Petsmart has got all their old Fluval Canister Filters on clearance. Something like $59 for the 204. I can get for cheaper but have to drive a lot further
GettingSassy said:And if you take a printout of what you want into Petsmart (from their site only), they'll match the price.
Yep, I gotto agree, I have seen some goog chain stores including Petco and even Wal-mart. The Wal-mart here has a tiny but very well maintained fish section with a suprisingly nice selection (usually), they are quick to quarantine and treat any tanks that show signs of disease. The Petco here though has a manager who doesn't give a damn about fish, minimal selections poorly maintained, willingness to sell obviously sick fish, and using the same net for all the fish tanks, I have seen him catch angels covered in ich to sell then use the same dripping net to go catch some african cichlid from a different bank of tanks.toogoodjohns said:I work at Petco and I gotta say that there is a grain of truth to the critiisms you guys have raised. I say this assuming Petsmart is similar in style, just because of the setup. The service you get is really gonna very based on the store and personel. I know in mine they is me and a manager who know anything about exotic fish. Granted I'm realitively new to the hobby, but I make it my business to learn everything I can about them and pass it along to the customers. I have gotten some backlash against the "20 questions" but many times if you ask a customer if they're experienced they'll reply, "yeah I've kept fish for four years." By this the mean by replacing the fish every month as they die off. As for selection that varies by availability because we are restricted to one or two vendors and can only order what they have to offer. I know at my store we have carried almost all the fish in the past year that have been mentioned in this chain. However the problem is that alot of these fish you mention don't show color till maturity or what not. The fish don't sell and sit in our tanks for months. There is alot of valuer to be had because alot of times fish will be sent as one thing when we ordered another and we have to sell them as what they were ordered as. So say we order senegal birchirs and the vendor is out of them. They may just send daffodils just to complete the order. We'll sell them as regular birchirs knowing full well they're a value. However not all the stores have the experienced personel to give services to more experienced fish keepers. Plus depending on the market, they may not sell many of the exotic species. Most people are looking to stock a 10 gallon with as many brightly colored fish as possible. My suggestion is take it case by case. If you have a good one, use it. If not then more than likely there will be new blood in the stores soon. Because unlike the LFS there is a high turnover rates with the people who think it's out to put mollies in with a johanni. Just for the record I use both LFS and the chains. I don;t think there really needs to be a bias against one or the other because I've been to some pretty terrible aquarium store that should hang their heads in shame of the conditions they keep.