Dr. Foster and Smith warehouse and website closure.

[pirate2876]

Dr Foster is no longer. I got an email saying go to Live Aquaria

I'm not 100% sure, but I've been told Liveaquaria is just the retail side of Quality Marine. Anyone know any better?

 

[Saveafish]

Petco can't do right on fish. You think they can do a real web site. Petco fail #26745 and growing.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Removed because late night rants are not generally worth reading in the morning.

 

[Hypan]

I'm not 100% sure, but I've been told Liveaquaria is just the retail side of Quality Marine. Anyone know any better?

They are just one of many large retailers that have deals with some of the wholesalers (quality, Sea dwelling, segrest, etc) to have common stock drop shipped straight from them. All of the divers den stuff is held at their facility and conditioned but most all of everything else is drop shipped from the wholesaler.

 

[Steve Blum]

Petco and Petsmart and related mass merchandiser models are the single largest reason we are having fish disease problems in the distribution chain. The reason is they own the distribution chain including Quality Marine and Seagrest Farms. Mass merchandisers are not equipped to sell live stock of any kind. They are a major cause of destruction of the local fish store and it's relationship with customers. This has always been a bad business model from day one. I have always restricted my purchases from either source. I will only buy fish from a local aquarium store or trusted source. That means I have to sometimes drive 6 hours to buy fish or corals so I can support fish stores that do a great job in handling the livestock. Buying from Live Aquaria or Divers Den only perpetuates this problem in the distribution chain. If you want change or better supply stop using mass merchandising companies that are not equipped to handle livestock. Actually stop using Petco and Petsmart period.

Purchase closer to the source as much as possible like collectors, mariculture, propagation or breeding facilities. The quality of livestock and relationship to people who actually care about the fish, invertebrates, and corals will help to strengthen the supply chain.

Central Pet and Central Brands are all in the mix of controlling the distribution of pet products in the United States. They have done much to kill the quality of products offered through local pet stores. They also are responsible for the vertical integration of the supply chain. This has just increased the level of cheap low quality products offered at many pet stores. And they then have to compete with Petco and Petsmart who buy the same low quality products in larger volume which hurts the local store that has the same product on the shelf. No local store can afford a "dollar a gallon" sale twice a year on the very same products Central sold them at a much higher cost. Then they wonder why they are not competing with the local mass merchandiser?;Blackeye

Thanks for info, you are so very right.

 

[ZoWhat]

BRS and Ryan Batcheller for the WIN!!!!

 

[HawaiianReef]

I used to use live aquaria to educate myself on livestock care and compatibility.
Ever since I heard that petco bought them out, I never even used their site.

 

[siggy]

Ever since I heard that petco bought them out, I never even used their site.

Same here, DFS was my first look for hardware and dog stuff. DFS was a Goliath and petco pea brains deliberately killed them. I doubt they have seen an increase in revenue as a result. I should have bought Chewy stock! I wonder if BRS Ryan would share if they noticed an increase in sales after their closing?

 

[jsvand5]

They are still one of the better if not the best large online source for livestock. There are smaller companies that are better of course but not with the selection that is available from live aquaria. People get so bent out of shape that they now want proof of DOA/warranty period death but it seems like common sense and is posted on their site. I’ve been using them since the Flying Fish Express days. Not every order is perfect but every order is risk free with their warranty.

 

[HawaiianReef]

I'm getting my corals from battle and wwc for orders. And of course local reefers and lfs.
I started out with petco for advice. Luckily, I found this site through a BRStv video on youtube. Every advice I got from petco was wrong.
I do stop in to one of their locations, since its on the way to my 7 yo school. But thats just to look at the animals with her. We don't go by the fish anymore because she spotted 2 fishes dying (ich). She was adamant to help them and a worker told us that they can't sell sick fish. They just wait until they die and remove them from the tank. That broke her heart.
I will not support anything related to petco. I'm not nieve, I'm aware that me shopping elsewhere will pose no impact on the mega pet store they are, but it helps me sleep at night knowing my livestock came from not just reputable sellers, but pet lovers as well.