Don't Buy From Petco!!!!!

[jlr136]

1 week ago a bought a clownfish and a butterfly fish from Petco. The next day when I got home the buterflyfish was dead and the clown fish was well on his way. They both had Ich. The next day the clownfish was dead. I took them both to back to the store the next day and they told me that they could do nothing for me and I have to just take the loss. I went to the tanks were the fish were taken out of and all the fish that were in the tanks were all sick with ich or dead afnd the employees just left them in the tanks. PLEASE PLEASE DON'T BUY FROM PETCO!!!!! They really don't care about the customer or the health of their pets!!!!

[bobby]

It depends on the particular store, some are good and some are bad. I have bought 4 fish and a star from them and have had no probs yet. You have to watch closely before you buy, or ask them to hold it till 1 day before there new shipment comes in and check it again before you take it home.

[Nedim]

I agree with bobby. I've been to some good petcos. Luckily, I can get my fish extremely cheap and healthy from my job, before they even touch the tank water.

[BriOnH]

Like Bobby said it depends on the petco. Before going to a reef aquarium I bought all my fish from them and they were all good hearty fish. My 7 month old Porcupine puffer and semi recent clown fish are from petco.

Sorry about your fish / experience If you roll over the Petco link above, contentinfo doesn't like them much either lol, but probably for a different reason .

[JellyMan]

Im sorry you had a bad expierance but as stated above it really does depend on the store I purchased 2 maroons 3 wks ago and there doing great. When purchasing fish you need to look at the tanks inspect them well is it clean? Do the fish look sick? Ask to watch them feed. Check to see if there are any dead fish in the tank. Check to see if the fish look stressed or deseased. If all that checks out you should be fine. Hope this helps.

[Bifferwine]

I wouldn't buy fish from the Petco's where I live. Of all the fish I've had, not one that I bought from my LFS has died. Of my Petco fish (living in the SAME tank as my LFS fish) only 1 of 8 has survived. Most died within a couple days of me buying them, inexplicably, with no symptoms. That was about a year ago, after that I decided I'd never buy another fish from Petco again, I'd rather spend 4 times as much at my LFS but know that they will survive!

[Adrastos]

Remember that Petco's and other chains do not have good 'stock' nor ideal environments for any live animal. They purchase from a bulk wholesaler for pennies on the dollar with the goal of a quick turnaround. Typically fish that you see in a Petco or other similar chain were recently put in there with no time to acclimate before you purchase them. There is a very high stress factor involved - hence a very large risk factor as well.

The general rule of thumb with any Petco animal purchase.. is to not buy something on your first trip there.. no matter how good of a deal. Stop in after a week and see if the fish is stil there. If you are worried about it being purchased by someone else, most will hold the fish for you for a fee. This will give you time to make sure the fish relaxes from its flight over, it's introduction to a new tank and most importantly has started eating again.

Most LFS are the same way, but do not have as quick of turnaround as Petco so there is a greater chance of a strong fish.

I used to run and manage a reptile speciality store.... you don't want to know the inside runnings of pet stores.. trust me on this one!!!

[jermpool]

Another problem is that some of them don't have real "fish" people. They just want a paycheck that they can earn after school and petco is only 2 miles away.

[Adrastos]

Actually, I'd say the majority of employees at the major chains are knowledgable in what they are doing. Sometimes, you might catch a bad shift where the fish person is sick and a stock boy is watching the area.. but... the people are not the issue

Watch out though.. I'd guess about 90% or more of online 'fish people' aren't qualified to give out advice either Yet.. that stops nobody

[BriOnH]

I don't buy from petco anymore as their demographic is a FO tank, at least the one by me. I guess a lot of people try to buy marine fish thinking they are fresh water because they would always ask me "You know those are saltwater fish right?". Most reps I dealt with at the store by me were pretty knowledgable about which fishes got along with each other. I learned a great deal from them.

However, I have learned more reading through posts on here than ever before. I couldn't ask for better people and information on reef tanks.