# Good experience with petco?



## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

Has anyone had good experience with buying livestock from petco? My cycle is almost complete for my 10g and I am deciding on stocking. Disclaimer: I have never bought livestock from one of these big corporate pet stores and I don't necessarily agree with how they treat their animals. That being said, on occasion I but things from them like $1 per gallon tanks, food, equipment etc. I went and got some food and when I checked out the cashier gave me a coupon for 50% off of fish purchases. I saw some Corys and I think that is what I want to stick my tank with. 6 corys. My lfs is usually where I buy livestock and I've never had a problem with their livestock.(with the exception of cardinal tetras, but their quite sensitive.) Just wondering what experiences people on here have had with petco?


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## Buerkletucson (Apr 8, 2014)

I try to avoid purchasing fish from Petsmart and especially Petco. 
Not much better than Walmart IMHO. *y2

I've found their tank conditions less than stellar with fish that don't look very good most of the time. 
I often see many dead fish in their tanks.
I won't even mention the "kids" that work there with very few that know anything about fish keeping. 

I'm sure there are exceptions and there may be some of these chain stores that are better, but that's normally an exception to the rule.
There are about 15 Petco/Petsmart stores within 20 miles of me.....most are the same. 

If you have a specialized aquatic fish store nearby do yourself a favor and visit them. 
Their livestock is normally much higher quality and tank conditions far superior. 
Price is normally higher but you'll have much better quality specimens and higher rate of success (and less chances of disease).


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

There are always dead fish in their tanks


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## SueD (Aug 4, 2012)

I will generally buy from my LFS as they will have some of the more different species than the chain stores and they have ordered specific ones for me. 

However, I have also bought from both Petco and PetSmart, especially when they have special deals. Petco will often have 5 fish for $5 and Petsmart will also have $1 specials. My black neon tetras came from Petco @ $1.24 ea and I have bought otos at $1 each from Petsmart (compared to $4 at LFS). I also bought panda cories from Petsmart @ $3+ as my LFS store was out of them at the time I was looking. They now have them for $6.

All of these are thriving for me (even the otos) and you just can't beat these prices. I may have been lucky and others may have different experiences, but just want to pass on my experience.


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## Buerkletucson (Apr 8, 2014)

What's the worst part about Petsmart & Petco is they have put a lot of the good family owned fish aquatic stores out of business. 
They just can't compete with the volume pricing <albeit lesser quality> of livestock. 

I've seen several dozen local stores go belly up in the last decade......to bad as we've lost that expertise as a resource not to mention availability of higher quality specimens.


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## mambee (Jul 19, 2013)

I don't really have any LFS left in my area so I check out the chain stores or order online. You can get almost anything on aquabid. 

The most important thing to do is to quarantine your new purchases. The chain store tanks are centrally filtered, so 1 sick fish exposes every fish to illness.

IMO, the online pet supply companies are putting the LFS out of business. There isn't much profit on livestock but there is on dry goods and equipment. A LFS just can't match the prices.

As with everything in life, there are compromises. You are paying 30% less for equipment and supplies but losing access to good LFS and livestock.


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## Flip (Jun 17, 2013)

I personally will try and support the LFS as much as I can. I have seen the good and bad of both the big box stores and the LFS. It all depends on the guy who runs the fish department. Some know what they are doing and some couldn't find thier bare butt with both hands.


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## Buerkletucson (Apr 8, 2014)

mambee said:


> IMO, the online pet supply companies are putting the LFS out of business.


May be true in some localities but around here most of the long lost specialty fish shops sold squat for supplies. 
I knew a couple of owners and remember them telling me that equipment sales amounted to only about 10 - 15% of total profit. 
What kept them in business was their bread-n-butter tropical, salt, reef, and invert sales. 

When the chains started showing up they lost most of their freshwater sales and even some of the saltwater sales. Just to tough to make a go. 

Supplies-wise the chain stores sell mostly junk or low end equipment. It may be significantly cheaper but you get cheap quality also. 
I've yet to see an FX6 or any decent LED lighting at the chain stores, as an example. 

