Petco live rock, Y or N?

[Pyrosteve]

Anybody use Live Rock from Petco? They opened a brand new Petco near me a year ago. I've been in it a dozen times or so and they always have someone cleaning the tanks and the fish look healthy. I was looking to add some bio-diversity and noticed they had some live rock for sale. It didn't have any coralline but looked like it had some good growth on it along with some turf. Anyone know where they source it from? Any bad experiences? It is just dry rock put in the tanks?

 

[Fishbird]

I think you'll get your best info on where its from if you talk to them. There are two petcos within driving distance of me and they are totally independent. Both of them say they can't transfer items between stores and I can't return something from one store at the other. They are also independent from the Petco website. So, my impression is that Petco, while a chain, is also likely to be really hit or miss depending on your own particular store. I know people love to hate on them but I think its hard to make sweeping generalizations about every single Petco store.

Can you take pictures of the rock? What kind of growth did you see?

 

[andrewey]

Obviously I can't comment on all Petcos, as I'm sure there might be some good ones out there, but I would pass personally. The majority of the live rock I saw at the five or six petco's I've visited either wasn't really mature (looked like recently cycled base rock) or it had plenty of unwanted pests that I wouldn't want to introduce into my tank. If you feel very confident in your ability to judge rock and know marine pests, you can make the judgement call- if you are relatively new or don't know how to identify problems, I would pass as a general rule.

 

[SandJ]

The rock I have seen at petco looked like concrete colored pink.

I remember someone on her bought Petco rock and there was a weird disc inserted into the bottom of the rock. This would lead me to believe that the rock is man made.

And it depends on what is growing on the rock. Usually the good, natural growth (mulm) is brown. It makes the rock look fuzzy. Also mini feather dusters and sponges are good growth.

 

[Pyrosteve]

There were pieces that looked like base/dry rock with no growth but a couple pieces had tubes, orange, pink spots (possibly FDs and sponges) and algae on them. They were real busy and I was in a hurry and just picked up some frozen food or I would have asked where it came from. I don't know what to look for as far as hitchhikers so I guess I'll have to read up on it. The last Live Rock I bought was from TBS about 30 years ago (long since "dead") and that had it's own set of challenges, lol.

 

[andrewey]

If you have the ability, my advice would be to visit a LFS. If not, you might still be able to get better quality rock shipped to you for about the same price point as the Petco live rock (my petco sells for $9/lb).

 

[Rjmul]

Honestly, I wouldn't. Their live rock is over priced for what it is. You gotta find a good LFS. I ended up getting my live rock for like 4 dollars a pound. Tukani

 

[Dkeller_nc]

As far as I'm aware, Indonesia, Fiji and other Pacific sources haven't shipped any wild live rock in a couple of years, and may never resume. There is cultured live rock from Fiji sporadically available - this is a conglomeration of natural materials held together with cement, placed on the ocean floor for a year or two, then harvested and sold.

There is also cultured live rock available from Tampa Bay Saltwater and KP Aquatics. Similar to the Fiji situation, this is artificially-made cement amalgam products or terrestrially-mined natural limestone placed on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor for several years, then harvested and sold.

The bottom line is that it's doubtful that any Petco would have natural live rock, though it's not outside the realm of possibility that they might have Walt Smith Fiji Cultured Rock or Gulf of Mexico cultured rock. Otherwise, it would likely be Real Reef artificially made cement products that have been held in saltwater tanks for a couple of months.

 

[Pyrosteve]

Come to think of it my rock now may have been Fiji back when you could still order it. It was early 90's. Unfortunately it was dry and in FW for many years.

I was at a LFS the day before and the couple pieces I saw at Petco actually looked better but I didn't get a really close look as I said it was busy. I was thinking maybe it was from an employees tank or was given to them or something like that. I'll have to take I pic next time I stop in if it's still there.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

If you're trying to re-stock a larger tank, you might want to give the guy that runs LivestockUSA a call (think his name is Mitch, IIRC). He still has the Walt Smith pacific cultured LR on his site, though I've no idea whether it's still available. I've this in a 40g that I established a year and a half ago, and as far as I can tell, it's indistinguishable from wild pacific live rock as far as the life that's on it.

 

[lakai]

It's definitely fiji rock and looks very nice but I would be concerned with any parasites on the tank getting on it. It's also very expensive at $20 a rock. Some of it does look man made though.

 

[jda]

How much do you need? If just a single piece, then OK. If you need a bunch, then order a box from somewhere else and have it shipped to you without entering all of the other tanks along the way. You can get fiji cultured from livestockusa.

 

[andrewkw]

As far as I'm aware, Indonesia, Fiji and other Pacific sources haven't shipped any wild live rock in a couple of years, and may never resume. There is cultured live rock from Fiji sporadically available - this is a conglomeration of natural materials held together with cement, placed on the ocean floor for a year or two, then harvested and sold.

There is also cultured live rock available from Tampa Bay Saltwater and KP Aquatics. Similar to the Fiji situation, this is artificially-made cement amalgam products or terrestrially-mined natural limestone placed on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor for several years, then harvested and sold.

The bottom line is that it's doubtful that any Petco would have natural live rock, though it's not outside the realm of possibility that they might have Walt Smith Fiji Cultured Rock or Gulf of Mexico cultured rock. Otherwise, it would likely be Real Reef artificially made cement products that have been held in saltwater tanks for a couple of months.

I would love to pick through a fresh live rock bin just one more time. The smell wouldn't even bother me..

 

[Pyrosteve]

I just wanted a piece to seed the rest of the rock I have which was dry for a long time. I'm thinking of trying SPS and there are a couple threads saying some natural live rock gives the bio-diveristy/microfauna needed and best chances of success. I used different bottled bacteria and have some macros from reefcleaners that were loaded with amphipods, copepods and mini feather dusters so I think I'm headed in the right direction but more is better.

 

[jda]

This stuff is not the same as real live rock from the ocean. I have never seen any sponges, tunicates, bivalves, etc. on it ever at a PetCo. I think that it is just put in a tank in the dark with other rock... ala Real Reef.