Petsmart Opinions?

[CBTF]

Petsmart here in Toronto has inferior stock and whenever I buy fish from there they bring a fungus/parasite/ bacterial infection with them.

No thx.

 

[Paradise_Gourami]

being that i used to work at petsmart i know all about what goes on there. before being hired you do not have to have any experience with fish or anything so yeah that explains the unknowledgeable people that work their. Dispite this there are some folks that work at petsmart that actually know what they are doing so you cant really judge all petsmarts because of one because theyre all different in this way.

 

[CBTF]

i agree with the post above. ive read nasty things about wal mart on here but my local wal mart has sold me fish that are currently 7 years old.

 

[xJake]

I haven't had a problem with any of the fish I've bought from Petsmart; however, not much can be said for their employees. I went to get my water tested the other day just because I was there and it seemed like a good idea...

Employee: "Your pH is way too low."

Me: "Oh really? What's my pH?"

Employee: "It's the acidic value of your water..."

Me: "Heh, I know what pH is... I mean, what is the value on the scale?"

Employee: "It didn't even register on the scale."

Me: "Oh really? I tested it last night with my brand new API Master Test Kit and it registered at 7.2..."

Employee: "Maybe you should test again..."

I went home and "tested again" and sure enough it was at 7.2. Also, she refused to retest as she felt that the first test was accurate.

 

[DebraAustin]

I would be careful about stores like Petsmart. They sell Pangasius and tell people that they only get 1 foot long .

I shop at Petsmart, Petco and 2 local LFS and I have been pleased with all of them. However, there are two Petsmarts in the area that I will not buy from because their tanks are always dirty and floater abound. I find that the employees vary. Some of them know a lot and others know absolutely nothing, so be prepared. I even find that the level of knowledge varies widely at the LFS, so you have to do your own research before buying.

I've learned who to ask what to over the past months and find that the others really should just say, "I don't know," but if they are young they are afraid to because they don't want to look stupid. I like the guy at Petco the best. He is fairly knowledgeable and willing to say I don't know when he needs to. He even checked on some upcoming sale prices for tanks I am interested in and told me what they were going to be on sale for. I thought that was pretty nice of him, since he could have made much more money selling to me at the regular price.

So, my suggestion is do your own research and then get to know which employees know what they are talking about and go from there. All stores will have some fish that don't make it. They have gone through tremendous stress being crammed in a tiny bag and then traveling under who knows what conditions to get where they need to go and some fish just can't take that kind of stress. However, if you see one and say something they should immediately remove the fish, not just say that it happens all the time.

Debra

i'm from NC as well. which petsmarts do you shop from, and which have you found to be less than desirable?

I live in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area. I shop at the Petco on Wendover right next to I-40 (it is the only one in town) and I shop the Petsmart on Hanes Mill in Winston-Salem (not Hanes Mall, can be confusing). I avoid the other two in Greensboro, Lawndale and Bridford Prkwy. I have not been to the other Petsmart in Winston-Salem as the Hanes Mill is the closest. I will buy supplies from any of them, just not fish. It is the, I think, manager at Petco that seems the nicest and most honest. I have purchased from Aquamain on Friendly in Greensboro and Aquarium something or other in Kernersville on 66 between I-40 and business I-40. Hope that helps you out.

Debra

 

[king72]

I know you are all talking about Petsmart but i had to mention a uk shop called Ark Aquatics. The are the pet section of Wyvale garden centres in Kent. I went on Tuesday to the Gillingham centre and was pleasantly suprised by the 90 tanks and variety of fish. That is until I spoke to the staff. I said to a young lady,
"who is the resident fish expert then" reply "him" pointing to a presumably teenage lad who raised his eyebrows at me.
i said to himn " I am looking for a red tail black shark"....met by a blank look
"have you got any, I could'nt find them"............. errr no!
"do you know what a red tail black shark is"........errr no!
"so why did you say you hav'nt got any".........don't know
"guess i will go somewhere else then".......ok he said

hows that for service. bearing in mind they say on their website that they are dedicated to the fish enthusiast and claim to have years of knowledge.....mmmmmmmmm

 

[cjohnston]

I have to say, my local petsmart (has this be renamed as Pets At Home) in Southampton is absolutely Fab. There are two guys, one of which has devoted his whole life to fish keeping. They also give good advice but not making me spend loads of money, ie using coconut shells for caves for my Kribs, otherwise I would have bought expensive ornaments. They also give excellent advice without critising when your a beginner.