For higher end or quality equipment you almost exclusively need to shop online now. We have a couple of LFS that can match or beat internet sales on some filters but I think they are doing it just to get people in the store as they aren't making much profit on it.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

All stores all have dead fish in their tanks. Some just stay on top of the cleaning out of those fish better than others.

Petco is hit and miss. I have one that is about 6 miles one way and tend to stay away from them. The other is about 6 miles in the opposite direction but usually has better looking fish and the tanks look kept up better. I know they probably both get their fish from the same supplier on the same day, but that is just the way it seems and I have fish in my tanks now from there over 3yrs old.

It mostly comes down to you and observing the fish for a period before you decide to buy and make sure the person netting gets the ones you have been looking at. If the fish aren't acting normal, stay away from them. I look at Petsmart fish all the time as I buy cat food from there, but never buy them because the fish just look horrible. I go to Petco much less often and occasionally buy.

Honestly though, once I started drip acclimating everything without fail my losses dramatically decreased across the board. Just referring to the way it seems that if you are going to lose a new fish it will mostly like be in the first 5-10 days or so. Way it always was for me anyway.


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## SueD (Aug 4, 2012)

I do have to say that after getting the 1st 5 panda cories at Petsmart I later decided I wanted 2 more. It was several weeks before they got them in again but when I went back, the new ones were really small and the tank they were in was so filthy (substrate was really dirty as were the tanks walls - hard to see into the tank), I couldn't bring myself to buy them. Even though I felt bad for them. 

I did go back to my LFS and got 2 more there at twice the cost. Everyone is playing nicely even though they are from different neighborhoods. 

In my area Petsmart used to have much cleaner, sparkling tanks than Petco. Over the last two years, that has been reversed. Petco's tanks are spotless and Petsmart seems to not care as much. I would have to attribute this to the expectations of the individual department managers and the training given to their staff.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

I've had both good and bad experiences, but like a lot of people here, I have stopped buying from either Petco or Petsmart because of the disease risk being just too high. I've seen countless fish at the top, gasping for breath, and at least a couple of dead fish almost every time I've been in either place. And by the way, the tanks can LOOK clean, but you can still bring home fish that will sicken within days. I now only buy online or at the one LFS I trust, but even so, it's an hour away. Worth it to me though, to get healthy fish.


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## Buerkletucson (Apr 8, 2014)

jrman83 said:


> All stores all have dead fish in their tanks. Some just stay on top of the cleaning out of those fish better than others.


If they can't stay on top of scooping out dead fish then what other maintenance duties are they ignoring?

It all shows their lack of care and maintenance on their aquariums and filter systems........and a general "I don't care attitude". 
They may all get some dead fish occasionally, especially when dealing with volumes. But when there are 5 - 10 fish dead in one tank it says something is not right. 
I see this quite often at both Petco and Petsmart.......some of the fish have been floating for days as they are pretty gross looking, not signs of a death that just occurred recently. 

Centrally filtered systems are not a place to purchase fish anyway.....
Disease potential is huge.

I count this as one of several reasons I've been so successful with almost non-existent disease issues in 40+ years.


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## Fadil13 (Jan 15, 2014)

Buerkletucson said:


> If they can't stay on top of scooping out dead fish then what other maintenance duties are they ignoring?
> 
> It all shows their lack of care and maintenance on their aquariums and filter systems........and a general "I don't care attitude".
> They may all get some dead fish occasionally, especially when dealing with volumes. But when there are 5 - 10 fish dead in one tank it says something is not right.
> ...


I've never seen 5-10 dead fish in one tank - you need to get in touch with animal control to shut that joint down...sheesh..lol

I have brought fish from both Petsmart, and Petco - and like somebody said - it's a hit or miss although Petco has 30 day warranty on their fish. I asked the sales person the question twice, because it seem unreal. I still don't believe it. 

What I do know is all the fish that have died in my tanks have come from one of those places, and I decided to only buy from my LFS.


