Not cool

erk · Feb 8, 2018

I've purchased several fish from my local Petco. They typically have common fish, and I've actually had better luck with Petco than some of my LFSs. My yellow tang, coral beauty, and scissor tail damsels came from Petco. They were very thin and ragged looking, but a couple months of fattening them up and they are happy and healthy as can be. The scissor tail damsels spawn constantly. Sometimes they will have some uncommon wrasses or even occasionally a rare one. Once saw a Labout fairy wrasse and the price wasn't terrible, but it was on its way out. If I had been their earlier, I might've been able to save it.

lilbalways · Feb 8, 2018

I have not been to petco in a long time. The nearest one to me always had the tanks lights off, or the glass was covered in algae and could not see anything. You could touch the side of the tanks and it felt very warm. The customer service there..... not good, we could never get help and when we could and ask a question they would tell us they don't know. I only buy online now with no problems. I do not have another LFS around that I could use unless I have the time to drive over 1 1/2 hours one way.

CNDReef · Feb 8, 2018

I’ve had better luck with fish from petco than from my lfs. I mean they get the fish from the same place as live aquaria

Daltrey · Feb 8, 2018

I wish they could be held liable for animal cruelty. DISGUSTED!!!! Mine had two dead clownfish stuck to the powerhead last time I went in.

jt17 · Feb 8, 2018

I stopped going to petco years ago, for anything, because of stories like this. I ttry to support the LFSs in my area for what I need for my reef.
Big companies like this have only one loyalty and that is to their shareholders and since saltwater fish are such a small percentage of their profit this sort of treatment goes unnoticed to the people who run the company. Petco is owned by a private equity firm who most likely is only concerned with the bottom line. The pet box stores do ok with freshwater fish and that's why I'll go to petsmart but never again will I step foot in a petco until they discontinue sales of saltwater fish.
Everytime one of us buys that ich ridden tang from petco because we want to help that particular animal we are only registering as another sale to petcos accounting department thus encouraging them to order another fish to ship to that store.

LbulletM · Feb 8, 2018

don_chuwish said:
Anyone know who their wholesaler is?

They bought LiveAquaria/Dr. Foster & Smith, so, presumably, the same supplier, if not direct from them.

Jisko · Feb 8, 2018

The one in my area is decent. I will say about 6 months ago I wouldn't even look at the place but recently they've started taking much better care of the fish and corals. I actually purchased my frostbite from petco for $30 haha

cj in sac ca · Feb 8, 2018

Try reporting to local fish and game or federal wildlife or sadly because I hate them peta

revhtree · Feb 8, 2018

So sad... :mad:

Big G · Feb 8, 2018

Last time I was in one of my local Petco stores, looking at the condition of the saltwater fish, and commenting that every time I stop by, there's ich/velvet on the Coral Beauty and other fish, an employee walking by mumbled "I would never buy fish here." Very, very hard to watch. Humblefish would have an unending supply of fish to treat and try to save.

OrthoVet05 · Feb 8, 2018

There is a PetCo in middle TN area that used to have fantastic live stock. I actually was blown away with how healthy and the diversity of livestock. I honestly would look at it like some LFS. There are those that are junk yard caliber and those that are Cadillac caliber.... FWIW there is no justification for that.

domination2580 · Feb 8, 2018

At least yours has blue lights to support the coral it gets in

MDeVito · Feb 8, 2018

I was just about to open a thread about this, went to a Petco for fun last night while the gf was at an appointment nearby, they had a starved yellow tank in the smaller tanks, he was so thin you could see through him, he was a pale yellow. It was so sad. I asked the fish guy how many guys they have working in the fish department that understand saltwater fish and keep them, he said one. I instructed him to snag some nori for the tang and leave a note on the tank saying "give 1 nori sheet daily" in hopes to fatten him up. I'm going back this weekend and I'm going to offer them 15 on the tang instead of paying 50 tag price. They have done this before on fish they believe are going to die. I'm going to see if I can fatten him up in a QT tank and then give him to my LFS. It kills me that such a beautiful tang suffers in a nasty petco tank and wastes away. Show how much of waste petco does to the fish species they sell in their stores. They should move to close saltwater tanks and only sell fresh. IMO it would save them money. Hopefully the tang is still alive when I go back. Disgusted in petco, always have been.

DracoKat · Feb 8, 2018

My petco by my job takes good care of their fish. They look healthy, no algae, clean tanks. Though its clear no one buys their frags because it's encrusted over the frag racks, lol

Neo Jeo · Feb 8, 2018

My local Petco in Michigan has horrible looking fish and corals. I would never buy from them. It’s up to there GM of the store and who they hire as well . If I was running a store it would be mint

. I did run a Best Buy for 10 years , so I guess it’s in my blood.

HexaReef · Feb 8, 2018

I think the moral of the story is that the care level is going to differ at each store. Although they should train thier employees, they don't, so you're stuck with what you get.

Personally i dont have much for LFS options where i live, and to be honest, a couple of the LFS tanks are in horrible shape. Luckily my local Petco is in great condition.

citymouse · Feb 8, 2018

They shouldn't be allowed to sell living things in that store or Petsmart, they're unqualified to even trim your dog.

It's a great place to get free pond snails for your freshwater tanks.....

Matthew Frost · Feb 8, 2018

I think this entirely depends on the store and the staff. I live in Phoenix and we had one by us that had a saltwater fish department that was staffed by three "younger" kids. The tanks were immaculate and the livestock in great shape. The store unfortunately closed due to a corporate issue, its my understanding that the staff all moved to another location. This is employees and management that don't take ownership and have no pride in what they are doing.

EmdeReef · Feb 8, 2018

I really hope they stop selling saltwater fish, sw fish shouldn’t be an impulse buy (neither should freshwater but slightly easier). IMO it would be much better if Petco tried leveraging liveaquaria instead of selling in stores...at least that would give inexperienced buyers some info about pets they’re buying instead of walking home with a 5g kit and Dory (seen it happen at Petco).

I haven’t bought any fish from petco in a long time but before that I’d often feel bad for the fish and buy to try to treat. Unfortunately, that only helps them even though it’s difficult to pass by struggling fish. Now I avoid petco like plague ex the $1 gallon sales...