Shrimp from Petco??????

[Vince272992]

Hi I'm looking to get a cleaner shrimp from Petco and I was wondering if any body would recommend it or not recommend it also any success stories out there would help ALOT Also tell me any other good or bad stories u have about there live stock

 

[NarakuAulonocar]

I would NOT recommend it.
Last time I was at my local petco, I bought a cleaner shrimp that died on its way home. The next day I went to return it but they fussed that they don't guarantee saltwater livestock. The guy who catched my shrimp misinformed/lied that it would be covered because I specifically asked.

Oh well... They lost me as a customer and I'm out $15 :angryfire:

Oh yeah, and they specifically asked to take my dead shrimp and I didn't want to give it to them but she swiped it away before I could react.
Why would you need it if you're not refunding me? My guess was that they can get money back from the supplier with that. I did not feel comfortable with the fat lady/manager's action at the middle town NJ Petco.

 

[Flame_Angel]

Hi I'm looking to get a cleaner shrimp from Petco and I was wondering if any body would recommend it or not recommend it also any success stories out there would help ALOT Also tell me any other good or bad stories u have about there live stock

Well, you've just opened a huge can of worms. You're going to get very conflicting reports from people on this subject, many that are negative, many that are positive.

Ultimately, the quality of the stock, knowledge-level of employees, and overall customer satisfaction of a Petco/Petsmart store is extremely variable and changes from store to store. My best advice is to go into the store and use your eyes and common sense to tell you whether the store is worth purchasing from or not. Ask questions, look at the health of their stock and the condition of the tanks, and just generally scope it out.

That being said, I'm also a huge proponent of supporting your Locally-Owned Fish Store, as they're the real bread and butter of the hobby.

 

[Vince272992]

ok ya i will probably go get it from my LFS then haha

 

[Dragon moray ki]

Petco is the worse place to buy any saltwater livestock. Dont buy from them they are horrible.

 

[Decadence]

A lot of hatred towards Petco... I have had good success with them. Most of the time when I get fish from them, I order them and pick it up when the shipment comes in while it is still in the bag. I bought a fire shrimp from there with a coupon, sale AND girlfriend's employee discount and it wound up being around $8. He lived for about a month but fell victim to an open filter tube. When he died, I bought two cleaner shrimp from them. This particular store has terrible water but if you acclimate properly and your water is good, there should not be a problem.

Half of my fish came from Petco and almost all of my inverts came from Petco. The key with stores like Petco is to test THEIR water along with yours before you decide how to acclimate. My shrimp were all acclimated over about three hours through a very slow drip. Their water had low PH, low salinity and very high nitrate/phosphate.

 

[FishSticks86]

I got a couple shrimp from petco, all alive and healthy. Just don't put their water into your system I see bristle worms and other pest all the time

 

[Inklinkerman]

A lot of hatred towards Petco... I have had good success with them. Most of the time when I get fish from them, I order them and pick it up when the shipment comes in while it is still in the bag. I bought a fire shrimp from there with a coupon, sale AND girlfriend's employee discount and it wound up being around $8. He lived for about a month but fell victim to an open filter tube. When he died, I bought two cleaner shrimp from them. This particular store has terrible water but if you acclimate properly and your water is good, there should not be a problem.

Half of my fish came from Petco and almost all of my inverts came from Petco. The key with stores like Petco is to test THEIR water along with yours before you decide how to acclimate. My shrimp were all acclimated over about three hours through a very slow drip. Their water had low PH, low salinity and very high nitrate/phosphate.

Sounds just like the sort of place to avoid!! Why would you want to buy livestock from a place that has water like this?

 

[TL1000RSquid]

I have several Petco's near me, the quality of them varies greatly. The one a mile from my house I won't buy anything from I bought FW fish from them in the past and they never lived more then a week. 2 others about 5 miles away I've made unplanned SW purchases from I limit myself to $15 though, all purchases were invert's except an Oscellaris that was still floating in the shipping bag, everythings still alive.

I'd suggest making planned purchases from a decent LFS, but if your petco's got decent people working the fish dept and tanks look good and fish seem healthy go for it. I'd also do an extra long drip acclimation with any shrimp from there.

 

[Decadence]

Sounds just like the sort of place to avoid!! Why would you want to buy livestock from a place that has water like this?

Local, cheap, good selection.....

I'd personally rather buy from a dumb kid and save an animal from crappy water than go buy the same thing for twice the money from someone who will try to sell you anything to make a couple bucks. Anyway, as an "insider" dating someone who works there, I can personally say that quite a few of the employees at that particular store really know what they are doing. The problem for the most part is in corporate/budget. I have seen their list of fish they are required to keep in stock... it is sad. I have offered to set up a new filtration system out of my own pocket and corporate would not allow it.

 

[Inklinkerman]

as im from the UK i dont know petco, but we have a very similar company (wouldnt be surprised if they have the same parent company) and i would never buy from them. For a mass market place they stock panther groupers, sweetlips, morays and even bamboo sharks which would be unsuitable for 99.9% of their customers. Nems are white bleached or dying and sold as "white malus" no matter the species. Some fish have bad ich and still sold..

local, cheap and a good selection is not enough if they have poor water and cant look after their stock properly. This isn't any judgement on the staff, im sure alot are knowledgeable and caring aquarists, but stock from there is no good for me.