poor discus at petco

Rant begin.......

Went to petco(i loathe them) to grab some prime, went to check out, I buy prime, filters, media from them cause they are the ONLY pet place within an hour drive of me.... anyway, the guy knows im into discus and he is all excited and says "Hey did you see we got a discus?"

"Really? I didnt see it; show me"

Takes me over to the display, they got this 2inch solid red discus in with about 8 african ciclids that are 1/2inch bigger than it is...... poor fish was huddled in the back eyes darting freaking out ---- I was like DUDE... please move that fish RIGHT NOW.... he moved into with some tetras right away, they had a 59.95 price on it - went last night to get some fitler media and they had it marked down to 24.95 as "assorted ciclids" -

No wc's, small small tank - I know the manager personally cause he eats at my BBQ Joint and had no issue telling him to please never order another discus cause they had no clue about them.

Rant over........

Too bad the store is so far away from you...maybe he could hire you on as a consultant to care for the discus! :)

If I ever see any Discus show up at any of our 4 Petcos or 3 PetSmarts I'm gonna cry. Central systems, 74F, 10/15 gal tanks, mixing whatever together, it's a cryin shame.

This is why I am always glad to see no discus in any of our lfs. Would you all believe I actually bought a discus, 2" or less, for $8 or 9 at a WalMart fish dept. about 15 yrs ago? I did! It was the only one they had. It grew to be a beautiful red turq and was at least 4" or more as I recall. I am sure this is a one in a million case though...
Barb

I have one about a mile from me and it depresses me every time. I only go in there when I'm in a pinch and need something, otherwise media, prime and filter materials are MUCH cheaper online even with shipping assuming you get some quantity worth...

To be honest.....they got'em because somebody once bought'em. Its the sad story of the LFS discus. The discus are the low fish on the totem pole. :(

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Originally Posted by Eddie

To be honest.....they got'em because somebody once bought'em. Its the sad story of the LFS discus. The discus are the low fish on the totem pole. :(

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There is a Hans retailer by my house that this IS NOT the case... he is VERY VERY reputable and he takes care of his Discus better than anything else (maybe besides his freshwater rays) in his store!

Azalea Aquariums - Richmond Va.

This store IS NOT your normal LFS! His fish look GREAT from Hans! There is another one by my house (name left unsaid) that sells fish that are not up to par with Azalea but I like the people.... So I go there a lot as well... but for Discus Azalea is almost as good as getting them directly from Hans!

They can buy them at 3" and grow them out almost as good as Hans... Also they once had one of Hans' award winning fish for a while... (later sold for an ungodly price)

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Originally Posted by lemondiscus

There is a Hans retailer by my house that this IS NOT the case... he is VERY VERY reputable and he takes care of his Discus better than anything else (maybe besides his freshwater rays) in his store!

Azalea Aquariums - Richmond Va.

This store IS NOT your normal LFS! His fish look GREAT from Hans! There is another one by my house (name left unsaid) that sells fish that are not up to par with Azalea but I like the people.... So I go there a lot as well... but for Discus Azalea is almost as good as getting them directly from Hans!

They can buy them at 3" and grow them out almost as good as Hans... Also they once had one of Hans' award winning fish for a while... (later sold for an ungodly price)

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Every LFS has their priorities, some discus and some not.

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Originally Posted by Eddie

Every LFS has their priorities, some discus and some not.

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Agreed... Petco, I walked into a relatively new one here to find EVERY fish infected with ICH... My stomach turned and I wrote an email to corporate... never been back since...

I am lucky to have a few stores around me that are good.... With good distributors on top of that!

I would be careful of the blanket statements though that all LFS are like PetCo when they are NOT!

There is a Petco on Route 1 South Bound side in Edison NJ. I challenge anyone to go in there and see if the water quality and condition of fish are not top notch. It depends on who's running the department.

Also - keep in mind that the reason one finds "junk" Discus in a LFS is because anybody who breeds these fish for a living is going to try to make the most money. Selling Discus to a LFS is BAD business. Typically the fish that find their way into these stores are probalby farm raised or something someone new bred in their basement.

We should'nt be so hard on pet stores that give young people jobs.

Explanation to BAD business - you will make the most money either selling direct -or through the internet. Selling to pet stores will give you the least profit. Most LFS will take but a handful of Discus from you.

I was at my local Petco last summer. They had a TFH magazine with a picture of a Discus on the cover. I was there with my sister as she was picking up rabbit food, and I jokingly asked the girl in the fish dept. if they had any of these fish like the one I pointed to on the cover. She promptly informed me that they do NOT carry saltwater fish!...I just smiled and walked away...Bill

You should have just bought it when they reduced the price............

An lfs around here keeps discus. He does a good job with them but he's not part of a big chain either...

