What fish would you like to see gone from petco?

[bridget1476]

My co workers are clueless and think petco care guides are good. When selling a dwarf gourami, coworker says "the tag says community so its best to get 2 or more" without looking at what sex the gourami is. Semi aggressive is so vague and people think all fish labeled that way can be kept together not knowing semi aggressive covers everything from "only fights with own species" to "fin nipper" to "only aggreasive if kept alone".

My work nightmares consist of clueless coworks putting new shipment guppies in the african cichlid section. When a customer gets bad advice from my store its almost always a co worker who thinks they know everything because they read the petco care guide

 

[Supergeorge123]

I wouldn't have blood parrots as never sell fish. They are very interactive fish, a lot of people treat them like pet dogs. Common plecos definitely should never be sold, how many people have the space for a two foot long monster catfish? Even those who do, probably arent going to be keeping common plecos.

The list for fish not to stock could be endless. I think it would be better to focus on some fish that should be in stock. Some i would have on my list, in no particular order:

1. Cherry barbs (not longfin) for some reason it is becoming impossible to find the normal varieties, everyone is keeping the longfinned ones.
2. Kribensis (another "common" fish that for some reason is becoming harder to find)
3. Leopard danio (not longfin)
4. Kuhli loaches
5. Cherry shrimp (red, yellow, blue, a lot of places only have the red)
6. Amano shrimp
7. Neon tetras (duh)
8. Black neon tetras
9. Cardinal tetras
10. Bolivian rams
11. Electric blue cichlids (Jack dempsey or acaras)
12. White cloud minnows (regular and golden varieties)
13. Dojo loaches (golden and regular)
14. African butterfly fish (cool oddball, doesnt get very big, not too difficult to take care of)
15. Spotted raphael catfish (freaking invincible, able to withstand new hobbyist abuse, stays smaller than the striped)
16. Salt and pepper corydoras (small, simple easy, cooler than the bronze in my opinion)
17. Pygmy corydoras (a very cool little fish, would probably fly off the shelves. There are two species, i would go with pygmaeus)
18. Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, might skip on the mollies)
19. Clown killifish (great little topwater fish)
20. Ancistrus plecos (great alternative to the common pleco, some of them look really amazing, depending on what species you have access too.)
21. Celestial pearl danios (everyone loves them)
22. Midsize gouramis (pearls, snakeskins)
23. Dwarf gouramis (common dwarf, honey, flames, would skip on the chocolates)
24. Rainbowfish (could probably go with whatever you have access too, none of them get huge and most are decently hardy)
25. Ghost catfish (look freaking cool, they are somewhat sensitive though and need to be kept in schools)

I could go on from there, but those are the top 25 i would be looking at. Obviously you could go on and add many other fish like various other danios, cories, rasboras etc, but i think that would be a good petco starter pack. More importantly, those fish sell well and by keeping the normal instead of longfin varieties of certain species you would be fulfilling a desire that seems to be growing as more stores only carry the longfinned ones.

 

[esoxlucius]

My co workers are clueless and think petco care guides are good. When selling a dwarf gourami, coworker says "the tag says community so its best to get 2 or more" without looking at what sex the gourami is. Semi aggressive is so vague and people think all fish labeled that way can be kept together not knowing semi aggressive covers everything from "only fights with own species" to "fin nipper" to "only aggreasive if kept alone".

My work nightmares consist of clueless coworks putting new shipment guppies in the african cichlid section. When a customer gets bad advice from my store its almost always a co worker who thinks they know everything because they read the petco care guide

It seems like you're a good egg in an otherwise rotten basket. I applaud you for trying to make a difference.

 

[Supergeorge123]

I aggree. The stores frag tank is a disaster. I have no freshwater puffers at my store thankfully. Are longfin varieties impared? Elaborate

I dont agree with the no puffers. Dwarf puffers are great fish and they dont have any difficult needs that people need to worry about. You do have to worry about the teeth getting too long on most other species, but the dwarfs are an exception. They are good nano tank fish for people looking for an alternative to bettas.

 

[Jim bean 20055]

They are really just there as feeders. Minnows and goldfish are bad feeders, but are common for that purpose.
I bought a few from petsmart as pets. They looked just as bad but actually did pretty good once they settled in and got some food in their stomachs, competed head on with dwarf puffers.

Even so they could at least give them some better living conditions like cmon now, they are fish too!

 

[Deadeye]

Even so they could at least give them some better living conditions like cmon now, they are fish too!

Yeah I agree with that point. If I’m getting a feeder fish I’d like to at least know I’m not gonna kill my predator.

I dont agree with the no puffers. Dwarf puffers are great fish and they dont have any difficult needs that people need to worry about. You do have to worry about the teeth getting too long on most other species, but the dwarfs are an exception. They are good nano tank fish for people looking for an alternative to bettas.

Dwarf puffers are amazing fish, but simple feeding, water quality, and compatibility are lost on so many people who see a cute fish. Wonderful fish to sell, but so many wrong people get them and wind up with a dead fish.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Hey, you guys can't come down on the woman who is trying to save the local petco.

 

[Bizdaddy]

Do you have control to decide what fish come in to the store? I worked for Petco in '93-'94 and we had no control. Corporate sent what they sent. The fish room manager was a very experienced aquarist and would get frustrated that they would send fish that weren't appropriate for most fish keepers. All 3 of us in the fish room were experienced but our customers were all beginners. Advanced hobbyists didn't come to Petco. It's great if they've changed their policy and you can have a say in what comes in. Great work on your part.

 

[Joshuakahan]

I'm the aquatics specialist at a petco and both my manager and supervisor are fish keepers and they support me putting the well being of the fish over profits more than other Petcos. I would like to compile a "never sell" and a "sometimes sell" list of species based on the ethics of how the fish was bred and the target customer of petco.

Never sell:
Balloon fish
blood parrot cichlids
irredecent sharks
any dyed fish

sometimes sell (have one in stock a month):
hi fin banded loach
oscar
discus
flowerhorn
common pleco

Let me know if there are any others!

I think selling only fish that a typical petco customer can properly care for is more important than worrying about genetics or coloring. I think petco should never sell any fish that get over 12” or that are overly demanding.

 

[Deadeye]

I think selling only fish that a typical petco customer can properly care for is more important than worrying about genetics or coloring. I think petco should never sell any fish that get over 12” or that are overly demanding.

That is true. It’s more of the people with high experience that also care about the purity and genetics of fish. A lot of time the inbred/colorful one looks nicer imo (acaras and oscars for example).
Most people at the petco don’t care so much about the specifics. Those colorful fish sell and build an interest in the hobby. If someone isn’t interested in a certain color, they don’t have to buy it.
Size is different. That 2 inch Oscar or pacu isn’t going to stay 5-6 inches like a convict or silver dollar. It will get far bigger than most can care for.