Buying fish from Petco

[terraincognita]

No problem, I am just frustrated with this (self-induced) situation.

The LA arrival guarantee is now only 7 days. That in itself is not a problem but it does make you think what caused them to drop it from 14 days. The latest reviews on R2R are pretty bad as well, otherwise I might have given them a try.

oh wow, probably the huge surge in the hobby because of covid.

i've only ever lost 1 fish from them, they gave me a credit

I've ordered maybe 5-6 from them.

i always do a 2 hour acclimation though with shipped livestock.

 

[Tamberav]

My nearest LFS is over 2 hour drive away. I have bought one fish from there and it didn't travel well and didn't survive the night. I have just bought some mail order sexy shrimp and one of the three didn't make it either.

With these things combined, I am concerned about mail ordering fish and the round trip to the LFS might not be worth it if I go all that way and the fish dies again.

I do, however, have a Petco nearby. Now I know what everyone will say but my thinking is that I'd rather have a poorly fish than a dead one. I have a QT and this fish will not go in my tank until it has had a full QT with copper/parasite treatment.

The questions are:

What should I look for if buying a fish from Petco?

If the fish gets through the QT procedure, could it still cause problems when moved to my DT?

I used to live in a small town and I used Petco for fish and it was fine. They had ich in their system but I treated the fish with copper and was able to get fish very cheap though them since petco tends to have lower prices then online and they do 30 percent off fish sales.

They also can special order fish for you and you are under no obligation to buy them when they come in if you don’t like the way they look. If you can time it right you can even pick them up IN the bag.

They get their fish from the same wholesalers and can order from ORA. So it’s all the same really... it’s just they petco employees don’t take good care of their tanks sometimes.

You can also use better venders online like TSM or Dr Reef that will condition and QT for you. These fish will fair better in shipping.

I know someone mentioned LA but I have not found them to be very good these days. Shipping skinny fish or ones with HLLE or such. Then they credit you but that doesn’t help the box or shipping fee.

Have to trust the vender to ship you something good to begin with. That is why I mentioned TSM and Dr Reef.

 

[reefinatl]

Everybody pretty much buys from the same wholesalers, and all the supply chains have the same diseases. Try to do business with quality LFS because they are passionate hobbies trying to make a go at running their own business. If your options are a junky LFS and a Petco then go with who has whatever you want at the price you want. You should be QTing no matter what anyways.

 

[reefinatl]

No problem, I am just frustrated with this (self-induced) situation.

The LA arrival guarantee is now only 7 days. That in itself is not a problem but it does make you think what caused them to drop it from 14 days. The latest reviews on R2R are pretty bad as well, otherwise I might have given them a try.

I've only done LA once and it was a few weeks ago. I got two yellow watchman gobies, both are the cream with grey band color morphs. I get they are still YWG but dang, you couldn't give me one true yellow if I'm buying two. Also ordered 3 ORA Azure Damsels. 1 DOA, 1 dead a few days later.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

The 3 or 4 petcos around me are all hit or miss yes.
So are the lfs though. We have maybe 3 or 4 real coral/sw stores.
D

 

[homer1475]

Never had a problem driving out to Rotchester(actually where 90% of my fish have come from) which is a 4 hour drive one way, and buying fish.

I always tell them I have a long drive so they give me bigger bags with more water. I also bring a styrofoam box with either a heat pack or ice pack(depending on season). If I forget a box, the LFS always has a ton, just ask them they'll glady give you one. lol

 

[Thaxxx]

Duplicate post

 

[laverda]

Sorry wasn't trying to harp on your situation I edited it after initial post with more info.

Otherwise In your shoes I'd probably shop from Liveaquaria

They supply petco's and instead of it going to Petco, and being in their tanks which may have X or Y problems, they'll go straight to yours.

Additionally they give a 14 day live gurantee which no other vendor gives on a fish.

After 14 days if the fish dies, I'd also agree it's most likely 99% your fault.

Happy reefing!

Actually my local Petco gets at least some of their fish from the wholesales in LA which is where LA gets most of their fish as well. When I was working in the business one wholesaler we dealt with was drop shipping all LA products.

 

[greetl01]

The worst part was actually their freshwater tanks. I heard a little girl shout 'eww, dead fish' and an employee came over and scooped several dead fish out with her hand.

