Aaah! Petco's aquatics is horrible! - Page 3

andrek787 · 07/16/2015, 04:07 PM

This is sad. I stopped by an LFS today to get some supplies and saw a guy from PETCO fish department buying fish there for his own tank.

Genera · 07/16/2015, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrek787

This is sad. I stopped by an LFS today to get some supplies and saw a guy from PETCO fish department buying fish there for his own tank.

Smart guy though

BuzzPion · 07/17/2015, 08:22 AM

I've half thought about getting a jug of clove oil to take with me to the local Petco. The last time I was in there, they had a dead dog face stuck onto a power head. Only it wasn't quite dead as it opened my eyes and looked right at me. I've never seen a fish that looked so bad and was still alive. Heartbreaking.

Isaacs55 · 07/17/2015, 08:51 PM

This is so terrible! I actually went to my local Petco and the same thing happened there as well! They had a tiger watchman goby with its body rotting or something...it was in a tank with like 5 emerald crabs!!! Who does that? Anyway I felt so bad that I baught the tiger watchman goby and put him in my tank hopefully he will recover ....idk what he has or if the emerald crabs scratched him up but I had to take him from there. I hope whatever it is won't hurt or make my clownfish sick.
Here's a few pictures. ..
It looks like it's gotten better since I got him. He didn't have signs of ich or anything. There's something white specs on him but it's from my fine sand. Cuz it blows off when he moves.

Hope you guys can help.
Petco has really gone down the drain recently. ..this is sad

Shawn O · 07/18/2015, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaltyDoug

I just went to a BRAND NEW petco in shrewsbury ma. I found 4 dead damsels and a foxface who looked like his face was covered in a spider Web I had no idea what it was. I told the employee about all the dead fish but he didn't seem that concerned. All the tangs clearly had ich as well :/

And it's a brand new store? Wow.

Dmorty217 · 07/18/2015, 01:34 PM

Here are countless other threads on this same subject on here. Moral of the story is NOT to buy from the store front. If you get fish off he net Petco will more than likely have their hand in it, or someone who they get their fish from will. Tropical fish international is who they get their online orders dropped shipped from, also know as CIS holdings.

SaltyDoug · 07/18/2015, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn O

And it's a brand new store? Wow.

Hasn't even been open 3 weeks.
First week I stopped in and saw what clearly was ich on multiple tangs. I dropped petco a Facebook message and they got back to me and said "we will look into it thank you"
So when I was in the area the other day I popped in and it was way worse then the first time.

Oddly enough they had a very nice fresh water section. Including a pretty cool looking waterfall cascading aquatic plant holding tank.

Maybe I'll snag some pics next time if it's still bad, I'm usually pretty shy about doing that though.

Saltz Creep · 07/18/2015, 07:58 PM

Isaacs55 · 07/18/2015, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saltz Creep

Seems legit...

Genera · 07/18/2015, 09:40 PM

I just visited the Petco with the actual experienced staff, and I have to say, they've improved. There was no aiptasia and no ich/disease that I could find, but I did hear that someone was buying chromis, and he was asking for 'the ones without the face scars, or missing fins'. That is because they kept multiple chromis in a relatively small tank with new and existing fish, so the hierarchy is all messed up. They also kept multple Banggai Cardinalfish in the the same tank. The 180, frag tank, and display tank, were all good though. I didn't look at the main fish system though. Still, my local fish stores are better.

SoloChromis · 07/21/2015, 09:26 PM

[QUOTE=Genera;23874502]They don't. They sell them to you whether eating or not. Unless they specifically show you the fish eating. What kind of 'striped' butterflyfish is it, because I know of many butterflyfish with stripes, and I don't know of a specific species called the Striped Butterflyfish?

I meant propeller or whatever the spinning thing is that makes the boat go forward lol. I don't do vehicles. But it did indeed get struck with a boat part, kind of like the sea turtles and manatees, except it was a fish.

Holy CRAP! Not only would it make for a good story, but man that must be one bad*** of a hippo tang

All I'd need then is to pair him up with a hippo that blew up 3 sharks, fought off an anglerfish, got swallowed by a whale, hitch hiked on the back of a sea turtle, and flew around in the mouth of a pelican

Genera · 07/22/2015, 12:54 AM

[QUOTE=SoloChromis;23887204]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genera

Holy CRAP! Not only would it make for a good story, but man that must be one bad*** of a hippo tang

All I'd need then is to pair him up with a hippo that blew up 3 sharks, fought off an anglerfish, got swallowed by a whale, hitch hiked on the back of a sea turtle, and flew around in the mouth of a pelican

cough cough Dory cough cough

The tang's skin is almost healed up now, before it used to have a huge scar on its face/body. Now there's a light bluish pink mark.

