Why a NEWB should never shop at Petco!

[JohnK]

So you never shop or never go to petco? If it was not petco/petsmart, how did you get your foot wet in this hobby may i ask?
Not everyone in here that have dady or brother/cousin that works for jays, skiptons, tropic island etc,,,,,,,

Some of us spent 6-12 months reading everything they could get (pre-internet), and talking to everyone they could find that had any connection to the hobby before actually mixing their first gallon of artifical saltwater. IMO/IME if you are at petco for your first saltwater investment you have massively failed in the inital research phase of this hobby.

First rule of reefing- research a LOT before you buy anything
Second rule of reefing - nothing good happens fast in a reef tank

 

[dz6t]

Petsmart does not carry saltwater live stock, so you will hit a wall real hard if you try to get some advice from there.

 

[P-Nut]

Ended up getting something from Petco today. Coral Banded Shrimp. The people at the petstore had NO idea about saltwater fish. Couldnt answer any questions. I saw this awesome looking shrimp and started asking about him. Kept saying he has no idea. So I ended up getting this things. Its really cool looking and mainly did this because my blood shrimp(smaller) just hides.

I am nervous of them killing each other...so far so good, but who knows over time. Its a 44G Corner Pent, so it may be a little small on the plus there are atleast 3+ caves for them to separate in. Has anyone else had bad/good experiences with CBS?

I never buy anything form that store. Most fish always have some kind of parasite.
The only thing I would buy, would be a few corals (the first to go in the tank) and then wait one or two months to put other corals. As soon as I start putting other corals I would not get anything else from that place.
I wouldn't even want a single drop of their water in my tank.

 

[P-Nut]

So you never shop or never go to petco? If it was not petco/petsmart, how did you get your foot wet in this hobby may i ask?
Not everyone in here that have dady or brother/cousin that works for jays, skiptons, tropic island etc,,,,,,,

I learned from my dad. And even though he taught me a lot, I still read a lot of reviews, books and listen to peoples opinions and ask questions here.
The way to start for the first time is to buy small pieces from a good store. Some stuff will die, some will live.
Dont try to keep a clam and all sorts of hard corals that require excellent water and light. Start with easy low-moderate light hardy corals.

Also, anyone that does a lot of research will learn that everyone has a different way of doing things. If you read my posts, you will see that the way i used to keep my old tank was very different from other people, but it worked great for me.

So, just like every other hobby, there is a lot of trial and error and putting two and two together and figuring it out.

If you dont know what you are looking at when buying, ask someone from Boston reefers to go with you to the store. I have seen people call me to show me their new awesome fish they got from Petco and when i got to their house I saw the fish were full of white dots.

 

[Ryukin_Girl]

Been working with fish as soon as I could walk (thank you dad ) Im lucky enough to work for some great Pet/Aqutic shops. I worked for Underwater world when Steve OBrian owned and I LOVE Greg and Andy still recommond them. My other FAV store in Wareham is Family Pet . Some great finds and the owner is awsome and new fish all the time.
As a X !! PetCo employee I use to run the Aquatic Dept.. When I started I was allowed to ower to my area Falmouth store. We did ALOT of africains,pond and saltwalter. And cause their was no matance it was nice haveing underwater world just a phone call away lol. One hand washes the other lol. And then the stores in the midwest starting screwing up. First we were only allowed to order from a smaller list. And when CEOs came in Id bitched about messing up my sales. I beat 3 super stores just in Freshwater sales 3 yrs str8. And wouldn't allow me to move up to a superstore. I didn't play the PetCo game well. Then the had a "Aquatics Class" that everyone that ran a Aquatics dept to go to and my manager HAD to go w/ me. The Teacher knew NOTHING about fish and was teaching the class by a book. I DID offer to help. My manager told me to be quiet I did 1 better I fell a sleep in the back. I got writen up first time ever in my life !!! Know gloves where off . PetCo started cutting Aqutic sizes in stores to carry more prodects. So now I covered more stores Wareham,Falmouth,Darthmouth and Plymouth. Trying to teach staff as I meet them some were open to it some could careless. Then got notice that some stores were cutting saltwater. the stores were losing to much money in it. God I wonder y. So I passed my Saltwater custmers to underwater world and then as the list got smaller and smaller to order from and walmart was carrying better stock then i could get I saw the ax comith lol. But thank you PetCo I love being a beachbum