LMAOOOOOO

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

I got given to Peppermint shrimp by a very knowledgeable Petco employee right from her saltwater tank

 

[Sandersonville]

I’ve ironically had better success with fish purchased from Petco than I have one of the larger more reputable LFS near me.

Mine local Petco has been great. They printed me a list of all the fish they can order and I’ve placed a couple custom orders through them. They call as soon as the fish arrive and I pick them up still in the bag. Prices way cheaper than online or the LFS too.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Am I following this thread correctly in understanding petco gets their fish from liveaquaria. So if you order from them online, it’s shipped directly to you as if you ordered from LA? That could save a step in any mishandling by the local petco in acclimation or into a less than ideal tank conditions. Of course proper QT is required as I wiped out a tank from a LA shipment months ago. Learned. QT the hard way and I don’t blame LA as I wouldn’t blame Petco.

 

[iMi]

All depends on the Petco. I am going to pick up (hopefully) a six line wrasse and a pistol shrimp the girl who works the saltwater tanks ordered for me last week. She maintains those tanks very well and took it upon herself to upgrade the lighting for the frags they get.

 

[Unregistered1]

My nearest LFS is over 2 hour drive away. I have bought one fish from there and it didn't travel well and didn't survive the night. I have just bought some mail order sexy shrimp and one of the three didn't make it either.

With these things combined, I am concerned about mail ordering fish and the round trip to the LFS might not be worth it if I go all that way and the fish dies again.

I do, however, have a Petco nearby. Now I know what everyone will say but my thinking is that I'd rather have a poorly fish than a dead one. I have a QT and this fish will not go in my tank until it has had a full QT with copper/parasite treatment.

The questions are:

What should I look for if buying a fish from Petco?

If the fish gets through the QT procedure, could it still cause problems when moved to my DT?

When buying from Petco the first thing you should look for Is....THE FRONT DOOR

 

[FishyFishFish]

When buying from Petco the first thing you should look for Is....THE FRONT DOOR

Otherwise how would you get in to the store?

 

[Unregistered1]

Otherwise how would you get in to the store?

I wouldnt ever buy there so i wouldnt be looking for any door

 

[lm24reef]

As others have said, the Petcos themselves can be hit or miss. However, all of my livestock from Petcos across the city from gobies to tangs are thriving. I personally haven’t lost a single fish from a Petco, but my LFS survival rate would make some of you want to leave the hobby. I’ve purchased from clean and dirty tanks alike and purchase solely on the critter I am interested in. I figure if it can survive those petri dishes of a connected system, then it can survive my good water conditions.

My last purchase from a Petco was two months ago and I may have purchased the last yellow tang for sale that was “in stock” in the city by pure luck. It was a bit malnourished and a little beat up, but given the limited stock I chanced it on a whim. He is now 100% recovered and the best part is that I got him for $50 & tax, manager marked down from the original $80.

 

[laverda]

Am I following this thread correctly in understanding petco gets their fish from liveaquaria. So if you order from them online, it’s shipped directly to you as if you ordered from LA? That could save a step in any mishandling by the local petco in acclimation or into a less than ideal tank conditions. Of course proper QT is required as I wiped out a tank from a LA shipment months ago. Learned. QT the hard way and I don’t blame LA as I wouldn’t blame Petco.

My Petco gets some of their fish from the same wholesalers LA does. The also get some from ORA. I don't believe they get anything from LA. If they did I think their prices would be much higher.

 

[Unregistered1]

You must have a Petco that someone that cares works at....most are pretty bad. I'm glad your having good luck. I do not have any near me now but used to and they were worse than Liveaquaria if that's even possible.

 

[Saltyanimals]

My Petco gets some of their fish from the same wholesalers LA does. The also get some from ORA. I don't believe they get anything from LA. If they did I think their prices would be much higher.

I guess the real question is higher up the supply chain. When someone orders from petco.com. Where does this ship from? This answer makes a huge difference if you take the local petco store handing out of the equation. If this order ships from a physical store then it has been potentially handled improperly. i.e. acclimation of a starfish. However if it comes directly from wholesalers, you might have a winner here taking out at least one unnecessary stop and handling.