Pet co fish need help

[greenhorn reefer]

Recently, I was in a Petco, I. Western Mass. buying some dog food. Since I am now in the marine hobby, I decided to take a look at their "saltwater fish" section. After seeing the conditions the fish were kept in. I am totally depressed. There are fish that are aggressive being kept with peaceful fish. The tanks have entirely too many fish in them. All of the corals are tucked in, even a giant anemone looks like a clam. The water is filthy, much like the tank in "finding nemo" (when they are trying to escape). Fish are fighting throughout the tanks. It was the worse conditions I have seen yet.

I do not know how to fix this issue. Who should I call? Who will care enough to make this right? Are there even laws to protect fish, like there is for larger animals?

If you know of a number I can call, to help these little fish (and inverts). Please let me know.

 

[meir]

It's all to no avail[emoji31] petco is a chain store all abt making money they don't care!! Never have and never will so it's kinda fruitless to try to do anything abt it!!! U just gotta morn the losses that incur on a daily basis

 

[BoneXriffic]

It's all to no avail[emoji31] petco is a chain store all abt making money they don't care!! Never have and never will so it's kinda fruitless to try to do anything abt it!!! U just gotta morn the losses that incur on a daily basis

Its not true of all petcos or chainstores.

It comes down to staff, the difference is the knowlege of the people caring for them.

 

[Labridaedicted]

I have petco near me that's actually pretty awesome. Has several legitimate coral/frag tanks. Several large systems for tangs and other such large active fish. The shipment boxes are QM, too (which I don't know is true for all petcos, but when I worked in the industry, I found their fish to be top notch). If they have the staff and the market, seems like they can do a pretty decent setup.

Even some of the smaller saltwater sections I've seen in petcos can be nice if there's an employee or 2 that really care about it. I've also seen some pretty heinous saltwater tanks at petco, too.

 

[meir]

True true it does come down to the staff but most of the staff at these kinds of chainstores aren't well educated on sw or r there because they need a job

 

[meir]

But I'm not saying that there aren't petcos that aren't well cared for. But u also have to remember that to care for that many sw fish, inverts, and corals without proper Ed on sw it gets hard to keep up

 

[KStatefan]

How does having a bad reef section make Petco more money?

 

[meir]

It doesn't but again they don't rly care! At least all the petcos I've been to

 

[tomxreef]

Take pictures and send to corporate. If you voice your concern in store the manager is going to say whatever to get you out of the building. Corporate doesnt do anything make it go viral.

 

[Iballhog]

Do you have any of those shame reporters at your local news stations. With all the news of dying reefs, maybe someone could spin a dying reefs in your backyard story. You could also grab some video with a phone and post a shame video on youtube, then send the link to petco.

 

[Tahoe61]

Do you have any of those shame reporters at your local news stations. With all the news of dying reefs, maybe someone could spin a dying reefs in your backyard story. You could also grab some video with a phone and post a shame video on youtube, then send the link to petco.

As a private citizen you want to tread carefully when imaging a business without consent.

There are plenty of equally as bad local fish stores.

Education is key, not drama.

 

[cowbulls]

Call and ask for each one of the below and leave a message if necessary. Call every day. One of them will eventually take your call. Trust me, they will at least listen to you if they are convinced you are serious.
Petco Corporate Office Headquarters HQ
Petco Animal Supplies Stores, Inc.
9125 Rehco Rd.
San Diego, California 92121 USA
Corporate Phone Number: 1-858-453-7845
Fax Number: 1-858-784-3489
Customer Service Number: 1-888-824-7257
James M. Myers
Chief Executive Officer
Brad Weston - President and Chief Merchandising Officer
Michael M. Nuzzo - Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President
Thomas A. Farello - Senior Vice President of Operations
Spencer Insolia - Vice President and President for Rhinelander Division

 

[twin77]

I recently experienced the same thing at my local Petco. Same horrible conditions! I spoke to one of the employees and voiced my displeasure. I returned a week later to see that the tanks have been cleaned. The fish still had visible ailments. I struck up a conversation at checkout with the clerk about the sick fish and was told they they are being proactive with the fish now and are doing what corporate will allow them to do. He even mentioned freshwater dipping some of them. I still would never buy livestock from them but it's nice to see something is being done.

 

[ksc]

Get your supplies elsewhere. Get your dog food elsewhere. Then you can write a letter telling them why you are not frequenting their stores anymore. If those fish were dogs, people might be going to jail...

 

[Fourstars]

Petco's main problem is they can't keep good employees at starvation wages. If you want a well run department you need to pay well enough to keep the talent. My son loved the work, and was part of a great aquatics Team.. But got tried of living in my basement.

 

[SeaDweller]

I have petco near me that's actually pretty awesome. Has several legitimate coral/frag tanks. Several large systems for tangs and other such large active fish. The shipment boxes are QM, too (which I don't know is true for all petcos, but when I worked in the industry, I found their fish to be top notch). If they have the staff and the market, seems like they can do a pretty decent setup.

Even some of the smaller saltwater sections I've seen in petcos can be nice if there's an employee or 2 that really care about it. I've also seen some pretty heinous saltwater tanks at petco, too.

It sucks if it's coming from QM and you have someone who works in the fish department that doesn't care, and then all of those QM fish or corals are wasted... Isn't Drs. F&S running the show now for them? I forget.

 

[Labridaedicted]

I think it's vice versa. I think petco bought DFS and LA.

https://reefbuilders.com/2014/11/19...g-buy-drs-foster-smith-including-liveaquaria/

I think certain stores are given more freedom to order than others. The one I'm referencing gets in colony sized euphyllia and nice maximas. It's kind of a crap shoot. I'm in a high income area in north Jersey (even though I'm not high income, haha), though, so maybe that's the toggle for them.

I also think the stack setups that they're forced to use suck pretty hard. I'll try to post a few pics next time I'm out that way. The wages aren't great for the industry as a whole. I worked at a big box pet store that didn't do saltwater for a few years and we had a number of fellow refers and generally aquarium savvy employees. We kept a clean ship, but pay was low. Eventually I moved on to managing a small lfs, eventually left that due to the low pay. I think John q public thinks the stores (particularly LFS) make a fortune when they see the prices, but there's a lot of loss throughout. Mostly due to shopping stress. Generally people working in the industry don't do it for the dolla bills, they do it because they want their passion to be their job.

I think I got sidetracked and went stream of consciousness there. Anyways, yeah, pay is low at big box stores and sometimes it makes it hard to keep the good employees around. Sometimes if you point things out to the employees, they will correct things. Just remember, hands are sometimes bound by corporate policy.