Petco (All Stores)

I guess the dont sell Convicts

 

I haven't had much luck with fish from petco. When I first got into aquariums, all my original fish were from petco, and pretty much only 2 corys survived. At the time I didn't know of any of the other local pet stores/ lfs in the area, as I had recently moved here. I've given the store a couple more chances when they had a decent price on a fish (that way I wasn't spending a lot of money to just have it die.) My 3 most recent petco fish were 1 angelfish ($5) and 2 corys from the adoption tank. Out of those 3 only 1 cory survived and is actually healthy. The only thing I'd buy from that store now is aquarium supplies (filters, water conditioners, etc.), but as for fish, I'll stick to pet supplies plus (west roxbury), Lovely pets aquarium (quincy), and tropic isle (framingham)

 

I was rather shocked the other day going into PetSmart, it almost kept me away from there at all!

I walked in and the guy in the Fish Department was "feeding" the Oscars Rosy Reds!!!!! I could not believe that they fed their Oscars LIVE FOOD!!! THEY DONT NEED THAT TO LIVE!!!!

And I used to like PetSmart Oscars....... hmmm re-thinking that now

 

so today i ran into petco to get a couple of things, and while I was there, for the heck of it i went and checked out their fish. When i got down to the cichlid section, there were about 5 Oscars in one of the tanks completely covered with ick and laying on the bottom of the tank. It's the first time I have ever actually seen it with my own eyes. I ended up telling one of the associates, who told me that they treated that section of tanks, that the cichlid tanks and goldfish tanks are all on one system. She said that they got them in only a few days ago and "poof" they had it. A couple of the other cichlids in the other tanks that are on the system already were starting to get a couple of the ick spots. I just hope they treated the system in enough time and the other fish will recover from it

 

Yeah, the Cichlids and the Goldfish should NEVER be on the same systems.... horrible, horrible!

 

that's what I thought. Goldfish are more of a cold water fish, where as cichlids are a warm water tropical fish.

 

I have a funny story... I asked for a water sample from a Petsmart and brought it to Petco to test they said pH is too low and ammonia,nitrate was too high. A while later I asked for water sample from Petco and brought it to Petsmart to find out that they said the same thing that Petco said about their water.

 

Next time ask them to test their own water while you're there and see what they say.

 

I was at Petco again today (Richmond) and just wanted to unload my thoughts and observations.

This is my 2nd visit to the store as my first was not that good. This time was even worse. The lack of care for the Fish Department (which is the centerpiece of the store) was disgusting!

Let me start with the saltwater as this was the first thing I saw. I walked up to the saltwater section and noticed that the clownfish were all breathing labored. I looked down and noticed a dead one. This fish was loosing its color and rotting in the bottom of the tank. I though for $17 a fish they are not taking good care of them.

They had a Brown Tang with a note on the price tag "Not for sale, Under Observation" Well he was coated in Ich.

ALL of the saltwater tank substrates were COVERED in Red Hair Algae, and ALL of the fish they had (only about 30) were stressed and breathing labored including a juvenile eel.

On to the freshwater.... I dont even know where to start. ALL of the tanks had about 90% or more of the livestock infected with Fin Rot. It was so bad that I would say about 30% could barely swim anymore as they had no fins. This was not something in just one or 2 tanks but again EVERY tank. The only fish that did not look like they had it yet were the ones that probably came in on Tuesday (the smallest ones they had).

The large Oscars for $15 had Pop-eye, Fin-Rot AND Lesions on the scales. All of the smaller Oscars had Lesions and Fin-Rot and all seemed early signs of Pop-eye.

The plants were all half dead and to make matters worse, I was there of about 40 minutes and not even 1 time did ANYONE ask if I needed help!

I will NEVER go there again (other than to take some pictures and make them test their own water without them knowing it was theirs)

 

Which store was this exactly ? Is it the one on West Broad Street, which is technically Glen Allen ?

 

Short Pump on West Broad. It is the only Petco in Richmond that I know of

 

Ah yeah. It's the same one I'm talking about. I've been there once, a few months ago. I needed a hydrometer, they didn't have them. I didn't know they had saltwater, when I was there I don't remember seeing any. I also don't remember it being in the center of the store so maybe they redid it ?

Edit: Maybe I'm thinking of PetSmart. Which is near Circuit City ?

 

I was there shortly after they opened before (the first time) and they had salt which did surprise me and the fish were in the middle of the store. Always have been.

Edit -

 

Edit: LoL We both keep editing our posts and missing things.

 

That is a PetSmart..... the Petco is in the new shopping center/apartment development across from the Target.

 

Oh okay. Never mind then. I need to go to the Apple store soon so maybe I'll stop in and see how horrible it is.

 

I would like to complain about it.... I just dont know who I should contact, the better business bureau, Petco Corporate, or PETA!