# I am impressed, Petsmart.



## Gooberfish (Mar 27, 2012)

Petsmart has upped their game. My Petsmart fish selection rivals many LFS in quality and price.


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## jona31 (Jun 17, 2013)

Yeah I've noticed this too I really like my local Petsmart and I have informed them on the cares and needs of there Betta's and they've actually started using my tips YAY


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## samee (Oct 14, 2011)

The amount of pogo there is nice. Im sure its being sold cheaper than here. I think all the petsmart got a shipment of the pogo.


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## Fishbowling (Jan 7, 2013)

Gooberfish said:


> Petsmart has upped their game. My Petsmart fish selection rivals many LFS in quality and price.


Yeah, that was my first thought. The one I go to has it all over my LFS (itself a chain store) in terms of fish selection, and the last few fish I've gotten there (two GBRs and three otos) were and are as healthy and active as they can be. I just wish it were closer...about thirty miles round trip for me.

I will say, though, my LFS does carry some weird stuff from time to time. They keep stuff like arowana, knife fish, figure-8 puffers, and a couple types of eel in stock, and they sell as well as the more mainstream stuff, if not better. And the guys there know their stuff; they all keep tanks, and you could stand there and talk fish and plants with them all day long. Would definitely hate to have to choose which store to use exclusively.


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## CPDzeke (Jan 4, 2013)

Yep I got downoi too. I'm planning on getting some DHG and Staurogyne repens there soon.


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## crice8 (Aug 2, 2012)

Yeah my local Petsmart also has gotten much better lately. More plants and a wider variety of fish and other aquatic inhabitants! ANd the quality is much much better than it was 4-6 months ago.


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## takadi (Dec 13, 2010)

Okay I'm definitely going to check out my petsmart later. They used to have a pretty awesome plant section, lots of Telanthera rosefolia, but they junked it because they couldn't handle the algae.


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

I agree with you guys. Petsmart has definitely been a better experience lately with more fish, plants selection.


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## Hmoobthor (Aug 15, 2011)

fish selection still suck but they up their game on the plants ..

I haven't been in there a long time and notice they remove the large water tank where they keep all their dying plants (they were dying anyway) and all the apple snail in.

Now I see they put the snail in different tank but worth part....all snail are dead!! sold me two dead snail when I was told they are alive! Snail reek of stink!


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## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

I got DHG there just to see if I could grow it in my non cO2 tank. It has totally taken over. Spending part of Saturday installing barriers and weeding it out. Very healthy plant, and beautifully packaged so that it all could be planted straight.


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## sarahspins (Sep 24, 2012)

I just went to 3 petsmarts and finally found 2 packages at the last one. Considering I paid about $20 shipped for 3 tiny crowns just a few months ago I felt like it was the steal of the century. 

The plants are a little weird.. like they've been artificially forced to branch out a LOT of new tiny stems... I counted 28 in one $8 package, and I didn't break up the other quite as much, but I am hoping that some high light and high CO2 for a while will really help them fill in and get more bushy and less scraggly looking.


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## samee (Oct 14, 2011)

sarahspins said:


> I just went to 3 petsmarts and finally found 2 packages at the last one. Considering I paid about $20 shipped for 3 tiny crowns just a few months ago I felt like it was the steal of the century.
> 
> The plants are a little weird.. like they've been artificially forced to branch out a LOT of new tiny stems... I counted 28 in one $8 package, and I didn't break up the other quite as much, but I am hoping that some high light and high CO2 for a while will really help them fill in and get more bushy and less scraggly looking.


They might be grown using that tissue culture technique. I think thats the name.


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## Tanman19az (May 14, 2011)

The Downoi is gonna take awhile to grow versus buying already matured stems that were already use to the submerged lifestyle. But who knows maybe these tissue raised plants have been injected with steroids. All I'm saying is time is money


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I think my local Petsmart is great. They have a good selection of fish and are usually as health if not more than many places in my immediate area. They have some selection of plants but not enough for me to go there except for a few types of plants. That is the other nice thing, they are really consistent about keeping enough plants and the same types of plants so if you need what they have, it's there. 

Petco on the other side has been much different. When I started, they actually had a fair amount of plants. They were never consistent with selection but they have gone way down hill. Same with fish, it seems like they carry less and less and I don't have good luck with the fish they have. They used to have some higher end equipment there too but they seem to stop carrying that as well. 

I still try to support my local places but sometimes I actually can't find what I am looking for at a dedicated aquarium shop and they have plenty at Petsmart.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I've got nothing against a chain pet store as long as they treat their animals well, and I think that in general (with some exceptions of course) both Petsmart and Petco have been moving in that direction. It ought to mean more money for them in the long run, if nothing else.

Petco is selling similarly packaged plants now too, though Petsmart's selection was better (and looked better.) It's basically $9 per package at my Petsmart. They had DHG, crypts, and postegemon. Petco had DHG and Rotala.

All of these were grown emersed, of course.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

never saw any downoi at my local petsmart how much were they selling it for?


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## rcs0926 (Jun 14, 2013)

The Petsmart near my home isn't bad. Most of their tanks are reasonably clean. I made the mistake of buying the last 3 female guppies they had just because I wanted to add more females to my tank. None of them looked great. One died 2 days after I bought her. One developed fin rot, and I'm not sure if this developed on its own or if it was a result of getting nipped by the male/female pair I already had. Fortunately, she looks like she's making a full recovery. The last one was clearly sick (slim with dorsal fin constantly folded). I think she's starting to turn things around, but she still isn't as full bodied as my other 2 females. At any rate, I'm not going to put that on Petsmart because I should've known better than to purchase them in the first place. However, I have gotten 2 male guppies from Petsmart that are doing great.

Yesterday, I visited the Petsmart near my work and was surprised to see how pristine the tanks looked. All the fish looked healthy with the exception of a few of the feeder fish, which is to be expected. In the future, I'm definitely going to be doing some fish shopping over there.

Petco, on the other hand, is complete and utter crap in my neck of the woods. They seem to have better looking bettas than Petsmart, but the rest of their fish are poorly cared for.


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## sarahspins (Sep 24, 2012)

The packets are $7.99, each has two main "clumps" of tissue culture.


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## MrAlmostWrong (Jul 16, 2012)

I was going to write about this. I walked into my Petsmart and saw three fresh packs of Staurogyne repens. Looked completely green so I scooped them up and they helped to fill out 4 tanks. So many stems!

Add that to the $1 sale on Otos and it was a pretty successful trip.


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## JLD (Oct 23, 2012)

You mainlanders are lucky. All we get is mondo grass and run of the mill fish. Although I did pick up some mondo to plant in my HOB.


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## kingjombeejoe (Feb 17, 2013)

One of my best plants is from petsmart. I think mine has been great from the start. I think it has a lot to do with the fact it just opened at the end of 2012, so they had all the new stuff fresh from the start.


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## hambone870 (Feb 13, 2013)

I think a photo thread for pet smart plants is a cool idea...


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## GeraldStringham (May 9, 2013)

*Denison Barbs*

My Petsmart is lacking in plant selection but they have Denison Barbs for $7.99 a piece never have I seen them for so low. Nice and healthy too. Mine are growing quickly. I scooped up all 6 they had at the time but they said they get them in weekly.


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