Help Petco

[skydiver585]

Hi everyone, my name is Matt im 18 and i've been doing marine aquaria for about 3 yrs. Im gona need everyones help on this one. I recently went into my local Petco and was shocked. I know I shouldn't be, because of their reputation, however it was really bad. 95 percent of the fish were coverted in protozoan diseses, and the other 5 percent with every other diseses you could think of. Now what im actually trying to do is get a job there. They need some serious help which I feel I can provide. Also, the reason im posting this is because i also realize i dont know everything, and I wish to seek any additional help i can get. So to everyone out there, feel free to comment and provide useful information.

[skydiver585]

Heres a couple of other things i saw while i was in there. 1) They had about 15 tomato clowns and 15 clarkii clowns together in the same 10 gallon tank, and of course every single one had ripped fins. 2) This is a fairly new petco, maybe 4 months old and their already putting coral in two of there tanks. they had some ricordia and some different mushroom corals under their stupid,not enough light to read a book system. The reason this is really annoying is because the tanks are still cycling with algae. It doesnt make it any better when thet have dead fish lying everywhere, There tanks are a mess. Hopefully i can help some of those poor fish before they kill the whole ocean.

[skydiver585]

Alright. My first Topic. How do you get ride of all that disese, in that large of a system.

[Thales]

I am going to answer your question from a different angle.
I think you should no get a job there, and you should not try to help them. Helping Petco in any form only allows them to do more business in all their stores and their other stores will not have you to help them.
I understand you wanting to help out all those fish, however, making Petco profitable only helps them open more stores and kill more fish. I think your efforts would be better spent working to get them to not carry saltwater animals.
JMHO.

RR

[NaH2Ofreak]

If you try and get a job there so that you can "rescue" all those poor animals, you wont last long. PetCo dosent want to help those poor animals. You would be sadly disappointed and probably end up getting terminated for it. Keep in mind that you are not the first concerned aquarist to try and help out PetCo. Many have tried and been fired before you.

Dennis

[nanocat]

You live in Figi and they have Petco's there ?

[skydiver585]

no i dont actually live in fiji

[fldamsel]

If you want to get a job there go do it. The manager is a manager he may not know anything about running an aquarium but he may want to hire someone who does. So the worst thing is you get frustrated but maybe you learn something and someone elce is sure to learn from your excitement about the hobby.
One person may make a difference in a small or a big way but
if you don't try nothing is ever learned by anyone.
Just my 2 cents
Do what you love and help yourself and others you don't have to change the whole company at once just one store at a time

[skydiver585]

Lefty and NaH20freak. Thankyou for your replies. I feel as though it would be impossible to shut down petco from selling saltwater fish. It may or may not be. I just dont know. I feel like it would be easier to try and help.However, NaH20freak brings up a good point. Id rather try, and get fired than to leave all those poor fish be killed.

[judobeast]

PetCo doesn,t seel the basic things that you need to start a successful SW aquarium. When is the last time that you have seen any snails or hermits in a petco?

[skydiver585]

actually. this one had alot. But they were all dead.

[wwxc]

You'll just be helping Petco kill more fish in the long run while getting paid $7 an hour. Petco will not allow a QT system so you can't get around the sick fish problem. Its a terrible company, but from what I've heard the higher ups are finally starting to realize that this poor care of animals is affecting their bottom line.

You'd be better off doing whatever you can to file complaints, organize a protest, hand out flyers to customers in the parking lot, etc.

Petco only cares about one thing: $

[David M]

FWIW while the Petco's here in SD are still a far cry from a decent aquarium shop, they do a pretty good job with a few basic species. I believe they are ORA's largest customer and all those clowns, dottybacks and neon gobies are ORA captive bred stock. I agree that part of the problem is that they do not offer enough equipment and supplies to get someone set up propperly. I too would like to see them get out of the marine trade but I doubt it will happen anytime soon and see nothing wrong with trying to get the job there, if not to help them then to help the customers by directing them to good information sources like RC.

