I noticed this at a petco nearby recently.. the selection was better than it has been , and the info on some of the fish is pretty close to correct... they had pangasius listed at 36," BGK at 18" and something else I can't recall at 24"... the big thing that was missing were tank sizes for every single fish. There's definitely more to be done, but it is a step in the right direction IMO.
Petco Aquatics Makeover
- Thread starter airborne82
- Start date
Good you caught a typo from me at 2am good job!haynchinook334;3478745; said:
This is why RTC are just available now and only to the stores in this program because we know what we are doing. I have had TSN i for a few weeks now and have not sold him because I tell people he needs 150gal for the first year and after that a custom tank or indoor pond. I will refuse the sale to anyone with 55gal and have the full suport of the managment to do so.
there is a few typo's. but it is 1:11 where i'm at. But all i'm saying is " all of The workers at Petsmart, Petco needs to produce well educated people in the fish department. How the hell a person from Petco tell me that to get rid of ich is to add stress coat from walmart? I don't get it.airborne82;3478784; said:
we have two well edjucated people in the fish department and we both get 40hrs but that dose not cover every min the store is open. I am sory you had a bad experence it was probably someone from birds who was covering aquatics and should have just admited they don't know. I have gone so far as to leave my cell # so they can call me when I am not their rather than them give bad advice.
You might know what your talking about, But Petco and Petsmart and other corporate company has put a pretty good hit on the aquatic collector. Like the info they give, like the filters they should use, like the food they should eat, tank size, tank mates, where the fish are from, the PH the fish is use to, etc. All I'm saying is that if you can produce quality people to work the the stores then more power to you. I just want to walk in the store and say " My fish has a cut on it's head" and not get a bunch of jibba jabba about "oh, you need rid ich and some lime juice to raise you PH to 8.0 and drop the temp to 60 degrees because parasites can't live in that kind of cold".
Good for you, sounds like you have an exciting project on your hands! Must be nice to have a job you can actually get passionate about.
In the UK we have Pets at Home which sounds a bit like your Petco and my local one has just revamped its tropical displays, unfortunately they went from 3 tiers of tanks including all sorts off oddballs to two small tiers of regular community fish. Sure the tanks look nicer but they never have anything I would want to keep anymore. Fortunately I have a couple more LFS in my area.
In the UK we have Pets at Home which sounds a bit like your Petco and my local one has just revamped its tropical displays, unfortunately they went from 3 tiers of tanks including all sorts off oddballs to two small tiers of regular community fish. Sure the tanks look nicer but they never have anything I would want to keep anymore. Fortunately I have a couple more LFS in my area.
Anyone live in the Middletown NY Area? I would love for someone to stop by and offer a little input.
airborne82;3478670; said:Ok so here it is I am the Aquatics Specialist at petco and I am one of 30 stores in the nation that is part of the magnet program. This means we have been one of the top Aquatics stores in the country and we have been cut off the leash we have no restricted species except those prohibited by law. I will now be carying Arowanas, knife fish, RTC, TSN and a list of African and South American Cichlids that will blow your mind. I have been told I can remove tank dividers and arainge fish any way I want to include the decore of the tanks. Any one who has ever worked for a chain store will know that a corperation allowing someone to break the cookie cutter image is huge. I have been told I can take down tank dividers to make an African display and that I should do the same with the south American Cichlids. I will be honest I feel a bit overwelmed at the moment I have always been told what to do in that department and now I am being told to get creative and that we have the full suport of the corprate wallet behind us. BTW this store is in Middletown NY if you have sugestions I would love to hear them and if you live in the area stop in and say hi and we can talk fish for a bit just ask for Tom. Stop in forget the old Petco you knew and I will try to order anything you want! I just scrached the surface of what is hapening I forgot to mention the 120gal reef focal tank and the saltwater explosion. But most important I need sugestions on what to do how to present and what to cary.
dwarf cichlids FTW! apistos, keyholes, dwarf acaras, rams, and shell dwellers for africans. I see so many people go in the big box, buy a 29g tank and an oscar. You can break the cycle!
airborne82;3479093; said:
Unfortunately, I live in the Reno, NV area. Any chance that any of the local Petco stores in my area will become part of this program. I would love to be able to get a wider variety of Bichirs available here. I might even try to get a job there if I could be a part of a program like that. It could also mean one more knowledgable employee in the Aquatics area, and that couldn't hurt either. You might see if anyone in your area, that's a part of this forum, would be interested in any part-time work as an aquatics professional on your team. The higher the level of experience and knowledge in your department, means that the higher quality fish and environments you'll be able to provide to them will only help furthur your customer service & ability to maintain a program of this nature... Best of luck.
Ben.
Thats funny I just had a request for shell dwellers the other day for the first time. Now that our availibility of fish has increased I will try and get them. We cary a decent amount of dwarf cichlids such as rams already. I have had to refuse the sale of many an Oscar to someone who wants to put it in a 10gal tank.Diogenes;3479130; said:
