Petco (All Stores)

I don't go to these places often. I think it's Petsmart that has the new setup where the fish are in the center of the store. I like that idea and their equipment selection.

 

i've been stopping in at my nearest petco because they redid the whole fish dept, adding a saltwater section finally and they hired this guy that is strictly in charge of that section. he's even in there on his days off just to make sure everything is up to his standards......if he ever left petco for some reason i think i would stop going.....

 

The last PetCo I went to had saltwater fish also. They actually had a pretty nice selection.

 

yeah, i go there once and a while, you never know what you'll find.
i went there one time and found a bubble tip for $10. can't beat that price!!

 

Yeah, that is a really good price.

 

Do you find that saltwater prices are less living there ?

 

Oh okay. I didn't know if you had something like a local shop that specialized in locally caught fish. Something like that would be neat.

 

It's sad that these "Big Box Store" run the little local shops out.

 

That sounds like an interesting store.

Gas prices are crazy!

 

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.tropicisleaquarium.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.tropicisleaquarium.com/</a>

here's a link to my lfs, they're only 15 min. away from me....
good selection, but they're pricey with some things.

 

In my experience the fish departments depend on the people working them. My local Petco is great for healthy good looking fish at good prices. I also have 2 super walmarts with 30 minutes of me, 1 has terrible unhealthy fish, the other has amazing fish at it. The one with the better fish has a very experienced person working their fish and he takes great pride in the health of all the fish he cares for. ( He even breeds some of the fish for fun and gives them to frequent customers because they cant sell fry)

 

the deal with the petco here in Va my end not Ant's end is that all of the aquariums have the cup full of aquarium salt in them, which is harmless to most fish but is the first line of D fence aganist parasites and such which makes me wonder where they get their fish from and the quality of the stock if they have the salt waiting in the tanks for the fish?

 

I dont like the way that Petco here takes care of their fish (cichlids) The Oscars seemed to be deformed, the tetras had several dead ones in the tank, the plants are loaded with snails (like roaches) and the tanks did not look too good as far as water quality.

Petsmarts around here take really good care of their fish. What I find odd is most of the employees who work in the fish department are nitwits. I asked for PH 6.5 and one of the employees asked me, why do you need PH 6.5? You dont need that you need to buffer up to PH 8 - 8.5 without even asking what kind of fish I had (must have assumed I had Africans). When I did tell here she asked "What are Discus? I never heard of them."

My wife also wanted a dog a few months ago so we got one and she tried using the engraving machine, we got our tokens and the machine carved but did not eject the tag. This blonde girl said "Let me get some more tokens and I will try it". She walked up to the machine and tried to put the tokens in the return slot and said "The machine is not taking the tokens now!" about 30 seconds later I said the money goes in the top slot. Embarrassed she sad "Oops" and tried what we did. It engraved over top the engraved tag left in there and she said, "I guess it does not work".... Like DUHHHH that is what we just said!

Like I said SOMEHOW a bunch of nitwits can take care of the store, I have no idea how but they seem to do fine. Just dont EVER ask for anything or for advise as they may tell you to put Iodized Table Salt in your freshwater tank to reduce stress. No wonder aquarium newbies who listen to them wind up with dead fish and quit messing with fish.

 

Petsmart has a better selection of supplies by far. But I try to avoid buying fish there though. The LFS normally has prices just as good and the fish are a lot safer.