SecretiveFish · 07/22/2015, 08:29 AM

I was at a Petco over the weekend and made the mistake of looking in the saltwater section. I was surprised that some of the fish looked ok (including a goby/pistol shrimp pair), but the system definitely has ick as evidenced by the powder blue tang covered in it.

There was a gorgeous Lubbock's fairy wrasse that caught my eye, but I walked away... and looked up over the weekend if he was compatible with my the size and stocking of one of the tanks... and went back Monday to decide if the fish looked strong enough to handle treatment... The fish has visible symptoms of ick, and I asked the employee about guarantees since the fish is obviously sick. The employee somehow got it in his head that MY system had ick and showed me their ICK treatments (did you know that freshwater ick treatments work on marine ick?!?) including ICK Attack, and then he went on to tell me how it was unfair to buy a fish and put it in a system with ick. Ummmmmmm.... K.

The fish manager was back after that, and he 'said' they have a treatment tank in the back. If the fish survives they will call me... I am not expecting a call. Poor little fishy.

karazdzinnicki · 07/23/2015, 02:41 AM

They sold me a "reef safe" chocolate chip starfish. When i realized it was eating my coral, i tried returning him. They said no. I complained, took the star to my lfs and Petco replaced my coral. Not many employees have basic marine knowledge. And i am too new to the hobby to have known better!

karazdzinnicki · 07/23/2015, 02:56 AM

I also Wanted to say since that day i have returned and "evesdropped" on customer / marine conversations, always ready to google the questions/answers and they do have 2 very knowledgeable employees. Also when the "starfish" incident happened the manager asked what could she do to make me happy, because i already said I would not come back and i have been a loyal customer since that location opened 6 years ago. I said all employees should minimally have a refernce guide for questions on animal care for which they are not familiar. Or even have the chart of who is compatible in a reef tank, from live aquaria blown up for customer reference. But training on animals of any types is necessary. So have an expert in each field do a weekly training meeting. Have the employees write questions about any animal care and collect those to determine each training. The manager has stepped up. But they do a monthly training instead of weekly because it gives employees more time to question things and after training submit more questions. Sorry for the ramble but that post just set me off!

Mark9 · 07/23/2015, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karazdzinnicki

They sold me a "reef safe" chocolate chip starfish. When i realized it was eating my coral, i tried returning him. They said no. I complained, took the star to my lfs and Petco replaced my coral. Not many employees have basic marine knowledge. And i am too new to the hobby to have known better!

You blame the store for your purchase?
A 2 second lookup on liveaquaria will tell you what you need to know.

Mark9 · 07/23/2015, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecretiveFish

I was at a Petco over the weekend and made the mistake of looking in the saltwater section. I was surprised that some of the fish looked ok (including a goby/pistol shrimp pair), but the system definitely has ick as evidenced by the powder blue tang covered in it.

I recently moved, been to 3 independent fish stores in my new area.
All 3 have ich in their systems, seen dead/dying fish in all of them.
Believe me, it's not just Petco.

On the flip side, been to 2 Petco's, both have ich.
So basically, no store near me has a clean system.

Scooba · 07/23/2015, 07:46 AM

This seems to be hit or miss, out of the two Petco's around me, one has a very sub par maintained saltwater section and another has a clean well maintained section with staff that seem to actually know about the fish the sell and how to properly keep them.

I asked my local store about them getting their fish from LiveAquaria now and he said no. Even though they are the same company, they still have to get their fish for the store from their normal suppliers.

Duke4life · 07/23/2015, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark9

You blame the store for your purchase?
A 2 second lookup on liveaquaria will tell you what you need to know.

I've done this many times when in my LFSs. I typically check LiveAquaria, then do a quick search on here (lots of info on this site), I'd rather not be doing this at some point later that day

.

hart24601 · 07/23/2015, 12:30 PM

Sad to say Petco is about the same as the two LFS here. Actually Petco is has more consistent healthy fish than the LFS do. Not saying much really... except how bad our LFS are. But Petco is still generally better.

fishy boy · 07/23/2015, 12:33 PM

I know never by saltwater fish from petco its horrable

fishy boy · 07/23/2015, 12:34 PM

Petco has terrable fish but the rest is ok

Rob6311 · 07/23/2015, 06:59 PM

I think the worst part about it is that no one except for the people who are reading this will ever hear about this but when petsmart hurts a few dogs in the grooming process it makes GMA not to bash dog lovers because I love my dogs too but it's sad that no one really raises much concern about fish

codyreed29 · 07/23/2015, 09:43 PM

I have only been to one good petco where employees actually cared. Always to busy employees and what's really bad is that they don't really care if you know about fish. If they would only hire people or pay someone to actually take care of the fish you wouldn't see losses bad thing like this.

