Petland discount

[frankieboy]

Hi anyone had experience with petland I see sw fish but not shore how healthy they only bought freshwater fish. One time I was buying goldfish the fish were mixed up size in wrong tank manager should have givin me a break on price. Cause worker didn't know his fish. So has anyone look at saltwater fish at petland, haven't gone to store for quite sometime. Just wondering what you think of store.

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

My opinion is that you should buy salt water fish from high quality retailers. Not so long ago I was in a petland, on shipment day. The workers were slicing open bags and dumping the fish right into the tanks.No temperature matching, no acclimation, just slice and dump. They were doing it for both the fresh water as well as the salt water fish.

Obviously, this was an isolated incident in a a single store, but in general I think salt water fish should be purchased from expert retailers.

 

[albano]

My opinion is that you should buy salt water fish from high quality retailers. Not so long ago I was in a petland, on shipment day. The workers were slicing open bags and dumping the fish right into the tanks.No temperature matching, no acclimation, just slice and dump.

There is a very expensive LFS near me, prices based on HoF in Greenwich, in business over 20 yrs, massive maintenance business, and they slice and dump every shipment!
I don't like that, and never buy from them, but the point is you need to 'investigate' ALL stores before buying !

 

[Imbarrie]

Petland and stores like them make decisions differently than a LFS.
Corporate rules govern everything they do. And training someone to follow basic fish etiquette with new fish, selling a fish, or even feeding and lighting the tanks is far from consistent.
You may know someone at a store that knows what they are doing. But the person who covers for them who knows nothing will undo anything they did.
I never buy livestock from these stores. And since they are not that different in price, I dont buy many other things either.

Until the dollar per gallon sale.

 

[thirty5]

The Petland Discounts by my house does not sell SW at all. They are good for me to pick up little items that I need in a heartbeat.

 

[Bry17nyc]

I have a petland around my area
And to be honest about a year ago
the tanks (SW & FW) looked filthy.. sick fish etc...the company fired everyone including the manager..and hired a bunch of new people
And the store has been getting better and better little by little.. I can say that 95% of all the SW and FW tanks look very clean and nice maintained
SW fish look healthy even though I know they might not be the healthiest compared to LFS
They have this guy that takes care of the SW section and he does a nice job .. He is not the best but you can see that he tries to maintain the tanks clean and keep the fish as healthy as he can
And some of the prices are not bad at all

 

[frankieboy]

Thank you all for your comments. I plan to go to a lfs to buy equipment and fish. Petland is were I get small things needed for tank or my fish, and that's something I learned once never buy a fish from a tank were there's a dead fish in it. I like to go were you have someone who has knowledge of fish and equipment. Some workers who work in store doesn't know how to help at times, just bag fish a price it. Sometimes fish can in wrong tank missed labeled so now I feel good to avoid petland.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

I plan to go to a lfs to buy equipment and fish.

as far as equipment goes, check out our own vendors here, they are much more knowledgeable than most lfs people. these vendors are themselves hobbyists and are familiar with what they sell. they tend to carry better value/quality equipment that you won't find at your lfs. plus their prices are usually better than the lfs.
some of our vendors do have actual storefronts that you can visit so you can browse before you buy. especially when it comes to livestock, i like to see them before making a purchase. not a big fan of online livestock.
do support our vendors so they'll be around and we won't have to go to petland/petco.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

that's something I learned once never buy a fish from a tank were there's a dead fish in it.

EVERY seller of fish EVERYONE will from time to time have a dead fish or two in their tanks. Most of the time you don't see it because you're not there before they do the rounds. It is what it is. We all lose fish, a store is no different except that instead of trying to care for 10 they have to try to care for 2,000. If you truly go by that rule you will never find a store you like. Keep in mind the stress the fish go through:

Get caught where ever they're from
Introduced into their system
Bagged over there
Boxed up quickly(not gently)
Shipped on a plane with or without heat packs
Arrive at a distributor
Reintroduced into another system
Bagged up
Put in another box
Shipped again, usually across the country
Introduce into yet another system, then sold to you.

If you think a dead fish is unacceptable there is not a single person that deals in this business that will qualify for you.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

I think he meant making a purchase while there's dead fish in it. It's a possible indicator that the store may not be taking care of the necessities as well as they should.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

None of the Petlands near me carry SW livestock. The problem with Petland is firstly, that the average worker there may mean well, but knows nothing beyond what they are told to say by management. Yes, occasionally you'll get someone who's really knowledgable, in which case it's either a) a way to get some $$ while in school, so they won't be there long, or b) they end up going into management. Which leads to the next problem. Managers at Petland range from mediocre to really knowledgable...but it appears to be company policy to shift personnel. So you have a store that is exceptionally well managed (for a Petland, that is), whom you get to know well, who treats everyone well, but after a year or 2, maybe 3 at most, the management is replaced by someone completely new. When I first got into SW maybe 16 years ago or so, my local Petland carried SW, and had a great manager. Treated the fish well, never hesitated to refund or exchange for fish/inverts that didn't thrive, and made an attempt to bring in livestock or equipment we were interested in. He definitely made our initial transition to SW much easier. Of course, after a few months, he was transferred, and all the SW set ups were taken down for good.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

I think he meant making a purchase while there's dead fish in it. It's a possible indicator that the store may not be taking care of the necessities as well as they should.

Understood Tom, just wanted to point out to him since he's brand new in the hobby what journeys the fish have to go through to get to the point where we see them in the store.

 

[frankieboy]

Thanks everyone I understand your point in hobby. I want to have good time doing hobby I know there will come good ones and bad, just want to start right and once.

 

[shroomie]

I have a petland around my area
And to be honest about a year ago
the tanks (SW & FW) looked filthy.. sick fish etc...the company fired everyone including the manager..and hired a bunch of new people
And the store has been getting better and better little by little.. I can say that 95% of all the SW and FW tanks look very clean and nice maintained
SW fish look healthy even though I know they might not be the healthiest compared to LFS
They have this guy that takes care of the SW section and he does a nice job .. He is not the best but you can see that he tries to maintain the tanks clean and keep the fish as healthy as he can
And some of the prices are not bad at all

The place on 231st? If so, I agree. They have come a long way when it comes to SW. I have a few frags from them, and a kaudern's that are doing great.

 

[frankieboy]

Ok I will shop around and see store has good looking fish, price and they look healthy. Cause I see how they handle fish, I saw one time cut bag dump fish right in tank. no acclimating fish see that they don't use stress coat anymore, I got experiences when I was in freshwater hobby. But anyways all your opinions and advice was great

 

[Gabe]

Good luck

 

[Bry17nyc]

The place on 231st? If so, I agree. They have come a long way when it comes to SW. I have a few frags from them, and a kaudern's that are doing great.

Exact place
compared to others petland stores ..they are one of the best ...the store doesnt even STINK like all the other petlands ive visited

 

[arnaldolex]

i bougt some gobies from petland over a year ago and caught ick lost over 500 in fish i would only buy crustacians and corals not fish ever again