do we really NEED another reason...

[Grams]

man your crazy do you know how rare a hm is at my petco, only seen one and someone took right as i saw it.

you shouldve got it for me lol

 

[Sorrell]

I've gotten three bettas at petco...They are all very healthy. The petco I went to is very clean, I've never asked the employees any questions, but the facilities are nice and the fish are healthy.
Flare

Beam

Oliver

I love them

 

[jacblades]

im not crazy. i care about the greater good that not buying from them will show. you have to sacrifice a few to save many in the future.
sad but true

 

[White Whale]

because i was interested in the tumor. i had never seen one like it before and wanted to know if i could treat it. but of course its a tumor, so i couldnt. i dont buy bettas from petco (that was the only one). i even saw a gorgeous tri-band halfmoon with extremely intense colors the other day but didnt buy him.

Never buy a sick fish from a petstore. If they can't help it, how could you - and those guys are supposed professionals?

 

[jacblades]

judging by how the manager the other day attempted to treat all (...oops i mean FIVE) of the sick bettas with bettaFIX, i DONT think they know what they are doing. my betta isnt nor has ever been sick-he just has a tumor.
do you work for petco or something?

 

[White Whale]

A lot of times there will be one or two that know what they are doing. These are the PETCOs that actually display only healthy fish.

And, no. I do not work for PETCO. I work for a cancer center.

 

[jacblades]

im sorry but one or two really isnt good enough when it comes to the lives of animals.

 

[White Whale]

You really can't blame the chain. It has to be the training the employees receive and the effort they are willing to put forth into maintaining its stock. Most of the stores are hard-up looking for good help. A lot of them hire college students because the store needs the bodies and the students need the money. The information transference is very poor, unless the student is majoring in marine biology, has kept an aquarium since childhood, or is a fanatic about fishkeeping. Many of them aren't, don't, or aren't.

 

[Grams]

man jacblades your disageeing with everyone lol

 

[Dane]

I was always against pet shop animals, ESPECIALLY pet shop dogs. But that's a WHOLE nother forum and story.

But the petco I go to, is right by my house. The people there actually know what they're talking about, and care about the animals. I go there so often, that I never see a dead fish in the tank, because when they die, there are immidately removed from the tank. THOUGH, just because this store has good employees, doesn't mean the rest of the chain does. I've heard and seen some horrific stories about other petcos.

About how their animals suffer until death, how their employees don't give a rats.. a.. never mind, how they don't CARE about the animals there, it's just a big business for them.

Anyway, your best bet is to just use petco and petsmart for their supplise, never buy live stalk from there, unless you want to rescue the poor little critters.. although, your choices are up to you, do as you want. though many people's strong opinions and accurate and good back up is giving petco and petsmart a horrible reputation, and most of them deserve due to their lack to care.

I think the cure for this problem, is not sue and try to shut them down, but to demand for better training. If more animal enthusist work at these stores, then maybe the shops will be filled with more care for the animals, rather than their pay check at the end of the week.

 

[jacblades]

You really can't blame the chain. It has to be the training the employees receive and the effort they are willing to put forth into maintaining its stock. Most of the stores are hard-up looking for good help. A lot of them hire college students because the store needs the bodies and the students need the money. The information transference is very poor, unless the student is majoring in marine biology, has kept an aquarium since childhood, or is a fanatic about fishkeeping. Many of them aren't, don't, or aren't.

yes you can blame the chain. they should make it a company policy to have a program to train employees. i knew someone that worked at a petco-she said they just threw her in the first day without any educating.
im sorry but i wont contribute to animal abuse, poor company policy and poor conditions by shopping there. if that sort of stuff doesnt bother you, then go on and shop there. but it bothers me and therefore petco wont get any of my business.

anyways-most of petstores profits are made on the supplies and not the animals... so petco wouldnt be hurt if they stopped selling animals.

