Bad PETCO!

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I refuse to buy fish from petco not only do they have a limited selection but, most of there fish look unhealthy some are already dead and polluting the tanks and they dont take them out! Yesterday my neightbor and I were going to go to my LFS but it got to late he mentioned petco and that was a no go. Might just be mine but my petcos fish section is in bad shape.
 
The Petco by me is now the same way. They used to have an assistant manager that was a big SW guy. He kept the tanks clean as disease-free. He actually left to sell cars becasue he had an ethical problem with the pressure from the corp. office to place larger orders of fish and over-crowd the tanks. He said this only caused disease and deaths so you were ot really selling that many more fish anyways. And the ones you did sell were now not healthy. Since he has left about a year ago the tanks have really gone down hill. Dirty, disease, crowded. Where else can you buy a soho tang for $49 or a full grown emperor angel for $89, purple and sailfin tangs for $45? Their prices are really, really good, plus, they throw in a free batch of ick :wink: Maybe their prices are not that good... :roll:
 
good one lando :lach:

soooo true all the above replies...

I wish some Petco CEO could read this post.
 
If any of you want a different perspective... go to the petco in Redlands, CA. The caretaker owned his own store a while back, and now he's in charge of keeping everything clean. This petco is seriously the best one I've ever seen. They have live rock in their tanks, sell brittle stars, hermits, fish, etc. Their tangs are housed in 100 gal show tanks, while the others are not overcrowded.

He buys his test kits himself from Salifert, and even uses an Aqua C EV series skimmer for the 300+ gal sump underneath (filled with LR and LR rubble). Needless to say, the tanks were clean, free from disease, and were not overcrowded. It's funny because half of the stuff in the store he thinks is junk, and would not recommend getting it. (like cheapy test kits, cheap food, and bad filters). So... not ALL of them are bad... just the 99.99% majority. I'll take pics when I head over there this weekend... just thought I would put things in perspective. 8)

One day I will own petco... and I will make things right. :king:
 
There are no less than 5 Petco's in the Memphis Tn area. I visit almost all of them in a months time, every month. It is really a matter of the folks running the aquatics section. I know for a fact 2 of the stores just can't find qualified people. One of the 5 is consistantly clean, its in the 'money' side of town. The other 2 are hit or miss. I had to explain to one girl one evening why the salt water tanks were spitting micro bubbles everywhere. The water level in the 'sump' had started to get too low. It was at that point I realized that most of these 'employees' were just kids with little or no training who are just there to net fish, mark the bags and collect a check at the end of the week. There are a couple with very knowledgable staff, but even they can not keep up with everyone that shows up at peak times. I am not defending PetCo. I think some of the conditions (The dead fish, the nasty tanks, etc) are disgusting too. But salt water tanks are much harder to keep up and with staff that obviously gets no training and is apparently not required to have any kind of background, its a wonder any of the fish make it. Let me add this to the fray..I was at one of my favorite PetCo's a day ago. There were tangs in the tank so small, that they were about the size of my thumb nail. All the fish in the tanks, you could see bones. Obviously mal nurished and FAR too young to be sold. The clerk told me that there were a couple so small, he wasn't able to feed them. (They are not equipped for raising fry!) That to me is insight into this market as a whole. As the hobby picks up momentum, I suspect the animals will be viewed more and more like product and not animals. The only way to change corporate attitude is to let them know that we (customers) will not support sub standard conditions. As conditions in the store decline, inversely, the risk we customers take purchasing from them increases. What kind of business model is that?? Don't complain..write..Write emails, write letters, but let them know.

GL!
 
petco is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. they use one filtration system for all tanks. so if you see one fish with ick. they all have ick cuz they all run off the same system,, well atleast here in massachusetts.

Btw none here at petco knows anything about fish


" this Fw betta is nice and healthy in this little plant bowl. all you have to do is change the water.. all of it every other day. .. . . .. .


thats an expert we can all count on . . YEAH RIGHT! ! !

ok im done venting.
 
I am going to have to go against the grain on this one. I don't expect much from Petco so I am not disappointed when I am let down> Their prices are great on fish and often sell ORA captive bred stock. I got my Maculosous Angel from Petco (Captive Bred) at 2 inches in length for $30.00. I knew that I would have to QT it and bring it through. It has been 9 months and one of the best buys I have ever made on fish. I used to work for Petco in college and ran their aquatics department. I had been in the hobby for 8 years at that point and generally had a passion for the fish. I put my all into it and the fish and tanks were the best in the area. I had a loyal group of customers that visited me every week and really liked doing my job. Now some years later the tanks have gone back to parasite infested death bins covered in cyano. And the girl standing in the section couldn't tell you the difference between a trigger and a tang. :roll:
 
I forwarded a link of this discussion to PetCo corporate (I don't know what came over me... I never do things like that). Anyway, as part of their lengthy reply, I was offered an opportunity to have a "companion animal specialist" meet me at my local store to "show (me) first hand how (they) care for (their) animals every single day."

Like I said, I never do things like that, but if any of you are actually interested in speaking to someone at your local petco and getting a personal tour of their care practices, you can arrange the meeting by calling 888-824-7257.
 
Good Job Copi!! :D :D :D

That deserves some kudos. Good for you for sending that over... I'm sure many Petco's out there should be held responsible to similar restaruant grading scales out there (like they have in CA).
 
Lando--

My PetCO used to have reasonable ish prices on fish, but I just went there today to kill some time....they're selling a purple tang not for $45 but for $150! And they had a flame angel for like $80! (he had ich btw) Unreal.....of course they used to sell inverts, too, and I noticed today that they weren't carrying them anymore. So not only are the fish bad, they're over priced too!
 
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