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Originally Posted by BODYDUB

You should have just bought it when they reduced the price............

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No. Not just No, but HELL NO!

I wouldn't touch LFS discus with a pole. Their provenance is entirely unknown, and they've been exposed to every imaginable pathogen in most shops' central "filter" systems. Petco? You gotta be out of your mind or totally uninformed.

I've made a point of going to as many LFS as I can find, and have yet to see a discus in any of them that wasn't pretty much as good as dead. What I consider to be the better shops don't, won't, carry 'em, because they admit they don't know how to take care of 'em. I figure if I bring 'em home, it's a completely unnecessary exercise in quixotic behavior and a threat to the health of my own discus...

I do feel badly for the poor things, but it's not my place to try to save 'em even if I thought I could. Any of you who have LFS who really can take care of discus, consider yourself lucky. Me? I got lucky when I bought fish from Kenny. When and if I want more, I know who to call.

At one time over 10 years ago, the local Petsmart started bringing ins wild greens, blues, and heckels. They kept them in separate tanks, by themselves, at 82 deg. Bought several from them and would do so again if I had the opportunity but only for wilds. However they say corporate policy is that they only buy their standard fare. Therefore, no fish from them anymore.

Kirk

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Originally Posted by Jhhnn

No. Not just No, but HELL NO!

I wouldn't touch LFS discus with a pole. Their provenance is entirely unknown, and they've been exposed to every imaginable pathogen in most shops' central "filter" systems. Petco? You gotta be out of your mind or totally uninformed.

I've made a point of going to as many LFS as I can find, and have yet to see a discus in any of them that wasn't pretty much as good as dead. What I consider to be the better shops don't, won't, carry 'em, because they admit they don't know how to take care of 'em. I figure if I bring 'em home, it's a completely unnecessary exercise in quixotic behavior and a threat to the health of my own discus...

I do feel badly for the poor things, but it's not my place to try to save 'em even if I thought I could. Any of you who have LFS who really can take care of discus, consider yourself lucky. Me? I got lucky when I bought fish from Kenny. When and if I want more, I know who to call.

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Again, watch most LFS statements! I have 2 here that DONT run on central flitration... one has one tank they keep their discus in... they change water every other day 40-50%... They will buy and sell local bred or Hans but wont take the local breds when they have a shipment of Hans...

And the better one (Azalea Aquariums) runs sponge filtration w/ BB tanks for some.... HOB with thing gravel in the others.... they change the gravel tanks water daily 50%... NONE of his tanks are central filtration whether its Discus or tetras! He DOES NOT import wilds or anything sell anyones discus but Hans. Again his fish are always PRIME!

Neither of these 2 stores are chain stores... both are mom and pop pet stores and Azalea Aquariums ONLY stocks fish and NO OTHER PETS! So his shop is definitely a specialized one. He is NOT cheap by any means because of the quality of his fish. Also he is the ONLY store in my local area that sells Stingrays.... I stare at them everytime I go there wanting to buy one but he even said that I shouldnt buy one if I have a planted tank... So he ONLY sells the fish to people who are ready for them... I heard him run people away that want to buy discus that didnt have the tank capacity to hold them and didnt know better...

I just hear on the board the LFS discus are bad so often on here... ALL of mine have been in LFS at some point or another and I agree that some LFS dont know how to keep them but I do know in VA 3 stores I trust (one more is 2 hours away). All 3 of these stores sell Hans Discus and do care well for them.

Fin and Feather - Richmond, Va
Azalea Aquariums - Richmond, Va
Animal Jungle - Virginia Beach, Va

I actually got my wilds from Animal Jungle. They import wilds and like the other 2 stores in Richmond they also run independent filtration on their discus tanks.

Also on a final note, if you learn the order/shipping days at your LFS you can catch the fish/plants BEFORE they ever touch the tanks at your LFS! This has been the BEST way for me... If I ever can do it I buy things off of the order and that way the fish are not acclimating... getting moved... acclimating again and so on... Plants and fish seem to like that better.

Most people that complain about the LFS quality, knows that it's not EVERY store...just most. I am sure there are some good ones around. For the most part, there are not. If I have to order Discus and pick them up before they hit the pet shops tank... That obviously tells me something. I think I may have an underlying issue with that pet shop. We know that all are not bad....but we also know the majority are...Bill

Like I said, lemondiscus, consider yourself lucky.

I see no point in taking chances wrt my discus, particularly not when those I've acquired from the aforementioned sponsor are of very good quality and quite healthy. They started fighting and foraging for food during acclimation, acted like they'd lived in my tanks their whole lives in less than a day. My blue scorps did that in less than an hour.

With a few phonecalls/emails and some patience, I'm confident that I can acquire fish of almost any grade/ size/ variety from one of our sponsors, provided I'm willing to pay for the privilege.

