# Something Disturbing... Petco vs Petsmart



## roypattonphoto (Mar 19, 2011)

so today i was at both stores


while talking to one guy about the bettas and disease, he said they shock the fishes systems, by first putting them in Salt Water to "we give them a salt water bath to shock any diseases that maybe in their systems before sale" .. are u seriously kidding that they do this? no wnder those fish are so lethargic and so much distress.... i was looking through the males today, and 50% of the ones i picked up and finrot to some extent.. i was so mad.. had to leave the store before i came home with several new fishies and no where to put them....


also while at petsmart, and this why i like petsmart, they seem to bit a better more smarter side..

while i was talking to the lady, and i asked her why is the water in their better cups here blue vs the clear water i see everywhere else.... she was telling me that when they receive bettas in that they put a small amount of medication in their water to help ward of Ammonua (spelling?) build up and other factors that would play a part in the small enviroment...

... wouldnt it be smarter to have a standard of health care from a business stand point? seems like Petsmart knows their stuff and takes care of their animals even the fish.. most places like petco ive seen only seem to care for the Reptiles, Rodents and Cats....



sorry rand posting rant...
but i had to vent...


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## AngelicScars (May 5, 2009)

Petco's bettas have always looked better then Petsmart's.

Honestly, I wish everyone would realize that it depends on the store and the people working there.
It doesn't matter which store is better, what matters is who is working there to properly take care of the fish.


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

my local petco is amazing. i fell in love with the store, and wish it was closer, so i could go more often. the local petsmart, though.... all the bettas had SBD. except the one i got, Mister Auron. he was beautiful. black body, blood red fins with a small streak of blue in each. but, he died that night. :/ i hate Petsmart. i really do. .________.

so, not all Petco's are horrid. :d it depends on the manager, and the employees.


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## bettafish15 (Oct 3, 2010)

Yeah, it depends on the store. The blue water btw doesnt stop ammonia from building up, its an anti-parasite medication.


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

I agree it depends on the place. I went to Petco and Petsmart on similar days and we weren't very impressed with Petsmart's betta care. It might change if we went to get them on the day they get their shipment but I loved my local petco for most betta stuff. I'm going to be getting more betta's but planning my trip around when they get new stock in.


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

I dont think a fish can even be shocked by salt water unless the salinity of the water is something ridiculous. Many members here (including myself) have administered salt baths before...


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## freakumDRESS (Mar 16, 2011)

I dont have a problem with one of my local petsmart. Their tanks aren't overstocked... And they reccomend one inch of fish per gallon. They also bag the fish and add extra stress reducer to the bag for the ride home. Their guinea-pig cages are somewhat spacious, more spacious than another petsmart near me. I havent been to our local petco, i dont see a reason to go there... All petstores seem the same. Now petland on the otherhand... That's hell on earth for animals.


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## FuulieQ (Jan 10, 2010)

Someone told me at the store that the blue water is oxygen enriched or something. :/ Ha ha. I'll bet they just made that up to sound smart.

I agree, in my area Petco is tons better, but it probably depends on the store.


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## bettafish15 (Oct 3, 2010)

freakumDRESS said:


> I dont have a problem with one of my local petsmart. Their tanks aren't overstocked... And they reccomend one inch of fish per gallon. They also bag the fish and add extra stress reducer to the bag for the ride home. Their guinea-pig cages are somewhat spacious, more spacious than another petsmart near me. I havent been to our local petco, i dont see a reason to go there... All petstores seem the same. Now petland on the otherhand... That's hell on earth for animals.


That sucks that your petland is bad... mine is excellent. :/


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

It varies from store to store, really...all of the Petsmarts that I've been to use it to supposedly prevent diseases, but then you see them with dirty cups so it kind of defeats the purpose...


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## LittleNibbles93 (Feb 7, 2011)

AngelicScars said:


> Honestly, I wish everyone would realize that it depends on the store and the people working there.
> It doesn't matter which store is better, what matters is who is working there to properly take care of the fish.


