# what do u guys think about the live plants sold at petsmart



## Glow500 (Jun 19, 2004)

just wanted to see some of your guys opinion on the live plants from petsmart.


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## GreenTank (Mar 2, 2004)

very poor quality. Ive been to a couple. The tanks were badly maintained. Lots of dead and or rotting plants. Poor selection. I did buy some java moss from one. It died shortly thereafter. I really have never been to a large chain type petstore that did a good job, with the exception of maybe some BigAls...I wouldnt personally recommend buying plants and or livestock from the ones I have seen.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

There is more than one of them in this country, so it is difficult to generalize.

But from what I have seen, the selection is sad, the quality is sad, and the prices are high. On the other hand, I have heard of ppl getting crypts and other nice plants, sometimes at very low prices.

I know it's kinda weird ordering plants over the web, you pay quite some money and you don't know what you will get exactly. But IMO it is a much better way of getting aquatic plants.


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## gnatster (Mar 12, 2004)

Ordering over the web is interesting to say the least. Tell the place you want A but since they don't have any A they ship B. It's like ordering a chevy engine and since they are out they send a ford. I've never seen an industry that does this. 

Never have seen a decent plant in Petsmart tho.

-*-*-*-*
gnatster


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## corigan (Feb 22, 2004)

I've bought some ratty petsmart plants before. Bleach dipped em and then threw em in the tank. Only bought a few fast growing species from them but they have all survived and of course flourished over time. Now all the cruddy petsmart plants have been thrown out and I have nice looking tops. I guess if you can't find anything you could always do what I did. If you have patience you can grow em out to a healthy state.

Matt


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## glass-gardens.com (Apr 14, 2004)

I hate to say it, but the Petsmart in my area actually has decent plants usually. It has tiered display system with MH lighting and I know they at least fertilze the gravel bed. The prices aren't even all that out of line with even some online vendors, especially if you factor in shipping costs. The pricdes don't seem to be that bad and at least a couple of the staff are quite knowledgeable.


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## ming (Dec 6, 2003)

my petsmart prices are alright, the plant however is usually infested with algae


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## ninoboy (Jan 26, 2004)

I bought many plants from Petsmarts here. But I agree that they don't take care of the plants well. I usually ask them when their next shipment coming in and I come on the next day. The plants are in excellent condition when they just arrived.


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## TeeItUp (Mar 18, 2004)

Petsmart motto.........Buy some snails and get the plants for free.


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## Glow500 (Jun 19, 2004)

lol, snails and plants for free. really? these plants better frikin grow, i mean they got the seachem fourite as their gravel mixed with black tahitian sand, flourite excel now. i still need a better plant light tho. i will be so mad if they just rot and die. i tried getting the freshest looking ones : [. the plants i have r 2 java ferns, 2 westeria*spelling?*, hornwolts or something sound similar to that, and another plant i forget the name of it but it has really thin hair like branches/leaves?


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

I have bought one plant from my local petsmart and it is doing very well. On the day I bought it the tanks where very clean & the plants healthy. Most of the time though the plants are of poor quality, infested with algae and dieing. I lucked out on this particular day that I bought my plant.


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## all4funwfish (Jan 18, 2004)

the petsmart in my are carries both live plants in their tank, and also live plants shipped to them in plastic cylinders on cardboard backs. the ones in the cylinders are usually quite good. They have a better selection, including several ferns, java, and several types of swords.granted, not exactly glosso, but betty than their tanks. however, the pne here usually has healthy looking moneywort, pennywort....and some java...a few other bulb plants...that are healthy. i have never gotten snails though. overall, if it looks healthy, it probably is. if it doesnt...its not.


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## Vinlo (Mar 29, 2003)

I have bought a few plants from my local petsmart. The only thinig I bought from them that didn't grow was lileaopsis (spelling), that was more my fault than anyone elses. Everything else I have bought in the past (mostly fast growers and swords) have grown great in my tank. Prices aren't too outragous. Selection is indeed horrible.. to say the least. Plus like most people say, you have to catch them when they first come in and you have to know what you are looking for.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

I buy plants that look good from anyone anywhere! :hihi: 


Mike


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## glass-gardens.com (Apr 14, 2004)

Glow500 said:


> lol, snails and plants for free. really? sh!t, these plants better frikin grow, i mean they got the seachem fourite as their gravel mixed with black tahitian sand, flourite excel now. i still need a better plant light tho. i will be so mad if they just rot and die. i tried getting the freshest looking ones : [. the plants i have r 2 java ferns, 2 westeria*spelling?*, hornwolts or something sound similar to that, and another plant i forget the name of it but it has really thin hair like branches/leaves?


wisteria = hygrophila difformis, fairly easy to grow really, grows fast as well so it's good for algae starvation

hornwort = ceratophylulum demersum, another eally easy to grow (as in really have to work at killing it) algae starver.

The other plant could cabomba or ambulia, if it's Cabomba, bright light and CO2 will help it thrive, if it's ambulia, the same goes for it although it grows much faster than cabomba.


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## xt87 (Jun 16, 2004)

Plants sold at petsmart suck! I got my java ferns at them and they are beat up, and dying I think. They have brown splotches and just look horrible all around. Also, At the time of purchase.. I got 2 frill plants. They are brown and look horrible also. Here is what my tank looks like....


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## glass-gardens.com (Apr 14, 2004)

and you're doing what with them? lighting? dosing? what's in the substrate? Are you sure it's because the plants suck or could it be you need to do something to make them thrive? I'm not trying to slam you at all, I've bought the crappiest looking plants on the planet before, even gotten free "dead ones" from stores and brought them back, before you write them off, let's see if we can revive them !


