# Petsmart and petco rules regarding live fish



## bettarainbow

Did you know if you buy a live fish from petsmart, you have only 14 days to return it for exchange or refund ?? Well i didn't know that, my sister told me because she bought few guppies from petsmart and 2 die, 3 weeks later, she went back to make an exchange and one of the saleperson told her that she couldn't do that. Petsmart is too smart :lol:
Petco policy is better, you have 30 days.
I noticed also that petco have better betta than petsmart regarding coloration but petsmart betta are cheaper than petco hehe ;-)
So, at the end, which one is better, petco or petsmart ??


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## ManInBlack2010

locally for me, petsmart is way better. they seem more knowledgable and friendly wheras the people that work at my local petco are idiots. both bettas i've gotten from petco have had some kind of problem.


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## MrVampire181

The nearest PetCo to me SUCKS as far as care and management but the one a little farther away rivals the best fish stores here.

PetsMart near me is great too....they actually have a few betta breeders working in the fish department...I would however like to see the "Dragonscale" changed to HMPK. The only problem I've had is finnage issues on the males...some are very ripped up but they use a lot of methylene blue in their water so it's not too big of a deal.


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## youlovegnats

Hmm, from a business standpoint- I can see why they'd only have the return policy as 14 days. I think that's a pretty good amount of time to return a fish or exchange! Gives you time to make sure the fish isn't diseased or will get along in a community. My local place only gives me 3 days and my local PetsMart only 7. :/ 

The closest PetCo is 40 miles from me... sooo I'm not driving out there just for supplies or fish unless it's necessary  
Only places where I am is PetsMart and a few locally owned places.


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## Leeniex

Petsmart is better near me. I'm surprised that would give you more than a week to return a fish. Who knows what happens to the fish when it leaves the store.


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## titusthebetta

They both aren't the greatest where my school is. Neither stores seemed really knowledgable about bettas. So I'm actually trying a couple other places nearby to see if they take better care of their bettas or not.


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## Bambi

For me the petsmart here is a thousand times better then petco, both in the looks of their fish and how they care for them.

But yeah. two weeks is reasonable for a live fish since you could do any number of thing to kill them yourself.
Considering most people on aquabid only give you an hour and don't refund sick fish that will die a week later, the two weeks seems great doesn't it xD


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## Silverfang

I haven't bought any fish from the new pet smart... yet, and we don't have a petco. But we have a pets unlimited. They had a one week return policy.


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## HatsuneMiku

all 5 petsmarts around me here is 1000% times better then the 3 petco's .. around me .. 

recently (2-3 months) ago is when i noticed petco changed their 14 day policy to 30 days .. probably to "promote" more trust in their fish .. since it's guaranteed to live at least that long or u can return/exchange with a water test ..

most LFS here are 7 day return .. some only have 1-3 days return .. and if there isn't a return policy don't buy from them (always ask what the policy is before buying fish) .. as LFS should know that temperament can be an issue .. if they don't even allow 1 day exchanges/returns .. then there is something fishy about them (pun intended ^_^)

in the end .. return policy doesn't matter as much as the initial health of the fish to begin with .. if the fishes are healthy and thriving .. and you took good care of them .. you wouldn't have to return them..



Bambi said:


> Considering most people on aquabid only give you an hour and don't refund sick fish that will die a week later, the two weeks seems great doesn't it xD


1 hr is actually a nice time period .. one of the transshippers only allows 15 minutes counting from express delivery drop off at your house .. to the time you e-mail them that it's DOA and have to have pictures with the bag unopened time stammped within 15 mins .. it's just crazy when i thought about it .. lol it would take me 10 minutes just to open the box ..


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## Indyfishy

I LOVE MY PETSMART!!!! haha sorry, but i really do!! The fish there are sooooo much prettier and healthier than our local petco. I got a crowntail from petco last year simply because all the other fish were sick or dead, and i knew he would end up the same way. All the fish were covered in fuzz and their water smelled, and the cashier was HIGH!!!!!!! It was ridiculous, I hope I never have to go back in that store ever again. But my petsmart is the exact opposite, the fish are always healthy and active, and the employees are very knowledgable about bettas =) They have some realllyyyyyyyy cool colors too!! So far, I've seen a pink (like bubblegum pink!!) butterfly double tail plakat, a green monster marble plakat, the most amazing butterfly veiltails, several copper dragon halfmoons, red dragon plakats, a little yellow butterfly dragon halfmoon, and of course, my orange halfmoon  The only really memorable fish I ever saw at petco was a super red doubletail halfmoon, he was pretty awesome!


