I bought a fish at Petco!

[Finn1018]

I normally take my senior dog to petco just to hang out, get some free back scratches and some butt sniffs in. It’s been about a month, but we’d been seeing this one neon dottyback who was super cute and would always come to the glass to say hi. We slowly fell for it, named it, but ultimately convinced ourselves it was a bad idea and no amount of cuteness could convince me to get it. So I went around my lfs to see if anyone had one, and of course all the ones I end up looking at are super shy or aggressively chasing others throughout the tank. It wasn’t the same. So I ended up going back to Petco with my dog, and we picked up the neon dottyback. Lol.
I have since finished doing safety stop dip on him and placed him in quarantine… Fish just have a way of tantalizing you don’t they? I really looked for any excuse to back out, but the staff told me he’d been there for a few weeks, he was eating well. He looks clean. Fins all in tact, no obvious white specs or parasites on him. Can’t say it was the same for the tangs in the neighboring tank. But I did also ask the staff to feed him in front of me, and the guy was eating well, so I bit the bullet. I hope I don’t later regret my decision.
Any other happy ending Petco stories out there?

 

[dvgyfresh]

All the fish I’ve bought from petco actually do better than the fish from my LFS - I’ve had to rescue tangs / butterfly fish from lfs (ich /lymphocyst) petco saltwater is actually set up pretty well it just depends on the employees

 

[tjohnson3]

I normally take my senior dog to petco just to hang out, get some free back scratches and some butt sniffs in. It’s been about a month, but we’d been seeing this one neon dottyback who was super cute and would always come to the glass to say hi. We slowly fell for it, named it, but ultimately convinced ourselves it was a bad idea and no amount of cuteness could convince me to get it. So I went around my lfs to see if anyone had one, and of course all the ones I end up looking at are super shy or aggressively chasing others throughout the tank. It wasn’t the same. So I ended up going back to Petco with my dog, and we picked up the neon dottyback. Lol.
I have since finished doing safety stop dip on him and placed him in quarantine… Fish just have a way of tantalizing you don’t they? I really looked for any excuse to back out, but the staff told me he’d been there for a few weeks, he was eating well. He looks clean. Fins all in tact, no obvious white specs or parasites on him. Can’t say it was the same for the tangs in the neighboring tank. But I did also ask the staff to feed him in front of me, and the guy was eating well, so I bit the bullet. I hope I don’t later regret my decision.
Any other happy ending Petco stories out there?

Of course! I believe Petco actually owns Liveaquaria as well, so they get their hands on some good things as well as bad things. I got a sixline from petco as they were almost impossible to find at the time. It’s a bad mamma jamma now lol I’ve seen a lot of bad come out of there, but every once in awhile there’s the diamond in the rough. I also bought some chromis there to cycle the tank when it started… I assumed they wouldn’t make it, but they did.

 

[tjohnson3]

All the fish I’ve bought from petco actually do better than the fish from my LFS - I’ve had to rescue tangs / butterfly fish from lfs (ich /lymphocyst) petco saltwater is actually set up pretty well it just depends on the employees

I agree 100% with this comment

 

[Finn1018]

All the fish I’ve bought from petco actually do better than the fish from my LFS - I’ve had to rescue tangs / butterfly fish from lfs (ich /lymphocyst) petco saltwater is actually set up pretty well it just depends on the employees

Wow, that’s good to know! The employees at my Petco are young, they seem more like it’s a first job, but I’ll do my best to keep the tanks clean.

 

[Finn1018]

Of course! I believe Petco actually owns Liveaquaria as well, so they get their hands on some good things as well as bad things. I got a sixline from petco as they were almost impossible to find at the time. It’s a bad mamma jamma now lol I’ve seen a lot of bad come out of there, but every once in awhile there’s the diamond in the rough. I also bought some chromis there to cycle the tank when it started… I assumed they wouldn’t make it, but they did.

Well I wish they had the 7 day return policy like liveaquaria haha

 

[tjohnson3]

Well I wish they had the 7 day return policy like liveaquaria haha

No kidding!

