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Petco...I know, I know (1 Viewer)

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Coachb1218

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So I was at Petco today at 249 and Spring Cypress. They have a girl that has works in the aquarium area and my goodness she has the saltwater tanks and wild life looking great. Tanks were very clean. Everything I saw looked very healthy. I did not know that Petco carries corals now. Overall I was very impressed. Things looked better than it does in some LFSs. Now, of course, I did not buy any livestock. :)

Either way, I am interested on hearing if you guys have been to that Petco recently and saw the same thing. I have been to other Petcos very recently and the saltwater section still looked awful.
 

soymilk

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my local petco doesn't look great. but they are having a 50% sale off some stuff online. you can do curbside for another 20% off. I got a pretty nice deal on a bucket of salt
 
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I depends on who they have working. Most don’t give a flip. Others try hard, but usually don’t last more than a few years. They are limited on what they can do because of upper management. Especially when it comes to coral, fish, and algae treatments.

I like to supplement my petco’s frag tank with NO3/PO4 and amino acids. Lol. They never see me dose it and the corals always look good. Haha.

Seriously, we have dosed it several times. The corals were so pale with zero nutrients and RTN/STN was taking over and then major turn around. Wink Wink. :)
 

Cody

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I depends on who they have working. Most don’t give a flip. Others try hard, but usually don’t last more than a few years. They are limited on what they can do because of upper management. Especially when it comes to coral, fish, and algae treatments.

I like to supplement my petco’s frag tank with NO3/PO4 and amino acids. Lol. They never see me dose it and the corals always look good. Haha.

Seriously, we have dosed it several times. The corals were so pale with zero nutrients and RTN/STN was taking over and then major turn around. Wink Wink. :)
I can’t wait until you have to explain in an interview being arrested for making their corals healthier haha
 

kris4647

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Provided you live on the north part of town where all the LFS’s live in Houston(I’m bitter about this), I’m just clueless why you’d waste your budget at Petco.
 

Seaworthy Aquatics

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Provided you live on the north part of town where all the LFS’s live in Houston(I’m bitter about this), I’m just clueless why you’d waste your budget at Petco.
You can get great deals like they said and the tanks don't always look horrible. I'd still rather give my money to a LFS but its hard to turn down things like 70% off sometimes. QT would have to be a must, even more than usual, for anything purchased from them though. Still have two yellow tangs I bought from the one near me a few years back for like 20 bucks each.
 
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Coachb1218

Coachb1218

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Provided you live on the north part of town where all the LFS’s live in Houston(I’m bitter about this), I’m just clueless why you’d waste your budget at Petco.
There are some LFS's that look amazing and do any amazing job. There are some LFS's that I won't take my kids into because the places are disgusting. I just happened to find a Petco with an employee that is doing a great job keeping things looking great. If my choice was this Petco or one of the LFS's that don't seem to really care, I'd go with Petco.
 
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So I was at Petco today at 249 and Spring Cypress. They have a girl that has works in the aquarium area and my goodness she has the saltwater tanks and wild life looking great. Tanks were very clean. Everything I saw looked very healthy. I did not know that Petco carries corals now. Overall I was very impressed. Things looked better than it does in some LFSs. Now, of course, I did not buy any livestock. :)

Either way, I am interested on hearing if you guys have been to that Petco recently and saw the same thing. I have been to other Petcos very recently and the saltwater section still looked awful.

It's hit/miss with Petco. It really depends on who's over the aquatics dpt and if they actually care or not. For the one's that do, the tanks usually look really good, the livestock appears healthy etc. The chances of buying a fish from there with ick or anything else is about the same as any other LFS. Thus always good to have a QT setup and ready to go.

I did hear from the dpt manager of the Petco on 1960 and Eldridge that all the stores are getting a complete refresh on the fresh and salt tanks (if they have them). The plan is to upgrade with new tanks, LED lighting (of some sort), filtration systems etc.
 

Cina05

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So I was at Petco today at 249 and Spring Cypress. They have a girl that has works in the aquarium area and my goodness she has the saltwater tanks and wild life looking great. Tanks were very clean. Everything I saw looked very healthy. I did not know that Petco carries corals now. Overall I was very impressed. Things looked better than it does in some LFSs. Now, of course, I did not buy any livestock. :)

Either way, I am interested on hearing if you guys have been to that Petco recently and saw the same thing. I have been to other Petcos very recently and the saltwater section still looked awful.
 

Cina05

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Not that one, but my petco in Pearland is usually very well kept, and the fish i did buy from there were healthy and have been thriving for about 5 months.
 

BigRick

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Petcos i go to do pretty well with SW. 249/spring cypress and 1960/eldridge. Here's my little buy off eldridge last night. Hes about the size of a penny. File fish, already ate some aiptasia. 20210726_093819.jpg
 

saltyanimals

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Pro tip. They will order fish for you from their wholesaler: Quality Marine. Same wholesaler as liveaquaria, and many LFS. They'll call when it arrives and pick them up in the blacked out QM bags before it enters their system. Ordered 4 lyretails $25 each. Picked up in bag and happy fish. Although their systems aren't bad as folks here have shared depending on the location.

The HW6/CopperField location is where I've purchased a bunch of stuff from. Salt manager there is good and cares for salt. I've seen all kinds of surprises there you wouldn't expect from a petco for fish. Coral hard to say because I can't tell from the day lights, but saw dragon wrasse to a PBT that was there for several weeks stayed healthy and ich free. Better than some PBT that gets ich in matter of days introduced to some lesser systems.
 

Cina05

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Pro tip. They will order fish for you from their wholesaler: Quality Marine. Same wholesaler as liveaquaria, and many LFS. They'll call when it arrives and pick them up in the blacked out QM bags before it enters their system. Ordered 4 lyretails $25 each. Picked up in bag and happy fish. Although their systems aren't bad as folks here have shared depending on the location.

The HW6/CopperField location is where I've purchased a bunch of stuff from. Salt manager there is good and cares for salt. I've seen all kinds of surprises there you wouldn't expect from a petco for fish. Coral hard to say because I can't tell from the day lights, but saw dragon wrasse to a PBT that was there for several weeks stayed healthy and ich free. Better than some PBT that gets ich in matter of days introduced to some lesser systems.
Is it cheaper than ordering from liveaquaria?
 
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