Are all PetCos bad?

[Salmon]

Probably because puffers are very needy and either A, they can't keep them alive long enough to sell, or B they don't want the beggining aquarist to think that they can handle something that is semi difficult to keep.

[Srkoe]

My local Petco carries dogface puffers all the time. They also carry Longhorn Cowfish and lionfish.

[Srkoe]

Also, they are doing their $1/gallon sale right now!!!

[RTR]

Chain stores in general are poor to awful. it is strictly a lowest common denominator thing. The chains understand marketing and sales, not biology. There will always be some exceptions, highly dependent on the local managers and the folks that they hire and can keep.

Local non-chain fish and pet stores vary almost as much, many are also awful. But if the LFS owner is good, they can go on being good for decades.

[chiang01]

Please try to patronize your LFS for everything even if their prices might be a higher than the chains. In the past year, at least three have closed in the St Louis area, stores which have had long traditions in the area. I was guilty of buying supplies at Petsmart and fish at LFS until my two favorites closed recently. Now I will drive 20 miles out of my way to try to support my LFS....

[RTR]

Huge +1 to chiang01's comments.

I have been shopping at my LFS for decades. They are the last LFS left in the area, and I am spoiled - they carry all the equipment lines I use and a fantastic selection of spare parts for those lines. They special order fish and inverts for me routinely. If they go away, I am not sure that i would be able to continue in the hobby outside of the few fish I breed, and those I would never sell to the chains, so i would likely just go back to few large tanks and singleton specimens in them or self-perpetuating schools of fish. I have more than enough equipment on hand to last out my lifetime, and with colonies of a few live foods for supplements could do without fresh challenges.

[Reaperpilot2014]

While I do admit to occasionally buying pet supplies from Petsmart and Petco, their care of animals/fish has in my experience been terrible. We have a LFS here called Jay's Jungle, and while the owner/manager's social skills are nonexistent, he takes good care of all his animals, especially the fish. He makes sure anybody who purchases fish knows how to properly cycle a tank! LFS all the way!

[goldielocke76]

I agree, support LFS, but not whole heartedly.

It really pisses me off when I go to buy from them, and they tell me what I have is "not good enough" for my soon to be puff. Now I know that a fluval or eheim pump is always (well, more than likely) going to be the better option, but I have an Aquaclear 70 on my 20 gallon and it's working perfectly while doing a fishless cycle. I guess it just irritates me when I have one person in there (usually a more veteran fish keeper) telling me I am doing ok, but all the younger ones are telling me that I am not being a conscientious fish owner. I think I am doing ok....joining my first forum ever-- to learn about the fish I am going to be keeping, asking the older emps lots of questions down there, and being told that they have never met someone who understood about the bene bacteria (thanks TPF)...just feels like a slap in the face. Feel like all I get is "you have to spend $400 on just a pump to show that you care."

Sorry-- my little rant session. I love my LFS....most of the people know what they are doing. But sometimes I feel like I come out of there with piss poor information. I would be a poor puffer keeper indeed if I had not found all you wonderful people to talk to and ask questions.

[Reaperpilot2014]

Lol, I use the aquatop pumps from ebay. They do the same thing for a lot less money. Obviously reliability may come into play, but I haven't had a problem yet.

[Flutter]

The LFSs around here are pretty bad in general. Their prices are much higher than a chain (sometimes double) and the fish are in poorer health. I can't forsee us getting new fish for a long time (fingers crossed) and if we do they'll be from a LFS due to species selection... Thankfully, one employee at a LFS is trying to keep better care of the puffers.

For items there is a somewhat local small business that we support for most things. The people there are great as are their prices.

[sevenyearnight]

I also don't like pretentious LFS workers Goldielocke, especially since the most arrogant ones seem to know the least!

[goldielocke76]

I also don't like pretentious LFS workers Goldielocke, especially since the most arrogant ones seem to know the least!

+1 ....damn, where is the "really like" button when you need it. That's EXACTLY how they act when I go in there. The two that I like talking to the best are the only two female employees in there, and they have been keeping fish for years! The rest are younger guys, and some of them know their stuff, and are nice about it, but the others...../facepalm. He told me that feeding my puff bloodworms was a good diet for them.

Also, I bought a dwarf puffer instead of a betta for my little 5 gallon. Boyfriend thinks our little "PZ the peewee" is awesome and told me that I should get a 10 gallon for him...yay! What a great excuse to do a minor upgrade LOL

[sevenyearnight]

Sweet! Post pics!

[goldielocke76]

Sweet! Post pics!

I have to figure out how =( all mine are too big. And he's got ich = / not too bad, thank goodness I caught it before it was all over, but there is a bit of bi furan in his tank that is making it yellow = / been doing 50% water changes for the last 5 days. Hopefully it won't be too much longer and then he will be better, and I will get a bigger tank! =D

[Pufferpunk]

Ummm... Furan is an antibiotic.