ive found that the same pet store can vary depending on location. Now i have no clue what petcetera is but i have seen very good examples and very very bad examples of the same petstore
Whats up with the Petco Petsmart people??????
- Thread starter tlagoon
- Start date
One good thing about those big stores is that they carry some very realistic looking artificial rocks,roots and driftwood peices that I dont see in my hobby shops.
my petco actually sells a few interesting fish,such as snowflake eels and volitians lionfish.They also sell clown knives and can order ropefish.Occasionaly they get ornates too.Actually quite knowledgeable to be honest,and I do shop their for suppiles.Around my area,most of the chain stores seem to be knowledgeable,afore mentioned.And I can get artificial 3-D rock backgrounds for a cheap price,not to mention with a card for something even CHEAPER.I'm pretty sure I can name all of their fish and reptile species.I really only go to 3 places(petco,petland,wallys)for my fish.Yes,I buy from corporate stores.And the petland sells bamboo sharks,which actually look healthy.And theres a 2 of wal-marts around here,yet only 1 sells fish,and unfortunatley sells retics(only $10 though),and chinese water dragons.Though some of the staff is good.
i wish persmart would just stirr up the gravel sometime.. everytime i go in there the gravel is covered in moldy food!
well i undestand where a lot of you are coming from but don't label entire chains because of one bad store, i work at a chain store and have had customers tell me more than once "wow, not all of these stores are made the same" all it takes is a few dedicated employees to boost an entire fish section. labeling them is like saying man my lfs sucks, all lfs must suck then
plus there's a good chance quality won't be that much different because a lot of chain stores get fish from the same distributers as the lfs. many of those chain stores are well capable of getting in rare fish but don't because (1. i'll admit overpricing) 2. the customers they get just want cheap fish, you'd be surprised how many people will buy a fish soley because it is on sale, regardless of look
only thing i like from petsmart and petco is that everyonce in a blue moon they will get something a bit more not so common for a decent price, like lately theyve had really nice looking pikes for $10 which i think is ok. The fish in most of there tanks are either dead or dying but on occasion you will run into a fish u like in a tank with no dead or dying tank mates and u will take th chnace knowing u have a qt tank at home. also u can con some employees with litle fish knowledge sometimes and get god stuff for cheap 
