Petco and marine fish

Jeeperz

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This thread makes me laugh. As horrible as the Petco by me is, and all that I've been too, I'd sooner buy from them than the 3 local saltwater fish stores. At least Petco has a variety and semi clean tanks. Some fish are unique and I've never seen them, even at the lfs in Portland, Oregon. Wish they would treat their tanks. I've seen ich and fin rot. I might go pick up a few baby tuxedo urchins from there. $16 each, perfect size for my 20
 

Tamberav

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There is a Petco in Minnesota that sponsors the local aquarium club and goes to the swaps. They have healthy fish and I never hesitated to buy from them when I was in the area.

Some are horrible and some are not but the same goes for LFS.

I will gladly support a LFS or a individual Petco as long as they deserve it.
 

Bryce M.

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There is a Petco in Minnesota that sponsors the local aquarium club and goes to the swaps. They have healthy fish and I never hesitated to buy from them when I was in the area.

Some are horrible and some are not but the same goes for LFS.
North MN? Might be my local one
 

Tamberav

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North MN? Might be my local one

Petco Minnetonka. They update their stock lists to local forums and can tell you how long a fish has been there and what it is eating and everything. They have a frag tank with various things. I wish they were local lol... get that 30% off some spendy fish there when they do those promotions :p

Two of the photos posted this thursday:

petco.JPG petco2.JPG
 
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mattdg

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I prioritize my LFS, whenever possible. With that said, Petco serves as many new hobbyists first experience seeing what SW has to offer. As one employee of our local Petco stated, the more people we can encourage to participate in this hobby, the more likely we are to get a decent LFS around here... and we recently did.
 

MnFish1

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Petco Minnetonka. They update their stock lists to local forums and can tell you how long a fish has been there and what it is eating and everything. They have a frag tank with various things. I wish they were local lol... get that 30% off some spendy fish there when they do those promotions :p

Two of the photos posted this thursday:

petco.JPG petco2.JPG
This is also a tank in that store:

IMG_3033.jpeg
 

Bryce M.

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Petco Minnetonka. They update their stock lists to local forums and can tell you how long a fish has been there and what it is eating and everything. They have a frag tank with various things. I wish they were local lol... get that 30% off some spendy fish there when they do those promotions :p

Two of the photos posted this thursday:

petco.JPG petco2.JPG
Way nicer than my store, looks like a LFS. Thought mind was good for a chain! I'm going to have to check these guys out!
 

Kenneth Hooper

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Never did mandarins. I didn't want to risk them not eating frozen (petco doesn't allow the use of live foods except for African butterfly fish and arrawanas. Did do a lot of lionfish though. They were popular. Especially Fu manchus and fuzzies
Interesting. The Petco that I frequent feeds live shrimp and feeder fish to the Lions they get and pods to the Mandarins. They actually go to another LFS to buy the pods they use for feeding
 
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Old Fritz

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Interesting. The Petco that I frequent feeds live shrimp and feeder fish to the Lions they get and pods to the Mandarins. They actually go to another LFS to buy the pods they use for feeding
We would use live feeders for the lions even though we weren't supposed to. I already spent enough money on medication especially making only 9.50 an hour. I didn't want to risk getting a mandarin that didn't sell and I would constantly have to buy copepods and trust that people there would help feed on the days I had off. If there was a guarantee they came eating frozen I'd have ordered some in a heart beat
 
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Old Fritz

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This is also a tank in that store:

IMG_3033.jpeg
My store didn't have a coral tank. I'd love if I did. Before I treated with copper I'd try ordering different corals. They never did well especially since they didn't give us any test kits for coral health (stores with frag tanks do have calcium and phosphate test kits). I even bought my own test kits for the store because we normally used the test strips which would always give wrong readings.
 

Jeeperz

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Was at Petco, talked to the guy that orders. He actually has a black frog fish in there. He recommended a qt with copper as their tanks have ick and he does run lower salinity to help. He had some meet pipe fish and some tiny shrimp I can't I'd.
 
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Old Fritz

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Was at Petco, talked to the guy that orders. He actually has a black frog fish in there. He recommended a qt with copper as their tanks have ick and he does run lower salinity to help. He had some meet pipe fish and some tiny shrimp I can't I'd.
At least he's honest. I was actually in my local petco today and they had a 8 inch male blue throat trigger for 59.99. Not a bad price.
 

Jeeperz

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He mentioned he's got an ultra Maxima and a #1 grade on order, $90&$60 I think. He had a nice durasa I was told for $40. 2-3" sizes though. There is a nice variety at this store, not much for coral but that's ok. I'm going back for a tuxedo urchin if it's still there this weekend.
 

Jeeperz

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I just picked up a tuxedo urchin from my Petco. There's an algae blenny I'd like to get too. It was interesting watching the 1.5-2" frog fish stalk it, the blenny wasn't gonna give up his cave. The blenny was way too big for it to eat, maybe 2.5" long. May also go back for the sand sifting star, 2" maybe
 

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I like their clams. Got the maxima and derasa 4 momths ago. Save at least 50$ compare to LFS, its a hit or miss but i scrubbed the crap out of the clam shell when i got it
 

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