Petco rescue....hate that place.

[tsav87]

The delimma is that Petco’s have contributed to putting many LFS out of business. All that knowledge is gone too. Sad Amazing that they don’t take advantage of this higher dollar segment of the aquarium business.

Our PetCo was built long after the last true LFS bit the dust in our area.

 

[Big G]

In my small town, there were 2 freshwater and one salt aquarium shops that all closed within a couple of years of Petco opening. Petco just ate away at their profit margins, according to the LFS owners. So now if I want to visit a LFS, I have to drive 135 miles. Argh!

 

[bdejong1112o]

If this thread raises some awareness and prompts a few of us into meaningfull action then its served its purpose. I know that i will attempt to be a little more vocal with more than just my wallet. I will get an email togather with the story of this little guy and send it off. Time will tell if it makes a difference or not.

 

[marinelife]

I love my 2 local Petco, I know one of the guys has a saltwater tank so it helps. I have purchased several fish from them with no issue. They are still alive and doing great!

 

[Gamma]

I did the same thing...my yellow tang recovered for two years in my 29g frag tank. Had to take tank down so used screen to divide off small area in my display to see how my blue tang, foxface, etc would react since I have not added any new fish to that tank in long time. No reaction day 1 and day 2 yellow tang busted out to join others...everybody gets along great!

 

[Reefer addickt]

I ordered myself a mystery wrasse from there.

They are beautiful, but beware, they def will eat all your hermits, small shrimp. I had one get pretty decent size and I wanted to get it out so bad haha, but beautiful fish!!

 

[Reefer addickt]

Also thank you from a fellow reefer on saving the poor little yellow tang! We def need more reefers like you!

 

[TheLadyCrash]

Great job with that poor little guy. He’s looking so much better now!

That being said, I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a moment. While it’s great to see and hear people rescuing these fish from crappy conditions at the big box pet stores, are we indirectly justifying these stores selling these animals when they obviously shouldn’t be due to lack of care? The store isn’t going to know the reason someone has purchase a fish, only that one was purchased and therefore they should bring more in since to them the sale indicates consumer demand?

Please note, I am ONLY playing devil’s advocate to further the discussion and thinking of how we as consumers can influence retailers. I absolutely advocate people telling retailers they either need to up their game when caring for these animals or not sell them at all.

 

[ReefJake123]

Then it’s our job as aquarists and hobbyists to inform them of the poor husbandry and health for the well-being of the animals. You have all the ability to call the hotline as it should be around the store. Give your two cents, inform, push. I cannot stress how much that will make a difference especially when there is one saltwater carrying location around a wide majority of stores around you. They will listen because you care and they will understand you want better.

I have already told them about this and reminded them that they need better filtration maintenance and lighting in their tanks and better feeding yet nothing has happened

 

[siggy]

I thought PETCO was owned to DR'S Fosters & Smith, Surely they know better maintenance is required....Just chiming in on particular stores, my petco was awesome around 2000-4 , real live rock in tubs, lots of fish, corals and dry goods. I take my dog to the solon and over the years it slowly became only 10% of that heyday and the the tanks were terrible the staff had not a clue and I would ask about the tanks and was told a person from corporate comes to maintain them, then around 4-5 years ago they have cleaned up but still just a 5 % shell, and just a 4 tank display with about 6 sorry looking fish.

 

[FartyParty]

So I am looking at thier tanks. Typical Petco, red cyano, green slime alge and aptasia everywhere. Then I spot this poor little yellow tang. He was so thin and gaunt I just couldn't take looking at him. No alge clip or food for him in the tank at all. So I took him home.

IMHO, if you truely feel sorry for those fish at Petco, boycotting would be a better option. I would argue that fueling their business by purchasing a mistreated fish will encourage them to mistreat more through the laws of supply and demands. Remember, to these stores its simply a numbers game--if everyone stops buying, they will undoubtedly stop selling.

 

[Alex boyer]

My experience with petco is hit and mostly miss. The ones in green bay are complete garbage and shouldn't order anything the requires food but one the other hand i found one in Appleton that is surprisingly well maintained and cared for. I purchased a fang tooth from there and he was in very good health and seems like he very happy in my reef. I'm very picky on were i buy my salt water on the accounts of owning a silver foxface that costs more then I'd like to remember.

 

[Don Lidtke]

Excellent save! I am glad to see he is doing so well. It's good that you are becoming attached because I would think it would be difficult to hand him over to someone else.

 

[CanadianReefer]

How long will you keep the yellow QT'd before introducing him? I hope you're going to wait for a while still to make sure he doesn't have any parasites etc.? With him being rescued from bad conditions, I'd think it to be even more important - I wouldn't want any harm to come to your beautiful desjardini

 

[Scurvy]

I just stopped at my local petco for salt. They completely redid and cleaned up their saltwater tanks and they look great! Before doing this the tanks looked awful and the fish looked miserable. I asked to speak to the aqua specialist and told him what a great job they did and he was very thankful for the compliment. He said he's been trying hard for the past few months to get management to allow him to step up and do the right thing and they finally okd it.

He is a reefer and helped them create a cleaning and maintenance schedule that was pretty much non existing before.

Hopefully this catches on at corporate!

I noticed my local petco recently did the same thing. I was quite surprised at what I saw my last visit. The entire saltwater section which had been drained and dry for quite a while was wet and looking very well cared for.

I also found another location near my office about a year ago which had a great caretaker keeping the salty section. He was bringing in extra personal equipment to do it and said he had been scolded by regional management many times for making their other stores look bad. Hopefully this is a trend and we see better from them moving ahead.

 

[made2rock]

I have 5 tangs in a 150 (sailfin, powder blue and 3 yellow). First round of tangs where the sailfin and powder blue. They got along no problems. Next up were the 3 yellow tangs. QT was a 55 arranged to provide plenty of places to hide and dart into. The 3 were moved to a cage in the 150 with a clear back. Here I had aggression problems with the 3 yellow. One ended up down in the sump to keep the peace. After a few weeks it seemed like the time was right so I let all 3 of into the main tank together. That was over 6 mths ago. Today I still have 2 yellow tangs that will chase each other around (They never got over it). The rocks are arranged to provide enough passages so that there is always a place to go. Feeding has to be done with 2 algae clips. Initially I put the clips on opposite ends of the tank but found putting the clips on the same side about 8" from each other this way all the yellows get to eat.

 

[CNDReef]

Actually petco owns dr fosternsmith

 

[Vince57]

That’s incredible!
I believe by the time you nurse him back to health (which it sounds like he’s well on his way) that you’re going to be attached to him, and that, you’ll have a hard time parting ways with him.

 

[Mini Coop]

Awesome job! I did something similar with a dogface puffer last year! Now he is at the Columbus Zoo!!!

I can’t wait to have my tank stocked better and then I can certainly see myself rescuing more! I learned so much from the process!!

 

[Z3speed4me]

Petco by me is a encountering bad husbandry as well... almost wanna go work part time on Saturday to just take care of the tanks.

They did have a lightning maroon the other day I had to talk myself out of takin home for 40 bucks though.