The Puffer Forum

I went to my local PetCo today for some pest snails. While i waited to be helped (There was someone ahead of me getting help with the fish) i saw 3, 3.5ish inch blue gouramis, completely white eyes and riddled with ich getting attacked by other dwarf gouramis. These fish werent in the "under observation" tanks.. They were straight up for sell. Once i finally got help the guy told me he would advise me to wait for pests until saturday because he has a snail problem and he just loaded all his tanks with "snail killer".. wtf could he be putting in tanks to kill his snails that wouldnt harm his fish? Good thing there's another LFS 2 minutes down the road that also gives me all the snails i want plus a great deal on ghost shrimp.

I would not buy from such a shop or even accept freebies

I normally dont buy from there. I check back and forth on prices for tank equipment like filters and such but for ALL my live purchases i always go to the good LFS. It isnt a chain store. Its a single "ma and pa" store.

no, the one nearest to my house takes good care of all their animals... and i got dory from a different one in 2005 and shes my little baby now

petco/petsmart around here suck but petsupermarket is usually pretty good and the guys that work there have been there forever and know there walrus.

lol, surlaW?

surlaW equals another word for poop

as in shiznit XD

I'm sure Petco employees have guidelines they have to follow. I happen to live in an area with a "nice" Petco if you will. The only fish I have bought from there have been guppies and a bumblebee goby. The head of the fish department is awesome! You can tell she truly cares and busts her butt to keep the tanks clean and the fish taken care of. She is very educated and knows her stuff. I go there often to browse and pick up supplies. I've heard her on many occasions giving people who are obviously new the hobby wonderful advice. The only private owned LFS in my area often gives rather crappy advice. I wish Sadie would just open her own store so I wouldn't have to go to Petco to talk to her.

The guy thats always working on the tanks at my PetCo is super nice and has a vast amount of knowledge about aquariums. Sadly though i think they let others work on the tanks and thats why theyre so crappy most of the time. Dead fish/ich/etc.

I hate to admit this but I buy from Petco a lot. The one close to here is very good, clean tanks, healthy fish, and they quarantine their fish before placing them on display. About a year ago someone put liquid dish soap in one of their main tanks and it wiped out the rest seeing as they are on central filtration. They were down for a few months while they rebuilt and to get the rebuild done they hired someone that knew what they were doing and she has it running her way, not the Petco Way. It also help that I know her very well.....

I alternate between Petco and Petsmart, the nearest LFS is 35 mins away while petco and petsmart are 5-10. The LFS doesnt carry ghost shrimp, and is more about SW than anything. Petsmart has a better selection I.E. filters and equipment, but the employees are usually a little off. But the Petco I go to has 2 fish guys that are AWESOME! They have always given me good advice (petco was the first place I went when I got my GSP), and I have continued to get good advice from them, and they hook me up on under the table deals!

But yes most of the time those stores are iffy cause there may be one person who take care of the tanks they way he or she should, and others half-buttocks it.

xvCODY wrote:lol, surlaW?

walrus !!!
I guess some Petco stores can be ok, but it's like Dadof4 says, it depends on the management. I don't like that I catch them telling people to put "aquarium salt" in their tanks, even the girl studying to become a biologist. You'd think she'd know better. But I think they are "ok" overall.

Around here Petcos dont really carry any marine supplies , other than marine salt and some fish food ! Petsmart has much more!

One thing that the Petcos and Petsmarts don't do is keep puffers! At least in the ones in my surrounding area...