petco

[cynster]

But in a general sense, to save time and money, you have to sacrifice quality - you can't have all of it, in theory. Because a mom and pop shop isn't being pushed by a central corporate direction to save money or save time, they can generally direct their business towards niche markets and provide more quality to particular people who have an interest in it and are willing to pay for it. It doesn't mean all big stores are low quality and all small stores are high quality, but if you -do- have a high quality store in your area, let them have your business if you want them to stay in business.

 

[vwwanksta69]

Went to one in the Philly area and my buddy bought some rock off of them. The pricing was based upon the rocks size not weight. Two pieces came with three crabs and a gobie. It was amazing to see the gobie in the bag when we got it home. Also saw two blue hippo tangs in one of their tanks. They were about the size of a dime and looked really whitish blue.

 

[scionreefing]

But in a general sense, to save time and money, you have to sacrifice quality - you can't have all of it, in theory. Because a mom and pop shop isn't being pushed by a central corporate direction to save money or save time, they can generally direct their business towards niche markets and provide more quality to particular people who have an interest in it and are willing to pay for it. It doesn't mean all big stores are low quality and all small stores are high quality, but if you -do- have a high quality store in your area, let them have your business if you want them to stay in business.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Raffle grabber

 

[RichConley]

There is one Petco that I will go to that takes better care of their livestock than some of the local reef specialty stores. The workers are members of the local reef club. They are trying to work with corporate to get the other stores to follow their example. This particular store has changed my view on Petco since they do such a great job.

This.

There are some really poorly run independant reef stores out there, and yet everyone loves to rag on the chains.


The quality or lacktherof of a particular petco is entirely determined by the store manager. Some are great, some are terrible.

 

[hglumac]

I buy all my livestock from 2 places near Pittsburgh, both are very small opperations that only deal in saltwater, until recently both were open only by appointment as they were run from the basement of their homes, one just rented a space and began to keep regular hours. I believe that people who love the hobby will always do their best to offer healthy livestock.

That being said the Petco in Morgantown is not terrible. I have never asked for any information from the fish clerk, but the livestock looked relatively healthy. Im not defending them...

 

[scionreefing]

This.

There are some really poorly run independant reef stores out there, and yet everyone loves to rag on the chains.

This is the point I have been trying to make this whole thread. But nobody wants to except that independent store can be terrible too. I don't see anything about independent stores. I know they are out there.


Raffle grabber

 

[Matthew91]

How about an update on that tang?

 

[khowst]

LFS can be just as bad if not worse. I heard about a LFS here in town. I went over, pulled in and on a hot 100 degree day the door was open. OK, fresh air I gotcha. Well I went to the door and about the time I was blasted by the cat/dog smell & ammonia, it was then the worker of the LFS explained they werent open but rather they were just 'airing out'. The stench was so bad I think the only good airing out would be a building fire. Moral of the story? Yes LFS can be just as bad if not worse.

 

[bamf25]

The Petco by my work made my sick today. They do not have alot of tanks and maybe had 30 fish total in the salt section. Out of those 30, there was a dead flame angel that as already rotting. A bicolor foxface that was so weak it was stuck against the outflow tube. A trigger that had hazy eyes. A yellow tang that was losing color, breathing fast, had rough fins, and had ick. A tomini tang that appeared to have either ick or maybe velvet. Likely a powerder brown tang that again looked bad. In general all the fish looked thin and poor. Not accusing all Petco's, but there is no excuse for that many sick fish out of so few.

I was at a LFS yesterday that had a large salt section as well as two hugh display tanks, and two large frag tanks. All of their fish were fat and eating. I did point out one dead fish out of maybe 200. The two I purchased are the liveliest new fish in a QT I have ever had, and both were eating like pigs only hours after I got them home. Not saying all LFS are better, but the contrast was hugh.

 

[blueramSeattle]

Finding a big box with salt is getting harder about Seattle : ) The local stores make up for it.

Some of the stores also removed the live plants. The plants in the tube trick, well, most are no aquatics even though the label STATES aquatic.

In the age of smart phones it is easy to do some research on the site and check compatibility.

 

[Batreef]

LFS's can be bad but in most cases a LFS is run by a hobbyist and a chain such as Petco is run by someonne that knows nothing about saltwater. the petco by my house, were i take my dog for grooming, is always filled with dead fish and coral completely dead.

 

[JaneG]

LFS's can be bad but in most cases a LFS is run by a hobbyist and a chain such as Petco is run by someonne that knows nothing about saltwater. the petco by my house, were i take my dog for grooming, is always filled with dead fish and coral completely dead.

