Would you ever buy a fish from a big box store ie: PetSmart / Pets at Home etc..

Personally I would not buy any fish from the bigger chain stores or even a general pet shop for that matter. The whole inferior fish thing may have some merit when it comes to the big box stores but for me this is not the reason and I think this is quite often unjustified. For me I actually just enjoy going to a dedicated Local Fish Shop, there is always much more variety and I do not know about anyone else but once you have bought fish from a reliable source you tend to keep going back. A trip to the LFS is a good day out, mine probably wishes more of my trips actually involved purchasing something.

Admittedly I bought my first aquarium from Pets at Home and in fairness the person I dealt with that day did seem to know his stuff but I still do not think I would ever buy any fish there. There is just something more reassuring about going to the LFS. I think the average purchaser of fish from a big box store is someone buying some fish on a whI'm or for one of their children who has been pestering them for the past few months for a fish tank. Generally people who probably have never kept any fish or done much research into it. I think it is this lack of experience which often leads to the fish dying prematurely and not always a reflection of the quality of the fish on offer. Of course there are many well documented cases of fish neglect in such places with racks full of dead fish, notably Wallmart but I think it is a tad unfair to label all big box stores in that way.

Do all so called experienced aquarists feel this way or are there any out there who would happily buy their fish from a big box store if the fish looked healthy enough? What do you all reckon?

 

We have two Petsmart in my area; one's fish dept. is horrible, the other is quite nice. However, I don't see me buying from them as there is a much better LFS here. I got my BN male from them, also 10 Rainbowfish.

 

I would buy a betta. The only things I buy there are tanks ,food ,and emergency supplies if one of my fish is sick.


with love and fish

 

Nope, never. Not in a million years and not if it was even free.

 

I have three pets at home shops really close to me...but I find them expensive for what they are!
£7 for 3 neon tetras... Or around the corner at a pet shoo which I love love love its £1.05 for a neon which will actually live more than a few months!

Also they charge £32 for a apI master test kit... When its £17 at my favourite shop!

 

Of all the place I have bought oto's, the place that provided me the healthiest ones was Petsmart. They had been there for a week and looked very healthy. The only other LFS that has them sells out as fast as they come in, so the stock is questionable. I have also had them shipped from 2 different online sources. Although they came looking good, most didn't last long.

 

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a local fish store. I rely heavily on Petco for my stock.

 

Almost all my fish have come from petsmart or petco. I have been to many LFSs in my area and have found the box stores have the best looking fish and surprisingly the employees even seem to be a little more caring. The only exception is African cichlids and I would order those anyway.

 

All my fish have come from petsmart as mine is actually very clean and healthy. All the staff in there is actually very helpful and knowledgable as I secretly test them, acting like I don't know anything and they actually provide me with truthful information. I know not all petsmarts are like that sadly but I love mine. There's only one LFS near me and it's horrific. My petsmart is much better. I've been to the LFS once and refuse to go back. It was very run down and the staff were just rude in general. Piercings and tattoos all over them which I normally wouldn't mind, but their attituded suited their looks and they weren't polite at all. Some of their fish were pretty cool looking, but id be afraid to buy from them with the amount of dead fish I saw and some ick in a few of the tanks.
My Petsmart is awesome and I wouldn't think about going to my LFS.


xx

 

It would appear from the responses above that the big box stores are not as bad as what a lot of the publicity would suggest. Clearly there are some stores that are not helping by setting a bad example but the same, as has been pointed out above, could be said for LFS. I count myself lucky in that I do have a LFS that I can trust for a good selection of fish, and advice when required but it is comforting to know that the big stores can get it right too when they want to. What it does highlight though is that there are plenty of more advanced aquarists in the hobby that are still happy to buy fish from the big box stores so more often than not they are getting it right. Unfortunately for them, just like everything else bad news always travels further and quicker. Maybe it is time the brand managers took note of the branches in the organisation that are getting it right and see how what they are doing can be implemented brand wide.

