I went to a petco in Tucson, AZ. I was horrified at what I saw. The six display tanks that they had were the worst I have ever seen. I saw a Blue Koran angle that was covered in white body slime and suffering from lateral line. The fish apparently lost it's air bladder because it was floating with it's body vertical. All the substrate was civered in thick 3-4 inch long hair alge. The yellow tangs that, were infected with fin rott.
horror story from petco
- Thread starter nin1one7295
- Start date
Ive seen £7000 worth of top quality marine equipment running on an aquarium that looked like a swamp. I actually hit the floor laughing and was asked to leave by th owner. The funnyest bit for me was seeing the corraline algie growing on the inside of their reactor, and nowhere else in the system. The rest was covered in slime and hair. I wont even go into what the fish looked like. But sereously, i couldn't imagine how they got corraline growing on the inside of a reactor placed in an unlit sump area.
Absolutely let the management know how you feel about their husbandry practices. Write a formal letter. Get their website and give it out to others you will write to them as well. The only way this ever changes in through people that care enough to actually try to change it.
We'll never change them all, but the few that we do make a difference to those critters within.
Lynn
We'll never change them all, but the few that we do make a difference to those critters within.
Lynn
I recently bought a long tentacle anemone from PetCo, shame on me I know. The sales people had no clue! I had to guide them through the entire process of bagging them up, and they wouldn't let me do it of course. I will say that I have seen fish literally torn apart by tank inhabitants to the point that they were barely recognizable as fish. I am support of them selling salt water accessories (they are the only people at 8:30 at night for that emergency bag of salt), just not the selling of fish by under-trained staff.
Posted by Trent:
I am support of them selling salt water accessories (they are the only people at 8:30 at night for that emergency bag of salt), just not the selling of fish by under-trained staff.
-The problem with this is that the LFS will go out of business if they don't get the dry good sales. By purchasing your dry goods from companies that treat their live stock in this manner, you are in fact supporting this practice.
Steve
I am support of them selling salt water accessories (they are the only people at 8:30 at night for that emergency bag of salt), just not the selling of fish by under-trained staff.
-The problem with this is that the LFS will go out of business if they don't get the dry good sales. By purchasing your dry goods from companies that treat their live stock in this manner, you are in fact supporting this practice.
Steve
I have b*en checking out some shops in Atl*nta as I am getting back into reefs. On the way home from w*rk last week I saw a P*tco and pulled in. I was upset at the h*alth of the fish. There where even skeletons on the substr*te from the victims. A sh*me.
S*xe
(edited to protect the innocent (me) since I cannot afford to protect my free speach)
[ May 03, 2002: Message edited by: Saxe ]</p>
S*xe
(edited to protect the innocent (me) since I cannot afford to protect my free speach)
[ May 03, 2002: Message edited by: Saxe ]</p>
My local PETCO prices are so far over priced on there salt water items know one really buys from them, they run 50 dollars higher on the same filters other lfs sell and are higher on everything else also. The tanks there were so bad(and i mean bad) that i actually went to there homepage and e mailed someone who takes care of these things, about 3 days later i received back an e mail saying they would look into it and they appreciate i wrote them.Unfortunatly since then it has only gotten worse and its been months,others who wrote are correct,they have people there that have no knowledge of salt water fish, hopefully something someday will change with them, and theres no way id pay 17.oo bucks for a plain tomato clown !!Get Real Petco
I agree thier supplies are WAY overpriced. I can buy a bucket of salt at my LFS for almost the same price of a 50 gallon bag from Petco.
In any case their fish are never great, at my local Petco but the tanks are usually clean, no cyno or hair. I only get in once every few months if Im near the area for frozen Mysis but thats about it. I do think that their systems are riddled with problems though but as mentioned before in the old Petco posts, Petco has a set way the managment must follow.
In any case their fish are never great, at my local Petco but the tanks are usually clean, no cyno or hair. I only get in once every few months if Im near the area for frozen Mysis but thats about it. I do think that their systems are riddled with problems though but as mentioned before in the old Petco posts, Petco has a set way the managment must follow.
I used to work at petco until i moved up in the world. I think the worst thing about petco is how they treat their workers. I worked there for a year and a half. They have horrible training programs. They almost want to hire people with skills of a vet to work for 7.00 bucks a hour. Like every single tank at the store has UV sterilizers but corperate would never send us replacements because they said it cost too much. For the salt aquariums too we had a huge slime algae problem and corporate kept telling us we had a R/O system but all it was was a carbon filter. They constantly ignored every thing i told them to help make their store better as if i know nothing. I personally dont think that it is the bottom employies it starts at corporate. On good days thay make 10,000 dollars a day at thier larger stores they deffinantly can afford to spend more on staffing the store correctly. But a little secret is for the last few years they have been private but now they are thinking about going public with stock again so that may change how some things are run there.
Hopefully.
Hopefully.
