Petco

[Origami]

OK I found the info. Petco actually owns DFS including Live Aquaria. So when you order from Live Aquaria, you are getting the quality of livestock dictated by PetCo, from suppliers approved by Petco. Should I assume that the suppliers for PetCo in-store purchases are the same as those for items bought through Live Aquaria website? And are the prices about the same?

That's not necessarily true, Forrest. My thoughts on the question: 

 

DFS/LA were very successful beforehand and Petco, at the corporate level, may be allowing them to run their operation as they had in the past as long as they meet their profit objectives. The last thing in the world that Petco wants to do is to wreck the value that DFS/LA have created by differentiating their product and brand. Just because a company buys another company does not mean that it works to completely absorb it. And, given that the LA operation continues to look pretty much unchanged from before the acquisition, I suspect that Petco is not interfering too much on operations. 

 

Petco had its supply chains that it was using before the acquisition and probably still uses them. Petco's volume is likely to be substantially more than LA volume so it's unclear if those supply chains could meet the added volume of Petco sales without some impact on quality. So, no, you shouldn't assume that you're getting the same product. Nor should you assume that its going through the same facilities or the same handling/treatment. (Though some of it may, you can't assume that.)

[DCReefer1964]

Algae is part of the circle of life

 

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[Joshifer]

Algae is part of the circle of life

 

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Now that stupid songs stuck in my head.

[DCReefer1964]

LOL

 

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[Origami]

Now that stupid songs stuck in my head.

Ha! Same here.

 

From the day we arrive on the planet

And blinking, step into the sun

There's more to see than can ever be seen

More to do than can ever be done....

[Marc Weaver]

I love to rehabilitate and rescue PETCO fish, and it's cheap if you raise enough H-E-double hockey sticks.  I have been given fish before that were on the brink of death.  Sometimes the SKU of the fish has been "accidentally" written down wrong.  That was a funny looking $5 damsel, it kind of looked like a hippo tang LOL.

[treesprite]

Oops

Edited September 28, 2016 by treesprite

[madweazl]

OK I found the info. Petco actually owns DFS including Live Aquaria. So when you order from Live Aquaria, you are getting the quality of livestock dictated by PetCo, from suppliers approved by Petco. Should I assume that the suppliers for PetCo in-store purchases are the same as those for items bought through Live Aquaria website? And are the prices about the same?

I've had four fish come in from LA this past month (pearly jawfish, Randall's goby, yellow assessor, and a chalk bass). Three of them were in great shape upon arrival but I was sure the goby was a goner. Much to my surprise, it has recovered and is looking really good. I've had some other little items (CuC) that were just fine as well and wouldnt hesitate to place another order (unlikely because shipping is cost prohibitive if you're only ordering one or two fish/inverts unless they have something you really want).

[overklok]

Any fish that is not coming from the DFS/LA Rhinelander Wisconsin facility is directly shipped from Quality Marine in Los Angeles. DFS/LA does not have a facility in Los Angeles, so anything coming from their California location is actually a Quality Marine fish. Who is Quality Marine? I believe they are one of the largest fish wholesalers/distributors in the U.S.

[Origami]

Any fish that is not coming from the DFS/LA Rhinelander Wisconsin facility is directly shipped from Quality Marine in Los Angeles. DFS/LA does not have a facility in Los Angeles, so anything coming from their California location is actually a Quality Marine fish. Who is Quality Marine? I believe they are one of the largest fish wholesalers/distributors in the U.S.

This is true for DFS/Live Aquaria. Is it also true for Petco? That, I think, was the question that Treesprite asked. 

[madweazl]

Any fish that is not coming from the DFS/LA Rhinelander Wisconsin facility is directly shipped from Quality Marine in Los Angeles. DFS/LA does not have a facility in Los Angeles, so anything coming from their California location is actually a Quality Marine fish. Who is Quality Marine? I believe they are one of the largest fish wholesalers/distributors in the U.S.

They (LA) also have fish shipped out of Florida (in the case of the ORA yellow assessor I picked up recently).

[treesprite]

From conversation with Petco manager, the tanks will all be taken out and replaced later in October. No fish to be ordered till new tanks are in. Look for clearance on fish in a few weeks. Also, apparently they use same supplier as Congressional Aquarium across the street.

 

Well, I got 3 little yellow tail damsels there. Given that they are damsels on top of which they are damsels from Petco, I'm going to put them in a freshwater bath.

Edited September 29, 2016 by treesprite

[blank]

From conversation with Petco manager, the tanks will all be taken out and replaced later in October. No fish to be ordered till new tanks are in. Look for clearance on fish in a few weeks. Also, apparently they use same supplier as Congressional Aquarium across the street.

 

Well, I got 3 little yellow tail damsels there. Given that they are damsels on top of which they are damsels from Petco, I'm going to put them in a freshwater bath.

Which petco is this :3 my quarantine is a bit empty

 

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[treesprite]

Rockville Pike

[treesprite]

These fish have been in a bag for a few hours. Getting them used to the water temp before I put them in the bath. Given that they are getting dunked in fresh water, I don't think I need to worry about acclimating for salinity in my Aquapod (there are no fish in it, and it's not connected to the other tanks, so no worries about not QTing them).

