Petco Fish?

[cdnco2004]

This is going to be crazy, but I'm here for it.

I was cruising Facebook and went on a post of a 50% sale on Petcos livestock and shipped out of their wholesaler. Lots of duels in the comments, and one person ordered one and it came dead and he got the option of a refund or new fish. After lots of thought and watching others roll the dice, I also rolled the die. Will be receiving a medium Purple Tang from Petco in a few days. Might be one of my biggest mistakes, but I have a 20-gallon QT that has been up, in the process of pulling the copper out with a full 20-gallon water change. Will continue posting on this thread with pictures of the shipping box, the state it came in and, alot more just for others who want the dream fish like me, but don't want to break the bank. I mean $125 for a 2.25-3.25in Purple Tang... Come on now. If you have any experience with doing what I am doing good or bad please share to either get me excited or regretting all my decisions lol

I have had better luck with Petco orders than from any other seller. The vast majority of my fish have been purchased from Petco, either in store or online. The online orders ship direct from wholesaler so less stops and transfers from tank to tank before it gets to the buyer. While others may have had a DOA, I am sure it has happened, its never happened with me. All my order fish arrived alive and healthy. Each time I ordered from Live Aquaria on the other hand I had at least one fish in the order arrive DOA or died within the first 3 days. I have a bunch of store credit with LA that just got wasted because I got tired of DOA's and stopped ordering with them.

 

[ajremington68]

Never shopped online for fish from them, but my local petco is amazing. Aside from them, the closest LFS is over an hour away.

The staff is really knowledgeable and friendly, and takes care of the fish there. I’ve only ever had one fish not make it, but outside of that I’ve never brought home anything nasty.

Plus… the 20% off of everything for being vital care is where it’s at.

Is that vital care like a subscription monthly? I keep seeing that and have no clue what it is.

 

[ajremington68]

They do have a seven-day guarantee, and from my experience, they honor it very well. When the royal gramma died after a day of being in QT (appeared to be a bacterial infection), and they were quick to offer a refund/replacement. I floated it and then did a short drip acclimation, then dropped the fish in.
While they were unable to replace the deceased fish due to stocking issues, they refunded all doa fish and fish that died within seven days. If the remaining fish were to die within the week, all I’d have to do is call them and provide the order number, and they’ll refund/replace them too.

Also as I’ve mentioned, an added bonus is that they’ll cover shipping on a replacement fish, which a lot of places don’t do.

This is good to know, puts me alot more at ease with buying from them. Not to much of a dice roll as I either get a really good deal or my money back like it never happened.

 

[cdnco2004]

Is that vital care like a subscription monthly? I keep seeing that and have no clue what it is.

Yes it is. I pay $9 a month for it, I get 20% off all aquatic supplies and livestock plus $5 in pal rewards each month. It way more than pays for it self. Just note, that starting next summer they are removing the discount for aquatic livestock so the discount will only apply to food and supplies but they are reducing it from 20% discount to 10% discount. I turned off my auto renew on my fish VitalCare after they announced those changes.

 

[ajremington68]

Never shopped online for fish from them, but my local petco is amazing. Aside from them, the closest LFS is over an hour away.

The staff is really knowledgeable and friendly, and takes care of the fish there. I’ve only ever had one fish not make it, but outside of that I’ve never brought home anything nasty.

Plus… the 20% off of everything for being vital care is where it’s at.

I +1 that, one thing I have done is go in and ask who takes care of the saltwater section and start asking them easier but knowledge questions and see what they know. If they can answer questions, I know for the most part it will be a safe bet, but also in the Chicagoland area we have a really good selection of LFS, with quality fish so Petco is mostly just for quick pickups of liquid dosing stuff if I run out.

 

[ajremington68]

I ordered them last Wednesday (before thanksgiving), and the fish arrived Tuesday night. The package tracking wasn’t working so I have no idea when they were packed and shipped out, though I assume it was after thanksgiving weekend.
I recently had a significant loss in fish so took the sale as an opportunity to restock the system.

Also if its not too sensitive still what happened in your tank that caused you to lose your stock?

 

[ajremington68]

I took advantage of this deal. I ordered a medium foxface, medium flame hawkfish, scooter blenny, pincushion urchin, 2 coral frags. All in was $400 but with the 50% off and free shipping was only about $200. My order was shipped overnight with UPS. It was delayed by a day and both days temps were down to 30 here. Heat packs were cold as was the water in the bags. Fish looked dead at first but as I slowly brought the temp up they all were alive. The foxface only survived a few hours but the rest seem to be healthy and were eating just a few hours after I got them in my tank. I made the call to customer service. The call only took 5 minutes and I emailed the dead photo while I was on the phone with the rep. Was offered a replacement or refund. I opted for the replacement. It was processed while I was on the call with zero questions asked other than for the photo.

Wow, this forum is a complete 180 from what I was reading on a facebook post. Making me too excited for my new tang to come in! CANNOT WAITTTTT

 

[ajremington68]

I have had better luck with Petco orders than from any other seller. The vast majority of my fish have been purchased from Petco, either in store or online. The online orders ship direct from wholesaler so less stops and transfers from tank to tank before it gets to the buyer. While others may have had a DOA, I am sure it has happened, its never happened with me. All my order fish arrived alive and healthy. Each time I ordered from Live Aquaria on the other hand I had at least one fish in the order arrive DOA or died within the first 3 days. I have a bunch of store credit with LA that just got wasted because I got tired of DOA's and stopped ordering with them.