 

[dvgyfresh]

Wow, that’s good to know! The employees at my Petco are young, they seem more like it’s a first job, but I’ll do my best to keep the tanks clean.

Ye it definitely varies , a lfs near me gets a lot of exotic things like sharks , rays , peacock mantis, eels, the super beautiful starfish , but you can tell it’s all wild caught/ imported and the fish carrying diseases he had good deals tho! Lol

 

[Sharkbait19]

My first batch of fish were from petco, and they all died. That was my fault though, because I didn’t quarantine. To be honest, I think buying petco fish is the exact same as any fish store. As long as you quarantine and medicate them, they’ll stay healthy. I also bought leather corals from petco, which took a long time to look healthy. Nowadays I don’t buy any livestock from petco, but if they have something that I wouldn’t see anywhere else, such as your special dottyback, I’d get it and quarantine.

 

[tjohnson3]

Ye it definitely varies , a lfs near me gets a lot of exotic things like sharks , rays , peacock mantis, eels, the super beautiful starfish , but you can tell it’s all wild caught/ imported and the fish carrying diseases he had good deals tho! Lol

Good deals cuz he knows it’ll die and you’ll be back to drop $ on another lol

 

[Finn1018]

Good deals cuz he knows it’ll die and you’ll be back to drop $ on another lol

Lol. Yeah I almost got trapped with a 20% off coupon at my lfs. Their neon dottybacks would’ve actually been cheaper. But still I went with the super cute one at Petco one and paid full price haha. He’ll probably grow up to be a savage though.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Good deals cuz he knows it’ll die and you’ll be back to drop $ on another lol

Haha ye I saved the fish from him yellow tang with ich all over but I got him healed and later traded for my sump so not the worst

 

[dvgyfresh]

Lol. Yeah I almost got trapped with a 20% off coupon at my lfs. Their neon dottybacks would’ve actually been cheaper. But still I went with the super cute one at Petco one and paid full price haha. He’ll probably grow up to be a savage though.

Will definitely terrorize other small fish lol

 

[Finn1018]

My first batch of fish were from petco, and they all died. That was my fault though, because I didn’t quarantine. To be honest, I think buying petco fish is the exact same as any fish store. As long as you quarantine and medicate them, they’ll stay healthy. I also bought leather corals from petco, which took a long time to look healthy. Nowadays I don’t buy any livestock from petco, but if they have something that I wouldn’t see anywhere else, such as your special dottyback, I’d get it and quarantine.

Where do you mostly buy from now?

 

[Finn1018]

Will definitely terrorize other small fish lol

Good thing after quarantine he’ll be housing with a hawkfish and some very clowny clowns

 

[Sharkbait19]

Where do you mostly buy from now?

I found a specific lfs that is really good, so I get everything there. If there’s something that is harder to find, I may order online. There is one fish, however, that I wouldn’t mind purchasing from petco if I found it, because it’s incredibly rare and expensive elsewhere.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I found a specific lfs that is really good, so I get everything there. If there’s something that is harder to find, I may order online. There is one fish, however, that I wouldn’t mind purchasing from petco if I found it, because it’s incredibly rare and expensive elsewhere.

Petco saltwater does take special orders

 

[Scott Ulrich]

A petco orchid dottyback is what made me get into saltwater, both species are stunning! He wasn't too mean, but he would torpedo the unsuspecting hermit that would make the mistake of walking by his den. I had him a couple of years. Since both the neon and orchid dottyback are ORA captive bred, I'm assuming that is where they are getting them from.

 

[Finn1018]

Petco saltwater does take special orders

I think it varies by Petco. I know mine won’t do it for me at least. But maybe now that I’ve bought one from there, and brought a cooler to the store and the staff was like “omg you’re the first one to do that, thank you”. Lol maybe they will now.

 

[Beau_B]

They mostly get fish from Quality Marine and ORA so it's not the source, but the particular store. Whether they are able to keep them healthy before you take over or not will vary by region. I have successfully purchased and QT'd fish from Petco. The stigma is real and I swear it's mob mentality. Yes some are bad, but it's not a universal rule that somehow all the fish at Petco are sick. They came out of the same ocean, caught by the same people, flew in the same planes.