Bad petco employees!!

So the other day I went to PETCO for supplies for a new tank, and I go to the fish section. I ask an employee if they had adfs, and she says "I don't know, maybe." then she started searching around until shefound them. She asked me if I knew what to feed them so I told her I'd be feeding them bloodworms and sinking frog/ tadpole pellets. Then she said "oh", by then I was angry because I absolutly hate when people who know nothing about animals apply for jobs at pet stores just for money. It is rare to find a knowledgeable employee at a pet store, I have yet to come across one;(

 

So the other day I went to PETCO for supplies for a new tank, and I go to the fish section. I ask an employee if they had adfs, and she says "I don't know, maybe." then she started searching around until shefound them. She asked me if I knew what to feed them so I told her I'd be feeding them bloodworms and sinking frog/ tadpole pellets. Then she said "oh", by then I was angry because I absolutly hate when people who know nothing about animals apply for jobs at pet stores just for money. It is rare to find a knowledgeable employee at a pet store, I have yet to come across one;(

Unfortunately that happens alot. I'm trying to get a job at one of these places and its frustrating because I'm more knowledgeable about most of the animals there than the employees. And I'm no expert.

 

I prefer to frequent the mom and pop owned lfs. You sometimes have to google "fish supplies" in your area in order to even find these stores.

 

Yeah most Petsmart/Petco employees don't exactly know a lot about fish.

 

I have been trying to get a job at my local petco, but they never seem to even look at my application. I know more about fish then almost everyone there. Maybe they don't want people there that know about aquatics because then they won't get the sales from the stupid people out there buying so many fish every few weeks bc they keep dieing from bad conditions. If I worked at petco I would give people the right advice and on the things I didnt know I would send them to this site

 

I have been trying to get a job at my local petco, but they never seem to even look at my application. I know more about fish then almost everyone there. Maybe they don't want people there that know about aquatics because then they won't get the sales from the stupid people out there buying so many fish every few weeks bc they keep dieing from bad conditions. If I worked at petco I would give people the right advice and on the things I didnt know I would send them to this site

And that's why most chain stores hire who they hire they don't want people messing with there sales.its funny because my local petco has some very knowledgeable people

 

And that's why most chain stores hire who they hire they don't want people messing with there sales.its funny because my local petco has some very knowledgeable people

My Petsmart actually has some good ones as well, one of which has a 60 gal and a 29 gal at home. I have heard some of the others discourage people from getting goldfish and common plecos, and when I got two harlequin rasboras once (to up school from 6 to 8), the lady that was helping me asked me if I had more at home.

But that's pretty atypical. My dad's Petco isn't very good in terms of knowledgeable fish helpers.

 

As I recently found out, one of my LFS has sales quotas their employees have to meet. I can't imagine this being any different for big chain stores.

Although it sometimes can be mind-boggling when they try to talk you out of buying things such as a filter or heater for a betta when your comments let them know that you know better.

One enployee at a local pet store was very helpful in talking to me, saying: "When I used to keep bettas, I did this and I did that..." When I was back at the store some other time, I overheard him talking to people interested in parakeets. "When I used to keep parakeets, I did this and I did that..." Although it's obviously possible to keep both fish and parakeets (I have), it just struck me as a tad odd and a good sales strategy to imply you have soooo much experience.

 

The only guy I trust at any petco/petsmart is the guy at my petsmart who actually sold me my 55 6 weeks ago. He has a 75 gal African community and a 20 long blue lobster tank. This guy knows what he's talking bout! I told him I wanted the blue lobs and he said I shouldn't buy them in a 55 community tank because they'd either eat the fish or if I went with cichlids they'd pick his eyes out.

Well that's my .02 cents

 

Stay away from the large chain stores
Find a local fish shop where advice is more positive
The best kind of stores IMO are the stores where some person has turned their hobby into a business
I support these stores as much as I am able
The little extra you may pay in what you purchase, is more than made up for in chit-chat and free advice, and sometimes give away to you

 

Stay away from the large chain stores
Find a local fish shop where advice is more positive
The best kind of stores IMO are the stores where some person has turned their hobby into a business
I support these stores as much as I am able
The little extra you may pay in what you purchase, is more than made up for in chit-chat and free advice, and sometimes give away to you

I disagree, I visit both. Some of my fish come from 4 different local LFS. Some others from big box chain stores. I have had good luck with both with exception of one LFS which I will never ever buy freshwater fish again from.

