LFS or Petco

[Fishguy1997]

Do you guys shop at your LFS or Petco? And why.


I shop at my LFS there is more variety and a more knowledgeable staff. And the fish look generally healthier. Every time i go to Petco there are ATLEAST 5 dead fish last time i went to the LFS there were 0 dead fish and i looked at every tank.

So I just want to here your opinions on this.

 

[jcolon]

I'd say Petsmart / Petco for supplies & equipment ... Prices tend to be a bit lower. For Livestock I prefer a trusted LFS, though my Petco / Petsmart isn't too bad... They do a decent job maintaining their tanks.

 

[Laser]

I'll pay a little markup to get something from my LFS and sometimes they even beat Petsmart. However, Petsmart beats them 9 times out of 10 for supplies by a lot so I do shop there but my LFS has the best selection of well cared for fish around.

 

[George9]

I use my lfs and petsmart

I love my lfs. They have a huge selection of plants and literally thousands of fish. I dont wanna call it a chain, because there's only 3 stores in the country, but it's no mom 'n pop place. I see some dead fish there, but not too many.

But when you keep so many fish in the store, theres bound to be a couple dead fish out of the hundreds. When you think about it, 5 dead fish at petco out of probably 150 fish isn't too bad. WHen you do the math, that's only 3.3333333% of dead fish

 

[skiweeangel]

I say both my lfs and petco. I buy my fish at my lfs and they have a few items that petco doesn't have. I wish I could buy everything there but as with all smaller shops I can't afford their prices on some of the supplies. And unless it's something specialized than supplies like filters and such are the same no matter where you go.

In al honesty it depends on the petco. I have seen some that are amazing and some thy make me sad. I am thankful that the petco near me is great! And the woman who runs the fish department is awesome.

 

[Jess1ca]

I say both my lfs and petco. I buy my fish at my lfs and they have a few items that petco doesn't have. I wish I could buy everything there but as with all smaller shops I can't afford their prices on some of the supplies. And unless it's something specialized than supplies like filters and such are the same no matter where you go.

In al honesty it depends on the petco. I have seen some that are amazing and some thy make me sad. I am thankful that the petco near me is great! And the woman who runs the fish department is awesome.

+1, the place I buy my fish from doesn't carry much else so I go to Petsmart to get the essentials like Prime and such

 

[sliderfish]

I use both...When my LFS has sales on their filters and heaters they are far better priced than Petco or Petsmart, but food and supplies are always cheaper at the chains. I will buy fish at petco/petsmart if I feel confident that they are in good shape and I now always QT new fish from anywhere. Usually my LFS is where I go to look for my Africans and oddball fish. My LFS also takes trade ins, so that is a big plus and selling them batchs of grown out fry has helped me afford new setups and the things I need to keep them going.

 

[jlk]

I would say both as well but I generally buy most of my general supplies off of Amazon because their prices can not be beat. In an emergency, my lfs has a much greater selection of meds but the chain stores are cheaper for basics such as water conditioner. For plants, my lfs(s) have a great selection. For fish, I generally stick to purchasing from breeders. Speciality items usually can only be found online. Price and necessity are big factors in where Im shopping.