Look what my Petco has!

[Flameback Pair]

Went to the next nearest town today. 90 miles away. They actually have a Petco. Noticed two things I never did before. They actually have live copepods in bottles and live mangrove propagules in tubes. Much better to get them semi-local instead of overnight from across the country.

—Mitch.

 

[Ashish Patel]

If you walked into a Petco in 1997 - It would have blown your mind, About 5X more saltwater tanks on display filled with healthy triggers, angels, and some with even 100 gallon tanks with large eels, On top of that every petco i went to had a 55 gallon Reef display with live rock, actinic lighting, and the works!. I got into Saltwater fish that year when I saw the Undulated trigger at petco.

 

[Opus]

I found this online:

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/category/fish/live-fish/live-saltwater-fish/saltwater-fish-clownfish

Unfortunately I don't think that lines up with store prices. Mine had some Wyomings and they were $120 I believe and it says $90 online.

 

[Opus]

Went to the next nearest town today. 90 miles away. They actually have a Petco. Noticed two things I never did before. They actually have live copepods in bottles and live mangrove propagules in tubes. Much better to get them semi-local instead of overnight from across the country.

—Mitch.

I will have to check for the pods the next time I'm at the one near me. Ours just did a big remodel and they seemed to have shrunk the aquarium isles but hard to say since everything is different.

 

[anthonygf]

I also have many fish and a few corals I got from a Petco near me and are still with me today 7 years later. At the time the young woman running the salt section was very knowledgeable. She left soon after and they went down hill fast. One day I went in and they had this tiny yellow Tang, skin&bones, fins shredded. I was mad and talked to the manager and got him at cost, I told him I should not have to pay for a fish that most likely won't survive. You should see him now, 7 years old, fat and happy. King of my 75. When I got him I had him in a 46 bowfront and upgraded to 75 just for him when he got too big for the 46.

I just want you all to be aware, I know some of you have fresh water tanks also.

What ever you do, do not use their "Imagitarium Parasite Remedy" (Made by PETCO) safe for all fish and plants, good for fresh and salt, all natural. I also have a 75 gallon cichlid tank and one of my Ceverums got beat up by his mate and looked like he got ich. So I wanted to treat the whole tank and used this product, I always start with a little less than directed. Well the next day it wiped out many of my prized Pleco's, I have one that survived a snowball pleco. It also killed a few other fish. When I read the reviews it was mixed but nothing this drastic. Also on the Q&A's one person asked if it is safe for pleco's and PETCO says absolutely.

Sorry for the long rant. I contacted Petco and they won't respond with anything, not even sorry. They did make the manager of the store call me and asked why I am complaining about him. I said it is not about you. I want Petco to put a warning label on this product or stop selling it. I did use the proper medication for the survivors called ICH-X. Imagine that stuff they sell is their own concoction of essential oils and whatever, right there I should have realized oil and water not a good combination.

I will never do business with Petco again, I don't care if they have the best fish and prices.

​

 

[LeftyReefer]

I recently ordered a "Ultra Blue/Turquoise Maxima Clam" from Petco.com.
I ended up getting a clam that was not blue or turquoise, not even close. I sent pictures of what they sent me to their customer service team and they agreed to issue me a refund for the clam. I ordered the clam and a wrasse. The wrasse was fine, but the clam was very underwhelming.

You might be OK buying a clam from a Petco store, but I wouldn't order any of their clams site unseen expecting it to look like their stock pictures.

 

[Flameback Pair]

I will have to check for the pods the next time I'm at the one near me. Ours just did a big remodel and they seemed to have shrunk the aquarium isles but hard to say since everything is different.

@Opus take a look at the picture with the nutramar pod bottles. All the bottles have the lid snapped open. I suppose that is to supply oxygen to the pods. I wonder if anyone has bought a bottle of pods and didn't realize the lid was open and set the bag with the bottle in the car only to have the bottle fall over and leak water all over the place!! Just to note there are many pods in those bottles. The picture doesn't do justice.

 

[Projects with Sam]

@Opus take a look at the picture with the nutramar pod bottles. All the bottles have the lid snapped open. I suppose that is to supply oxygen to the pods. I wonder if anyone has bought a bottle of pods and didn't realize the lid was open and set the bag with the bottle in the car only to have the bottle fall over and leak water all over the place!! Just to note there are many pods in those bottles. The picture doesn't do justice.