I have had good conversations at my favorite area petsmart and share tips and tank ideas. I show him my tanks and he shows pics of his. Don't lump all big box chains together just as some LFS suck and others are great.

 

I think it depends on the store and management. I know our Petsmart has some pretty knowledgeable staff ( even if they are just out of high school )
That being said, I believe everyone deserves a chance - given most of these people are kids, after school jobs, first jobs, etc.

I have gotten frustrated many times by going in to stores like Petco/Petsmart but then realized, these are just kids they hired. You really can't expect much especially for what they pay, and the level of training, etc.

If you want expert advice, why not try a more specialized lfs? I have this great lfs that I go to if I want opinions/advice. If I just need basic supplies, I go to my petsmart/petco.

 

At least she didn't didn't give you bad advise.

Hope you picked up some brine-shrimp and or mysis shrimp also.

Congrats on your new tank and new frogs.
Hope they are not going into a cycling tank.

 

At least she didn't didn't give you bad advise.

I agree. I've watched this thread since it started, and for the life of me, could not figure out what all the angst was about. When asked, the employee replied, and went to find out the answer. She then asked a reasonable question of the purchaser, one aimed at assuring the proper care for the animal in question. Is she condemned because it may have appeared that she didn't have all the answers immediately?

I guess I'm just not understanding why everyone seemed to agree that this was a terrible exchange.

 

Wait... you actually got service in a Petco? I can stand in the fish section searching for an employee to assist me for 10 minutes and never see one. (Kansas City area). Horrible customer service.

 

Atl here, went to Petco since its literally 2miles away instead of my LFS just to catch up on what they had and see if there was any deals and I stood in the fish section for probably 10-15min until dude came over to help, all the while him and the chick up front were cracking up laughing about random ..... I can't complain to much bc when he came over he was very helpful and knowledgeable but the thing that kinda angered me after we got done talking about Clown fish food was he asked if I needed anything else and I said well I wish ya'll had that dollar per gallon sale going on, when is it coming up I know its got to be soon! He replies, "uh well its actually going on now." I got a blah blah blah and we proceeded to get my 40gal breeder.... I just don't like how I had to pry that info out of him it seemed like he took a sec to decide whether he was going to tell me or not.... was kinda strange and there were no signs in the store leading to that deal either and I've been watching my emails like a hawk waiting to see that sale and I haven't gotten an email about it yet...
I give every store an open slate before I make decisions but I love my LFS I goto and just compare prices everyonce and a while...

But what else gets me is I'm at the counter and the chick who he was giggling with earlier was like; do you have any tanks, I'm like yup I have blah blah blah then she proceeds to say, did you find everything alright then? I say yup and she says ok good bc if not I'm the aqua/fish expert! I'm like, oooo alrighty cool.... I ask her what her favorite type of coral is, (bc being an expert you should deff have a fav or be able to promptly respond about certain ones you like) alas she goes, uhhhh well I don't know stuff about sw....... (SAY WHAT???) I start laughing kindly and say how are you the expert when you don't know anything about the bigger half of fish/aqua? She just chuckles as I walk out with my new 40gal breeder.....
So ya trust them as far as you can throw them at that Petco but my lfs the dude who helps me quite a bit is a fw guy he has 11 tanks and knows so much more about sw than those two did.....

 

I ask her what her favorite type of coral is, (bc being an expert you should deff have a fav or be able to promptly respond about certain ones you like) alas she goes, uhhhh well I don't know stuff about sw....... (SAY WHAT???) I start laughing kindly and say how are you the expert when you don't know anything about the bigger half of fish/aqua? She just chuckles as I walk out with my new 40gal breeder.....
.....

