PetCo Marine Fish

[Vassal of Ulmo]

I live in a metro area in the U.S. with a population of several million. I have several local fish stores, PetCo's, and PetSmart's in the region. I have a couple of questions:

1. It seems obvious that I should choose my LFS over PetCo, but why? (I'm hoping I'll learn something by asking an obvious question.)

2. According to my online research, PetSmart doesn't sell marine fish, while PetCo does. However, the PetCo's in my neighborhood don't have saltwater fish to my knowledge. I haven't checked the PetCo's in neighboring cities in the metro area. Just out of pure curiosity, is it common for Petco managers to decline to stock marine fish in their stores?

 

[bradreef]

Petco typically has slightly different setups to hold marine fish vs freshwater. The biggest reasons people dont like petco fish is due to the conditions of some of their store systems, no qt process, and general lack of knowledge from staff. Some stores are great though and do a good job. People also buy online from petco and the fish are shipped direct from one of the largest wholesalers.

 

[FUNGI]

To answer your question, yes. Petco store managers can stock based on local demographics. They might have stocked marine fish at one point, never sold any, and thus, no longer carry.

 

[Vassal of Ulmo]

Petco typically has slightly different setups to hold marine fish vs freshwater. The biggest reasons people dont like petco fish is due to the conditions of some of their store systems, no qt process, and general lack of knowledge from staff. Some stores are great though and do a good job. People also buy online from petco and the fish are shipped direct from one of the largest wholesalers.

Do they ship directly from LiveAquaria? I used to think of LiveAquaria as just a useful website for basic research, but recently someone pointed out that they're a major wholesaler in this industry.

 

[bradreef]

Do they ship directly from LiveAquaria? I used to think of LiveAquaria as just a useful website for basic research, but recently someone pointed out that they're a major wholesaler in this industry.

I believe they use quality marine which supplies live aquaria. Unless that has changed

 

[FUNGI]

I believe they use quality marine which supplies live aquaria. Unless that has changed

among others......

 

[Reefing102]

So the fish typically ship from Quality Marine. I’m not aware of LiveAquaria being a wholesaler (though I think I read they’re owned by one).

That said, Petco used to own liveaquaria until they sold it.

Also, definitely check other petcos around. Mine in town doesn’t sell SW but the other two in nearby cities do.

Another main reason a lot don’t use Petco is they’d rather support the mom and pop LFS rather than a massive corporation.

 

[Vassal of Ulmo]

Just curious, do freshwater-only LFS even exist? I've visited 4 LFS in my metro area (one of which no longer exists), and 3 were both fresh and salty and one appeared to be salty only.

 

[jkcoral]

People shy away from Petco due to concerns about the health and quality of the livestock. They do get a lot of their fish from QM (who a ton of LFS also purchase from). Many years ago I had a family friend that was a manager at a Petco, and every so often I’d ask them to get a fish ordered, and I’d be able to pick it up on the day it arrived still inside the QM bag without it ever having touched their tanks. I’d be much more nervous doing anything else.

Anyways, you live in a big city, which means there’s probably a decent reef store around (or several) so why bother with Petco at all!

 

[bradreef]

Just curious, do freshwater-only LFS even exist? I've visited 4 LFS in my metro area (one of which no longer exists), and 3 were both fresh and salty and one appeared to be salty only.

Yes absolutely. There are a few in my area that are fresh only

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Another main reason a lot don’t use Petco is they’d rather support the mom and pop LFS rather than a massive corporation.

This.

Some of us remember how the landscape was before the chain stores strongarmed the mom and pops out of business with loss leader sales and a big advertising budget, and in so doing brought down the quality of local offerings.

 

[OrionN]

I shop at Petco in Corpus Christi. They have very healthy fish, nice selection and fairly inexpensive. I can even special-order fish from them.

 

[JoeyBagadonuts]

It will definitely come down to the individual Petco, and the staff looking over the fish section at the time. Our local Petco has been very good over the years. I have bought many fish and inverts from them. I still have some of those fish years later, nice and healthy. But there was a short period where staff had changed and didn’t keep up the tanks. It’s pretty easy to tell as soon as you walk in. But more often than not I am getting fish and coral from the LFS’s. We have one right in town that is good and a number within a 20 minutes drive. I do prefer to spend money with the small local businesses as opposed to large corporations. It’s also nice to go in and talk shop with the staff/owners.

 

[herbeca]

The on line ordering is convenient and generally more economical. Their guarantee is fish arrive alive or money back. Their overnight shipping has NEVER arrived overnight, but still reasonably alive fish after two day transport. The annoying feature of their on line ordering is most fish are out of stock and you cannot filter to only see available fish. Also prices vary month to month by as much as 50% so waiting for a low price cycle can be helpful. Also shipping on 5 fish is the same as 1 fish so bulk is a better buy.

I put newly delivered fish in a quarantine tank with minimal hiding spaces for two weeks to clear parasites and to avoid the hide until death tendency of stressed fish.