Petco Fish

[54seaweed]

I buy lots of live stock on line very seldom have any issues , and if I do there always resolved quickly , research online vendors first not all are cut out to be as good as they claim!
I buy a lot from reefs2go they are one of our supporting vendors here at AA and there customer service is A+ in my book

 

[bigben2057]

I like petco because some of their corals are like 3 times cheaper than the LFS and 4 times the size.

 

[MacDracor]

The thing about Petco corals is how they are ordered. For example, they might offer two rocks, roughly the same size, both covered in mushroom corals. One was ordered as "Red mushroom rock, med." while the other was ordered as "Assorted mushroom rock, med." with a $10-$15 difference in price. That is why sometimes the corals are cheap. I got a beautiful ricordea for $20 because it was "assorted" while the orange one next to it was $50.
Take some time to get to know the staff. See how knowledgeable they are, and how the tanks are cared for. And always read every label for each tank, because sometimes a beautiful "assorted" might just be a steal.

 

[jsmith]

Not to beat a dead horse but my petco is iffy couple of the associates swear to have reef tanks but will sell a sailfin tang to someone with a 30 gallon but turn around and refuse to sell a gold fish in a bowl..smh ... my best friend when I feel an impulse purchase is my phone.. that way I can't stand in front of tank and look up the information needed from various sites.

Sorry for getting off topic but I do still have a pair clowns that I purchased years ago. Other then that Ive lost other fish I have purchased but I believe it to be from their size and getting bullied by a blue yellow tail damsel.

 

[TheTodd]

I have a feeling that the Blue Eye I am going to go back for might be mislabeled. There was no label the other day, but I am betting they will have it as a Kole/Yellow Eye Tang if it was not a special order. We'll see...

My LFS had three Scribbled Rabbitfish yesterday, so now I am considering one of those. I hate it when too many options are presented all at once!

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I met the guy that orders the fish for our Petco. He said he could get anything I wanted! I've bought some fish from them in the past and never had any issues however my friend bought some from her local Petco twice and they died. I think it depends on the store.

 

[200 gallon reef]

Nikki - I have had some issues as well. It could def depend on the store.

 

[lovefishys]

We went to our main Petco yesterday and they had a huge outbreak of ick. We went to a different one and they had much better fish.

 

[MacDracor]

Ich outbreaks can happen at any LFS. It's simply not financially feasible to quarantine new arrivals for a month before selling them. That's why it falls on the hobbyist to quarantine.

 

[Rutrag]

They both looked healthy. I've never seen such a small foxface...was probably just under 2". Thought the Blue Eye was a Kole at first...have never seen a live Blue Eye, only on sites. Maybe I'll go back in a couple days and see how they look.

It's funny, I haven't seen small ones before until this week, and now I've seen them at three different places.) I picked one up yesterday from a place (not PetCo) in Virginia Beach.

Back onto the toic of PetCo. I have purchased some fish there and my advice is to look carefully at what you are considering, as well as the tanks above and below. All the PetCo's in my area have semi-centralized filtration. Each column of tanks is essentially the same water, so if ANYTHING in those tanks looks sick, it's a no go for me. Ask to see it eat if the tanks pass the first test.

The ones in my area coral prices are nuts IMO, and I'd never buy anythign photosynthetic from them unless I got it the day it came in (Fridays around here). Their lights are far from sufficient to maintain much for very long.

Sometimes you can find a great deal on fish though. In fact, I just picked up an exquisite fairy wrasse from one yesterday for $30. They're $60 from Live Aquaria. I also picked up a while back a four-line (or if you prefer twelve-line) wrasse (which they had labelled as a Hawaiian six-line) for $40. If you can find them, they go for about $70 online.

Good luck!

 

[dlsrks]

I bought a Sailfin Tang and Purple ip Anemone from Petco. They were very healthy. And are happy in my 75 gallon tank.

 

[TheTodd]

I think that tiny foxfaces are in season. I am probably going to go grab that little foxface tomorrow. Might grab the blue eye too...

 

[Jake337]

All the Petco's I've been to don't have saltwater! It's all about their freshwater and other animals.

 

[Gza166]

I've boughten a clarkii clownfish firefish goby and a scooter blenny. All are healthy and energetic, no problem whatsoever. There was a fish specialist who actually ha a saltwater And was very helpful. I've had no problem with petco yet

 

[pcdebb]

I've boughten a clarkii clownfish firefish goby and a scooter blenny. All are healthy and energetic, no problem whatsoever. There was a fish specialist who actually ha a saltwater And was very helpful. I've had no problem with petco yet

I think that's the key, finding someone that is actually in the hobby. That tells me the fish would at least be looked after a bit better than someone who,is just there to sell fish. I just found a Petco across town that sells saltwater but don't know much about the staff.

 

[Bkmrsteel]

I would personally never buy fish from pet co without a qt. far to much risk imo of bringing something into your tank, and they have so many different people working threw the week, you never know what's going on with there tanks.

I did how ever get inverts from petco, dripping them, and flushing the water a few times before adding. My brittle star, and fan worm.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I agree. I would QT them as well. I would QT and treat a new fish from any store. It's better to have to wait a little bit than finding out that your new fish has a parasite and just infected your entire tank. =(. Years ago when I had my first tank, I made this mistake.