+1


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## redbettagirl (Jan 29, 2011)

For those of you who are curious: The "blue" in the water is methylene blue. It's an anti-fungal treatment, and is also effective against certain parasites like ich. In the fish lab that I work in, we use it primarily to prevent new eggs/embryos from developing fungal fuzz.


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## pdxBetta (Mar 15, 2011)

I'm surprised that Petco would do a saltwater bath, but here's the deal:

A drastic change in osmotic pressure is tolerable to a large organism such as a fish, but small organisms such as parasites will die (possibly rupture) as a result of stress. I've never heard of a saltwater bath for Bettas, but it is common to do a freshwater bath for saltwater fish. The pet store that I worked at in 1989 dipped every saltwater fish that we received before it entered our system. I've even done a formalin (37% formaldehyde) bath on saltwater fish.

It's similar in theory to chemotherapy on a human.

Petco gets better fish and keeps them in larger cups than Petsmart. Adding the methylene blue to the water at Petsmart is a crutch to allow them to neglect the fish longer. As AngelicScars said, it is more about the people that work at an individual store than the chain that owns it.


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## redbettagirl (Jan 29, 2011)

pdxBetta said:


> Adding the methylene blue to the water at Petsmart is a crutch to allow them to neglect the fish longer.


Agreed! It does nothing for ammonia levels. (You still have to change the water when using it.)


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## YoshesMom (Mar 15, 2011)

I LOOOOOVE my petco they always mislabel the bettas so i get 14.99 fish for 7 bucks lol other then that they really are awesome


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## jessiepbg (Nov 13, 2010)

If it's just a normal 1-2 tsp/gal salt treatment, it's probably a pretty good thing for the fish. Salt baths kill off a lot of the nasty fungal infections that bettas tend to pick up. I don't know that "shocking their system" is the best way to put it, but the actual process goes a long way to keeping the fish healthy. 

As far as the methylene blue, the Petsmart right next door to me that usually does lots of water changes and carries healthy bettas puts it in their cups. The Petco in the city which seems to put less care into their fish does not. Of the 3 bettas I've bought in the last 8 months, the only sick one came from that Petco.


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## freakumDRESS (Mar 16, 2011)

I may go to my local petco myself and see what you guys are talking about. =/
I assumed all big petstore chains were bad, since they all support backyard breeders. Petco's fish may be fine, but where do they get their hamsters? Guinea-pigs? Lizards? Do you see a new parrokeet there every week? Did the ones from last week die off? Fish aren't the only animals.


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## roypattonphoto (Mar 19, 2011)

pdxBetta said:


> Petco gets better fish and keeps them in larger cups than Petsmart..



not here, the cups at my local petsmart is almost Double the size of the cups at my local petco...


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

The only difference between the two places cup size is that there's a hole in the top at Petco for the betta's to breathe easier. The Petsmart near me has the same cups aside from no hole in the lid. That and the water is disgusting. Excuse my languege but Screw the blue water a female was diving for the bottom of the cup when I was there once and it was painful to watch them all suffer. I did see a beautiful white CT though.


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## pdxBetta (Mar 15, 2011)

Interesting.

Here is what the stores in Portland use:


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## BettasAreBomb (Feb 14, 2011)

i'v been to both my local pet co and petsmart and the only ling i like about petco is they have a wider selection of betta's and different types of tails i like my petsmart better


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## SmokeNLark (Jul 22, 2010)

My local stores are all about the same. My petsmart seems to have the healthiest bettas. I don't really like the medication in the water as it builds up an immunity if you ever actually need it. Also, it makes it harder to see the colors. I love that petco has different tail types though. 

I don't see a problem in the salt bath either. I actually just had to do that for one of my platies cause she had a bit of fungus. Cleared it right up.


