Petsmart, Petco, etc

[falcon1]

Can't help but wonder what the issue is. Some of these chains are certainly bad, like one near me called PetCetera, which had dead fish in nearly every tank last time I went in. They received no business from me once I saw that. Then there is the local Petsmart. Helpful staff. Healthy fish. Never once brought home a disease from there. They won't even sell you one if they have one available. They are responsible upon who they sell to: if you intend upon housing neons with an oscar they will strongly suggest against it, and if you persist, refuse to sell. I have not had this happen to me, but a similar event happened while I was there. Usually the people working at the fish wall know their stuff, although once they had an employee that tried to tell me danios were live bearers Boy that was a good one. That was only once though. In comparison, my closest local owned pet shop has a crooked owner in my opinion. He sold me what turned out to be a dying elephant nose (the ones he got in later were more active and stockier in build) and refused to refund, replace, or at least discount my next purchase. Other places are decent, but over charge ($50 for a common pleco ) and some of their fish tanks are questionable in upkeep. Maybe I'm in an exception situation, but Petsmart looks pretty good for me.

There is another pet store near me that I just learned about. They claim good prices and great selection. I am going to check it out this weekend. What is everyone else's experience with these chain stores like?

 

[JonY3k]

Petsmart, Petco are some of the best places in my area. I have about 4 locally owned fish stores that I will go to but they are not vary close. I only go to them for the more rare and hard to get stuff. For really cheap fish I go to pet supplies plus. Though the last time I went to the store the tanks where almost half full of gravel. The gravel was really high in the back and lower in the front. I did not have a chance to ask why.

 

[Dr.B]

Can't help but wonder what the issue is. Some of these chains are certainly bad, like one near me called PetCetera, which had dead fish in nearly every tank last time I went in. They received no business from me once I saw that. Then there is the local Petsmart. Helpful staff. Healthy fish. Never once brought home a disease from there. They won't even sell you one if they have one available. They are responsible upon who they sell to: if you intend upon housing neons with an oscar they will strongly suggest against it, and if you persist, refuse to sell. I have not had this happen to me, but a similar event happened while I was there. Usually the people working at the fish wall know their stuff, although once they had an employee that tried to tell me danios were live bearers Boy that was a good one. That was only once though. In comparison, my closest local owned pet shop has a crooked owner in my opinion. He sold me what turned out to be a dying elephant nose (the ones he got in later were more active and stockier in build) and refused to refund, replace, or at least discount my next purchase. Other places are decent, but over charge ($50 for a common pleco ) and some of their fish tanks are questionable in upkeep. Maybe I'm in an exception situation, but Petsmart looks pretty good for me.

There is another pet store near me that I just learned about. They claim good prices and great selection. I am going to check it out this weekend. What is everyone else's experience with these chain stores like?

I have a petsmart that is the same they are really nice and they know their stuff. The manager and most of the staff (or at least the ones I've talked to) had tanks of their own and pretty much knew the basics and a little more. However I have a petco near me that it's management has just totally bombed on everything. They just don't keep up with their fish and don't know what they are talking about half the time. I also have a local owned LFS right by my house. The owner is a nice family man that is a hobbyist himself not just in fish but other things as well such as birds (he actually has a macaw that sits on his shoulder where ever he goes). However he just doesn't keep everything in his shop cleaned. It smells VERY bad and the upkeep is just horrible. He's a really nice guy, but I think he is just a hobbyist that took it a little far. Theres also a Fish store downtown that only hires people that have actually studied ichthyology and such subjects pertaining to fish. They take care of their fish very well, but are way over priced. I think it's more of you pay the extra for the extra care they give the fish and the store. It's a really nice place that I love to go, but my wallet doesn't let me go often.

 

[BCherdingthefish]

Both the Petsmart and Petco near my house are nicer than MANY fish stores that I have been to. I can't speak on the knowledge of the staff as I never need to ask them questions, but I don't expect them to know all there is about fishkeeping at a Petco/Petsmart. I go to my LFS when I want things that can't be found at Petco/Petsmart such as Killi's, Female Bettas(I refuse to buy a Betta out of a cup), etc...For someone like me who is on an extremely tight budget, the Petsmart/Petco prices and how they take good care of their fish make up my mind for me on where I usually go to buy the common type fish.

 

[davis101]

Petsmart where I'm from is usually pretty good. Clean tanks and helpful staff. Overall, I wouldn't say they are the most knowledgeable people about fish, but they at least try and most of them are quite young, as far as I have seen anyways. They are definitely cheaper then the average self owned pet store, but you can rarely find a non-common fish there. Pet Smart actually can't even special order in anything. Petland can special order in fish, but they are almost the same price as self owned pet stores, so I would rather support a small business then a chain in that sense. That's just my two sense though. lol

 

[skjl47]

Hello; In a little over five decades of visiting fish shops I have learned to walk around and take a good look at the tanks. Often I can determine what kind of shop it is by the condition of the tanks and fish. The way a place smells is sometimes a good clue. After checking the tanks, a look at the general condition of the store and equipment follows.
If the tanks are too dirty and look like regular maintaince has not been performed I walk away without buying fish.
If the fish in any tank have ick I mention this and judge by the response from the clerk. Do they know of and acknowledge the ick? Are fish sold from the infected tanks? Do they use the same nets or other equipment in multiple tanks? Are they treating the infected tanks? The answer to these questions can help me to decide if i want to purchase fish from them. The mere presence of ick is not necessairly a sign the shop is poorly run as the parasite can come in with new shipments of fish.
That dead fish are in shop tanks can be a clue. Some will depend on the state of the dead fish. Even the shops that are well run will lose fish at times. A few dead fish gives me pause to look at things a little closer. Have the fish been allowed to stay in the tank long enough to be in advanced stages of decay? Are more than one dead fish clustered around the intake of a power filter? Have the other fish had enough time to feed on the dead ones?
Having purchased from poorly run shops and brought the problems home a few times has led me to be more careful. A QT is now the home for all new fish for around two weeks.

I too have had good experences at chain pet shops. Some are run well just as some private shops are very bad.

 

[Runitis]

It all depends on the people who work there really! But actually petsmart is a really clean place and looks good. Except they stock the exact same stock constantly. Most employees though I've met don't know what they are talking about and teach whatever is displayed on the fish's description

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[F1 VET]

Its a business like anything else. They are great for dog/cat supplies and emergency fish items like prime, salt etc. Anything else I usually order online because its cheaper!


One of the best local lfs around here (non chain) collects all the dead fish in the morning and throws them in the red belly piranha tank, which if death was caused naturally I can see resourcefulness but diseased or parasite ridden feeders? Gross...

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[Davis102613]

The Pet Supplies Plus around me seems pretty shady, the guy in charge talks to me more about getting his numbers up than about the actual fish and half the fish are dead consistently. As far as the Petco around me, it's decent, but they don't really seem to know anything about fish. One day I brought in a Red Devil that had just not got along with anything. The manager looked at it and asked, "Is that a gold fish?" There is one small family owned fish shop around me, but the owner seems over condescending to everyone. Their product is better than the chains, but it's almost not worth dealing with him.

It all just depends on who is running that particular store as to the quality.

 

[xraycer]

It all depends on the people who work there really! But actually petsmart is a really clean place and looks good. Except they stock the exact same stock constantly. Most employees though I've met don't know what they are talking about and teach whatever is displayed on the fish's description

Sent from my HTC One using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

+1.

I find my local Petco has a lot more interesting stock: rtc, Pbass, discus, pacus, aros, severums

It seems all my lfs are typically dark, dinghy, untidy, smelly. Just not a lot of effort in presentation.