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

Thanks for sharing your opinions and experiences everyone. While I have only ever gotten my livestock from my lfs, I couldn't pass up on the deal I got with the petco 50% off fish purchase coupon. This petco keeps their tanks pretty clean and there was only 2 dead fish I saw in over 20 tanks. I went ahead and bought 6 emerald green corydoras for $11. They have been in the tank since Saturday and are much more lively in my tank than they were I'm the petco tank. They are very entertaining to watch.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

Petco does indeed have a 30 day guarantee, and I've taken fish back 2-3 weeks later and they took them back, with a full refund. Still not worth it though, because as Fadil said, just about every fish I've gotten at Petco or Petsmart has died.


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## mambee (Jul 19, 2013)

If every fish that you purchase from Petco or Petsmart have died, then you must not be properly acclimating the fish and your water parameters must be dramatically different than the chain stores.

The only times that I have trouble with chain store fish is when I purchase more sensitive ones like cardinals or rummynoses. With rummynoses, if they make it past the first 2 days in my tank then they usually go on to live for another 5-6 years.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

I acclimate all my fish the same way--float them in Tupperware and add a bit of water every 15-20 minutes, then when I have twice as much water as what they came in, I net them out. It takes almost an hour. I acclimate fish I buy online the same way and they don't die (?) So that clearly is not the problem. My local Petsmart told me their PH is at 6.0. I don't think the person I talked to knew anything, as in my area, the PH is generally around 7.5, and that's what my PH is. But how could that account for fish living a couple of weeks, and then dying? I've had them die anywhere from a day later to 3 weeks later, from both Petsmart and Petco, yet have ordered a few dozen fish from online breeders/sellers, and I've only lost one or two out of all of those.


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## Fadil13 (Jan 15, 2014)

mambee said:


> If every fish that you purchase from Petco or Petsmart have died, then you must not be properly acclimating the fish and your water parameters must be dramatically different than the chain stores.
> 
> The only times that I have trouble with chain store fish is when I purchase more sensitive ones like cardinals or rummynoses. With rummynoses, if they make it past the first 2 days in my tank then they usually go on to live for another 5-6 years.


Not in my case - I have 3 acclimating kits, and very aware how to use them. These fish appear happy and healthy for at least 6 months or more, but eventually they just die for no apparent reason. The only exception recently two female swords had developed the parasite that puts the curve in their backs after giving birth which causes them to swim awkwardly eventually they will become inactive, and just sit at the top of the water waiting to die. From what I read there is no cure for this disease, and it's a very painful death for the fish. So I took the suggestion to put them in zip lock bag with enough water to cover them, and put them in the freezer for 12 hours. This was suppose to be like going to sleep for the fish. Hope that information was correct, but it was better than pinching their head which was the other suggestion. I couldn't do that.


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## mambee (Jul 19, 2013)

Yikes. I stand corrected.

Does everyone find livebearers to be the main problem or are all fish suspect? There may be a problem at the farms where the fish are sourced.

I've read that fancy guppies are raised on farms in Southeast Asia in pure saltwater and are fed exclusively live foods and then wither and die when switched to freshwater and dry foods.

When possible, it is always better to find local breeders.


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## Buerkletucson (Apr 8, 2014)

The source of the issues @ these discount pet stores can be anywhere......

Bad sourcing stock
Poor conditions at source
Poor handling during shipping
Poor conditions at retailers
Improper care and handling at retailers
Lack of knowledge at retail level
Improper acclimation by purchaser.

Who knows?
But I bet on a combination of one or more of the above......You can't expect optimum stock ad conditions when you buy a fish for $1. *r2


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Fadil13 said:


> Not in my case - I have 3 acclimating kits, and very aware how to use them. These fish appear happy and healthy for at least 6 months or more, but eventually they just die for no apparent reason. The only exception recently two female swords had developed the parasite that puts the curve in their backs after giving birth which causes them to swim awkwardly eventually they will become inactive, and just sit at the top of the water waiting to die. From what I read there is no cure for this disease, and it's a very painful death for the fish. So I took the suggestion to put them in zip lock bag with enough water to cover them, and put them in the freezer for 12 hours. This was suppose to be like going to sleep for the fish. Hope that information was correct, but it was better than pinching their head which was the other suggestion. I couldn't do that.