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## BettaMiah

I personally don't like them both. They know nothing, and when I was getting a snail, this man was chating away with his friend, threw the snail in the bag, cracked his shell, and he died. And I stood there for half an hour before waiting for them to ask me if I needed help. So eventually I was like 'HEY! I need a snail! I will be telling the manager!'


So yeah. But I do buy stuff there. I got both my Bettas from PetSmart. I just don't listen to their crap.


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## Bloeduwedd

Both the PetCos and PetSmarts around here are about the same regarding fish care, knowledge, and selection. They both take poor care of their fish, which makes me mad. The employees also don't know anything about bettas, or any fish or plants. Heck, when I first started out a PetSmart employee told me gold ribbon and white ribbon plants are aquatic, and that she'd had them in her tank for months and they were doing fine. I did a little research when I got home and found the truth in five minutes! As for selection, it's pretty hit or miss. I got all my sorority girls from one store or the other, and they're all quite pretty for pet store bettas. They both have an overload of reds and blues, but I've found lots of different colors there, including a purple girl!


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## Micho

We don't have a PetCo here I believe, we have PetSmart though.

Bettas are in bad shape like always, small cups, blue water. I only go there because the fish supplies are cheap, some of the plants are cheap too. Real cheap.


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## Pitluvs

We have Pets Unlimited and its 7 days return policy. Plus you need to take a sample of your water in for them to test.


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## Tikibirds

I can only get fish from Petco or Walmart. petco has better tail selection but walmart has more unique colorings and they are in better shape then the ones at petco. I dont know what walmart's fish return policy is as none of them have died. I know petco has a 30 day return policy as I had several die in less then 24 hours :evil:


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## revolutionrocknroll

Where I live, Petco seems to be better at taking care of their fish. However, it's a smaller store than the Petsmart in my area so they have less animals and can take better care of them all. It's also right next to my college, where the only pets we're allowed to have are fish, so they probably make more money off fish than Petsmart does, which is a little further away. They also seem to have more of a variety, though I haven't been to Petsmart in a year or so so things may have changed.


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## Trobar

Both Petsmart and Petco here are pretty decent about the fish. The Petsmart has the bettas in that blue water stuff and the fish guy said he changes it every couple days. Petco said they have their bettas in clear water and told me they change them when they get cloudy or debris on bottom. The fish were healthy for the most part at both of them. The other fish in the tanks are par for the course in retail. Saw very few dead ones. Did see a dead gold fish in a tank of carnivors so I'm guessing that was dinner.


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## Myates

I haven't been to either of those in 10+ years.. and the closest Petco/mart to me is literally 1 hour 45 minutes away. So.. I rely on the single LFS that is within 40 minutes of me, and Walmart, which is 30 minutes if I want to go looking for one. Luckily though, the LFS usually has a great selection, just take poor care of them =(
But I do order from Petco for all my animal needs, from dog food (high dollar brand, can't find it out here) and kritter keepers/tanks because they ship and tend to have free shipping over $50 lol.. otherwise, neither for me!


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## TonyK

I'm done with both Petsmart, Petco and I won't even look at Walmart. If I want a nice healthy Betta, I will order from a place out of Milwaukee. Very reasonable shipping and his specialty is Bettas. So, I know I am getting a Betta that is healthy.


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## purplemuffin

Both petcos and petsmarts around me have gotten far better in the past year regarding betta and hermit crab care. They suggest bigger housing for hermies and tank mates(which IS good for them) and although they sell the small betta bowls, they mention bettas need heat and even say that it's hard to heat something less than 2 gallons(Though they do sell weird "mini fish bowl heaters" I had never seen before. Do these work? Are they safe? Had never heard of them) and always have healthy bettas(occasionally see one with SBD, but never the half dead things usually found)

But they still are HORRIBLE as far as reptiles go. Saw a chinese water dragon that had rubbed it's nose so bad it had exposed bone on it's face! Terrible.


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## KatsFishies

Petsmart is way better. Petco has bad managment bad quality bettas, well all fish. There small animals have horrible gross cages. I just HATE petco. There is a petsmart 1 hour away from me so I dont go there all that often, but everytime I have gone there I have had good experience. But my favorite petstore is PetWorks. Its a local petstore to me whois amazimg. Been here for like 40 years. They used to have a monkey! Any hoo thats my thought on them!


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## Littlebittyfish

It depends on who is working there at the time...Sometimes my local petsmart is better...sometimes not...