 

[Kris]

So I went to the Petsmart near my work today after my shift... Yep. The fish selection was pretty nice, however nothing appropriate for my 10 gallon (i.e. bigger cichlids etc) The plants were kind of crappy - all wilting and not very green. The amount of other aquarium "stuff" was pretty decent too. I think I like PetCo better though.

 

[vancouver]

Every store is different.. I've been to horrible wal marts, and I've also been to good wal marts..

Same with petsmart... some of them are garbage, while others are well taken care of..

So it's really hard to generalize a whole chain of stores by an experience with 1-2 or even 3 stores..


In saying that, the petsmarts I've been to haven't been great.. I go to one in bellingham in the U.S... They do have some in Canada, but they don't carry some stuff the one in the U.S does.

I'm actually going there tomorrow.. hooray!

 

[Barracuda518]

Right now there are 3 PetsMarts around me. Ive used all 3 of them. There is one I used very often that I have never had a problem with. I have bought a lot of fish from them and havent had any problems and I really like the 2 week guranatee. There prices on heaters, pumps and decor is hard to beat. I will keep shopping there until they give me a reason not too.

 

[qwikimpss]

Personally I have had some so-so experience with both PetCo and Pet-Smart. Some of the clerks seem to know their stuff but you need to go there and talk to the fish clerks 1-2 times a week and find out who knows their stuff.

I prefer to keep my fish purchases to small mom and pop shops around. There is one a 1/2 hour from me in which the owner ALWAYS tends shop and if it's not busy he will sit around for HOURS and talk fish with ya.

 

[Tolak]

I won't buy from shops that won't buy from me. Corporate run lfs fish come from huge breeders in Florida, who usually have water that is way different from the shops they are sent to. This is a big reason why people have problems with fish from xyz-mart type of stores. Your smaller privately owned shops get locally bred fish whenever possible. Many hatcheries have a $250 to $500 minimum order, smaller shops can't swing that. They also know locally bred fish acclimate better to customer's tanks.

Smaller shops will not only talk endlessly about fish, they will also talk about the business end of it. You'll get a real blank stare at xyz-mart if you try bringing that up.

 

[ArielC]

petsmart fish are usually preety healthy, but the unknowledgeable staff turns me away, they give people the wrong idea about their fish way too much saying things like "oh that arowana can go in your ten gallon tank, it only gets 5" long." And in my petsmart, all they feed their fish is this white block that looks chalky.

 

[jolaf]

I buy most of my fish from Petsmart is is very close to my house I have nto had much problem with the occasional case of ick but that could be from anywhere. ***three stars

Hey folks...just curious to hear opinions about fish from Petsmart....I always buy my fish from there - never had a problem yet (fairly knowledgable about fish), always seem healthy and live long lives...just the employees are generally not too bright and I end up teaching them alot of the time....just never buy fish from a tank if there is a floater in it....usually none but sometimes...only never buy fish from Walmart - ever! Usuallly can't anyway - usually a sign up saying that they aren't for sale because they are being treated for diseases....makes you wonder!

So opinions on the fish from Petsmart? Everyone seems to hate the employees - know that much already...but fish seem good to me - usually have fairly small young fish (my black skirt tetras were teeny when I bought them - now WAY bigger - although they always tell people I never feed them - ever...if someone is around they cluster against glass in front of them with sorrowful eyes....pooor fishies!)

 

[Bullrock74]

I have had good luck with their fish. For the most part the people in the store know what they are doing. Their prices are pretty high, though, especially compared to the prices elsewhere and on the internet.