Any Good Chain Stores Around You?

This is just a question. There are a lot of people in the world that say tha5 all pet chain stores are terrible but there are some pretty decent ones.

The best chain store is in my area which is a Petco. The keep the fish very well and I didn’t see any dead or diseased fish. That trip was also the first time that I have seen a chain store sell saltwater fish. I just went there t9 look at the dollar per gallon sale and I would buy the fish from the really nice LFS across the street. But now I saw how they kept the fish and I really like them now.

Do any of y’all have any stories of good chain pet store locations?

 

All I have by me is a petco. They seem to keep their fish in good shape.

 

I have Petco, petsmart, and pet supplies plus, plus a small non chain fish store. In the stores around me Petco is by far the worst. employees not knowledgeable and didn't care about fish health. My petsmart is pretty good and a few of their employees keep large planted tanks themselves. However I try to get to my small LFS anytime I can, They focus on reefs but they also have a great selection of freshwater plants and fish. All of their fish are in community tanks fully planted. They always keep some really cool fish in stock as well such as Bolivian rams on the fresh water side, and moray eels on the salty side.

 

Overall, the worst Petsmart in Vancouver Canada takes better care of the fish than what I've seen across the border in USA Petco & Petsmart. Not sure if this is a standard for all of US, but that's my experience.

 

Overall, the worst Petsmart in Vancouver Canada takes better care of the fish than what I've seen across the border in USA Petco & Petsmart. Not sure if this is a standard for all of US, but that's my experience.

Dang shots fired at US.

 

I have petco which isn’t good with the fish, although the customer service is awesome they’re all super nice And tell u if they don’t know the answer to ur question. A petsmart I have an hour away is really good too, they take really good care of fish and tell u exactly how big they get ( when I was getting my Gilly they said she would get possibly football sized and asked what tank I have, again, customer service is amazing there, super sweet)

 

I have Petsmart, Petco, Walmart and Pet Supermarket. By far Walmart is the worse. No employees dedicated to fish department. Dead fish floating in just about every tank. Petsmart has ok fish but workers are not that knowledgeable. Not many live plants but the ones in a tube. Pet supermarket is like Petsmart. Love my Petco. Some fish I buy die in my QT and they replace them. Very knowledgeable. They know me by my name and found me someone that was giving away 10 cardinal Tetras.

 

My Petco is better than my lfs. My lfs sells Oscars and African knife fish to people with 5 gals!!! And gars and stuff, the tanks are dirty and many deads, my petco informs people on cycling, sooo...

 

Before this starts wandering too far off topic with tales of bad stores, the Op’s question is about Good chain stores

Reminder of the Op below

This is just a question. There are a lot of people in the world that say tha5 all pet chain stores are terrible but there are some pretty decent ones.
The best chain store is in my area which is a Petco.
The keep the fish very well and I didn’t see any dead or diseased fish. That trip was also the first time that I have seen a chain store sell saltwater fish.
I just went there t9 look at the dollar per gallon sale and I would buy the fish from the really nice LFS across the street. But now I saw how they kept the fish and I really like them now.

Do any of y’all have any stories of good chain pet store locations?

 

If I just mention the good and not the bad the OP may think I have no experience with the bad and assume a neutral opinion of them. Therefore by mentioning they are bad they don't include them in the good. If everyone just states the good he will have a list of all the chain stores out there. It would not help him at all.

 

Overall the best chain store I have near me is Big Al's. Way bigger variety, healthier fish, and better prices than your typical PetSmart.
I kind of agree with tunafax, in my experience all of the fish related stores I've visited in the US have not been great in terms of fish quality, although I'm sure it's not like that everywhere and you can't beat the dollar per gallon sale

 

My best chain store is a Petco in the next town. The guy that manages the fish department used to work at the local LFS. He said he left because he needed benefits and likes having paid vacation which he didn't get at the LFS. They once had a stonefish that they had in their saltwater tanks which died mysteriously. Everyone in the store said the poor guy cried when he saw that the fish had died.