You Never Know What You'll See at Petco

[Dixie_reefer]

I heard that petco and petsmart use cyanide to collect their fish. The divers will put it into the water and the fish drop like flies and when they wake up, they are in bags getting ready to be shipped off. The fish are never right after that due to the side effects of the poison.

 

[bjledbetter]

Our petco here is usually pretty good at keeping livestock app. housed. But i know there fish guy and he's been in the hobby for a long while. Ill buy fish from there from titme to time and most I still have.

 

[uall8up]

Just makes me sick what these stores will do for a buck!! I can honestly say that our Petco has a department manager that is a reefer also. I never see over crowding or nasty tanks. But the condition that some of the fish arrive in is awful!!! I am there a LOT on delivery day and it really makes me sad!!! We have 1 store in town that is personally owned and the tanks are over run with algae. I want soooo bad to start a business that would provide others with quality fish and coral. But, I am sure, many of us feel this way! I think I will put this on my 5 year plan.

 

[scuba2]

I don't know about other petco stores, but I would never buy a fish there. They have knowlegable employees but the company policy won't let them QT or treat sick fish. BTW they had a great tank build at their headquarters on TANK

 

[_Alex_]

I heard that petco and petsmart use cyanide to collect their fish. The divers will put it into the water and the fish drop like flies and when they wake up, they are in bags getting ready to be shipped off. The fish are never right after that due to the side effects of the poison.

i dont know if this is true or not we have 3 fish in our systems that our from petco, one is a clown that we have had for going on over 3 years. another is a green mandarin we have had for about a year now. i really hope that it is not true!!

 

[ritter6788]

They'll be out of business one day soon IMO with stock that looks like that. Depressing nonetheless.

The store has been in business as long as I can remember. It's a "pet store" that has a saltwater section. When I got in the hobby they had a decent selection of coral and fish but it's really gone down hill in the past few years.

 

[lps1212]

Mines had blotchy's

 

[Pkunk35]

The store has been in business as long as I can remember. It's a "pet store" that has a saltwater section. When I got in the hobby they had a decent selection of coral and fish but it's really gone down hill in the past few years.

There used to be a lot of these in Chicago back in the day as well. The worst is when you see they somehow also sell puppies or kittens at these places...ugh. Thankfully many of them are gone now or have gone out of business.


One of my best fishy friends gave me some stellar advice when i started this hobby: Buying a fish from Petco is virtually guaranteeing yourself disease or death (of course this is after i pick up a pair of anthias from Petco). Maybe not all Petco's are exactly the same, but as scuba2 said, I've never once seen a dipping bucket at Petco.

I don't understand...is it not in their best interest to actually improve their aquatic husbandry there??

 

[ritter6788]

There used to be a lot of these in Chicago back in the day as well. The worst is when you see they somehow also sell puppies or kittens at these places...ugh.

Yeah, this place sells puppies and kittens. Ugly, expensive ones too. I think they buy them from puppy mills. $800 Yorkie pups that are as big as Rottweilers.