we stopped at Petco on the way to Best buy today to see what they had on sale and i looked through the tanks and it looked as if the Coral Beauty they had in a tank with the Fairy Wrasse had ICH… Just wanted to give you all a heads up if you buy something from there to look REAL GOOD and QT IT.
Ive always thought Ich was a permanent feature in the right hand stack of tanks. still I have gotten some good fish from them in the past.
It is close to impossible to buy a marine fish from an LFS with out multiple disease festering in it. Why is this? No LFS can buy fish from any wholesaler or trans shipper that hasn’t been through a disease bath in their facility. It also seems as if there are more and more fish in the wild with problems. My recommendation, qt everything.
Should take a trip with me sometime to an LFS, I could probably point out at least 20 things in ANY store you don’t want in your tank. I wouldn’t jump on any single store and point out one or two sick fish. I would actually applaud most stores that have 50 fish or more and only have one sick fish.
and some stores have every single saltwater community fish having ich and what ive been told where i work is because it is hard in the winter for them to get fish in without the fish catching ich on the cold shipment over mind you we dont use any good big companys we just use local breeders and our selection isnt that great but like jon said most stores will have some fish that have something wrong with them but i still like to try to buy from the stores with the least amounts of problems like dpa as compared to petkare just my :TWOCENTS
I’m in no way saying don’t buy from there but DO be aware that it was spotted and keep it in the back of your mind… Sometimes they have stuff that other places don’t even if you gotta pay extra for it. I wasn’t impressed with Pet Kare on 40 the other day due due to lots of dead fish in the tanks… Anyone know if Frank still works there?
Just wanted to let you know it wasn’t rare at all to find sick fish. If I reported every sick fish I had seen in an LFS there would be 10 times as many posts on this site and Ted would be working over time to deal with the server over load.
Jon
the cleanest places in or around newark are premium and Greenbanks. everthing else is pretty bad.
if the owners of the lfs showed that he gave a s!@* i would not mind a few things not up to par. i went to fishmans today and all i can say is WOW. on that note if anyone wants aptasia they have it by the ton.
i know. they really let that place go. it used to be nice but that was years ago. unfortunatly i dont think there going to get there act together.
i dont want to turn this into a fishman thread…but i was there too this week, and its sad now…
remember when they had the store on kirkwood highway…ah, i was a young tadpole then…
When i was in the market for fish, i always found Petco is cheaper on fish like green chromis which would cost $3-4 there, and at most LFS they are $4-6.
I sometimes see cheap lion fish also.
[quote=“longballz84, post:10, topic:1099”]
i dont want to turn this into a fishman thread…[/quote]
Then lets keep it the criticisim fairly constructive… 
Has anyone tried talking with them to see if they know it is a problem thing and not just a LR positive hitchiker? I realize most of us know, but we are reef geeks. Many FO people are happy as anything when they have anemones reproducing on there on in their tanks.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:12, topic:1099”]
Has anyone tried talking with them to see if they know it is a problem thing and not just a LR positive hitchiker? I realize most of us know, but we are reef geeks. Many FO people are happy as anything when they have anemones reproducing on there on in their tanks. [/quote]
My roommate that got me into the hobby had 2 in his 20g. I thought they were the most amazing things while I was living with him. It wasnt untill later that I realized just what they were and why they were bad.
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I am the head of the Home Owner’s Association in my neighborhood. I received a letter, phone call, e-mail, and visit at a meeting from a neighbor who was adamant that we needed to do something to stop the kids in the neighborhood from littering. After many long discussions about how we could dissuade bad behaviour, she clearly stated that I should speak to each of them. I explained that I can not possibly speak to every teenager that walks through the neighborhood, and asked what type of reaction she received when she spoke to them. her response:
"Oh it’s not MY job to talk to them, I just wanted you to do it"
It is each and every one of our responsibilities to bring it to the LFS attention when there is dead fish in a tank, wen they are not stocking the items we want, etc. the LFS has no idea there is a problem if no one has ever informed them there is a problem. 9 out of 10 LFS employees have no experience with marine fish and couldn’t tell the difference between ich and salt. it is OUR responsibility to ensure the LFS owners know what is going on when they aren’t there, or what their staff does / doesn’t know / do.
So what is Fishman has a tank full of aptaisia? Maybe he has a market for peppermint shrimp food. Maybe you don’t like them, maybe he’s got 20 customers that do like them. I have a tank full of majano anemones, ya know what…I like them…know what i usually hear? “Man you got majano anemones, you should get rid of those…”
Everyone has different opinions on what should / should not be in a DT. Dead / Sick fish are one thing, but aptasia? I’ve read no more then 6 posts in the last week about Fishman’s aptasia - know what? I have a hungry peppermint shrimp, I may need ot go see Fishman tonight.