This sounds like an issue that will not be removed by removing effected fish.It will linger and kill all eventually.Totally euthanising all fish in this tank is recommended.The quickest most humane way to euthanise is a cup/container with water and ice cubes allowed to chill.Fish placed in this water pass in less than 10 seconds usaully,no prolonged slow freeze.
After all fish are removed from tank then sterilising the tank is necessary.Believe it or not bleach is not strong enough to kill some infections so calcium hypochlorite(pool shock) is a good choice as you make it as strong(concentrated) as you want.
a quick guess would be that this issue is either columnaris(curable) or fish TB(mycrobacterium) Not curable.The TB can last for years even in a vacant tank,and infect the keeper(a rash).


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## Fadil13 (Jan 15, 2014)

coralbandit said:


> This sounds like an issue that will not be removed by removing effected fish.It will linger and kill all eventually.Totally euthanising all fish in this tank is recommended.The quickest most humane way to euthanise is a cup/container with water and ice cubes allowed to chill.Fish placed in this water pass in less than 10 seconds usaully,no prolonged slow freeze.
> After all fish are removed from tank then sterilising the tank is necessary.Believe it or not bleach is not strong enough to kill some infections so calcium hypochlorite(pool shock) is a good choice as you make it as strong(concentrated) as you want.
> a quick guess would be that this issue is either columnaris(curable) or fish TB(mycrobacterium) Not curable.The TB can last for years even in a vacant tank,and infect the keeper(a rash).


Whoa.. Tom - Are you saying the entire stock of my two community tank are going to died? We're talking 30+ fish including some of my oldest fish? For that matter this could include my entire stock since I have used the infected net in other tanks except my Oscar because he's to big. No other fish are showing any symptoms although I've had about 4 fish die within the last 2 months of what appear as natural causes. I'm not sure what to do here. I'm need a 2nd opinion, no disrespect, but I'm not killing my fish until I'm certain my diagnose is accurate..


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Try treating tank for columnaris.It can't hurt any?
Without a necropsy(animal autopsy) there is no 100% way to diagnose TB.Many symptoms match up with other diseases.
I certainly would not euthanise all my fish on a whim.I would try everything else possible.I would stop using equipment in different tanks and stop adding new fish to any tank in question.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Spine curvature is a problem with livebearers, as I have read about it a few times on other sites. Some think it is parasitic based, but I can't really be sure. There are some that believe this is exaserbated by the females giving birth multiple times before they are full-grown or near. A Sword can take a year to be full-grown but may give birth 6-7 times by then. Platys the same, Guppys 7-8 months. This of course only applies to the females. 

There is an internal parasite that will draw the fish up so much you will think it is a curvature. Some call this the wasting disease or other. I recently started feeding my fish food with Metronidazole and garlic. Purchased from Ken's fish. I mix this along with 3 other equal parts of other types of flake. It appears to have helped. I have two larger Pltys that appeared to start getting the problem and now that I have the food it appears to have stopped it and one almost looks normal again. Haven't really confirmed it yet but the fish appear much more healthier. You can feed this food by itself, but everything I have read says the med eventually causes renal failure. So I put it in with the rest of my food to minimize the effect.


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## Fadil13 (Jan 15, 2014)

jrman83 said:


> Spine curvature is a problem with livebearers, as I have read about it a few times on other sites. Some think it is parasitic based, but I can't really be sure. There are some that believe this is exaserbated by the females giving birth multiple times before they are full-grown or near. A Sword can take a year to be full-grown but may give birth 6-7 times by then. Platys the same, Guppys 7-8 months. This of course only applies to the females.
> 
> There is an internal parasite that will draw the fish up so much you will think it is a curvature. Some call this the wasting disease or other. I recently started feeding my fish food with Metronidazole and garlic. Purchased from Ken's fish. I mix this along with 3 other equal parts of other types of flake. It appears to have helped. I have two larger Pltys that appeared to start getting the problem and now that I have the food it appears to have stopped it and one almost looks normal again. Haven't really confirmed it yet but the fish appear much more healthier. You can feed this food by itself, but everything I have read says the med eventually causes renal failure. So I put it in with the rest of my food to minimize the effect.


