petco find

[Khemul]

I would generally agree with this, but I've seen most "mom and pop" stores where the fish are FINE, and I'm sure their fish are shipped from somewhere too. Could be smaller shops tend to buy from places where the fish are housed better, but still. I'd support a small local establishment before I'd go to a chain store.

It's a matter of scale. When you have 2-3 employees covering a store dedicated to selling fish (typical "mom and pop") a lot more effort can be put into fishing out dead fish or quarantining them until they look healthy. When you have a dozen employees spread across a store that sells everything, that have a number of different jobs to do in numerous departments, things go unnoticed much faster. It also has a little to do with layout. Most Petcos and Petsmarts are laid out in a way where it isn't easy to scan the whole fish section for dead fish. Chain stores lay out their tanks based on looks and style, not necessarily for ease of checking for dead fish. Mom and pop establishments tend to layout their tanks for ease of maintenance and space, which makes it very easy for the employees to simply scan half the store at a glance and find dead fish.

I've had the same experience. Sometimes the people are very knowledgable and can help me, then other times I go in and the guy tried to convince me to set up a salt water tank and told me I wouldn't need a skimmer.

It is entirely possible to run a saltwater tank without a skimmer. It isn't a requirement at all. Many people (me included) run tanks without skimmers. It just means the aquarium owner has to keep up on water quality more. A high-end reef tank (especially an SPS tank) can be rather difficult to run without one though.

 

[Jannika]

More than once I've overheard Petco employees questioning a customer about their tank and whether it was cycled and ready for the fish they wanted. It was obvious the customer was lying and didn't want to hear it. Another one started getting angry and asked "Are you going to sell me this fish or not?" The employee backed off, figuring he'd pushed it about as far as he could. I imagine these are typical customers.

 

[ssuchem13]

my local petco is pretty good about keeping the dead fish low. then i went to the one in the town over and i found a guormi eating the intestines of another fish, some sort of algae eater and lots of dead fish in a few tanks. Petsmart here is pretty awesome. as far as smaller stores, there is a really good one that i went to with my friend who had gotten a saltwater tank. the guy told us that he was willing to sell us whatever fish we wanted but advised against getting too many at once. so i think it just matters on the person who works there. people will buy and kill fish regardless, they will just lie if they have to. better to have them be honest than refuse a sale only to have them come back and lie just to get them. if you are too pushy with some people they just wont listen, but if they get what they want they are somewhat more likely to maybe stop and listen when the fish die. its sad but the world isnt some happy utopia of fish keeping. i concern myself more with caring for my fish the best i can than trying to stop others i have no control over

 

[homedog98]

Petco is better then petsmart here for fish, if they suspect illness, they don't let you buy fish from that particular tank while it's under observation. The advice there is so so... Generally good but they mix up a few things, but petsmart can be a bit frustrating. I walk in there and bite my lip every time I see a new couple go to the feeder fish tank and the employee grabs a net and a fish bowl... But there is one guy and a girl there that tend to know what they're talking about. The guy... I tought him everything he knows lol (which is funny cause I'm 14
And he's like... 80 lol) but he's still learning... and the girl's dad owns a tank. I've actually seen the girl steer someone away from the common pleco tank and lead them to the Otto tank telling them "they stay smaller and are much better cleaners!"

 

[spencerguy1]

Its kinda weird how you find the knowledgeable people in the bad places. Our petco and petsmarts are ok, but the petsmart has better stock. But there's this one guy at the petco who knows what he's doing. My little bro wanted to get an Oscar for my tank, and the guy told my bro about how oscars get too big. I think the reason the fis at petco aren't as healthy is because he's the only guy there in he fish area. I bet it's hard to maintain 100 tanks every day.

 

[Dieprophezeiung]

I agree that it also depends on the customers that come in to these places. People come in and want the fish they want. The worker can suggest other more suitable fish, but some people are ignorant and stubborn. So to avoid complaints, they have to sell the fish.

 

[Dieprophezeiung]

Also you can ask what days they get new fish in and go in those days. That's what I do. That way if they do get the fish your looking for or requested, you can get it before it's been there ling enough to possibly be mistreated.

 

[Sparkxx]

Kinda weird how here in the UK (or at least where I am) we don't have anything like this, maybe even the opposite. I mean there is 'pets at home' which I guess is a big chain store also but they have not bad stocking and the employees are extremly knowlegable (spelling?). Ok, when I went the last time they had dwarf puffers in with firemouth cichlids and jewel cichlids in with bumblebee catfish, which wasn't good as there wasn't any puffers or catfish to be seen... but they quarantine the fish when they arrive, and you have to fill in a form about the specs of your tank. so I guess you have to commend them for that. The reason I am saying that its the opposite is because the two stores in my area that only concentrate on fish are terrible. The first one doesn't even have the names of the fish just 'this tank "£3"' etc. Its not disease full in every tank but they just have the odd single tetra here and there. I did buy a guppy from there which ended having fin rot and died a few weeks after buying it, and I wasn't too happy cause it was really pretty...
The other store is just diease full in every tank, the angelfish have practically no fins and are basically circles, its basically just pretty rubbish :/

 

[Fishfriend1]

The petco near me occasionally has disaster shipments (I once walked in and saw that their half freshwater tanks had serious cases of ick) but the have yet to take on discus and the hardest creature to care for is a snowflake eel. The guy who's their fish specialist is relatively competent, not the best, but better then the people at petsplus and petsmart. In fact, I *almost* want a job there because I need the extra cash.