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Petco story

Walked into petco today while I was waiting for my wife next door. Talked to to a guy who was buying what looked like a naso tang and a flame angel to put in his 30 g bio cube. That already had another angel 2 clown fish and a chromi in it. I tried to tell him there’s two fish will not do well in a 30 gallon and he said there’s plenty of room in there I don’t have a lot of rock.

The girl at petco even told that he could fit two of the tangs in his tank. I had to walk out


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MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
This is when I get so pissed off I tell the employee she is completely incorrect and I want to see a manager. I also have complained to corporate but they did not seem to care.
Months later I went in again and all new staff. I asked what happened and was told Corporate had some many complaints and store was losing money so they restaffed. It took probably 3 years for that happen but at least it did.
 

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Was it the Lakewood Petco near Costco? There is a guy there that runs the department and he knows his stuff. Sounds like you may have gotten the B team.
 

DangerDave

NJRC Member
That’s the issue with the big box places. The kids get the job with “I like fish” being the knowledge requirement. Sometimes you get lucky and the person really is interested in the hobby like mentioned above. These places are a jack of all trades, master of none. It’s fine if you know what you want/need. No different than say Home Depot...
 
The brick petco is good the howell petco is improving with a little help from myself lol.
The other day I saw a lollipop tang in a a tank with the demensions of a 10 gallon.. Now granted the sale tanks are all mostly under sized and over stocked due to the nature of the business but this was just bad practice I informed the head fish guy that he needs to move the tang to the longest display tank they have and he said "well the fish sell pretty quick so he should be fine" to which I replied being in the hobby for a bit and with a decent understanding of what I need to look for when purchasing a fish if I was in the market for one of petco higher value fish I would pass on it just because of how it was kept.. He looked puzzled so I gave more of an explanation by telling him that fish needed a minimum of 80 gallons to even be remotely happy and that even in some of the bigger tanks a tang still won't do well.. In the tank it was in it would most Definitly be stressed and will most likely develop ich with in days and eventually die so as a customer I wouldn't risk the 40 bucks they were asking even if the fish looked healthy at the time of purchase. He caved and moved the fish.. Another time I saw a tank with two coral beautys both actively harassing each other I flagged down an employee and told them that if they don't fix it immediately they would have 2 dead fish on,there hands and that they are basically misleading the unaware customers into thinking they can stock there tanks with these very poor and costly mistakes that should be common knowledge in the hobby.
I even considered calling corporate about the condition of the tanks but couldn't find a email or mailing address. The gist of my letter would have been the stores practicing animal cruelty and poor ethics by not properly maintain there tanks and taking care of the fish the way they should be
 
The petco in Bridgewater used to be really good until both fish specialist left and it all went down hill


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