A chain such as Petco is "run by someone that knows nothing about saltwater"? Really? I wish people would stop bashing petco - as has been said many, many times they're individually run. Out of the 3 by me, one is decent, one is amazing, and the other has little selection but the fish are well taken care of. At one of the them, the aquatics manager has literally worked with aquariums for 30 yrs. They have SPS corals that are nicely colored (high flow and high light!), clams, ORA mandarins, picassos, and even sell Vortechs - and honestly, this is at a much, much better price than most other LFS. I still prefer the little stores because they are a small business, but *most* petcos probably do at least OK at taking care of their fish IME.

 

[reefjunkie42]

At one of the them, the aquatics manager has literally worked with aquariums for 30 yrs. They have SPS corals that are nicely colored (high flow and high light!), clams, ORA mandarins, picassos, and even sell Vortechs - and honestly, this is at a much, much better price than most other LFS. I still prefer the little stores because they are a small business, but *most* petcos probably do at least OK at taking care of their fish IME.

I would say this is very uncommon. may be mistaken but Ive never seen anything like that in the ones ive been in.

 

[James77]

I would say this is very uncommon. may be mistaken but Ive never seen anything like that in the ones ive been in.

Just as the hideous ones you hear about are not all that common either. The 3 by me are all different. 1 is kinda crappy, but the tanks still clean, the 2nd is a very limited freshwater only selection with the tanks still clean, and the 3rd has a decent selection on both FW and SW with everything looking happy and healthy. All 3 are FAR better than 2 of the LFS I have. One of those is run by a marine biologist, and has substrates made purely of cyano, dying fish all over all its systems, and starving fish.

 

[NinjaBum]

My local Petco was pretty subpar until they got a new guy in who cleaned up the tanks and got everything running great. They have gotten a lot better. It's nice to have an extra option open up to me.

 

[Ba19Ma88]

I have to agree I do not think you can group every petco and bad (I do not mean to imply someone was saying this). I have two local to me and one has a pretty nice selection and the other while SW is limited everything appears to be clean and heathy. I woudl buy a SW fish (Granted not a super $$ wrasse) but a general SW fish from either one of my two local stores if there were no other LFS around me. I do try to support those first

 

[mcfa2403]

Having worked at a petco and cared for the aquatics section, as well as other areas, I can honestly say that the individuals on this site are not the ones driving "bad" petco sotres sales. It is typically the weekend hobbyists who are just starting a tank who want the cheapest possible setup. The problem caused by this is that unless they get an actual aquatics specialist they will most likely get bad information and continue down that path. Petco does their best to train each associate but lets face it not everyone cares enough to learn, they are a large store that sells more than just saltwater fish. The advantage the lfs has is that they sell just fish and try to hire people witht the same passion. Plus the lfs has an owner who, fingers crossed, is already knowledgable and can train them verse computer training at petco in the absence of an already knowledgable associate. So what happens is that some stores focus their sales primarily on these customers because the majority of asscoiates don't have the proper knowledge and in most cases likely don't desire that knowledge. It is the curse of the chain store, however what we are all forgetting is that their prices keep the market in check as they are more consistent. Long story short boycotting does very little because those of us on this forum do not drive their sales, however if a store recieves enough complaints higher up management becomes involoved and I can gaurantee at the very least bonuses will be affected and hopefully that will inspire local management to act. And as for saltwater sales at one store driving sales at another that is simply not true. Petco may not be your favorite business but they have been somewhat successful and are not complete idiots. Store sales are evaluated on a store by store basis and if one store is successful it only means that they might try similar initiatives at other stores not that because one makes X amount of dollars in sw that they believe every other store will too, hence some stores don't even have saltwater. So to say sales at one store drive purchasing at another is the same as saying buying your dog food there encourages salwater purchasing. In fact an increase in sales at one store over another is likely influence upper management to evaluate the factors of success and adapt new policy. Therefore boycott the bad promote the good. So I don't believe anyone should feel bad about purchasing from a quality store. That said I no longer work there and have bought very little from there even though I believe our store was slightly above average. And on the buying sick fish note; any rescue agency will tell you never buy a neglected animal it only promotes the neglect of another. I apologize in advance, I am strongly opinionated but am open to criticism

 

[sledge760]

All the saltwater fish in the tanks at the PETCO near me have ich real bad.

 

[mikezalewski]

I was told in my area that petco does not do any saltwater fish any more. I was glad to hear that!

 

[pktech]

I'm 50/50 Petco vs. LFS - I've picked up a flawless kole & False lemonpeel angel from Petco & a wonderful clown & Sailfin blenny from my LFS. I believe it's luck of the draw - I've got 4 LFS near me in NJ - they all have their problems. I say suppport whoever provides you with the highest quality fish.