They asked if I had closed the bottle when I bought one at the petco near me.

 

[Steph72]

I got a tiny yellow tang at Petco right after the Hawaii ban got passed. They didn’t have a barcode for him so they rang it up as a sailfin tang!!!! He was beat up but I’m glad to say he pulled through and is doing well. Total score!

 

[i cant think]

Mine had this little guy today. Really wanted him.

This is slowly becoming my holy grail Centropyge. I’d love one and am considering upgrading to the longest nano I can get for one.

 

[AydenLincoln]

$130 for a baby that’s insane they are $20 at a lfs.

Poor starfish!

The awesome frag take at my local Petco!

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

$130 for a baby that’s insane they are $20 at a lfs.

Poor starfish!

The awesome frag take at my local Petco!

$20 for a blue tang? Where? Your not confusing that with a Yellow Tail Damsel?

 

[AydenLincoln]

$20 for a blue tang? Where? Your not confusing that with a Yellow Tail Damsel?

Actually it was online it’s because they are teeny tiny little babies lol I’ve heard of other places having them for $20 too.

 

[Ashish Patel]

This thread got me thinking - Sometime it blows my mind that my first saltwater tank was 25 year ago when I was 13 years old.
I just can't imagine any 13 year old today figuring this out but it helped that i kept tropical fish since I was 8 years old.

 

[jfoahs04]

Unfortunately I don't think that lines up with store prices. Mine had some Wyomings and they were $120 I believe and it says $90 online.

Petco's online prices are often lower than in-store prices. But they do have a price match policy (at least for their dry goods). I use it all the time when I'm picking up supplies. It would at least be worth asking if they would price match livestock too.

Anyway, there are 2 Petcos nearby that have pretty good saltwater sections. The rest are pretty awful/sad. The difference is that the good ones have some managers and staff who are into saltwater/reefing and they both know how to take care of the system and choose the right livestock. In both places, they'll special order and even set it up so that you can pick up the fish as soon as it arrives (so it's never removed from the bag and put in the store's display). There are other options I prefer, but I wouldn't outright dismiss all Petco stores just because they're Petcos.

 

[Opus]

Petco's online prices are often lower than in-store prices. But they do have a price match policy (at least for their dry goods). I use it all the time when I'm picking up supplies. It would at least be worth asking if they would price match livestock too.

Anyway, there are 2 Petcos nearby that have pretty good saltwater sections. The rest are pretty awful/sad. The difference is that the good ones have some managers and staff who are into saltwater/reefing and they both know how to take care of the system and choose the right livestock. In both places, they'll special order and even set it up so that you can pick up the fish as soon as it arrives (so it's never removed from the bag and put in the store's display). There are other options I prefer, but I wouldn't outright dismiss all Petco stores just because they're Petcos.

I've only found 1 in the DFW area that is any good and luckily it is near me. The others I've been too don't even have saltwater. Mine also doesn't have any supplies I would use so I've never tried to price match.

 

[Killingtime]

Last week when I went to my local Petco they were restocking fish and coral. Bags still floating with ORA tags on them! I didn't realize that was where they got their stock from. I've bought a few things direct from ORA and they have been great.

 

[jfoahs04]

Last week when I went to my local Petco they were restocking fish and coral. Bags still floating with ORA tags on them! I didn't realize that was where they got their stock from. I've bought a few things direct from ORA and they have been great.

Yep! If you can talk to someone and time delivery dates you can avoid the fish ever going into their system. It saves the contaminants and added stress from an additional acclimation to another new system. The “good” ones near me will let me know when the order is coming.

 

[EricR]

My local PetCo has a bunch of Bengaii Cardinals for $20 right now. (Murrieta, CA)
Thinking about going for a couple and trying Hybrid TTM for the first time but still wavering.
*this PetCo seems to do a good job with saltwater and I actually bought my first inverts and fish, plus (aquacultured) live rock there before I knew ANYTHING (no QT) -- never had a problem but assume I just got lucky.

 

[Projects with Sam]

I got a few at petco and now a pair is breeding! This is some of their brood.