 

Yes, I do and I've had pretty good luck. I am selective about what fish I buy and when - I look at the overall health of all the tanks and if it looks questionable, I won't get anything. I've never had issues with the stock that I've gotten from Petco or Petsmart. I also go to a couple of LFS but the closest one that I like is 45 minutes away. Petco and Petsmart are about 20 minutes.
I would also suggest that you take a look at . I found it pretty eye opening.

 

I think Lucy accidentally linked the wrong thread so it's not popping up right. I know the thread you are talking about, just not sure how to link it because it's messed up.


xx

 

I don't like to but I will but if it dies quick I'll not go back for months

Another reason is my LFS has lower prices

 

There are only a few fish farms that supply fish. The fish at Petsmart and Petco more than likely come from the same farms that your LFS gets theirs from. So if you are getting your common community fish, or even some of the less common cichlids and odd balls at the big box store or LFS, I would bet they are coming from the same place.

What matters is how the stores care for them once they get them. The big box stores near me all take very good care of their fish. With that said, I rarely buy from them. I go into the LFS from time to time to look. There are 2 that are very good about ordering something in if their supplier carries it. But all the LFS near me basically all carry the same common community fish as the big box stores. Reason being, they all get the fish from the same places. And the majority of their costumers are fine with just having a common community set up in what is probably just their one tank. Most people are not like us, with multiple tanks.

I buy the majority of my fish online. I get most cichlids from Tangled up in Cichlids and Bluegrass Aquatics. I get stingrays from people who breed them. And I get almost everything else from The Wet Spot. That is not to say I don't have anything bought locally. I know right now I have tiger barbs, otocinclus, silver dollars, and a few cichlids from local box stores and LFS.

 

I only have 3 fish left from a big box store. They came with so many parasite I have a great LFS near me where the fish all look awesome and there's a great many tanks that are the owner's personal pets. I do use my local pets warehouse but I am there like every day with my 2 yr old who wants to see the arowanas and oscars. They take really good care of their guys. The one guy there does dips for me before I take home the fish.

 

I used to buy my fish from petsmart. But after my LFS opened, I stopped going to petsmart. Especially since my LFS is only 5 minutes away and is much cheaper. Plus their fish look way more healthy than the ones from petsmart

 

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a local fish store. I rely heavily on Petco for my stock.

I too, am a PetCo-person. Mine does a pretty good job of their fish department.
Though I am occasionally forced to buy from PetsMart as their prices on some things are better than PetCo's. I just don't buy fish from PetsMart after seeing how one employee treated my beloved Feeder Commons! The only other LFS in my area is the one owned by the individual who suffers from a bad case of; wait for it...MTS! and nothing in there has a price on it except for the limited stock of fish actually for sale... not that that's a bad thing!

 

I think Lucy accidentally linked the wrong thread so it's not popping up right. I know the thread you are talking about, just not sure how to link it because it's messed up.

petaddiction
It's linked correctly.
The app reads the link to the article wrong.
If you click from a browser on a computer it reads it correctly and leads to the article.

Here's a link to the actual thread rather than the article

 

I have in the past - and regretted the decision almost instantly. They always bring disease & are never hardy. I don't really buy from LFS either as there are none within an hour drive of me. I like to buy from people who locally breed or I'll buy online.

 

It doesn't matter--mycobacteria hit chain stores and small mom n pop LFS equally. No matter where you get your fish from, a very long QT (I do 8 weeks to forever) will help at least to protect your tanks from parasites and viral infections, provided you avoid cross-contamination. I do prefer to get fish directly from breeders as they have fewer stopovers and are less likely to pick up even more bugs along the way. They also have gone through less stress.

 

I have nothing against big box stores. The pet smarts around me have pretty good freshwater fish. The African Cichlids on the other hand are really bad and I just can't buy them there. Most are in "mixed" tanks and you just don't know what you are getting.

 

I went to petco yesterday to look around and they had just gotten a kuhlI loach in. I asked the lady to bag it for me and I went back to lookin at some other fish. she hands me the bag and I say thank you, she asks if I need anything else. I look at my bag and there's nothing in there but water? she DUMPED HIM DOWN THE DRAIN! it was the last one too. All in all, they aren't that great but I do rely on them for stock cus the closest LFS is about 2 hours away. you do what u can...

