Fish prices

[tehmadreefer]

Just a comparison of Petco vs Liveaquaria

Yes, I bought these fish over the last week and put them in my tank with NO QT! I’m a rebel and not a noob. Don’t try this at home noobies, your results may differ greatly!


Bluehead Fairy wrasse- Petco 29.99 - LA at 59.99
Neon cleaner goby - Petco 14.99 - LA at 23.99
Flame Hawk- Petco 59.99 - LA at 74.99
Midas Blenny - Petco 34.99 w/14 day guarantee- LA at 64.99 - rescue fish.

 

[nereefpat]

I have seen the same thing. The Petco brick and mortar store is usually cheaper than online, which gets shipped directly to you from the wholesaler. It doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[ScubaSkeets]

I was just about to post about Petco prices. They are almost always unbelievably cheaper than LA, saltwaterfish.com and others. I picked up a Powder Brown Tang today. LA has small for $99.99 but out of stock. SWF.com has it for $86.99 on waiting list. Guess how much it was at Petco? $39.99! And it wasn't a teeny tiny one...maybe 2.5 - 3 inches.
I asked the lady there where they get their fish and she said one of their suppliers is Liveaquaria, among others.
Every fish that I have gotten from Petco has been significantly cheaper than anywhere online.

 

[ThRoewer]

I was just about to post about Petco prices. They are almost always unbelievably cheaper than LA, saltwaterfish.com and others. I picked up a Powder Brown Tang today. LA has small for $99.99 but out of stock. SWF.com has it for $86.99 on waiting list. Guess how much it was at Petco? $39.99! And it wasn't a teeny tiny one...maybe 2.5 - 3 inches.
I asked the lady there where they get their fish and she said one of their suppliers is Liveaquaria, among others.
Every fish that I have gotten from Petco has been significantly cheaper than anywhere online.

Yeah, and since you can check the fish out in person you are also more likely to get a healthy specimen rather than receiving the half dead ones they like to dispose off at LiveAquaria/Quality Marine.
This seems to be their new trick since they stopped issuing refunds: toss some dying or already dead fish into the shipment so that the customer ends up with store credit they have to spend within a given time. And since it is usually not enough to qualify for free shipping the customer is likely to order more to get past the free shipping threshold. That shipment will then have another dead or dying animal in it to repeat the cycle.
I experienced this with BlueZoo and it seems LiveAquaria finally caught up with that business model as well...

 

[ThePurple12]

Seems like it depends on the Petco. Mine has higher prices, like $110 for a tiny hippo tang.
LiveAquaria's prices are insane;Punch;Punch

 

[jtf74]

Had pretty good luck with Petco. Bought a maroon clown for 9.99 8 years ago and another about a year ago for 15.99. A friend of mine used to make friends with the petco employees offer them free coupons to the restaurant he managed and they would hold fish for him in the bag on delivery day so he could pickup before it was released into the petco tanks.

On the flip side I've seen some pretty sad looking fish in Petco at times as well.

 

[Gtinnel]

Seems like it depends on the Petco. Mine has higher prices, like $110 for a tiny hippo tang.
LiveAquaria's prices are insane;Punch;Punch

The petco near me generally have really good prices on fish with a few exceptions and the hippo tang is one of those exceptions, which they want around $100 for a tiny one.

 

[ScubaSkeets]

Yeah, and since you can check the fish out in person you are also more likely to get a healthy specimen rather than receiving the half dead ones they like to dispose off at LiveAquaria/Quality Marine.
This seems to be their new trick since they stopped issuing refunds: toss some dying or already dead fish into the shipment so that the customer ends up with store credit they have to spend within a given time. And since it is usually not enough to qualify for free shipping the customer is likely to order more to get past the free shipping threshold. That shipment will then have another dead or dying animal in it to repeat the cycle.
I experienced this with BlueZoo and it seems LiveAquaria finally caught up with that business model as well...

Well, at least you get some kind of warranty with LiveAquaria, be it a refund or store credit. That's one thing it does have over Petco. There is no refund/credit whatsoever with SW fish from Petco (or any LFS for that matter...at least around my neckofthewoods). You buy it and it dies on the way home, you're SOL. Saltwaterfish.com will refund your purchase if the fish arrives dead or issues a credit if the fish dies within 2 weeks. Either or, it's still a better guarantee than Petco's. That being said, I'd still rather buy from Petco and risk it considering the price differences.

 

[What ever]

Just a comparison of Petco vs Liveaquaria

Yes, I bought these fish over the last week and put them in my tank with NO QT! I’m a rebel and not a noob. Don’t try this at home noobies, your results may differ greatly!


Bluehead Fairy wrasse- Petco 29.99 - LA at 59.99
Neon cleaner goby - Petco 14.99 - LA at 23.99
Flame Hawk- Petco 59.99 - LA at 74.99
Midas Blenny - Petco 34.99 w/14 day guarantee- LA at 64.99 - rescue fish.

 

[What ever]

Great price for a Midas Blenny, i paid 80 bucks for mine, such a cool fish

 

[Frogspon]

The hippo tang is priced that way to keep people from buying it that should not.

I've been told that they basically have an account on file for ordering, and they don't pay for anything up front. They are only debited for fish after 90 days if it doesn't die. This is why they don't run any meds through their system.

Now how it plays into lower prices, I'm not sure. Maybe volume

 

[hds4216]

I bought my firefish there for $9.99. Couldn't believe how cheap it was. Also got a Halloween urchin for $14.99 there. They also had some RFAs for $24.99, but I didn't necessarily trust them.

 

[Gtinnel]

The hippo tang is priced that way to keep people from buying it that should not.

I find that very hard to believe. If they as a company were concerned about making sure people knew how to properly care for the animals they bought then they should focus on training employees to ask question before selling the animals. If anything that sounds like and excuse to get more profit on a fish that is well recognized because of a movie franchise.

 

[Frogspon]

I find that very hard to believe. If they as a company were concerned about making sure people knew how to properly care for the animals they bought then they should focus on training employees to ask question before selling the animals. If anything that sounds like and excuse to get more profit on a fish that is well recognized because of a movie franchise.

They're only $60 on their website, and excluded from price matching.

This is all I need to know it's not hard to believe.

It's much less likely a uneducated person is impulse buying a hippo tang online than when you see its cute little face in the store.

 

[ScubaSkeets]

This is why they don't run any meds through their system

One of the Petcos near me have four columns of 4 or 5 tanks each. The two right columns are fish only and the guy there told me he treats those two tanks with copper.

 

[ReeferLou]

I bought a Yellow-Stripped Blenny there for 19.99 - I did not quarantine. All good 2+ month later - best eater in the tank. I did not have many fish in my tank at the time - only my 3 indestructible damsels. If I were to buy another fish from PetCo I would QT now for sure as I have more fish. LA has these for $39.99. BTW I did get half price on a small leather and kenya colt that they were killing with low light. SO you can do rescue coral there too. 24 for both. I still have a hard time looking at the poor fish there.