Pet police

[dennism]

Petco shouldn't be allowed to have salt water fish. I rolled into to get some rabbit food and hay. Always look at the fish. They had 7 dead fish in overcrowded tanks. The bad part it seemed like none of the employees were very concerned. Probably about 400 dollars worth of fish. 2 midnight clowns, a lemon peel tang, an angel, 2 maroon clowns., a scooter blenny and a mandarin goby. Posses me off when I see pure neglecting.

 

[mattzang]

unfortunately i'm sure it's hard for them to find employees that know anything about saltwater

what i don't get is why they don't just scrub their systems and only stock ORA fish. at least they'd mitigate their disease issues that way

 

[Ranjib]

I dont go to the livestock section.. i just feel depressed.

 

[Ranjib]

unfortunately i'm sure it's hard for them to find employees that know anything about saltwater

what i don't get is why they don't just scrub their systems and only stock ORA fish. at least they'd mitigate their disease issues that way

Yeah.. i too think this is a system issue not an individual or instance specific thing..

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

I’ve gone to a lot of different petco’s and most of my fish are actually from one of their locations or another.
Some of them have been awful. Some of them have gotten significantly better over time, as well as the opposite in both examples.
Unfortunately, it all comes down to how the manager of the aquatics section decides to run it, and beyond that how well their delegates follow their rules.

All I’m really trying to say is that there are (surprisingly) quite a few petco stores with adequate or better systems.

I don’t know of what I personally can do other than speak with the employee’s and vote with my dollar. Both of which I practice every outing to a petco, whether to just encourage them for being the example or encouraging them to BE the example.
It can be sad seeing what happens in pet stores though. I’m sorry.

 

[Snookin]

Don’t worry. Petco won’t be a company in 10 years. They are the Blockbuster of pet stores.

 

[ScottR]

I went to a mom and pop fish store yesterday. I’ve never seen a fish so badly covered in white spots. It was a powder blue tang that looked gray almost. I want to say it was flukes and velvet combined. Horrible. I asked the owner how much. She gave me a price. So therefore she was willing to sell it. Sadly depressing. All of the fish have some sort of white dots. But what I don’t understand is why they can’t just medicate their tanks. There’s only fish in them. The chemicals are right across from the tanks!!!! I’m sure the fish stare at the bottles thinking “we need that!”

 

[Westoncase]

Petco shouldn't be allowed to have salt water fish. I rolled into to get some rabbit food and hay. Always look at the fish. They had 7 dead fish in overcrowded tanks. The bad part it seemed like none of the employees were very concerned. Probably about 400 dollars worth of fish. 2 midnight clowns, a lemon peel tang, an angel, 2 maroon clowns., a scooter blenny and a mandarin goby. Posses me off when I see pure neglecting.

I’m pretty sure my local petco sales algae and detritus, occasionally they get in sw fish. Really sad. Luckily I have an awesome lfs right around the corner.

 

[Sod Buster]

The girl at my Petco that takes care of the tanks actually bought a rodi system for her store. She would always notice me looking at the tanks and started asking me questions on what would help the most. She asked the manager and was told a rodi wasn't in the budget. She's got the tanks looking alright a year later. She buys her own nori to put in the tang tank too. Her 4" hair algae is almost all gone. She gets a gold star.

 

[Spar]

I worked at Petco in High School, 1996-98, and tended to the fish tanks there. We didn't have these issues at all, but had a very strict and knowledgeable fish manager. The only overstocked tank we had was the feeder goldfish tank, and ya tons of deaths there. But otherwise, I have great memories of how well we cared for them back then. Shame that things have gone down hill from what I have heard over the last several years.

 

[saltyhog]

It all depends on the store. We had one in a near by city that was run by a member of our reef club. It was a great store with healthy fish, corals. The one near me....not so much. Agree with something said above. It's hard for them to hire anyone with knowledge of SW systems at the wages they pay.

 

[Silver14SS]

Petco shouldn't be allowed to have salt water fish. I rolled into to get some rabbit food and hay. Always look at the fish. They had 7 dead fish in overcrowded tanks. The bad part it seemed like none of the employees were very concerned. Probably about 400 dollars worth of fish. 2 midnight clowns, a lemon peel tang, an angel, 2 maroon clowns., a scooter blenny and a mandarin goby. Posses me off when I see pure neglecting.

Anywhere else sell rabbit food and hay? Taking your business elsewhere is about all you can do.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I wish I can say Ive a nice fish system in a Petco but I never have

 

[dennism]

Anywhere else sell rabbit food and hay? Taking your business elsewhere is about all you can do.

My fish love the hay lol. We have a virtual zoo at the house. I bet I spend 300 a month just on pets.

 

[jeffchapok]

We have a couple of decent ones here. One of them has a kid working there that has his own aquarium maintenance business. He does a good job within the limitations imposed upon him by Petco, ie. shared system across many tanks.

The even sell a decent variety of corals. I don't know how they keep them looking okay, as their lighting is very subpar.

 

[OrionN]

The Petco we hav ein Corpus Christi is actually a pretty good store. I got a lot of my animals from there.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I hope I don’t take too much heat on this, but....

And in no way am I taking a stance one way or another. My opinion of the store itself is not relevant.

And here comes the but

What is the solution for (Insert any store name), to do? Let’s say I run a large chain store. I open the store, get the tanks going and all is good. My first few fish cycle thru the sales floor no problem. Then that one fish comes in that brings in a disease that goes unnoticed. Now he is in the system and everyone linked is a potential victim. Is it expected to treat the fish for weeks and run a tank fallow or empty and sterilize. Now I lose money on the empty tanks and more money treating the fish than it costs me to just let it run its corse. Even by doing that what prevents it from happening again.

So what is the solution? We all would agree, close up the department. I have no business selling fish.

My point (I forgot where I was going with this when I started. Me and long posts not so good)

Oh yeah, I agree we need to hold XYZ to a higher standard, but they are only a part. The store is the bottom of the pile the sick fish roll down to. We should be just as vigilant in voicing our opinion of the corporation forcing the guidelines onto the store. Or the vendors the company sources. Or the wholesalers the vendors get the fish thru. To get results you don’t target the red ant that just bit you, you go for the queen and the mound.

Thanks for reading, the end. Have a good night all for those east coast.

 

[Sailingeric]

The Petco near my house has a good SW section and the people there know what they are doing. I did finally get my first fish from them last week, a coral beauty and has been very active, fat and happy and no issues.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Some petco's are bad and some are good. If I were a fish at m local petco I would be in a death trap unless I was bought before I died. They should put up sings like 100% guaranteed to get sick fish or 10% off for all dying fish.

 

[Cell]

Petco Aquarium departments are only as good as the person running it. I have one near me that is respected and trusted by the local reefing community.