ritter6788
Say no to clove polyps
That's right...sps at our local Petco. :hmm4: Some under just actinic lighting nice and brown or bleaching. Anyone elses Petco do this?
SPS frags at Petco
- Thread starter ritter6788
- Start date
fcmatt
Member
The petco in Nashua NH has T5 lighting in what looks to be a 50ish gallon tank. shallow.
their main problem seems to be high levels of phos and nitrate that cause algae to grow
too easily. naturally the frags when they come in look great but over time they just turn
brown (acro for example).
i do not worry about the frags as much as i do the fish. ich is a serious problem at petco(s).
But man they do have some good deals sometimes. I got my yellow assessor there for 30
dollars... down from 50. I just asked and they dropped the price big time for me. Must have
been there a long time? dunno. Cheapest I ever saw one for sale. A LFS in MA is asking 80.
Moral of the story is you better have a QT tank if you plan to buy from petco. ;-)
their main problem seems to be high levels of phos and nitrate that cause algae to grow
too easily. naturally the frags when they come in look great but over time they just turn
brown (acro for example).
i do not worry about the frags as much as i do the fish. ich is a serious problem at petco(s).
But man they do have some good deals sometimes. I got my yellow assessor there for 30
dollars... down from 50. I just asked and they dropped the price big time for me. Must have
been there a long time? dunno. Cheapest I ever saw one for sale. A LFS in MA is asking 80.
Moral of the story is you better have a QT tank if you plan to buy from petco. ;-)
ritter6788
Say no to clove polyps
Some of them were in tanks with actinic or a purple colored lighting only. The pieces weren't too expensive, about $35 for a good sized frag but none of them looked well.
Pickupman66
New member
NO kidding. that place is HORRID for sw fish. they dont care and when I asked to see a fish eat, they refused to show me... UGH
L8ndeb
Registered Reef Keeper
No truer words spoken regarding Petco.
small alien
The fungus is among us.
I'll just add, I see some horribly maintained animals at plenty of independent stores too. I honestly do not know how they sleep at night knowing there is so much suffering going on in their tanks.
sasharotty
Moved on to my couch
What a disgrace!
salth20newbie
New member
Now I am scared to purchase my first fish! I am waiting for my nitrates to go down before I get a fish,but PetCo is the only SW fish seller near 
small alien
The fungus is among us.
There are some great online retailers who will ship fish right to your door. Check out LiveAquaria.
L8ndeb
Registered Reef Keeper
Agreed. The more Petco is used, the worse it will get. Hopefully the word will get out the the less informed and Petco will get the idea.
Pickupman66
New member
we have a very good LFS in teh area. always good stock. they do their best. we support them as best we can. I live 1.5 hours from there. I may order online this time though due to the distance.
ritter6788
Say no to clove polyps
Our LFS here is worse than the Petco, and more expensive. They had a nice coral selection for a while but they took out the display and put a koi pond display in. I always tried to get there before they took the corals out of the bags though, they went to .... when the put them in their tanks. Now they carry fish and inverts and the fish look horrible every time I go in there. I just quit going. I quit buying livestock from Petco too but I get supplies from there if I'm in a hurry for something and that's how I noticed the SPS being stocked.
tkeracer619
New member
Now I am scared to purchase my first fish! I am waiting for my nitrates to go down before I get a fish,but PetCo is the only SW fish seller near
If you absolutely have to purchase from them order the fish and have them give it to you in the bag. If it doesn't touch their tanks your better off.
The unfortunate thing is you will still need to have a QT tank.
Most good LFS QT all of their fish. Wholesale fish sometimes come in with disease. I would not want to buy my first fish from a wholesaler knowing what I know now.
IMO the best thing you can do is order from liveaquaria.com. They have a very good QT process and their fish have a guarantee. It might cost more but it is absolutely worth it.
Quality livestock is worth an hour drive each way or a mail order if you don't have one within that range. I don't consider petco a good option any way you look at it.
salth20newbie
New member
Thats good to know! I just started my tank and really didnt have a clue about salt water tanks...I have been reading and researching heavily. I currently have a few live rock in my 20 gal tank (set up 7 weeks) and several hermit crabs. I think I am going to stick with hermit crabs and learn the ins and outs of the salt water tank. I will be moving in June and will more thank likely upgrade to a much larger tank and will by then have gained more information about SW tanks and will feel more confident in the hobby and will also have access to better materials etc.