When you say the med - are you talking about the food? 

I first noticed this curvature in a female rescue guppy who by the way is still alive and kicking. I gave that tank to my son along with the guppies. I informed him of the disease. Those guppies never had any contact with my swords, or Platys. I have a 3 different nets that I use for certain tanks, and the the 2 community tanks which in the basement share the same net. I have a feeling that's not it though - it's a Petsmart, Petco thing. All the fish that have the problems are from these stores, and all except 1 are livebearers.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I certainly would give the fish food med a try.
I found a link on this topic(curved spine in livebearers) which eventually eluded to the possibility of it being columnaris.
I have had this same experience with my swordtails.I have had pretty good results with Potasium permaganate.
But here is the link;
Curved spine, sunken belly disease – esp. livebearers - Aquarium Fish Forum
It is at the end ,post from 2013 where the columnaris is mentioned.
This is the food I think Ben was talking about;
Ken's Premium Metronidazole & Garlic Flake
Sorry for running wild with your thread Matt!(HIJACKERS WE ARE!)


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## Fadil13 (Jan 15, 2014)

My apologies also, but thanks for starting it - good info was gotten from it.


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## User Name of Epicness (Jun 2, 2014)

If I were you, I would order online. Liveaquaria, Petsolutions And The Wet Spot are all reccomended places to order livestock. It may be more expensive, But it is well worth the price. I ordered Almost all the stock for my 50g From Online, and had no DOAs. I don't know about Petco, But I was browsing my local Petsmart (which is virtually the same thing) And I saw several Red Flags Such as a Goldfish In a Tropical Tank, A Single Green Tiger Barb, Two Bala Sharks eating One of their rotting and long dead friends, And a Tank so overstocked that it was to the point that even the Peaceful Neon Tetras were Bullying some African Dwarf Frogs. All in all, shy away from the big chains unless it is your only option.


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

You guys are good. This turned into an informative thread for multiple things. I'm glad I posted this because of all the differing opinions on the chain pet stores. I did end up buying the Cory cats from petco and they're doing well for this week anyways. Since I was stocking this tank fully all at once I wasn't really worried about infecting any other fish and I always keep a pretty close eye on all my fish, do if they are I'll I can treat accordingly. That being said the coupon is the only reason I bought from them. The same fish at my lfs would have been triple the price.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Not mentioned by me almost on topic(petsmart though ,not petco) I would guess that at least 8 of my roseline sharks that I still have(11 total)are from petsmart!They are $15-$40 dollars at most LFS, but I found them onsale for $5.99!
Like others mentioned,if the tank looks clean,fish are healthy,NO DEAD FISH,and you think you COULD recognise a disease or stress,then give any store a shot!
I do favor my LFS(they take all my breedings),but they are the second most expensive store for me out of 16.I never go to the most expensive anymore.
My roselines are 5-8 years old.


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## User Name of Epicness (Jun 2, 2014)

chenowethpm said:


> You guys are good. This turned into an informative thread for multiple things. I'm glad I posted this because of all the differing opinions on the chain pet stores. I did end up buying the Cory cats from petco and they're doing well for this week anyways. Since I was stocking this tank fully all at once I wasn't really worried about infecting any other fish and I always keep a pretty close eye on all my fish, do if they are I'll I can treat accordingly. That being said the coupon is the only reason I bought from them. The same fish at my lfs would have been triple the price.


As long as the Cories were healthy, I believe there isn't anything wrong with buying the fish. Some Chain Stores are better than others. I love Cories, so fun to watch! Let us know about your experience with petco!


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