 

she DUMPED HIM DOWN THE DRAIN! it was the last one too.

Whoa.. How DOES that happen anyway?!

 

Whoa.. How DOES that happen anyway?!

My thought as well. Their setup must be different than I've ever seen.

 

I think what I look for is the condition of there tanks and how much the person working there knows about fish and water chemistry. Just listening to them will tell you alot. Most in the big stores they have no formal training in aquariums or fish and water in the tank. I have ran into so many that have been sold things and fish that they were told oh no problem it will work. A little research ahead of buying would make such a differance and make happy fish owners. Thanks

 

I think what I look for is the condition of there tanks and how much the person working there knows about fish and water chemistry. Just listening to them will tell you alot. Most in the big stores they have no formal training in aquariums or fish and water in the tank. I have ran into so many that have been sold things and fish that they were told oh no problem it will work. A little research ahead of buying would make such a differance and make happy fish owners. Thanks

You are 100% correct. As in all things it is up to the consumer to educate themselves before making a purchase.

 

To be honest it just depends on the store. My petsmart has no dead fish and the people know there stuff. Same with my local petco

 

dunno, I bought once in PetSmart and it was okay. I usually prefer to buy food in some online-shops, the quality is really good and delivery is not so expensive.. though yesterday received an order from artemia direct, great variety of products, but it took like 2 weeks to get it

 

I haven't had a fish from any shop in my house for years. I'm selective with the private breeders I get fish from. Unless I know your setup, your procedures, and that you aren't a knucklehead that cuts corners you can keep them. Had a local angel breeder wipe out a 100 tank breeding setup a couple years ago, got lazy with a quar, cut corners. Took him a year to get back up to production, not something I want to deal with.

 

My two Fantails from Petsmart have been great. They were quarantined for about 5 weeks in a 5G with daily water changes. However, one of them had internal parasites which I successfully treated with a combination of API General Cure, Seachem Paraguard, NLS +A pellets for food and plenty of water changes. So while they are great fish now I had to spend quite a bit to ensure they are as healthy as they are now. They weren't added to my new 75 Gallon until they had a clean bill of health.

My Tigerbarbs are from Petco and are great, they too were quarantined and treated a bit. Their quarantine was short since they became aggressive in a small quarantine. I lost one of them who had a parasite on arrival. He went into quarantine but couldn't save him. This left me with 7 Tigers from Petco.

My very first set of 6 Tiger Barbs prior to the ones from Petco which came from my LFS were simply horrible. I mean beyond horrible, I didn't know what to look for and must have gotten the WORST barbs possible. They were positively infested with parasites. The very first night they began getting ill and dying off one by one until I was left with one single Female Barb. She has been treated and is currently with my other 7 barbs in the 36 Gallon. They are all doing great now...but I am forever skeptical of that LFS. More over they have never stocked Tiger Barbs again.

My two latest Ranchu's are from East Coast Ranchu and I haven't had any real problems. One lost a little color due to me not feeding enough blood worms but that coloring is coming back with increased worms. Other than that they have been great. Go buy a ranchu from East Coast Ranchu...she's great it will link to facebook.

Moral of the story...buy a Ranchu.

But seriously, you never know what you're gonna get unless you do your research and even then you'll occasionally get bad fish. Always quarantine, always feed high quality food and always have meds around just in case!

 

I actually work for a chain store that shall remain nameless and must say our pet care employees are constantly working throughout the day cleaning fish tanks. Things that really bother me are people hating on chain store employees in general when they don't know how hard we really work. I've bought fish both from work and smaller mom and pop stores and have had mixed experiences. I had a betta from a small shop die within a month, and the betta I got from a chain store I've had for about 3 years now. Anyway, I shall now end my rant.

 

I believe this thread has run its course. Good information in the link above.

Let's remember folks, we do have members that are employed by some of the most popular chain stores. These employee's can only do so much due to company policy.

Kudos to those employees that take their jobs and pet lives seriously!

Thread closed.

Ken