I'll take that store credit from you and roll the dice , actually don't know if I can handle being excited over a new fish and it is dead. After years of freshwater, and about 1 year in saltwater. The feeling of a new fish just never goes away.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Also if its not too sensitive still what happened in your tank that caused you to lose your stock?

First was an aggressive angelfish that harassed my blenny, goby, and royal gramma to death. A while later, my scorpionfish died (likely starvation, as they are rather picky hunters). I also rehomed my clowns as they were getting rather feisty. Finally, my firefish vanished, likely jumped, leaving me with two fish and a definite need for restocking!

 

[ajremington68]

Yes it is. I pay $9 a month for it, I get 20% off all aquatic supplies and livestock plus $5 in pal rewards each month. It way more than pays for it self. Just note, that starting next summer they are removing the discount for aquatic livestock so the discount will only apply to food and supplies but they are reducing it from 20% discount to 10% discount. I turned off my auto renew on my fish VitalCare after they announced those changes.

Deng, I shoulda subscribed for a month once I bought the tang and it woulda paid for itself and then canceled....

 

[cdnco2004]

Honestly I bet the store credit expired. I think most places only give you a year to use it. Just after 4 orders in a row with either a DOA or one that died within a few days, I no longer had faith in LA and found out about Petco vital care and online sales dropship from Quality Marine (the largest fish wholesaler in the US) with a 7 day guaranty to boot, it was game over for LA.

 

[ajremington68]

First was an aggressive angelfish that harassed my blenny, goby, and royal gramma to death. A while later, my scorpionfish died (likely starvation, as they are rather picky hunters). I also rehomed my clowns as they were getting rather feisty. Finally, my firefish vanished, likely jumped, leaving me with two fish and a definite need for restocking!

JEZ that is quite a lot of ups and downs for me to deal with. What kind of clowns? Interested because I have heard some are more ferocious than others especially as they get some size and start hosting. I have had mine for a little over a year and they don't host and don't mind you being in the tank but I am wondering if that will change. Also about to go research a scorpionfish, never heard of that.

 

[ajremington68]

Honestly I bet the store credit expired. I think most places only give you a year to use it. Just after 4 orders in a row with either a DOA or one that died within a few days, I no longer had faith in LA and found out about Petco vital care and online sales dropship from Quality Marine (the largest fish wholesaler in the US) with a 7 day guaranty to boot, it was game over for LA.

True true, what tank are you running and what if any tangs do you got?

 

[Sharkbait19]

JEZ that is quite a lot of ups and downs for me to deal with. What kind of clowns? Interested because I have heard some are more ferocious than others especially as they get some size and start hosting. I have had mine for a little over a year and they don't host and don't mind you being in the tank but I am wondering if that will change. Also about to go research a scorpionfish, never heard of that.

Occy clowns - a mocha female and a Darwin male.
The scorpion was paracentropygon zonatus - red rooster Pygmy waspfish.

 

[ajremington68]

Occy clowns - a mocha female and a Darwin male.
The scorpion was paracentropygon zonatus - red rooster Pygmy waspfish.

That is a unique fish don't think I have ever seen one of those...

 

[Sharkbait19]

That is a unique fish don't think I have ever seen one of those...

They are incredible, but also quite rare. Was always a dream fish of mine, so I couldn’t resist when I saw one at my lfs

 

[Daes]

Did you order your selection of fish due to the 50%? How quick was the shipping as well (like what day you ordered and when did you get them), also where are you located I have seen someone in Michigan get theirs the next day, just trying to get a general time line. Also, how do you like the hawkfish? See them in lots of youtube videos and is a dream fish in the future. So much personality.

The 50% off + free shipping is what got me to pull the trigger on ordering. I'm glad I did. I ordered Nov. 26, they shipped the 28th, and received the 29th. I'm in Missouri. They shipped from Quality Marine in California.

I had a flame hawk a while ago but lost it during a tank transfer. They have a lot of personality and I'm glad I was able to get another and at a great price to boot.

 

[Daes]

Wow, this forum is a complete 180 from what I was reading on a facebook post. Making me too excited for my new tang to come in! CANNOT WAITTTTT

Anything on Facebook, you just have to take with a grain of salt. Most people post their experiences buying in store which is usually not a great experience especially if you have no plans to quarantine.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Yes it is. I pay $9 a month for it, I get 20% off all aquatic supplies and livestock plus $5 in pal rewards each month. It way more than pays for it self. Just note, that starting next summer they are removing the discount for aquatic livestock so the discount will only apply to food and supplies but they are reducing it from 20% discount to 10% discount. I turned off my auto renew on my fish VitalCare after they announced those changes.

how do you turn off the auto renew? I bought my biocube 32 from them and signed up at the time and saved an incredible amount of money from them on that first sale. buy cat and dog food from them time to time as well as misc supplies. But need to down size all these auto events on the credit cards.

 

[tzabor10]

Just went to Petco and saw this for $39.99
Have $5 off and 20% so about $30 after tax.
Should I get it?