Petsmart or Petco

I have a question for you guys, which do you like better Petsmart or Petco? I have been to both petsmart and Petco. I prefer Petsmart. Today I went to the Avaiarium in Duluth, GA, It was amazing. That is my all time favorite. Besure to post your favorite fish store! Have fun

 

mine

my favorite fish store is a LFS called Jacks Auarium and they are in cincinnatI area near kings island the amusment park

 

I'll pick Petsmart. In my city, the petsmart takes much better care of their fish than Petco. Also some of their employees actually know what they're talking about sometimes. The petco's tanks are always riddled with dead, decaying fish. And I find that the petsmart has a larger stock of aquarium equipment than the petco.

My favorite LFS is called Bird World and Pet Village in Bountiful. They have tons of different kinds of fish, competitive prices, and take good care of their fish. They have amazing selections of tropical, brackish, and saltwater fish, as well as corals and live rock. That's where I got my green spotted puffers ;D

 

I would have to go with petsmart for this answer. I regularly buy my tank accessories there now. I won't buy any fish at petco anymore, especially after my last visit.

They had 6 clarkiI clowns sharing a 10 gallon tank with an extremely bleached bulb anemone in the tank. 2 of the clarkiis looked to be suffering some serious malnutrition and one was even getting eaten alive. In another tank they had a picasso trigger that was also suffering from malnutrition as apparently they are feeding their Saltwater fish Freshwater tropical flakes and nothing else. The anemone doesn't get fed at all and sits under standard flourescents.

Their Freshwater tanks are actually worse off than their Saltwater ones.

Come to think on it, i'm probably going to avoid petco entirely from now on.

My favorite stores on the other hand are Aquatropics for my freshwater fish. For saltwater I go to a place called discovery aquatics. Both excellent places for what I go to them for.

 

Come to think on it, i'm probably going to avoid petco entirely from now on.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way. I just went there for the bettas, but they are of such low quality that I'm pretty much done with that store.

 

I went with petsmart just from what I have heard over this thread because we don't actualy get either in NZ LOL

My favrite Lfs is Hollywood fish farm!
It has every fish I know and have heard of, always in good condition!
There saltwater fish are usauly 1-2 fish per 18g tank, and they have a 200 gallon saltwater display tank in best condition! and there freshwater fish are great with a huge 10 foot long display tank with Full grown tinfoil barbs, bala sharks, silver dollar, and a 37yr old giant gourami named helen shes huge!

 

That is so cool. When I went to Petco a man said I could put 5 fish In a one gal. When we went to Petsmart they said absolutley not, So I agree w/ everything!! The Avairium Had beautiful tanks and fish. They had Fresh water and Salt water. It was so clean and no fish were dead. What was was funny was I saw a dog faced puffer!! I also saw may be 6 HUGE fish. I am searious I don't think I caught that big of a fish at my lake house! CRAZY, but that could because water is down so crazy! Keep posting y'all

 

Petsmart... the petco near my area can't even keep neon tetras alive... so sad.

 

I just don't understand what is wrong with the Petco's

 

Petsmart, only because we don't have a Petco close to us.

 

We don't have Petco here so petsmart I suppose would be my call. Usually the people there are ok and they're auarium equipment is usually cheaper then my LFS (closed now ... I'll have to find a new one I suppose). I tend to buy my fish from everywhere.

 

Petsmart has more and healthier fish. On the other hand, I find a lot of exotic bettas at Petco.

 

whoever likes Petco can post too. We just have had bad experiences w/ them. Tell us your good times!!!

 

I chose Petco but that has more to do with the fact that Petco has Saltwater fish. Though I never ask them for advice. I have a LFS that further away that I trust.

Though I do have to say that that the tanks in my local Petsmart do tend to look better than Petco's tanks.

 

I've bought 6 guppies from petco (over two visits) and have had all die within two days of purchasing...

Petco is however, about a 2min walk from my house so I buy all my food and equipment from there. For fish, its worth the 30min drive to a really nice LFS.

 

that's cool!

 

Petco, because I've never lived (or worked, or dormed, or anything!) near a Petsmart. And whenever I've managed to visit a Petsmart (for curiousity's sake), they don't have as good a selection. For fish, I honestly prefer smaller pet stores - they're usually much healthier.

 

Petsmart, only because we don't have a Petco close to us.

Ditto

 

I totally agree!! I just recently found the best fish store for me!!! It is called THE AVAIRUIM it is awsome! They had tons of fih though,but very healthy. Do you guyz know the red tail sharkz? Well at petsmart thir tales are like discolored by their stress level! At this place they did not have ny fish that looked discolored!!! Their tales were bright bright orange! It is such a cool place.


Have a good day! this was (c) by LZ tehe!!!

 

I think petsmart is the lesser of 2 evils pretty much.