I don't think its fair to expect employees at petsmart/petco to know everything, especially about sw. MOST of the stores don't even have sw, let alone people who specialize in that area. Its like saying a mechanic should know about GAS powered cars and be just as knowledgeable about Electric ( A whole different ballpark )
I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about Freshwater but I know nothing about SW.
Not everyone can be knowledgeable about every fish in the store.

 

So the other day I went to PETCO for supplies for a new tank, and I go to the fish section. I ask an employee if they had adfs, and she says "I don't know, maybe." then she started searching around until shefound them. She asked me if I knew what to feed them so I told her I'd be feeding them bloodworms and sinking frog/ tadpole pellets. Then she said "oh", by then I was angry because I absolutly hate when people who know nothing about animals apply for jobs at pet stores just for money. It is rare to find a knowledgeable employee at a pet store, I have yet to come across one;(

And why do you personally go to work???? Or your loved one?????

 

Atl here, went to Petco since its literally 2miles away instead of my LFS just to catch up on what they had and see if there was any deals and I stood in the fish section for probably 10-15min until dude came over to help, all the while him and the chick up front were cracking up laughing about random ..... I can't complain to much bc when he came over he was very helpful and knowledgeable but the thing that kinda angered me after we got done talking about Clown fish food was he asked if I needed anything else and I said well I wish ya'll had that dollar per gallon sale going on, when is it coming up I know its got to be soon! He replies, "uh well its actually going on now." I got a blah blah blah and we proceeded to get my 40gal breeder.... I just don't like how I had to pry that info out of him it seemed like he took a sec to decide whether he was going to tell me or not.... was kinda strange and there were no signs in the store leading to that deal either and I've been watching my emails like a hawk waiting to see that sale and I haven't gotten an email about it yet...
I give every store an open slate before I make decisions but I love my LFS I goto and just compare prices everyonce and a while...

But what else gets me is I'm at the counter and the chick who he was giggling with earlier was like; do you have any tanks, I'm like yup I have blah blah blah then she proceeds to say, did you find everything alright then? I say yup and she says ok good bc if not I'm the aqua/fish expert! I'm like, oooo alrighty cool.... I ask her what her favorite type of coral is, (bc being an expert you should deff have a fav or be able to promptly respond about certain ones you like) alas she goes, uhhhh well I don't know stuff about sw....... (SAY WHAT???) I start laughing kindly and say how are you the expert when you don't know anything about the bigger half of fish/aqua? She just chuckles as I walk out with my new 40gal breeder.....
So ya trust them as far as you can throw them at that Petco but my lfs the dude who helps me quite a bit is a fw guy he has 11 tanks and knows so much more about sw than those two did.....

I've got 5 fresh water tanks and all I know, or care to know about salt water is that it has salt in it!

 

Its not fair to accuse them of not knowing any thing they can't really know everything about all that they sell especially small ones

 

People need jobs to pay for stuff, so I'm sure they got trained on the basics of selling and catching fish.

If you believe a Hamster and a Betta fish will be great together because somebody told you it works and you do it, hey its your fault.

At the end it's your responsiblity to figure out this stuff. That's why it's a hobby...we like to figure stuff out ourselves.

 

Atl here, went to Petco since its literally 2miles away instead of my LFS just to catch up on what they had and see if there was any deals and I stood in the fish section for probably 10-15min until dude came over to help, all the while him and the chick up front were cracking up laughing about random ..... I can't complain to much bc when he came over he was very helpful and knowledgeable but the thing that kinda angered me after we got done talking about Clown fish food was he asked if I needed anything else and I said well I wish ya'll had that dollar per gallon sale going on, when is it coming up I know its got to be soon! He replies, "uh well its actually going on now." I got a blah blah blah and we proceeded to get my 40gal breeder.... I just don't like how I had to pry that info out of him it seemed like he took a sec to decide whether he was going to tell me or not.... was kinda strange and there were no signs in the store leading to that deal either and I've been watching my emails like a hawk waiting to see that sale and I haven't gotten an email about it yet...
I give every store an open slate before I make decisions but I love my LFS I goto and just compare prices everyonce and a while...