And I do consider it to be a privilege to be a Simply member and have access to them, and to the community itself and the wealth of information/ experience therein... I get lucky once in awhile, myself, and that's how I came to be here...

I have not see any LFS at my area have any clue about discus yet. Most of the stores here are setup for regular fresh water fish only. :(

I was just glad they listened to me about getting him out of the african ciclid tank - I tried to tell the guy what they needed, he said he would do his best but was limited because they are so corporate... the manager just acts like its not a big deal -

And yes this perticular petco is shamful in how they handle thier fish and saltwater stuff - pathetic... noone there cares.

Ive offered to come in as a contractor and care for the saltwater stuff for them but they declined... just sad is all, if I wasn't dealing with issues right now and my QT was empty I mighta thought about saving the poor fish but I have too many other issues right now.... and want to sell my reef tank to get a 75 for some wilds or ICA reds... all one kind of fish in the next tank.. Not that I dont like the colorful ones in my main 125 but I think a 75 with nothing but 7 or 8 of one color would be awesome....
Im finding myself the more I get into discus being more drawn to the more subtle colors -

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and want to sell my reef tank to get a 75 for some wilds or ICA reds... all one kind of fish in the next tank.. Not that I dont like the colorful ones in my main 125 but I think a 75 with nothing but 7 or 8 of one color would be awesome....
Im finding myself the more I get into discus being more drawn to the more subtle colors -

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Hans has remarked that more experienced keepers often prefer more subtly marked varieties. I still really like semi-royal turqs and blues, and want a tank of greens, someday... Like you, I prefer a tankful of the same variety, whatever they are. Maybe that's an old school affectation- I know that discus lacking any sort of irridescent/metallic blue/green markings sorta leave me cold, and that's definitely old school. Doesn't have to be much, it just has to be there...

The RSxAF snakeskins I obtained from Kenny show their wild heritage rather strongly, with the gold/bronze/reddish body color coming through nicely on several of them among the stripes and fineline markings. All discus have wild genes, and crossing 2 largely unrelated varieties seems to bring them out, sometimes to good effect... sometimes, I'm sure, it's just a mess...

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Originally Posted by Eddie

To be honest.....they got'em because somebody once bought'em. Its the sad story of the LFS discus. The discus are the low fish on the totem pole. :(

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Well Eddie, not everyone has a hardware store in their area that carries discus! :D:D:D

(for those who don't remember, here's Eddie's post about hardware store discus)
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=69470



Walter

Hey guys, some of our sponsors here have local fish stores !! :D
I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them as well as any fish store that understood requirements of their fish and have a good reputation.

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Originally Posted by Wahter

Well Eddie, not everyone has a hardware store in their area that carries discus! :D:D:D

(for those who don't remember, here's Eddie's post about hardware store discus)
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=69470



Walter

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Walter, you know what! That fish is still in the hardware store. His mate died but he is still in there. He now looks like a black coffee plate and still selling for for $1000 dollars. YUCK!!!!

Eddie

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Originally Posted by zamboniMan

An lfs around here keeps discus. He does a good job with them but he's not part of a big chain either...

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Whats the name of the store? Im in cincy and I wouldnt mind stopping by one day to check them out...

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Originally Posted by Eddie

Walter, you know what! That fish is still in the hardware store. His mate died but he is still in there. He now looks like a black coffee plate and still selling for for $1000 dollars. YUCK!!!!

Eddie

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How sad! What happened? Did they stop taking care of the big guy?



Walter

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Originally Posted by Wahter

How sad! What happened? Did they stop taking care of the big guy?



Walter

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Oh yeah, he is an 10 gallon square with a breeding cone in the tank, as if he will mysteriously lay his own eggs. :confused: He's dull and gray and will die or be killed before he gets too bad. Discus are quite expensive here on island. :o

Eddie

This is pretty funny to hear, I bought these two 4" discus at my local Petco for 22 dollars :p had them for a while now

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/m...25/discus4.jpg

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/m...25/discus6.jpg

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This is pretty funny to hear, I bought these two 4" discus at my local Petco for 22 dollars had them for a while now

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Many years ago, my mother went to Vegas, bet a dollar putting her kids' birthdays on a Keno card- just as a lark. She won $800.

Sometimes we get lucky.

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Originally Posted by Jhhnn

Many years ago, my mother went to Vegas, bet a dollar putting her kids' birthdays on a Keno card- just as a lark. She won $800.

Sometimes we get lucky.

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LOL, thats the truth.

Eddie

I have actually seen some decent discus at PETCO (when they first arrive). The PETCO stores here order discus from a wholesaler: SUN PETS who imports fish for PETCO, PETSMART and most of the local petstores and fishstores. I imagine that they have access to decent stock of many types of fish..