[quote=“ds4x4, post:1, topic:1099”]
… if you buy something from there to look REAL GOOD and QT IT.[/quote]
Good advice always. And that applies to any lfs.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:14, topic:1099”]
It is each and every one of our responsibilities to bring it to the LFS attention when there is dead fish in a tank, wen they are not stocking the items we want, etc. the LFS has no idea there is a problem if no one has ever informed them there is a problem. 9 out of 10 LFS employees have no experience with marine fish and couldn’t tell the difference between ich and salt. it is OUR responsibility to ensure the LFS owners know what is going on when they aren’t there, or what their staff does / doesn’t know / do.[/quote]
+1Â
I see this post has gotten slightly out of control yet you all are doing a good job on keeping it in context abcd. i have seen less on a forum create havok >LOCO<
[glow=red,2,300]Yes, it is our job as a Member of the Reefing Community to put forth Every Clubs Main Goal. That is to Educate and Preserve the Reef whether it is in your living room or in the Ocean.[/glow]
I have never been to Fishmans but, my Fiance’ has and she wasn’t impressed, other than that i cannot comment. Pet Kare I, I have been there many, many, many times and never seen the SW tanks in that shape i am just a little surprised. I like Pet Kare because the Employee’s don’t just pretend to know about SW and if they don’t they are willing to try and help you or even make phone calls to get your answer. I would rather have someone be honest and tell me they don’t know then to try and make something up.
I’m not here to bash any LFS I just want to share what i see sometimes and let fellow reefers know to have a heads up.
[quote=“ds4x4, post:5, topic:1099”]
I’m in no way saying don’t buy from there but DO be aware that it was spotted and keep it in the back of your mind… Sometimes they have stuff that other places don’t even if you gotta pay extra for it. I wasn’t impressed with Pet Kare on 40 the other day due due to lots of dead fish in the tanks… Anyone know if Frank still works there?[/quote]
yes frank still works there he is the fish manager as well as a store manager. Petkare always has alotof dead fish not many peoplelike to do deedie scoop and there tankstend to be filled with ich… they focus instead on setting up shark tanks insteadof fixingthere community tanks that are filledwith ich justmy :TWOCENTS
[quote=“xwhatmeworryx, post:17, topic:1099”]
yes frank still works there he is the fish manager as well as a store manager. Petkare always has alotof dead fish not many peoplelike to do deedie scoop and there tankstend to be filled with ich… they focus instead on setting up shark tanks insteadof fixingthere community tanks that are filledwith ich justmy :TWOCENTS[/quote]
Ohh really? i never noticed the dead fish before, i think maybe once i saw one but frank was working almost everytime i went there… I did notice they have alot of Groupers now on the one side. To each there own i guess
we take in way tomany trade ins we finallysold a blue cod grouper that we had for about 6months now they are working on a shark/ray tank
wow, this could be good or bad. may just be best i keep my thoughts t myself. but as a lfs owner/relative and “partner” of sorts of a lfs, i always like to ride around checking out all the stores when i am up north. here’s what i came up with just by walking through the stores. dpa has by far the most tanks for livestock, and the biggest fish section. super clean and set up very nicely. stock just seems to be low most times i stop in. maybe just bad timing. mom’s store gets low, usually a good sign of a busy week. so maybe coincidentally, i always seem to stop by right before they are expecting a shipment. petco is a chain, and should be treated as such. basic stuff in stock, usually cheaper for dry goods. but the help and knowledge of the staff usually lacks. don’t get me wrong, there are a few knowledgable folks working in there. but it’s not too common. pet kare is an overall pet store and doesn’t really seem to focus on aquariums. so there is 200 times more things to know in order to deal with every pet in the store. tough weight to bear, but some ideal finds can be found if u stop in at the right times. BUT… in all honesty. although the store doesn’t have a lot of presentation, and quite disorganized. aside from a little glass wiping, just fish had the best looking fish out of the 4. beautiful, healthy, and active in all areas of the aquariums. salt, fresh, cichlids, cold water… everything looked really good. granted, a lot of hair algae and salt creep down the outsides of the tanks, fish looked great. a little higher on the $ scale on most things, but very nice stuff.
sorry for my rant. just a couple pennies for ya from someone who has been on both sides of the lfs scene.