 

I always used Petco until one day I brought home some fish and my tank was covered in Ick like over night. Then I got a really bad fungus. They just put in a petsmart near me like 4 months ago and everyhting there is so much cleaner.

Although there is a family owned store that I love to visit too. Talk about first class service and if I have a fish I want to get rid of they give me store credit. Can't beat that!

 

pet smart the few times that I have questions, I actually found someone who knew what they were talking about

 

OK, I have to say a few weeks ago I went to a very beautiful petco.

 

Petsmart. I never liked petco. The reason being that the customer service with petsmart here is better then petco.

 

Interesting. I go to Petsmart because it is closer but there IS a Petco I've never been in that's about twenty minutes away from the Petsmart. I guess I'll check it out tomorrow! AND there aren't any LFS in my area.......

 

Petsmart! We don't have a Petco. I would love to have more pet stores around though.

 

Petsmart like Emory said no petco's around.

 

Petco,they seem to be honest and more knowledgeable.

 

petsmart even thought they don't really know what there talking about half the time

 

petsmart of course I would never buy a fish from deathco take that back I bought my albino oscar their just because it was so healthy looking they got it that day all around petsmart better fish better service

 

I personally like neither of them, but there was no other option so I didn't vote! the petco and petsmart near me are both digusting, I go to my friend's local pet shop. its cleaner and nice and small

 

Petsmart seems to take better care of their fish, but Petco has Saltwater and more exotic Freshwater fish also. Petsmart has only the most common Freshwater fish. At least at the one's near me.

 

I never go to petco or as some of u cal it deathco and personally I agree that deathco is horrid.

our petsmart resently shut down and change locations.
it was a deatco or mabey a deathmart before now aton better.
without the LFS I have I would by from petsmart.

petsmart is ok I don't buy fish from there because I have a better LFS 5 min closer.

 

I don't have access to petco or petsmart except online shopping for supplies. I get my fish from the only fish provider in my remote town. And they do a pretty good job at taking care of them. Like they had two oscars in a 10 gal that werent selling so they were gettin to be about 3 inches and last saturday they moved them to a bigger tank!!! Think it was a 30 gal Hopefully they will go to a good home sometime! Fish stock was gettin low though due to bad weather since they are flown in from Seattle. I've been gettin anxious for more fish.....

 

I found a dead cory cat in one of tanks, a few days ago @ petsmart pretty sad. careless people.

 

If I had to choose, I'd go with Petsmart.

The Petco near me has low quality products and every time I go in there I see the "fish expert" standing there doing nothing while there's dead fish in nearly every tank.

I go to East Coast Aquatics though, they have a 1,000G show tank, huge selection of Freshwater and Saltwater fish, and can special order anything you need for a good price....so yeah, they own Petsmart/Petco by a longshot.

 

I definitely like petsmart better! They are not perfect, but if you can find a manager or a knowledgeable sales person they are better than petco.

The one and only time I went into a Petco, the fish area was dark, gloomy, and smelly! It was hard to figure out what was in each of the tanks, and there were dead, dying, and sick fish in almost every tank!

The only positive thing that I have to say about Petco is that when I was able to get a sales person(15 minutes of waiting!), he asked me all of the right questions. I was uninformed, and it was only 24 hours after I had put water in my tank!(I know that is awful, but I didn't know!)

I asked him for 6 guppies, and 6 tetras being an uninformed hobbiest. He wouldn't sell them to me. He explained about the cycle, and those fish choices would not survive. I was impressed that he would tell me this and not sell me anything I wanted!

However, I still won't go back!

My favorite store is Marine Warehouse Aquarium. They have both Freshwater and Saltwater fish, Custom tank service, knowledgeable sales people, very clean and well stocked selection. They have live rock, corals, anenomes, clean up crew, starfish, plants, and a huge supply of food! They are awesome and only 15 min. from my house!

 

I found a dead cory cat in one of tanks, a few days ago @ petsmart pretty sad. careless people.

Only the one dead fish? Last time I was in a Petco, the entire saltwater fish section was floating belly up and no one seemed to care.

 

I suppose I'd have to say Petsmart, although I rarely go to either. My local Petco has little cups of salt in all their freshwater tanks, (the cories are all at deaths door) They have clown loaches labeled as growing to 6 inches, and they plecos are divided up into the different sizes. There are small: 2-4 inches, medium: 5-10 inches, and large: up to 12 inches. I looked, they were all regular, common plecos. There was one tank the last time I was there that had platys, bamboo shrimp, and african dwarf frogs. There was one large plastic plant in the back that appeared to be the local graveyard, stuck between its leaves were 2 frogs, one platy and 3 shrimp. the shrimp and the platys were at least 2 inches long each, and the plant was maybe 7-8 inches high.
Petco disgusts me.

 

petsmart is ok, but they lack smarts<-- lol