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## dramaqueen

I like my Petsmart, too. They take pretty good care of their animals. The only thing is I can't tell what the real color of the bettas are because of the stupid blue water. I know what it is and why they use it but I don't like it.


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## SnowySurface

The Petco near me isn't too bad. The bettas are still in those tiny cups but the water is pretty clean. There is the occasional poop at the bottom of some cups, but that looks likes the amount a fish would do in a day or two. Those cups should be changed twice a day because of the size, but I would guess the water changes are at least every other day if not everyday. So the fish from there are pretty healthy. There will always be the occasional stress disease since they are constantly bothered by customers and kids. But all and all my Petco does a pretty good job. 

The other types of fish also seem to be housed properly. But I can't tell as well as I can with Bettas if their care really is good. It just seems like they school the fish properly wihtout stuffing the tanks. Unless it's the Guppy tank. Guppies get screwed over in terms of care for some reason.


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## Silverfang

The petsmart that is near me seems to be good. I've only noticed like one fish that was sick, and when pointed out she said she would take her out back to be treated (I hope...).

The big tanks look sparkling, most of the dead fish I saw were after new fish arrived. Other than that a couple of shrimps are all I've seen.

Now the betta cups.... I had to adjust them to clean un blue water before I let them into a temporary home. Of course having to change the water in 100 cups would be beyond time consuming.


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## Okami

I think it all boils down to the employees. 

The pet-co near me used to be terrible. But the guys who knew nothing quit and actual hobbiests were hired. They now have photo competitions and Aquarium clubs. They also stock and care for more unusual species even Brakish ones like Monos. So I go with Petco


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## bettarainbow

dramaqueen said:


> I like my Petsmart, too. They take pretty good care of their animals. The only thing is I can't tell what the real color of the bettas are because of the stupid blue water. I know what it is and why they use it but I don't like it.


I totally agreed with you Dramaqueen, i dont know how many times i told those people who work at petsmart that they need to use clear water instead that blue thing, i can't even see their coloration. I still dont understand how they work, they put blue in the ct and vt but the dragon scale and hm are clear water. Petsmart and petco are all about business, selling their products as much as they can. 
I went to Fresno few days ago and i saw a bunch of dead betta and half dead in a shelf far away from everyone. Next time i see something like that, i will take a picture. We have to do something about it.


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## bettarainbow

Regarding petco betta, yesterday i went to petco with my sis to get some plants and i saw a big mess in the betta shelf. In the containers that said ct, i look at the fish and that was not a ct but a hm inside, then same thing with other lids.
When i told the petco staff, he said yea, customers make the mess, they switch the lids so they will pay the betta cheaper. 
I asked him, are you going to clean that mess, he told me he doesn't have time.
So, i decided to try if the cashier will notice the difference or not. I took a hm container but the lid say ct. I brought to the cashier, she didnt look what kind of fish, she just scan and i paid a hm for the price of a ct. 
You can tell that either they dont know or they dont care about their products.


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## Okami

Wow....just wow if i want a betta and want to rip off pet co i know what to do


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## carzz

Petco for fish! Petsmart for meds!  petco have beautiful bettas And the store is clean, and the WATER is clean too!! !! Petsmart, you think you are buying a blue betta, it turns out to be som funky red thing  the water is sooo blue and dirty!


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## ForbiddenSecrets

The petsmart around me is the better one. The petco around my girlfriend is the better of the two lol. So it depends store by store


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## purplemuffin

To be honest, I've been really upset at petco since I heard about this:











Petco didn't have a plan for the flood, and refused to evacuate the animals within. Despite employees begging to save them, the people in charge figured the animals would all be fine/the losses of the ones who didn't make it would still not be as much trouble as organizing an evacuation of the pets. No bettas survived, the only reptiles that made it were the ones at the very top. The total toll was that half of the animals in the entire store did not survive. 

It..really made me cry, it was a terrible thing that happened. What makes me mad--is this store HAS flooded before. The news was announcing that this flood would even be worse than the one that successfully put the area underwater in 2006, and the plaza is in a 'dip', not on a hill. There was no reason to think there wouldn't be a flood. It was horrible. I feel so bad for the employees who wanted to save them, but were forced not to. I think the ones who wanted to save them did what they could to place the animals as high up as possible, but what can you do with a flood like this? Ugh.

Thankfully the city got involved and is investigating this. The representatives of the store are acting apologetic and shocked that this happened. But you know what? I'm not surprised.  Yuck. Individual stores with the individual employees who care do what they can to make their stores better, but in the end, it's all about the people up top who make the rules, and make the money. And that's where the real problem lies...


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## Okami

Thats deplorable....


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