Petco in lakewood

[jag3534]

Have many of you been to the petco in lakewood to check out their SW stock? I went up there today, and I was APALLED at what I saw. There was a dead coral beauty in one tank, a flame hawkfish in another( that was already half eaten), three sailfin tangs that were so emaciated that their "sails" wouldn't even stand up. There was big beautiful carpet anenome, with its mouth gaping open over an inch, a tank of niger triggers that had beat one up so bad is dorsal and caudal fins were half eaten and he was laying sideways on a rock in respiratory distress.
Sorry for the long rant but it really makes me mad to see these beautiful creatures in these conditions. I don't know if many people shop there, but maybe if no one did, it wouldn't be profitable for them to continue to torture these animals.

 

[jag3534]

Oh and when I pointed out the dead stock to the guy there, he replied that he had been at lunch, as if that was a good excuse for the poor husbandry that led to this situation.

 

[slim_jim989]

the one in south hill/ puyallup is the same way and when i over heard of one of the sales clerks telling a guy how to set up a saltwater tank and that its the same as freshwater it just takes about 2 days for the water to be fine. When the sales clerk went away to get something for him i felt obligated to go to the guy and tell him about this wonderful forum webiste(reef frontiers) and that saltwater you want to read alot and the sales clerk didnt know what she was saying. She even said she had saltwater tank for years. I hate it when stores are just out for the sales and not to help people out. What happened to the older days when the sales personel actually helped out the customer. Also the petco in puyallup has had dead fish and some that were just as bad if not worse then what u described. i feel bad for the little guys.

 

[returnofsid]

Funny thing is, setting up a saltwater tank does require about as much time as setting up a freshwater tank. The thing is, FW tanks have to completely cycle to be done correctly as well!! People rush FW tanks even worse than Sw!! It is awful when pet store employees give BAD BAD advice. It happens all the time!! Unfortunately, the chain pet stores just don't spend the money or time to hire and train correctly.

 

[ac7av]

Ya I stopped by there too. Not doing that again. I didn’t bother to even say anything because it just wouldn’t matter. There were like a 100 feeder gold fish that had jumped over the tank that were dead and dead fish in many of the tanks. That was just flat out abuse of the fish. Like you said they just don’t have a clue. I did stop by the one in Mount Vernon and have to say it was clean the fish looked healthy and the prices were very good. I will go to that one again and may even buy something that swims. It really looked like whoever was responsible for that department in the M.V. store really cared for the fish.

 

[as1720]

The reason why things are so bad there is because there are usually only two people running the whole store! Could you imagine? So they have one person at the register, and one on the floor that has to take care of ALL the fish and ALL the other things. But there have also been times ware there are 5 people working but they are swamped with customers, they tend to take care to the customers more then they take care of the fish so the people are happy that they are being taken care of but the fish can suffer because of it, but only being one person you can only do so much.

All i am saying is i never see more then one person over there. even if there are 10 customers waiting to be helped and if you don't help them they get mad. As much as it sucks for the fish it sucks for the people that have to work there too. They do the best they can.

Thats just what i have seen ......so far.

 

[jag3534]

To me that seems like even more of a reason not to shop there. If the store won't even hire enough people to ensure their "stock" stays alive long enough to sell, why would we think they are going to do ANYTHING to ensure that what we buy is healthy, or that they know enough to help a person that has a ? about something? And as a side note, i remember seeing at least 4 people working there today, and i was one of three customers in the store.

 

[as1720]

I just say blame petco not the workers. I am only able to go on sunday/mon/tue. maybe thats why i only see the same thing.

 

[jag3534]

Totally blame petco! Esp for hiring people that don't know cr@p about what they're doing

 

[as1720]

Poor petco! lol sarcasm there. I used to be a part of the pet rodents scene and they hated petco too dead hamsters, tumors and what not, also used to be part of the snake scene they also hated petco snakes not eating and dying days after being bought, now i am part of the fish scene and they have the same issues..... i would say petco has some issues they need to fix. lol

i agree they should look into the people they hire but they don't so what can ya do except educate the people working there.

All in all no petco is not a good store for anything other then buying supplies.

 

[Michael7979]

I only buy crickets from them when I really have to for my chameleon.

 

[gotfish]

I don't buy a thing there. Prices are higher then petsmart and every time I've gone there, like it was said earlier, there is never anyone to help so I say screw it.

 

[slim_jim989]

well right now with the economy there not going to find a person that is solely just a fish sales clerk or a dog/cat or small pets sales. So its pretty much your a general person and thats all u learn unless u take the initiative to learn your job then your just going to be that medeocare sales clerk. just my opinion. When i was in there i saw poor guidance but thats expected, i just tried helping the customer out so he doesnt have a hard time.

 

[woody283]

you cant blame some of the employees. i was at a petco in wi and one of there employees i was talking to was very much into reefs. but it was out of his control. what manangment says is wat he has to do.

 

[Redd]

That Petco used to have a young woman working there who really knew her stuff. The tanks were always immaculate and the fish and corals were healthy and beautiful. I remember how impressed I was the first time I went in there. Went back about a month ago and she was gone and the tanks and livestock looked horrible!

 

[SeattlesDarko]

I was just at the PETCO in Factoria after the meeting today and though it was not fish my GF who is very into lizards other reptiles (we currently have 7) but while we were there they had baby leopard geckos, well they had so many together they had all been fighting and there were some with missing parts of there tail scratched and beat up they had one that arm was hanging off it was just gross to the point of we brought the store manager back and showed her and my GF went through how not one was being properly cared for with a hide for them to shed in. It was bad and since we have a lot of pets we always check out any pet store looking for a deal here and there and I have found some good deals but this was the worst looking animals I had ever seen at a store FOR SALE!!!

 

[Eickhorn]

Petco in Lakewood hasn't been the same since Bree left. They guy there says that he gets less than 30 hours a week to take care of the fish section.
I would recommend the he spend the majority of that taking care of the annimals instead of pushing products. I used to go there all the time due to Bree, but not anymore.

 

[as1720]

Just an update here on petco for those who may not know all of there tanks crashed. The coral tank some one was topping off with saltwater we all know what happends when you do that.. And the reason they are saying all the fish died was because some one was dipping bleach into the tanks!

 

[jag3534]

What the heck! MAYBE now they could look into how to keep a fish alive???? hmmmmmm.......

 

[as1720]

The big guys/head honchoes were there too so maybe.