MattP725
Aquarium Advice Freak
I really think it is wrong to kill them at all even if you "cut" or "freeze" them. Fish can be resilient with the right care. Anyways I have petco fish and basically this is what I found... my Maroon clown from them died to fin rot but not until about a month after I got her. She went through the cycle in the tank so she probably stressed to the point of bacteria infection... my Valentini puffer died a few weeks after I got him because he got stuck in my PH (the damn thing was without a cover for about an hour and he managed to get stuck). My Niger Trigger is a pig and very active and he is super healthy... lived through my cycle and everything. I also have a Yellow tang from them that is doing great... only a few weeks old but very active and a pretty good eater. I did lose one tang because of aclimating issues. This is basically what I believe: Petco fish require extra adjusting time. My local one has very low salinity in it's tanks... I think it was like 1.014... Obviously not real good... The first tang died most likely because I put in in my 1.024 tank in a matter of 3 hours. Now before you flame me on doing that it was due to me not knowing what they kept their salinity at... my holding tank was the same as my 55g so I let her in and she died moments after. With the last tang I let her adjust super slowly over the period of four or five hours. After that he did fine. I turned the PH's off and let him relax with the lights off overnight. In the morning he looked great. Obviously at first he wasn't real well but what aclimating fish is? My point being that if you are real careful you can have a healthy petco fish. Obviously watch for eating habits and tank conditions at the store... btw most petcos will hold fish for you but I am not sure if that is better or worse since I would rather my fish spend as little time possible there. Honestly I only believe one died because of them and it was half my fault for not checking into the parameters first.