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## Fins (Mar 24, 2011)

Petco is the best store you can find around my area if you want a properly cared for animal. All of the enclosures are clean and the animals always have a proper amount of food and water available. Several times I've gone to Petco to find them cleaning every last betta cup out. The bettas are healthy and have no signs of illness. Our local Petco uses cups that are way bigger than those used at Petsmart. I've never seen this care from our local Petsmart. The bettas are in tiny containers and almost every one of them has a sign of illness. I never find the enclosures to be clean and it's just plain horrible. My service goes out to Petco.


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## MissChristina90 (May 3, 2012)

I work at Petco and we only do salt baths for fish that have Ich or illness. Since I have worked here we have not given any of our Betta's a salt bath... just a few goldfish. All of our betta's are feed frozen blood-worms and we change their water every 2 days... I have seen maybe two out of many that have the tattered fins but a lot of times those are the one's that come into the store that way. Also, we don't ''have'' to feed frozen bloodworms... we could feed the cheaper pellet stuff but our Aquatics specialist likes to spoil the animals and so does our GM so we spend a little more for all the animals. The hamsters/gerbils/rats/mice even get millet, cabbage and the guinea pigs get bell pepper, carrots, banana... all for fun... sometimes we (the regular associates) will spend a little money on a few toys to throw in their cages too... it really depends on the specific store... please do not judge all Petco's based off your experience with one.


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## chrissylee13 (Jan 1, 2012)

MissChristina90 said:


> please do not judge all Petco's based off your experience with one.


^ same with petsmarts! i love my job and am so proud of what i do. i'm there to make a difference and to show that there are people who work there that actually care. 

it does honestly depend on who the managers and who the people are that work at the petco or petsmart. if they're full of people like me, who actually take care of the fish, bettas, and care about them then it's awesome! lol. but if they're just there for a job then probably not..

but yeah, the blue water used at petsmart is supposed to help prevent fungal/parasitic infections and be the conditioner. personally, i don't like it. you can barely see the fish, and it makes people who don't know stuff think they need crazy special water. lol.

and the cup size all depends on the company/store. i've seen cupped bettas at LFS that were half the size if not less than petsmart's and petco's cups. oh, and TECHNICALLY the bettas are only supposed to be in those cups for about a week. cuz apparently they should all be sold by then... :roll: that's one thing i don't agree with.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

I agree. It really depends on the store. My Petco and Petsmart know next to nothing about fish care in general. I actually had one associate tell me that I probably knew more about fishkeeping than he did... as he fished a goldfish from the tank for me. :shock:

I've always wanted to ask: what exactly is in that blue water. Methylene blue?


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## True Indigo (Mar 22, 2012)

My sister works at a petsmart and does the very best she can that they work with, but she's upset because the cups they put them in are always filled with the blue medication and are smaller than petco's cups. I prefer the petco by my store because they have a huge selection and they have a system in place to ensure the best for their bettas. They also don't mind at all if someone mentions that a betta fish is sick or needs an emergency water change.

As many people have said, though, it does depend on the store. I've been to another petco and that place was horrid. I'm also thankful that the walmarts in my area don't even sell betta fish.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I drove 5000 miles across the US/Canada with my dog and we stopped at every petco we found because he likes to go "shoppylifting". All of them had sad looking bettas. 



> I've always wanted to ask: what exactly is in that blue water. Methylene blue?


 I have never seen any with blue water but I'm thinking its either betta revive or methylene blue.

Petsmart has any more fish in general then the petco here but they never have pretty bettas.


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## chrissylee13 (Jan 1, 2012)

i'm fairly positive the blue betta water is by jungle. all of the "medication" we are provided with is by jungle. but hey i'll look up what the ingredients are when i go to work. :] then the question will be solved for sure.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

chrissylee13 said:


> i'm fairly positive the blue betta water is by jungle. all of the "medication" we are provided with is by jungle. but hey i'll look up what the ingredients are when i go to work. :] then the question will be solved for sure.


Awesome! I've always wondered what that is. I really dislike how it changes the colors of some of the fish. I bought a pinky fish once because it looked white with red fins through the blue water.


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