Buying fish from petco?

Sir Alex

Sir Alex

Dragon the eel (below)
I asked my LFS to order a foxface, so I waited for them get their shipment of fish... And they didn't get the foxface. >.<

It'll probably be another week or two before they get another shipment in, and I've been having some trouble with my fish lately, so now I'm back down to three, so I'm dying for a new one... But my local petco always has a foxface or two. Would it be really stupid of me to get my fish there??
 
Waddi said:
Why are your fish dying is the good question.
Click to expand...

I had 3 chromises that completely disappeared within 24 hours. I really don't think it was my fault. The other fish I lost was a lawnmower blenny. Now that WAS my fault. He didn't have enough food. I didn't know when I got him they are so hard to feed...
 
I got my clown from Petco and another local reefer got his (very beautiful) clown there 5 years ago, I think he said.
 
About half of the fish in my tank that are 10 years old came from Petco. The quality of the livestock varies from store to store -- probably due to the expertise (or lack thereof) of the people working in their aquatics departments. Some of their employees are very knowledgeable and take good care of their animals. So if you go to your Petco, the fish look healthy, you don't see dead bodies at the bottom of the tanks, and the people there seem to know what they are talking about, I think it's fine to shop there. But not all Petcos are like that. It's up to you to find out of it's a good place to buy.
 
i got a few of my fish from petco over the years and like biff said it really depends on the store. if u have a lot around, check them all out and u will see the differences.
 
Waddi said:
Why are your fish dying is the good question.
Click to expand...

+1, have to agree. Regardless of fault, you really should take more time to find out what happened, and where they went. Could be a predator, they jumped, chemical intoxication, ant number of things.
 
Only 2 or 3 of the Petcos around me crry salt water, but I have bought a number of freshwater fish from them and if they look good and don't jack you around I think they are a good place to shop
 
Went to our closest Petco the other day.. SO not worth the 30 min drive. They had maybe 5 types of saltwater fish, chocolate chip starfish and like 3 corals. We're gonna stick with our LFS that's 15min away :)

The tanks weren't all that impressive at all.. don't think I'd buy from them.
 
fastrd400 said:
Who is giving you a hard time about anything mentioned above?
Click to expand...

The point is, I have already thought about all these things, and I'm ready to take on another fish which I will take care of to the best of my abilities. I can't help it if three fish all disappeared in one night for NO REASON WHATSOEVER. I realize what I did wrong with the blenny and will not make that mistake again. That's all...
 
Alex, the thinking here was that 3 fish don't just disappear overnight for no reason. The it thing mentioned was you may want to find out for sure what it was, be it just a bad bunch of fish or what have you.

And you don't need to capitalize parts of your thread, I read it the first time.
 
So if you go to your Petco, the fish look healthy, you don't see dead bodies at the bottom of the tanks
Click to expand...

Some dead or unhealthy is okay now and again, even they get rotten fish sometimes, but be caregul and use your discretion.
 
I've bought fish from petco with good results...you've been in the hobby long enough to know the diff between a healthy and unhealthy fish...so I'd say go for it.
 

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