Which Chain Store Is Best For Buying Live Plants?

I've been looking for a site to order plants for my 10 gallon tank and most online sites were out of stock for some of what I wanted and one place listed everything as being in stock only to cancel my order at the last minute which prevented me from placing an order elsewhere and have it delivered on the day I would home to get.

So after spending a week or so trying to place an order online for live plants I'm frustrated to the point that I'm just going to go to Petsmart or Petco and overpay for subpar plants. I've been out of the hobby for a while and the mom and pop shop I used to frequent has unfortunately closed. My question is this, which chain store has the best quality pants at the best prices between Petsmart and Petco?

 

Really depends on the location for quality. I've only been to one Petco but it seems like PetSmart usually has a better variety.

 

For me, one of my Petcos has a couple tanks of submersed plants, the other has only a few tubes and packets of emersed ones. Petsmart has some topfin tubes of plants, some are not aquatic though so it's rather misleading. It highly depends on the individual store.

If you're looking for certain plants you also may not find them at chain stores, chains usually have only the most basic common ones.

 

Easy Aquarium Plant Package (10-20 Gallon) by Aquatic Arts - Heavily Plant your Aquarium - 5 Different Large Plant Portions of Java Moss, Marimo Moss Balls, Moneywort, Anubias Barteri, and Java Fern by Aquatic Arts

I bought this package from aquatic arts through Amazon. Everything arrived safely, in good condition and currently growing in my 29g.

 

I'm looking for pretty basic stuff. Java Fern, Anubias, some type of crypt perhaps and maybe some type of moss.

The package that dansamy posted would be suitable except it's listed as "Usually ships within 1 to 2 months".

 

It is Hit or Miss for me with the local "P" stores in my area. I have had better quality and pricing using my LFS's and Online stores. I like Trinsfish and I also have some plants to be delivered from Han Aquatics recommended by a well known member Jocelyn Adelman Good Luck.

 

Most chain pet stores have decent plants. Around me they don't have too many but I find PetSmart does have a larger selection and plants that look nicer.

 

I got all my plants from petco and have to say I'm very happy with them they have a big tank that always has a decent stock of plants...never got them from petsmart as they don't have a tank with plants in it only the containers and they usually look brown...

 

It completely depends on the chain store. The Petsmarts around us only carry plants in bags and tubes. One of our Petcos has great plants and the prices are awesome when the sales are on. The other Petco has plants covered in hair algae.

 

It seems like the general consensus is leaning slightly toward Petco. Which is actually fine because the Petco is a little closer to me than Petsmart which is on the opposite side of town.

It is Hit or Miss for me with the local "P" stores in my area. I have had better quality and pricing using my LFS's and Online stores. I like Trinsfish and I also have some plants to be delivered from Han Aquatics recommended by a well known member Jocelyn Adelman Good Luck.

Thanks for the heads up on Trin's. Shipping is very reasonable. I think I will see what I can find locally tomorrow then order the rest from them. I would rather not support the chain stores but sadly I don't have many other options that I'm aware of.

 

I've had mixed experiences between my local stores. One Petco had no prepackaged plants, they were pulling them from the fish tanks, the other had them in tubes. Pets mart only had tubes ones but had a better selection. Price wise they both seemed the same. I think the brand of tubed plants was the same at both locations. I'm going to start shopping elsewhere for plants, though.

 

I'm looking for pretty basic stuff. Java Fern, Anubias, some type of crypt perhaps and maybe some type of moss.

The package that dansamy posted would be suitable except it's listed as "Usually ships within 1 to 2 months".

It didn't take that long.

 

I buy most of mine at Petco. Our Petco is MUCH better than our Petsmart. The Petco has a couple people in the fish department who really know their stuff. They always have a good selection of plants and their prices are WAY better than Petsmart. And that's for the exact same plants. Now, to be honest our Petsmart has a better selection and we do go in to look for sales from time to time. But in general our Petco is much better.

I just bought 2 clumps of Hygrophila Corymbosa for $3.49 each. They are each 4-6 stems, each stem is thicker than a pencil and 20" tall. You can't beat that for a price.

 

Online plants I've used and like aquatic arts (their site directly), Han aquatics, liquid creations (fussier plants though), aquarium plants, trins fish (many were emersed). I've also gotten a bunch off aquabid and eBay, as well as the buy/sell section here.
Others on here like dustins fish tanks.
I've ordered plants from live aquaria, wouldn't recommend.
My lfs carries great plants, unfortunately my petco and Petsmart are pretty lacking...

 

My local petsmart is actually pretty good. They have a good selection and the plants are healthy 90% of the time. They never have snails if you worry about them.

 

Around here it's either pet smart or pet co. Both have pretty good plants, I always look and see if any of the plants are almost dead and a lot of times can get them for around a dollar or less, a lot of the times there is a spark of life in them and sometime not, I've gotten a lot of nice plants for pennies on the dollar.