But what else gets me is I'm at the counter and the chick who he was giggling with earlier was like; do you have any tanks, I'm like yup I have blah blah blah then she proceeds to say, did you find everything alright then? I say yup and she says ok good bc if not I'm the aqua/fish expert! I'm like, oooo alrighty cool.... I ask her what her favorite type of coral is, (bc being an expert you should deff have a fav or be able to promptly respond about certain ones you like) alas she goes, uhhhh well I don't know stuff about sw....... (SAY WHAT???) I start laughing kindly and say how are you the expert when you don't know anything about the bigger half of fish/aqua? She just chuckles as I walk out with my new 40gal breeder.....
So ya trust them as far as you can throw them at that Petco but my lfs the dude who helps me quite a bit is a fw guy he has 11 tanks and knows so much more about sw than those two did.....

I would say saltwater is the more expensive part of aquaria, certainly not bigger. Because of factors like cost and collection practices, marine fish keeping as a whole is a much much smaller number of hobbyists than freshwater. I wouldn't expect her to be an expert on such a specialized section of the hobby.

 

I understand they aren't going to know everything lol but she was the one who said she was the expert, exact word she used btw... if you call yourself an expert at the aqua/fish department of a pet store you should know the basics of both.... this Petco does have both areas btw.

 

I understand they aren't going to know everything lol but she was the one who said she was the expert, exact word she used btw... if you call yourself an expert at the aqua/fish department of a pet store you should know the basics of both.... this Petco does have both areas btw.

If this Petco does have both saltwater and freshwater, and she's the "fish specialist," I would have to agree that she should have some knowledge about saltwater aquariums and fish.

 

So the other day I went to PETCO for supplies for a new tank, and I go to the fish section. I ask an employee if they had adfs, and she says "I don't know, maybe." then she started searching around until shefound them. She asked me if I knew what to feed them so I told her I'd be feeding them bloodworms and sinking frog/ tadpole pellets. Then she said "oh", by then I was angry because I absolutly hate when people who know nothing about animals apply for jobs at pet stores just for money. It is rare to find a knowledgeable employee at a pet store, I have yet to come across one;(

its totally frustrating, we all know. BUT on something you're wrong. Its not peoples fault that apply at the pet store just for money as you say (have you ever been unemployed and had to pay rent or mortgage????) its absolutely the Manager's and Owner's fault that do not tread the best employees they have and they let them go....do you think they'll work on their own store??? no way, so what they do is hire people that have no idea about this hobby and pay them less then the minimum. But take everyones advise NEVER TRUST LFS EMPLOYEES

 

Thread has been moved from the review section of the forum.

That section is reserved for objective reviews of specific stores not general rants that obviously do not reflect all stores in that particular chain or the employees.

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/review-rules-and-guidelines.102285/

 

Remember. Don't blame the employee, blame the employer.

Times are tough out there and people will take any job they can land to put food on the table for their family.

My point being if you need a job bad enough you'll take anything. It's the employers job to make sure they hire the right candidate

 

LFS and Petco/Petsmart are good for what they are, a local place you can buy common products needed for the hobby. If you expect them to be super knowledgeable about the entire hobby, that is you having the wrong expectations. I know a good bit about Freshwater but know nothing about SW. It seems like the girl that said she was the expert may have misspoke and meant that she has expertise in the Freshwater area. If you are looking for expert advice, forums such as this one are a much better resource. If you are looking for some filter cartridges then check out the big box stores. I actually buy most of my supplies through online retailers such as bigalspets.com as they are much cheaper, have a greater selection, and are delivered right to my door.

 

I'm actually very lucky with my local pet stores. The PetsMart down the road has some great employees; anyone who works with fish has multiple tanks of their own and are very knowledgeable, to the point where they will actively converse with consumers about their choices, and make recommendations (don't put goldfish in bowls or small tanks, have a heater for your betta, etc). There's even a guy who constantly hooks me up with coupons for the day and offers to use his employee discount to buy me things!

 

I only buy from reputable breeders versus Petco or a LFS as you will get better quality fish.