so what are your reviews on petco? they are bad on everything, usually. but the guy at the petco near me has some experience. they used to be awful b4 they hired this guy. he has done 2 things that prove he knows what he is doing:
1. Direct me NOT to buy a gH test kit, saying "we have water around here thats moderate in hardness, so with the fish u have u shouldn't worry"
2. Told me a logical reason why some fish were dead: "The rams need such low pH, we are good with that."

so what are your reviews on petco?

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I'm so sorry I haven't been on the forum in so long! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten this lovely website! I moved to a different county back in May 2011 and started high school in a totally different school district. So I'm still adjusting and studying hard, and don't presently have any aquariums. But once I do, I'll be right back on this forum!

I do not agree with #2

2) I find that rams are sensitive and sometimes do not do well the first time they are introduced to a new tank. The ph range could be from 5.5 -7.0, However they need allot of time to acclimate to new water. For example if the water they came in has a PH of 5.5 and your water is 6.5 I would recommend a slow drip until the PH gap closes. This may take some time, but will prevent shock & stress. They also need a well established tank which will reduce the likelihood of PH swings.

it really comes down to the people workling there, just like any other fish store.
what you need to remember is that, not everyone working at a pet store, is an expert. for a lot of people, its just a job, maybe petco was close the their house then McDonalds, and they just needed somewhere to punch the clock for gas money. people walk into a fish store and expect everyone inside to be a marine biology major with thousands of dollars of fish in their home, but the fact of the matter is, most people who get the job are nothing more then sales people milking the clock.
what i can say about petco, or at least the one out here, is that their fish stock sucks and teir prices on equipment are WAAAAAAAAAAY to high.

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why buy, when you can DIY

im sorry i had a typO: i meant : "we are not good with low pH fish".
yep i agree with everyone here, except that the prices are completely average, not any bit under or over.

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I'm so sorry I haven't been on the forum in so long! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten this lovely website! I moved to a different county back in May 2011 and started high school in a totally different school district. So I'm still adjusting and studying hard, and don't presently have any aquariums. But once I do, I'll be right back on this forum!

All of their filters are overpriced. I can drive 20 min in and direction and get them cheaper from one of the LFS

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why buy, when you can DIY

We no longer have a nearby Petco because the one that was near here could not make a profit. Their tanks always had signs on them saying that the fish were "under observation" which I take to mean they couldn't figure out how to control the diseases and deaths in the tanks. We did buy bagged dog food there because it was slightly cheaper than at other stores and I sometimes bought equipment there too. Unfortunately there were no healthy fish in the whole 2 years that I went into the place and it would be the last place I would go for advice. They couldn't even control the condition of their own tanks, why trust them with advice for mine?

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Fishless cycling

the petco up the road is great thats on riverside and 91st south tulsa

i even get free ro di water woo hoo lol

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the day is almost apon us to engage our second amendment rights

I agree with aspects, PetCo, PetsMart, your LPS, LFS, etc. is not bad. The stores themselves aren't bad. What makes them seem bad are the people that work there, the people are bad, unknowledgeable, think they know it all, it's just a job for them and all they care is about their paycheck. What I'm saying is the pet stores, like any other business is as good as the people working there and/or running it, whether it's the employees, managers, region managers, etc. Whether they work directly with a particular store or at HQ = Headquarters in the state or across the country.....a business is only as good as the people that run it.

There petlover516, you just got your 2nd lesson in Business 101....LOL!!! ;) ;)

And in no way, shape or form am I a business expert. But I tried many different business throughout some years and still going. And I like to think I picked up a few things here and there.

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My Motto: "Why make someone else rich when you can make yourself rich?"

It can go either way. I chose not to support petco because I have hadso many bad experences that one good one dosn't really change it. When there aren't anymore dead fish I will go back.

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Being annoying is not a hobby, its a lifestyle

The Petco's around here have the same troubles as mentioned above. Unfortunately the 1 store that doesn't always have their fish in quarantine, needs to. There is only 1 petco I will buy fish from, and then I try to catch the guy on the morning of deliveries. He will pull what he thinks are clean specimens of what I want so they never go into their tanks. Good guy, unfortunately a disease ridden fish store.

Their prices are normally higher then PetsMart.

EDIT: remembered today was delivery day and made the call; looking for a bamboo shrimp (or some other cooler fan shrimp). Turns out the guy I have been dealing with is just a go-through for the fish lady manager there. I spoke directly to her this morning. Also a nice lady, pretty knowledgeable, but it still irks me she won't sell me contaminated fish at a discount. That's what my 10 gal quarantine tank is for, right?

just don't buy WalMart fish

terrible.. terrible..

[quote=orion;28388]the petco up the road is great thats on riverside and 91st south tulsa

i even get free ro di water woo hoo lol[/QUOTE

Ive been getting that free ro/di water from them too because my local fish store closed down because of the economy. But recently, ive been having hair algae outbreaks in my 55 saltwater tank. After troubleshooting, I finally tested the petco water for nitrates and just as I espected, they were at about 20ppm. So all that water that was used in water changes and top offs were feeding my system with nitrates. So id double check their water from time to time. I even asked to see their RO/DI system and they refused to show it to me, which encouraged me further to NOT use their water. I have had good success with fish from there though, all four have been living for at least 3 years now.

i hear ya there i dont think they change their filters too often lolollll

fooolllsss had a lot of silicates last time i went to get water

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the day is almost apon us to engage our second amendment rights

See I havent tested it for silicates yet, the high nitrate content was enough for me to stop using it, im sure my Petco has that in their water too. They used to charge on their water, I should of known once they made it free that something was up. Oh well, the tap water in my area is the best ive ever seen and tasted and ive been all over the world, so I have an API tap water filter on the way, im gonna see how good that works, ive heard excellent reviews. Its gotta be better than what I have been using.

yes i think i am going to do the same here soon ima just get a few filters and do without the ro and just test the water b4 i mix or top off

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the day is almost apon us to engage our second amendment rights

My mumi works in der and she steels the fishys 4 me nd i lyk her 4 dat if she didnt do dat den i would run away frum home.

I think you need some writing skills before you can run away, why would a preschooler want to run away for?


Back to topic at hand

Alexispets is right 100%, its not the company the company does great things for pet keepers of all kinds, its the hourly associates that are the problem.

I got a discus from walmart once. They sold it to me as a Gourmami for ~$2.97 or something. It did ok as my first discus but growth was definately stunted.


...and how does an Ro/DI system have nitrates? Most city water (not well) has 0 nitrates to begin with. How old and moldy are those filters?! Silicates I can understand, but nitrates at 20ppm?!

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--->Pictures of my 75g Amazon tank<----

thats bad maintence, means that membrane is nothing but scummy muck.

My two cents on this since I do pretty much all my business with petco -currently-

Honestly the biggest problem I've seen with them is consistency- they have a knowledgeable fish expert that works at the one near my house, but the stooges that work under her have no clue about anything.

Last time I was there I spotted an albino frog that escaped and rescued it, pointed out that their blue gourami tank was infested with eye fungus, and noticed that their plant tank had become infested with snails(Ramshorn luckily).

Their selection isn't particularly great and they have pretty high prices on equipment.

Still, when they are running well they do it right. The expert here actually seems to really care about her fish and I usually have interesting things to discuss with her.

Overall I'd say that they get a C for fish and fish supplies. Worlds better than wal-mart, but the store is just way too generalized for them to really be a top quality aquarium shop.