From experience, is Petco’s live rock as good as buying from a LFS?

[mistergray]

My local Petco has live rock but I’m unsure if I should buy it from them or my LFS. Anyone have good or bad experience with purchasing live rock from Petco?

 

[Idoc]

It's all rock soaking in saltwater, so there shouldn't be a difference. Neither place selling it does anything magical to it. You should be fine getting it from either source.

Either place you purchase it from, you might want to "cycle" it yourself in a container without fish in order to ensure no encysted ich/velvet, though. It is recommended to do this for 76 days with saltwater, heater, and powerhead...this is the lifecycle of the longest known strain of ich. During that time, I would seed it further with additional bottled bacteria since you can't be sure how long the Petco or LFS had kept the rock wet and submerged.

 

[MPrz59]

My local Petco has live rock but I’m unsure if I should buy it from them or my LFS. Anyone have good or bad experience with purchasing live rock from Petco?

I always like to buy from LFS to support small business but my is terrible when it comes to the aquatics department so I don't trust them anyways

 

[TaiN]

I bought live rocks from petco when I first started and wished I never had. If you want a ton of bristleworms and algae then sure. In my case the algae and bristle worm problem got way too out of hand and I broke down my tank to start with dry rocks

 

[mistergray]

I bought live rocks from petco when I first started and wished I never had. If you want a ton of bristleworms and algae then sure. In my case the algae and bristle worm problem got way too out of hand and I broke down my tank to start with dry rocks

Wow! Thanks for sharing!