[madweazl]

These fish have been in a bag for a few hours. Getting them used to the water temp before I put them in the bath. Given that they are getting dunked in fresh water, I don't think I need to worry about acclimating for salinity in my Aquapod (there are no fish in it, and it's not connected to the other tanks, so no worries about not QTing them).

Is there any value in a freshwater dip?

[blank]

Is there any value in a freshwater dip?

Lots of parasites can only live and breath in sw so they end up suffocating and falling off in freshwater dips if I remember correctly. I dip my zoas in fw if there's problems with them. Around 3 ish minutes! I'm sure there's someone that knows a bit more about it though xD.

[Joshifer]

I knew about FW dipping some coral but I didn't know you can do fish. Wouldn't that damage their gils?

[monkiboy]

a freshwater dip when done properly can provide some temporary relief from a few maladies like flukes, MV, or brook. it's especially useful when one thinks they are dealing with flukes and needs confirmation. you don't want to use them for prolonged periods of time (beyond 5 minutes or so) and want to be sure proper diligence is used when performing them. it does not damage the gills; they will be breathing rapidly through this treatment or rather should be if done safely. this is not a finite remedy for any parasite or disease. i rarely use them in prophylaxis. it should be noted that some fish aren't able to maintain their osmotic equilibrium after returning to full salinity so really need to evaluate when it is used and risk/benefit of the scenario. feel free to PM me with any treatment questions or for help with proper protocol for use of freshwater dips.

[Joshifer]

Scary. I won't do that.

[treesprite]

Actually, I am one of those people who is very conservative about treatment of fish. However, years ago when people were more into radical treatment of fish, I used to fw dip all new fish and use copper prophylactic in new fish QT, and had to treat some bad outbreaks, so I feel like I know what I'm doing. Usually if you have healthy fish, they will get over infections on their own.

 

These are generally very tolerant fish, came from a very questionable source, are not scaleless, do not have other characteristics that would give me reason to think it would hurt them, were already not in a tank, and were not going into a QT before going in a tank.

 

One of them is either in hiding or dead. I am certain the fw bath did not kill it. They were not even breathing hard at the time I took them out at 5 minutes. I did, however, use my hand to lift them out into the tank, so maybe that would be a problem. Using my hand instead of a net was probably more of a risk than doing the fw bath.

Edited September 30, 2016 by treesprite

[treesprite]

So that was all totally off topic.

 

I'm going to try to get the scoop on that clearance for sure. There were quite a few fish species there that would be nice if I set up my 120.

 

I wonder if the upgrade of their system has anything to do with the Live Aquaria acquisition.

Edited September 30, 2016 by treesprite

[rtelles]

Slightly off-topic, but I had a nasty ich outbreak last year after not quarantining a small coral I got in a trade - huge mistake. I wasn't prepared and didn't have a cycled treatment tank, and the outbreak hit hard and fast (lots of spots, heavy breathing, lethargy, etc), so I resorted to FW dipping all of the fish for some relief, and they immediately improved while I got the treatment tank up and running. Still have them all (CBB/one spot foxface/clownfish pair), and maybe I was just lucky and I could be wrong, but I firmly believe that the series of FW dips is what got them through the worst of it before treatment, based on my observations. 

[monkiboy]

Slightly off-topic, but I had a nasty ich outbreak last year after not quarantining a small coral I got in a trade - huge mistake. I wasn't prepared and didn't have a cycled treatment tank, and the outbreak hit hard and fast (lots of spots, heavy breathing, lethargy, etc), so I resorted to FW dipping all of the fish for some relief, and they immediately improved while I got the treatment tank up and running. Still have them all (CBB/one spot foxface/clownfish pair), and maybe I was just lucky and I could be wrong, but I firmly believe that the series of FW dips is what got them through the worst of it before treatment, based on my observations. 

sounds like you did an amazing job using a freshwater dip exactly when you needed to as temporary relief prior to treatment with presumably CP or copper. based on your description alone, it sounds much more like velvet than ich, though, so kudos to you for still having all the fish alive and taking such great care of them. velvet is one of those scenarios you definitely want to use a freshwater bath succeeded by acriflavine or formalin and then CP or copper. i have the highest success with CP as you don't have to worry about ramping it up to therapeutic levels like you do with copper and in these situations time is of the essence. again. great work!

[rtelles]

I used copper, which I hated using and was pretty harsh on them (wasn't aware that CP was a thing, but after reading your post just did some quick research and wow - need to buy me some for the future). I was lucky that time based on experience. What sucks about keeping aquariums is that there's so much information necessary to even get started that, inevitably, you're going to fail and kill a bunch of animals in the process that are entirely blameless. I've had my share and still feel terrible about all of them, and nearly gave up completely.

 

Going back to the petco thing, there's a new one in Ivy City and I saw something that I'd never seen at a Petco before - a sign on half of the saltwater tanks saying that the fish in those aquariums were undergoing treatment and were not for sale (there was a typical spot-covered blue tang in one of the tanks). I didn't ask any employees about what was going on, and it's possible that they were simply losing fish and had to do something about it, but it was at least a little bit reassuring.