For god's sake people. Learn something from your predecessors. Don't specify Petco without an asterisk (eg. P*tco). It's apparent that freedom of speech doesn't count anymore after the Pet*warehouse settlement. Be careful, people. Unless, of course, you're lawyers or know somebody from the ACLU.
Whitey
Whitey
Petco Animal Supplies, Inc.
Customer Satisfaction Team
9125 Rehco Road
San Diego, CA 92121
Or better yet:
Brian K. Devine
Chairman, President and CEO
Petco Animal Supplies, Inc.
9125 Rehco Road
San Diego, CA 92121
[ May 02, 2002: Message edited by: MattM ]</p>
Customer Satisfaction Team
9125 Rehco Road
San Diego, CA 92121
Or better yet:
Brian K. Devine
Chairman, President and CEO
Petco Animal Supplies, Inc.
9125 Rehco Road
San Diego, CA 92121
[ May 02, 2002: Message edited by: MattM ]</p>
The local P*tco here always has sick looking fish and filthy tanks. When I was in there last week picking up crickets and ferret food, they had 5 Neon Pseudochromis in the same tank and they looked like they had been fighting. They had a few tanks that were completely empty, but weren't bothering to move them. I don't have any fish tanks, so I could not rescue any of them.
The lfs' around here don't seem much better. The only two I have found sell baby alligators, and I heard an employee at one of them tell a woman that an alligator would not grow larger than the terrarium she puts it in. There is a P*tsmart in town, and their employees are extremely rude and act like you are bothering them when you need something. I love going in there and asking for 100 crickets. They ALWAYS whine.
I can't seem to find a store in my area that has the supplies I need, so my only choice has been to go to P*tco and P*tsmart. I don't know Portland very well, so I never go over there to look.
The lfs' around here don't seem much better. The only two I have found sell baby alligators, and I heard an employee at one of them tell a woman that an alligator would not grow larger than the terrarium she puts it in. There is a P*tsmart in town, and their employees are extremely rude and act like you are bothering them when you need something. I love going in there and asking for 100 crickets. They ALWAYS whine.
I can't seem to find a store in my area that has the supplies I need, so my only choice has been to go to P*tco and P*tsmart. I don't know Portland very well, so I never go over there to look.
The first time I went into the PetCo in Ft. Smith, Arkansas the fish actually looked good. In the two years since then I've watched the quality of the sw operation deteriorate so badly that the staff are unwittingly trying to sell dead fish that are "only sleeping." Fortunately, the sw section has been steadily decreasing in size over the last 8 months and appears that it will be phased out by fall.
The real tragedy is that they are the lead store in the area. (There is one LFS in Van Buren, 5 miles away -World Wide Pets, that treats their fish well. After that it's a 40 minute drive to Fayetteville to see Worlds Underwater -which btw is an awesome store. PetCo ought to hire that guy as a consultant.) The LFSs there in Ft. Smith are so lame that they even set their prices based on what PetCo charges. Simply ridiculous. Oddly, I still visit all of those stores just to remind myself why I don't buy anything from them. And I haven't since last September. Ofc, it just occured to me that it might be the locale. Pretty much everything in Arkansas has the same quality as moldy dried out dog poop.
ben
*Proud retainer of the largest legal service on earth.
The real tragedy is that they are the lead store in the area. (There is one LFS in Van Buren, 5 miles away -World Wide Pets, that treats their fish well. After that it's a 40 minute drive to Fayetteville to see Worlds Underwater -which btw is an awesome store. PetCo ought to hire that guy as a consultant.) The LFSs there in Ft. Smith are so lame that they even set their prices based on what PetCo charges. Simply ridiculous. Oddly, I still visit all of those stores just to remind myself why I don't buy anything from them. And I haven't since last September. Ofc, it just occured to me that it might be the locale. Pretty much everything in Arkansas has the same quality as moldy dried out dog poop.
ben
*Proud retainer of the largest legal service on earth.
There are about 5 local P**** in my area. All started out quite nice. One of them has a very knowledgeable saltwater manager. As time goes by, things are definetly going downhill. What I see is the lack of management and attention to details. Plus, the employees working in Salt department are pretty clueless. This can be due to the low wage offered plus lack of training. Again, this will tie back to the lack of management.
The type of customer they attracted are mostly newby looking for some pretty colorful fishies to put in a fish bowl.
Sad..... Unless their management recognize the problem lie beneath, otherwise I see they are either going to drop out of the market of be taken over. Otherwise, they will have to keep charging arm and legs on dry goods and animal feeds to cover the losses in the livestock departments.
The type of customer they attracted are mostly newby looking for some pretty colorful fishies to put in a fish bowl.
Sad..... Unless their management recognize the problem lie beneath, otherwise I see they are either going to drop out of the market of be taken over. Otherwise, they will have to keep charging arm and legs on dry goods and animal feeds to cover the losses in the livestock departments.
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