I have worked in a pet place and they care more about stacking dog food and keeping the labels facing right and the store clean the the animals they sell you have to know that the aquatic sections are were petco and pets mart lose or break even on sales.

TygerBytes · 09/25/2018, 01:16 PM

I have discovered Petco is only as good as it's employees, I go to the Petco in Pasadena, TX. Joel is amazing in Saltwater and has helped me countless times dealing with issues and questions regarding the SALTWATER HOBBY. That being said make sure they know what they are tanking about seriously.

do your own research too, don't expect them to not sell you fish.

07/16/2015, 04:07 PM	#51
andrek787 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 378	This is sad. I stopped by an LFS today to get some supplies and saw a guy from PETCO fish department buying fish there for his own tank. __________________ SCA starphire 150 gallon, custom Advanced Acrylics 50g sump, 3 x Hydra52 Hybrids, 2 x Gyre xf-150, 2 x Kessil A150 6700k fuge lights, ATI 250is Skimmer, Skimz RR-153 bio-pellet, Kore 5th Doser

07/18/2015, 01:34 PM	#56
Dmorty217 Saltwater Addict Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Vandalia OHIO Posts: 11,624	Here are countless other threads on this same subject on here. Moral of the story is NOT to buy from the store front. If you get fish off he net Petco will more than likely have their hand in it, or someone who they get their fish from will. Tropical fish international is who they get their online orders dropped shipped from, also know as CIS holdings. __________________ Fish are not disposable commodities, but a worthwhile investment that can be maintained and enjoyed for many years, providing one is willing to take the time to understand their requirements and needs Current Tank Info: 625g, 220g sump, RD3 230w, Vectra L1 on a closed loop, 3 MP60s, MP40. Several QTs

07/18/2015, 07:58 PM	#58
Saltz Creep Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hickville, FL Posts: 3,728	__________________ veni, vidi, vici piscis merda

07/18/2015, 09:40 PM	#60
Genera Blink and you're dead. Join Date: May 2015 Location: MN Posts: 531	I just visited the Petco with the actual experienced staff, and I have to say, they've improved. There was no aiptasia and no ich/disease that I could find, but I did hear that someone was buying chromis, and he was asking for 'the ones without the face scars, or missing fins'. That is because they kept multiple chromis in a relatively small tank with new and existing fish, so the hierarchy is all messed up. They also kept multple Banggai Cardinalfish in the the same tank. The 180, frag tank, and display tank, were all good though. I didn't look at the main fish system though. Still, my local fish stores are better. __________________ Ah, Minnesota, The Land of 10,000 Lakes (Actually, there are 11,842 that are 10+ acres) Current Tank Info: n/a

07/21/2015, 09:26 PM	#61
SoloChromis Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Florida Posts: 787	[QUOTE=Genera;23874502]They don't. They sell them to you whether eating or not. Unless they specifically show you the fish eating. What kind of 'striped' butterflyfish is it, because I know of many butterflyfish with stripes, and I don't know of a specific species called the Striped Butterflyfish? I meant propeller or whatever the spinning thing is that makes the boat go forward lol. I don't do vehicles. But it did indeed get struck with a boat part, kind of like the sea turtles and manatees, except it was a fish. Holy CRAP! Not only would it make for a good story, but man that must be one bad*** of a hippo tang All I'd need then is to pair him up with a hippo that blew up 3 sharks, fought off an anglerfish, got swallowed by a whale, hitch hiked on the back of a sea turtle, and flew around in the mouth of a pelican __________________ 60g Macro Algae & Gorgonian Dominated Reef Cube & 20g (Peacock) Mantis Tank Current Tank Info: 60g Caribbean-esque Reef (2'x2'x2'), 10g Quarantine

07/17/2015, 08:22 AM	#53
BuzzPion Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 110	I've half thought about getting a jug of clove oil to take with me to the local Petco. The last time I was in there, they had a dead dog face stuck onto a power head. Only it wasn't quite dead as it opened my eyes and looked right at me. I've never seen a fish that looked so bad and was still alive. Heartbreaking.

