The one near me is actually pretty good. They've got very good people and management there, and that makes all the difference. The fish are healthy, and I've never had a problem buying from them.

I do agree though, their prices tend to be too high, but since they are the only convenient store around me, I have to suck it up.

lol everyone is talking about super high prices and dead fish thought ide chime in. petco by me(new hyde park NY) just stright up sucks however they did a full remodel last week and brought in like 90% more fish supplies than before. the fish are still basic. usally a few dead ones. now on the other hand , another store i go to "fishtown usa" has been in business for like 40 years or something like that and EVERY time i go there they have multiple tanks with 2-3 dead fish in them. now i can see that happening cause they set up sections based on water quality needs(ph lvls and such) and each 10 gal tank in each section is powered off one big filter with 2 pipes coming out of each tank. now the hardest part to understand is . with 15 guys working there why all these dead fish are still in the tanks... i guess they are just lazy. BUT most of the fish are super cheap. i was getting german blues for $3 cardinals $1.25 and ottos for $1.50 and when i went back the other day to check out cichlids they had frontosa 1-2 inches for $7.00. as for the stores with dead fish, thats what you get when 16-17 year olds are "taking care" of live animals for a paycheck.

Well... When my regular LFS didn't have good looking Head and Taillight Tetras or Glowlight Tetras, I gathered my strength and bought a bunch at Walmart in early fall of 2009. They've done surprisingly well! A year later, and I still have more than half of them, with 2 H&Ts dieing over the 09-10 winter period, and supplemented by 4 from my regular LFS first warm day of spring. The six Glowlights from Walmart are still going strong. So it may be a combination of luck -- a good time to get them at Walmart -- plus pretty good home aquarium conditions. I wouldn't buy their plants though... always full of algae -- but pet store tanks have the same problem. Walmart fish supplies are okay, for what they offer.

There are two Petcos at long city bus ride distances from me. I visited both last week. I was simply looking for plants and don't think I'd buy any fish from them. The first one (on north San Mateo) had dedicated three, stacked tanks to plants but they were full of algae. I was slightly tempted ("oh, banana plants..."), but there were zero clerks anywhere nearby. They were very understaffed, apparently. So I tried to look exasperated in case a camera was watching, and I walked out empty handed, money saved.

The second store, which I visited and bought plants at early in August, is on Lomas at Eubank, another long city bus ride for me. As I approached the fish department, a clerk came out. I saw the tanks where plants had been before and I commented to her about how bright and clean they were now. She took credit and said she's studying up to do everything right all over the store. I said she was obviously doing a great job.

She asked if I needed help. I said I'd just gotten there, I needed to look around a bit. I thought that if I saw a fish I wanted, I sure would be tempted if she was taking care of them now! But no, after looking around, no fish for me (it would have been a long trip home for any fish). I did choose some plants I might like and looked up to ask her for help getting them out of the tank (I didn't want to pull them out myself).

She was nowhere to be seen. No other clerks, either. Finally I saw her way up front, coming out of an office, saying something to another clerk, then ducking back in the office again, door closing behind her. She didn't even look my way.

I should have yelled, "Hey, clean fish lady!" but I wan't *that* much in need of new plants. So, exasperated again, with no one noticing at all, I walked out.

There was a mom-and-pop type fish & critters store nearby and it was staffed by two bored-looking young women who ignored me when I walked in. That was their sales technique, I guess! If I'd been a cute young man.... The store's tanks were dirty, complete with dead fish and very few live ones. Their equipment was expensive, too, but if their service had been good, maybe the price is worth it. But I'll never know, sales is not a priority with some stores these days. Like most stores lately, in an effort to save money, they lay off staff, don't train the staff they do have apparently (at least not on customer relations), and then wonder why they don't have more sales.

Every pet store should realize that people making purchases in them are often not buying necessities but, in effect, toys. I can talk myself out of buying a toy pretty quickly. One false move -- lack of clerks, for example -- can lose them a sale.

Long post, huh? Well, thanks for letting me ramble

i got alot of trimmings still and will have more tomorrow morning when i trim again.

Petco's problem is now economy but before they have always had the staffing issues due to the age of these kids they hire.

unless its pretty much food, every store sells wants not needs. Ive walked out of quite a few fish stores because i know my money is readily accepted at the next lfs. You gotta make friends thats the key. i get first dibs at two petcos and 2 petsmarts close to me, i provide fish to their personal tanks.

Ill admit ive used petco co before, i was in a bad place and had the wrong freinds, i wasnt collected and once i started i couldnt stop...
but on a serious note i will use stores like that for little thing (fishtanks gravel food maybe ghost shrimp) and as they said its the luck of the draw really, ive gotten a petsmart that the employies did costume istallation on the side, ive also gotten some one lead me to air hose check valves when i asked for an over flow box....
and ive noticed a few members on this forum being real go getters (you whitedevil have even helped me with my post) and id love to start talking with you on the side so please email me Davidedward1228@aol.com
I would love to become involved and active in this forum and im going to need it in the next few months.