I have read many posts about very poor practices at Petco. I finally went by the Chenal Petco in Little Rock and discovered that the store may be correcting many of its errors. The fish were all very simple, basic livestock such as damsels and clownfish with a few hermit crabs. Perhaps the many reefer complaints have fixed their poor husbandry.
as much as i welcome the ideas of more stores to purchase from i still wouldnt buy form petco. the people have very little knowledge except a select few of what the fish are or their individual needs. i hope they come around, its not every petco. i visited the petco in branson and it was very well taken care of and the staff was knowledgable. they had several different corals that looked good. i hope that they will come around and become creditable.
I agree Yes, I agree with you completely that the Petco staff knows little about saltwater aquariums. I would not consult them for help. It's so difficult to get good saltwater aquarium advice that I now listen to only the crazy screwloose folks. At least their tanks looked properly maintained and clean so that the fish have a chance. I certainly wouldn't call the Chenal store a death trap.
Razorback Reef has been requested to speak to PetCo in the past but we have been reluctant to even enter into a dialague with them because their is very little impact that the club could have due to the policies that they are required to operate under. They do little to train their employees about the care of thier animals - that I have seen. At best I would have hoped that a dialogue with them would envoke some positive changes in the way they care for their animals but even if a local manager wanted to make changes he would be restricted financially and by corperate policy - so their is little that I can see that will improve the conditions at local Petco stores. I personally am reluctant to purchase from them prefering animals that I know have been taken care of as best as possible on the retail end, like our local fish stores.
But you never know if you do not try. You can still buy dry goods there. It might also get the club as a whole more free publisty. And as noted above, some Petco look to be very well taken care of. So there has to be some way there are doing that in Branson.
If you have a good LFS, why bother with the big chain stores? A couple of bucks isn't enough of a reason in my book.
Just had to add this to this thread... I went by the west little rock store yesterday on my lunch hour for my first time, just to look around, they had a really bad dictyotales/brown algae going on in almost all the swt tanks, it looked really bad to me, I think the small tanks started a cycle with the new rock they just added, I am new to all this swt, but I could see the fish laying low & looked like they were struggling to even breath, I mean really bad. I was shocked thinking these little fish were just screaming help, I could not even find anyone in the department or a manager to even say something to them about it, so I just left. Dry goods maybe, but even then I would be supporting a store that didn't seem to care for their livestock. Anyway that was just my impressions and I am a newbie. I will not be buying any livestock from them...
"Razorback Reef has been requested to speak to PetCo in the past but we have been reluctant to even enter into a dialague with them " ?????? The request shows an interest to improve their store where they can. True it may not do much good but it is better to try then not. They loose a LOT of animals! I'll talk to them, have them contact me.
Vanessa at the little rock petco attends alot of our frag shops and is one i would talk to about any interest in bringing the stores around. cameron at nsa should be able to get you contact info on anyone of importance since he worked there.
Cameron quit because of the way they were treating (or not treating) the animals there. He's at NSA full time now. I'll get in touch with Vanessa, thanks!
I have purchased at my LFS's and at Petco in NWA. While the price at petco is beyond cheap, $8 for a scooter blenny compaired to $19 at the lfs, I will say that I "Rescue" fish from PetCO when I have a few extra dollars in my pocket. Every fish I have picked up from PetCO has lived.. I can't say the same about two of my three LFS's.
I know this is somewhat unrelated but I wanted to bring this up because I wanted to use it as an example of how things in mass market stores can change. My sister is a hermit crab fanatic. (not the cleanup crew ones but the classroom ones lol) Her hermit crabs are better taken care of than her kids in most aspects. She has seven (or more) hermit crab only tanks complete with waterfalls, bridges... the whole nine yards. She is also recognized by the Humane Society as a "hermit crab rescuer". When someone has a rejected or sick hermit crab, they call her. Anyway... she often goes into places like PetSmart, Petco, etc. and checks on the conditions of their crabs. If they are in miserable conditions, she usually buys them all and takes them home, just to save them. The PetSmart in Conway had DEPLORABLE conditions for their crabs. No water, no humidity, just sand. She took it upon herself to educate the employee(s) responsible for the crabs and their environment. (she does this often, all over the state, most people just call her crazy and ignore her lol). Since she has been working with the employees, the crabs at the Conway PetSmart are very well taken care of - at least much more often than they used to be. Their conditions have improved along with the sale of them since they are happier, healthy and their environment looks better. She gave the employees the knowledge they needed to properly educate their customers, as well as help the store with their profits (less crabs died, more crabs sold). Everyone was happy. I know that she has done the same with the folks over at PetCountry - who no longer sell hermit crabs. Anyway.. I just wanted to tell you guys the story because sometimes educating people does make a difference, in more ways than one! Most of the time the employees at these large stores care they just don't know how.
Education can do a lot. I have bought several things at the NLR Petco and have been very happy with the fish. They are well taken care of thanks to the educated folks working there. Now, I feel sorry for the fish that are sold at Walmart. Talk about miserable looking tanks and specimens!
I hadent been in the Petco in NLR in three years because there saltwater tanks dident ever have anything in them and dident look that good when thet did. Whent into the on at NLR Petco a cupple of weeks ago and there saltwater is much improved. The guy that works in the store recomeded the snails and told me about Razorback Reef so some are trying to help people get more imformed on how to take better take care of there reef. I am all about the little guy but my LFS in cabot has let there saltwater tanks go in the wrong direction that is why I dident shop there. I will go back after awile and see if they are doing better if not I will go some where ealse. Glen
NLR Petco has come a LONG way. I often see the workers there in NSA and talk to them regularly. They have the knowledge and have been able to keep pretty good stuff.. We live in Sherwood and Often go by on our way back from NSA just to see if they might have someting worth while. So far EVERYTHING i have bought from there has been healthy and has lived and turned out to be great addtions to my tank. Please dont put down all Petco's in general. I think the couple of workers at the NLR store would not be happy to see their store being considered in such a general way. To the guys there, Good Job. I know at least one is a RBR member himself. As far as the LFS in Cabot. Please, Someone call every health and animal organization show stopper you can and get it closed or have them make them change their ways. That place is pathetic.
It sickened me! I wanted to give them a piece of my mind, but my other half wouldn't let me.... guess he knew I would cause a scene. Something needs to be done about that store!
I am your other half and yes, you would have made a big scene... LOL And just to put it out there.. we left there and went to Searcy and was impressed at what they had at the fish bowl. Talk about a place that cleaned up their act.
Of all the "big box" stores the NLR Petco seems to do the best - RRMAS member Whitney works there & brings them some knowledge base.