 

[White Whale]

You really can't blame the chain. It has to be the training the employees receive and the effort they are willing to put forth into maintaining its stock. Most of the stores are hard-up looking for good help. A lot of them hire college students because the store needs the bodies and the students need the money. The information transference is very poor, unless the student is majoring in marine biology, has kept an aquarium since childhood, or is a fanatic about fishkeeping. Many of them aren't, don't, or aren't.

yes you can blame the chain. they should make it a company policy to have a program to train employees. i knew someone that worked at a petco-she said they just threw her in the first day without any educating.
im sorry but i wont contribute to animal abuse, poor company policy and poor conditions by shopping there. if that sort of stuff doesnt bother you, then go on and shop there. but it bothers me and therefore petco wont get any of my business.

anyways-most of petstores profits are made on the supplies and not the animals... so petco wouldnt be hurt if they stopped selling animals.

You are giving an example of one store. Both of the Petco's I go to have well-trained personnel and healthy stock. If you are so concerned about a badly-run store, then DO something about it. Whining on a forum may inform a few, but constant whining becomes an irritation and accomplishes nothing. If you are in here posting, then you aren't out there taking affirmative action.

I'm sorry that I have not seen your local PETCO, but I have no problems with the ones in my area.

 

[HolyKnightBeral]

hmmm.
I used to volunteer for an animal rescue organization that worked out of Petsmart. I was there every Sunday for about a year and noticed the degrading quality of water up until the 2 month inspections by their district manager. It was always on Monday so I would notice that there'd be 2 more people in the store at all times cleaning and prepping the tank for this lady to come in. Of course this ran across the board as I noticed the grooming center cleaner ( always had to take care of washing the cats since I have the highest tolerance to pain ), and the floor in general was nicer.

As for Petco, it is a dive where I live in Arizona. I bought one Betta there, very sick, and spent 3 weeks nursing him back to health.

I prefer not to shop at either. I am lucky enough to have found a locally owned tropical fish stores that takes very good care of their product. I'd encourage everyone to shell out a little extra and support the places that care. Not saying boycott Petsmart and Petco because I am sure that on the local level there are quite a few that are well maintained.

Well there is my rant ^^;

Just remember that your vote as a consumer makes all the difference.

 

[jacblades]

You really can't blame the chain. It has to be the training the employees receive and the effort they are willing to put forth into maintaining its stock. Most of the stores are hard-up looking for good help. A lot of them hire college students because the store needs the bodies and the students need the money. The information transference is very poor, unless the student is majoring in marine biology, has kept an aquarium since childhood, or is a fanatic about fishkeeping. Many of them aren't, don't, or aren't.

yes you can blame the chain. they should make it a company policy to have a program to train employees. i knew someone that worked at a petco-she said they just threw her in the first day without any educating.
im sorry but i wont contribute to animal abuse, poor company policy and poor conditions by shopping there. if that sort of stuff doesnt bother you, then go on and shop there. but it bothers me and therefore petco wont get any of my business.

anyways-most of petstores profits are made on the supplies and not the animals... so petco wouldnt be hurt if they stopped selling animals.

You are giving an example of one store. Both of the Petco's I go to have well-trained personnel and healthy stock. If you are so concerned about a badly-run store, then DO something about it. Whining on a forum may inform a few, but constant whining becomes an irritation and accomplishes nothing. If you are in here posting, then you aren't out there taking affirmative action.

I'm sorry that I have not seen your local PETCO, but I have no problems with the ones in my area.

you obviously did not go to the website that i keep telling you to go to. i dont speak only for my petco. im talking about bad practices at petco everywhere. i just want to warn people that petco is not as animal-friendly as some may think. just because your petco is clean or you dont see dead fish floating in the tank-doesnt mean there arent hamsters in the freezer or suffering fish in the back of the store. i dont see how anyone who cares for animals would want to shop there after going to the website.

and if you are annoyed by my compassion for animals, dont read my posts.

Just remember that your vote as a consumer makes all the difference.

exactly.

 

[wrs]

Not all Petcos do that ya know. And there are other places that probly do worse things to animals. Like my lfs in the mall cuts parts of the fish off and starves them when people buy them and they die they say its their fault and dont give a refund. Just because some stores do that doesnt mean that they are all like that and that they all do things like that. At my petco they have little things saying that the fish are sick and they arent for sale, and you see them treating them for whatever reason theyre sick. And they dont leave dead fish in the tanks either. So dont critizise every store in a chain just because some of them are bad. There are still good ones with good people that care about the fish and other animals and buy saying that they are all bad and horrible takes credit away from the good ones.