaves poorly educated consumers.

Petco does educate. It may be a little out dated but knowledge is knowledge.

Raffle grabber

 

[dorky]

just visit Petco last week it even broke my heart more. they was selling nice size carpet anemone but very bleach n the disk look kinda brownish dont know if that healthy or not. but anyway it was hard for me to keep my urges to save an animal from the bad condition in check. i decided not to go near the saltwater livestock section. what i don't understand is how can they take better care of the freshwater than they did with the marine. i just don't get it! i have marine and fresh they both require the same maintenance but with marine need more for the corals. other than that they bout the same. not one i seen dead fish in the fresh water section.

 

[ken55]

Wow!! What an interesting thread. One thing that comes to my mind:

I wouldn't patronize a store with dead fish in the tanks. I doubt many of us would. But how would you really know?? My example is this: The employee just happens to scoop out all dead fish at 2:53 p.m. You just happen to walk in at 3:00 p.m. You didn't see any dead fish did you?

Seeing dead fish in a retail DT is a crap shoot. Either there weren't any or they were removed. About the only sure sign of a stores reliability would be to see a DECAYING dead fish. If they are too lazy to pull out the dead ones then you pretty much know they are too lazy to do anything else that should be done.

I imagine this would apply to any and all stores not just individual corporate locations or mom/pop locals.

 

[Ryan2013]

The main thing to watch out for with petco is disease. They generally run all the saltwater tanks from the same sump so if even one infected fish is added to the system, it can infect them all. Inspect all fish for parasites or disease even the ones you arent considering buying, just to make sure you arent taking any ich home.
The dead fish dont need to be as big of a concern as live diseased fish. Theres enough gallons of water mixed in their system that asmlong as it isnt decaying, it shouldnt be so harmful to the other fish. All stores experience loss of fish, its just easier to hate a chain store like petco than a small local business. Ive had some great fish come from the petco near me and they always have the broadest selection of fish and inverts. They also seem to be the only store that stays in business without massive price spikes.

 

[TheReefJedi]

It is really sad to see what Petco does with their fish, yesterday I went looking for fish to add to my stocking list for my planned 120 gallon and I saw some horrific sites. The little 5-10 gallon display tanks they use are crammed filled with fish, I saw no less than 50 bangaii cardinals stuffed into one, a "yellow" tang that was pale white that was clearly starving, and a foxface lo that was white and starving. I was going to take pics with my phone to post onto this thread but some of their workers gave me a glare and I quickly left the store.

 

[James77]

It is really sad to see what Petco does with their fish, yesterday I went looking for fish to add to my stocking list for my planned 120 gallon and I saw some horrific sites. The little 5-10 gallon display tanks they use are crammed filled with fish, I saw no less than 50 bangaii cardinals stuffed into one, a "yellow" tang that was pale white that was clearly starving, and a foxface lo that was white and starving. I was going to take pics with my phone to post onto this thread but some of their workers gave me a glare and I quickly left the store.

It is a very common practice to stuff fish in small tanks across all levels of the industry. Even reputable fish retailers don't give each tang large tanks, it is horribly impractical.

 

[TheReefJedi]

Although it is wrong not to give the individual fish it's proper tank size, and I know it would be impractical for the pet industries to be able to keep the fish in their recomended tank size, the point I was trying to get across is the fact that they stuff as many fish as they can into a tiny tank and not give them proper care and feedings.

 

[dorky]

if they too darn lazy to get that decaying dead fish out of the tank then what good are they? if they so strict on where they getting their fish from they need to do a better job picking vendor and at least hire someone who passionate for reef and fish i really don't care if they knowledgable or not

 

[TheReefJedi]

if they too darn lazy to get that decaying dead fish out of the tank then what good are they? If they so strict on where they getting their fish from they need to do a better job picking vendor and at least hire someone who passionate for reef and fish i really don't care if they knowledgable or not

+1

 

[wnppmy]

Fortunately ours fairs better, as do have an advanced salt water employee and others have some knowledge. Often tho purchase mine from the bag on arrivals.

Right now offer a free class on care for newbies on salt water.

Also a new employee considering setting up her own nano tank. Intrest is high there indeed.

 

[Soultwater]

Why don't you volunteer at that store and teach them how to do it right.

I have a local store near me and they no longer sell saltwater fish but the freshwater filtration setup they have is a sump style. One of the return lines came apart and a whole wall of tanks quit working and none of the employees on shift knew how to fix it or even how it worked. Instead of getting mad at the situation I stayed and fixed it for them.

 

[johandagentile]

I live in Columbus ga. and the petco here is an ICH factory!

 

[msl5078]

When I had my freshwater tank I went through dozens of fish from PETCO, there were horrible :-(. I have just learned to stay way from them and PETSMART.

 

[thebanker]

My Petco is pretty good, to be honest. It didn't used to be all that great, but lately, the tanks look clean and their livestock is always pretty healthy.

Maybe I'm the exception?

 

[tebstan]

Maybe I'm the exception?

It doesn't appear to be common, but not impossible. My nearest Petco is pretty good too. Actually better than some LFS...