Tridacna clams from Petco??

JeanR · May 19, 2018

(I posted this on Boston Reefers but am curious what the R2R community experience has been).

Yes, I know Petco has a bad reputation...but a local club member told me he picked up a squamosa clam from his local Petco, which was surprising as I didn't think they carried them.

I visited a local Petco (Needham, MA) last weekend and talked with a guy named Adam. He told me that Petco can special order Tridacna clams and the prices he quoted were very cheap. They can order a 2-3" squamosa (blander colors) and derasa for $40. They can order 2" ultra blue maximas for $50. Clams take about a week to come in and they recommend same day pickup so they can give it to you right in the bag it shipped in.

Does anyone have experience with clams from Petco??? At these prices (half of LiveAquaria) it is super tempting to try...

(Have heard from two local guys that their clams from Petco are doing well).

chowwil · May 19, 2018

JeanR said:
(I posted this on Boston Reefers but am curious what the R2R community experience has been).

Yes, I know Petco has a bad reputation...but a local club member told me he picked up a squamosa clam from his local Petco, which was surprising as I didn't think they carried them.

I visited a local Petco (Needham, MA) last weekend and talked with a guy named Adam. He told me that Petco can special order Tridacna clams and the prices he quoted were very cheap. They can order a 2-3" squamosa (blander colors) and derasa for $40. They can order 2" ultra blue maximas for $50. Clams take about a week to come in and they recommend same day pickup so they can give it to you right in the bag it shipped in.

Does anyone have experience with clams from Petco??? At these prices (half of LiveAquaria) it is super tempting to try...

(Have heard from two local guys that their clams from Petco are doing well).

Save your money. They only stay alive for a month. I purchase maxima at Petco Chicago. Color wasn’t nice, but gave it a chance. Stayed nicely open for 2 weeks and slowly started to die.

smh254 · May 19, 2018

I got this 3” Squamosa from petco. Two years later 12”x7”. It got too big for my tank so I had to sell it[emoji20]

By the way I paid $20 fo it.

Cannedfish · May 19, 2018

I believe Petco owns Dr. Foster & Smith which owns LiveAquaria. Food for thought.

DesertReefT4r · May 20, 2018

I worked at a Pecto with a really nice Aquatics department, I ran that department for a while before leaving and yes thwy can get clams and even ORA stuff. I had a Squami clam I got from that Pecto and it did very well for me had it for years until I sold my tank and clam along with it.

blebs · May 20, 2018

my petco sells lps and soft corals, in addition to sw fish which actually look healthy. Just because its petco does not mean its a complete ****hole. ive seen worse LFS than my local petco tbh.

Mrx7899 · May 20, 2018

blebs said:
my petco sells lps and soft corals, in addition to sw fish which actually look healthy. Just because its petco does not mean its a complete ****hole. ive seen worse LFS than my local petco tbh.

My Petco is cleaner then my lfs

DarthSimon · May 20, 2018

There are a bunch of Petco's within a 30-45 mile radius of where I live. One of them has a good manager running it, and he does a good job at keeping corals and fish.
Last week my main local store wasn't open at 10am, so took a ride closer to home and found some nice frags in the 15-20 range. Lepto's, Duncans, nice size MontiCaps.... I stop there once in a while and check out what they have...

hart24601 · May 21, 2018

I will tell you my story. Clams are my fav thing in a reef. I have had lots over the years, long story short I eventually almost got out of the hobby except for a pico tank.

Anywho I tried over the months 4 clams from divers den, ORA and non-ORA. Small maximas. All died in just a couple days. Small clams go fast, LA gave money back no issues.

I saw on FB the local petco got some ORA small maximas in. Pretty cheap. I went there the next day and picked one up. Figured if was strong enough to live overnight it must be tough.

Here it is in my pico months later, lots of new growth, doing great.

hart24601 · May 21, 2018

Just as a reminder, petco livestock comes from the same places Liveaquaria does even before petco bought LA. Mostly Quality Marine and ORA. Very good sources.

Now the care of livestock after it comes in is where many Petcos are lacking, but that doesn't mean their source isn't solid.

JeanR · May 21, 2018

For what it's worth, when I posted this on the Boston Reefers forum I got over a dozen responses from people very happy with the clams they bought at local Petco's.

I've read a lot of bad experiences posted from folks getting clams from LA - from the feedback I'm seeing the Petco clams are no worse and maybe even better. The only down side I see is that you have to go with the selection Petco gets and may not be able to do WYSIWYG.

hart24601 · May 21, 2018

A lot of the extra expense when buying from LA is that 14 day no questions guarantee. It's the reason I have shopped there. I don't know what Petco does for that.

Edit. Petco website says 30 days on marine? Anyone tested that?

SlvrZ · May 22, 2018

Can you post the link to your local forum to read what others said?

Captain Quint · May 22, 2018

Cannedfish said:
I believe Petco owns Dr. Foster & Smith which owns LiveAquaria. Food for thought.

Yes. I knew about Petco owning LiveAquaria, but didn't know that about Dr. Foster & Smith. Interesting.

The ironic part is the Petco company itself will not use proper lighting in the stores to sustain anemones and clams. I don't get it. Arg.

JeanR · May 22, 2018

SlvrZ said:
Can you post the link to your local forum to read what others said?

Here is the thread from Boston Reefers in case you are interested in the local take on Petco and clams.

http://bostonreefers.org/forums/index.php?threads/tridacna-clams-from-petco.161018/

CNDReef · May 22, 2018

I’m on that thread and am very happy with my squamosa I got from petco.

Tahoe61 · May 22, 2018

I buy a lot of my livestock from a local Petco, as with most forum drama there is a lot of miss information. Be a well informed buyer and you'll fare well.

CNDReef · May 22, 2018

Fin · May 22, 2018

There was a nice 4" Derasa at my local Petco a couple weeks ago for $79. Still regret not getting it. I also bought a nice juvenile Purple Tang there for $99. He is now twice the size, fat & happy almost 7 months later. No disease at all. I almost didn't buy it, but now glad I did. I agree that it is cleaner than some LFS that I have seen.

jda · May 23, 2018

I do not think that you can really go wrong with clams right out of the bag. I would not get one that has been in their tanks for a while, but fresh from the wholesaler should be as good as it gets.