[CrystalAZ]

I disagree with those saying not to help.

The fact is that unknowing people come in to buy fish and supplies there. If he can help steer one person in the right direction, he has helped this hobby.

He also has the ability to help these fish.

I do agree that Petco shouldn't carry saltwater fish (or birds, or freshwater fish, or lizards, etc) if they aren't willing to have an "expert" in these areas in every store to care for the animals.

Not buying there helps. Not working there doesn't.

Just my 2 cents.

Crystal

[Crims]

I wonder if Saltwater fish goes in the category for animal abuse? Why not?

[Thales]

I would be extremely suprised if Petco wants their employees to steer customers away from a purchase.
If he becomes a good employee and the Petco customers like him, they will buy stuff at Petco, which tells Petco that they should stay in, or expand, their saltwater line.
I think not working there does indeed help, as any help given to Petco only allows them to open more stores and do more business.
Kinda like - it would be weird to be against the death penalty, but be employed to carry it out.

Many have tried to help Petco, but they have shown time and again that they aren't interested.

I think if you are really worried about the animals, you time would be better spent sitting outside of the store with signs deriding Petco, getting your local newspapers or tv stations to do stories on the deplorable conditions, or getting your local government to slap them with bad husbandry tickets. Working there, while it may make you feel better in the short term, only enables them to buy and abuse more animals in the long term.

Fun discussion.

[fldamsel]

The merchandise is ok just not the fish

[Thales]

If you buy the merchandise you support the treatment of the fish - it is one store.

[skydiver585]

I went to Petco today. i have an interview tomarrow with the manager, and i have to take some kind of test. I just cant do it. I have to try and help. Will see how it goes.

[HuBu]

the petco near me carry mexican turbos. i m planning on speaking with the head of the fish department about getting a job there. a couple of days ago, i was there and there were 2 mandarian gobies in their 10 gal tank without any rocks. i was telling him about the danger of it and why they woulc eventually die due to malnutrition.

[skydiver585]

I went to petco today to take a personality test. It was 178 questions of boaring blah. They asked questions like, if you saw another co-worker stealing, would you tell managment. And some easy math questions to see weather im dumb or not. I got a kick out of the one that asked how many days there were in a week. I hope i got that one right lol. Yesterday i had dicussed a little with the manager about the poor helth of the tanks. He said, " They'll be taken care of by tomarrow." I just smiled politly. Well, i came in there today and some of the algae was wiped of the glass and some of the decorations that they have in there. I laughed slightly and then continued my discust with the 7 new dead fish, i saw alive the day before.

[K9]

Matt, my vote would be with the people who say not to work there. At 18, you should get a job that will help your future as opposed to saving fish that don't have a chance in the first place. Why don't you try to get a job at a local airport instead. If that's what you'd like to do for a career, I think your time would be better spent gaining experience there instead of trying to be a miracle worker at PetCo. You can help out the hobby by fragging corals or participating in a volunteer clean-up of a reef or beach near you. Try these first, there's much to be done. Your efforts would be much more appreciated doing something like this instead. JMO.

[NTidd]

I wouldn't get a job there either, they shouldn't be selling things that they don't know how to take care of, it is irresponsible. It doesn't look like they are trying to find "experienced reefers" to get them back on track, they should of looked for experience employees before they start selling this stuff.

[skippy2]

I agree. You will not be saving any fish or for sure won't be happy working there. They are in the business to make money no matter the life of the fish. Please reconsider. You will only make yourself more upset. There is no way petco is going to have an 18 yr. old tell them how to run their business.
My petco is awful. The guy in charge of the saltwater fish at least told me he only knows freshwater. You all should have seen his face when I mentioned photosynthesis. He never heard of the word.

[NTidd]

I've only been to petco once in my life, and that was before I was in to saltwater so I don't remember what it was like but I will not go back.