07/17/2015, 08:51 PM	#54
Isaacs55 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Riverbank CA Posts: 906	This is so terrible! I actually went to my local Petco and the same thing happened there as well! They had a tiger watchman goby with its body rotting or something...it was in a tank with like 5 emerald crabs!!! Who does that? Anyway I felt so bad that I baught the tiger watchman goby and put him in my tank hopefully he will recover ....idk what he has or if the emerald crabs scratched him up but I had to take him from there. I hope whatever it is won't hurt or make my clownfish sick. Here's a few pictures. .. It looks like it's gotten better since I got him. He didn't have signs of ich or anything. There's something white specs on him but it's from my fine sand. Cuz it blows off when he moves. Hope you guys can help. Petco has really gone down the drain recently. ..this is sad

07/22/2015, 08:29 AM	#63
SecretiveFish Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: PNW Posts: 713	I was at a Petco over the weekend and made the mistake of looking in the saltwater section. I was surprised that some of the fish looked ok (including a goby/pistol shrimp pair), but the system definitely has ick as evidenced by the powder blue tang covered in it. There was a gorgeous Lubbock's fairy wrasse that caught my eye, but I walked away... and looked up over the weekend if he was compatible with my the size and stocking of one of the tanks... and went back Monday to decide if the fish looked strong enough to handle treatment... The fish has visible symptoms of ick, and I asked the employee about guarantees since the fish is obviously sick. The employee somehow got it in his head that MY system had ick and showed me their ICK treatments (did you know that freshwater ick treatments work on marine ick?!?) including ICK Attack, and then he went on to tell me how it was unfair to buy a fish and put it in a system with ick. Ummmmmmm.... K. The fish manager was back after that, and he 'said' they have a treatment tank in the back. If the fish survives they will call me... I am not expecting a call. Poor little fishy.

07/23/2015, 02:41 AM	#64
karazdzinnicki Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 10	They sold me a "reef safe" chocolate chip starfish. When i realized it was eating my coral, i tried returning him. They said no. I complained, took the star to my lfs and Petco replaced my coral. Not many employees have basic marine knowledge. And i am too new to the hobby to have known better!

07/23/2015, 02:56 AM	#65
karazdzinnicki Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 10	I also Wanted to say since that day i have returned and "evesdropped" on customer / marine conversations, always ready to google the questions/answers and they do have 2 very knowledgeable employees. Also when the "starfish" incident happened the manager asked what could she do to make me happy, because i already said I would not come back and i have been a loyal customer since that location opened 6 years ago. I said all employees should minimally have a refernce guide for questions on animal care for which they are not familiar. Or even have the chart of who is compatible in a reef tank, from live aquaria blown up for customer reference. But training on animals of any types is necessary. So have an expert in each field do a weekly training meeting. Have the employees write questions about any animal care and collect those to determine each training. The manager has stepped up. But they do a monthly training instead of weekly because it gives employees more time to question things and after training submit more questions. Sorry for the ramble but that post just set me off!

07/23/2015, 07:46 AM	#68
Scooba Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: DeLand, FL Posts: 28	This seems to be hit or miss, out of the two Petco's around me, one has a very sub par maintained saltwater section and another has a clean well maintained section with staff that seem to actually know about the fish the sell and how to properly keep them. I asked my local store about them getting their fish from LiveAquaria now and he said no. Even though they are the same company, they still have to get their fish for the store from their normal suppliers.

07/23/2015, 12:30 PM	#70
hart24601 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 633	Sad to say Petco is about the same as the two LFS here. Actually Petco is has more consistent healthy fish than the LFS do. Not saying much really... except how bad our LFS are. But Petco is still generally better.

07/23/2015, 12:33 PM	#71
fishy boy Moved On Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 98	I know never by saltwater fish from petco its horrable

07/23/2015, 12:34 PM	#72
fishy boy Moved On Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 98	Petco has terrable fish but the rest is ok

07/23/2015, 06:59 PM	#73
Rob6311 Registered Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 704	I think the worst part about it is that no one except for the people who are reading this will ever hear about this but when petsmart hurts a few dogs in the grooming process it makes GMA not to bash dog lovers because I love my dogs too but it's sad that no one really raises much concern about fish

07/23/2015, 09:43 PM	#74
codyreed29 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 892	I have only been to one good petco where employees actually cared. Always to busy employees and what's really bad is that they don't really care if you know about fish. If they would only hire people or pay someone to actually take care of the fish you wouldn't see losses bad thing like this. I have worked in a pet place and they care more about stacking dog food and keeping the labels facing right and the store clean the the animals they sell you have to know that the aquatic sections are were petco and pets mart lose or break even on sales. __________________ 27 Rimless cube DIY lights and sump mag 5 cad lights pls 100 jeabo rw4 jeabo dp4

09/25/2018, 01:16 PM	#75
TygerBytes Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2018 Location: Pasadena, TX Posts: 1	Petco I have discovered Petco is only as good as it's employees, I go to the Petco in Pasadena, TX. Joel is amazing in Saltwater and has helped me countless times dealing with issues and questions regarding the SALTWATER HOBBY. That being said make sure they know what they are tanking about seriously.do your own research too, don't expect them to not sell you fish.