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## Glow500 (Jun 19, 2004)

omg that pic is just like my plants kinda, just not as horrible, right now i am waiting till wednesday for a full spectrum 12inch for my eclipse 6 i finally found a local place that sells one. so hopefully that will get these plants going. right now my water is kinda cloudy since i planted the tank. should i turn off the filter system to let the stuff settle or let the filter catch the debris?


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

XT87,
I don't think you're supposed to bury the Java Fern's rhizome. You may want to attach it to some driftwood instead.


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## xt87 (Jun 16, 2004)

ok... 

substrate... nothing special right now... just reg gravel. I know I know. 

lighting... just a reg flourecent bulb that I got with the 10 gal set. yes... I know that too.. I'm savin up for a kit.

now what is a plants rhizome? I'm just starting with plants so I need to know everything. I don't have much cash either right now.. I'm only 16 and looking for a job. The first part of starting hobbies suck.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

xt87 said:


> now what is a plants rhizome? QUOTE]
> 
> 
> http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=rhizome&x=15&y=11


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## xt87 (Jun 16, 2004)

oh ok thank you.... I seen that on the Java Fern... that should be out of the gravel?


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## Daemonfly (Oct 1, 2003)

Find out when yoru local Petsmart gets their plants in and go that day or the day after. Best chance at decent plants.

My local one usually has decent quality when they are new. Once they sit for a week or so, they don't look that great.


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## xt87 (Jun 16, 2004)

My Petsmart gets shipments in on tuesday nights.


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## Mussa888 (May 20, 2004)

I have bought from there. The last two plants were some dwarf hairgrass, and some other plant that I have no idea the name, it has green smaller green leaves that turn red with enought light. Both doing great, but all the plants that I have bought from there, both recent and long ago have had snails, and that has lead to HUGE problems. BEWARE, if you don't want snails, soak, rinse all plants from Petsmart. Their main supplier uses the snails for algea control at his green house.


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## Georgiadawgger (Apr 23, 2004)

From what I take Petsmart usually orders their plants from Fl. Aquatic Nurseries...the label tag on potted plants. I've actually seen some pretty decent plants at my Petsmart...but then again, I think I go to a rare-well-managed one.


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## Glow500 (Jun 19, 2004)

how do u guys judge whats rotting/dead/not growing for new plants? do u give it a specified window of time?


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## aquaverde (Apr 15, 2003)

Out of the 10 or so LFSs in my area, Petsmart has all but one beat on plant selection. Maybe that tells you more about the stores in my area than Petsmart. I've picked up a number of crypts, Bolbitis, and some Ludwigias there. If you catch the plants incoming, they are in fine shape. I talked a manager down on a Bolbitis that was looking bad because they don't know enough not to bury the rhizome, and it grew like gangbusters once I got it home.

The fish tanks have the nastiest looking algae in them I've ever seen, though. Looks like black BGA, and chunks are always spinning around in the tanks.


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## clay (Nov 28, 2003)

i think i am going to have to agree with a lot of you and say it depends on the petsmart store. there are 3 in my area and one beats the pants off of the others. i think it depends on the employees. i think all the plants look great coming in, otherwise petsmart would find another vendor, or stop selling plants all together. but once you hit day 3 and 4, you can start to seperate the stores with knowledgeable employees and those without. not sure? just ask them to tell you which plant is anacharis. :tongue: but seriously, you are dealing with a chain that is competing with the lfs to bring you in, and the only way to do it is to slash the prices. and to do that, they cannot hire the most knowledgeable fish geek, they have to typically hire the person who think fish are cool but have no real desire.

so, to sum up my diatribe, either get them the day of or after, or mail order. cause i think even the mom and pop lfs only put so much effort into plants b/c they just do move quick enough. roud: jmho


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## Glow500 (Jun 19, 2004)

well i bought 2 java ferns and i burried the rhyzome under the tahitian moon sand mixed with the seachem flourite, my mixture was a looooooooot of seachem flourite and very little tahitian moon sand, is that bad for the plant to have the rhyzome burried?


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## Vinlo (Mar 29, 2003)

Glow500, ideally the rhizome shouldn't be buried. In general ferns are tied or planted to something (wood, rock, etc). I have heard of people kind half burrying it, never done that myself though. 

And as for rotting, if it isn't completely covered in algae and doesn't look too melted I would give it a go if it isn't something I already have. 

My petsmart probably has the best plants for the money. One other place has half-decent stuff but $25+ for an amazon sword? Come on now. Actually another place gets some decents plants every now and then.. wait.. that is because I bring them in! Hehe.


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## GulfCoastAquarian (Jul 30, 2002)

I guess I'm lucky to have one of the better Petsmarts in my area (which is a good thing because the other two LFS's within a 30 min drive blow chunks). They also have the tiered open-top acrylic display with a few powerful Metal Halides above them. They're using the Fizz Factory for CO2, though, and with the waterfalls between the tiers, I highly doubt they're getting much benefit from the CO2. 
They do have a fast turnaround, though, just about moving their stock of plants weekly and getting in fresh plants every week. Prices are nearly competitive with mail order and I've never had a plant die on me.
Hard to believe that corporate Petsmart allows such a variance in their franchises.


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## Glow500 (Jun 19, 2004)

welp, its been a couple weeks since i posted, some good news, the plants r growing, i trimmed off the dead/curling stuff, the tank is not as fancy lookin as some of the ones seen here, but its a start i guess. i'll try to get some pics.


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## Dapple (Dec 14, 2003)

Having worked for a couple different Petsmarts (and currently Petco...eh, no good private shops to work for around here, and they give me somewhat free range):


Plant selection varies greatly on who is doing the plant ordering and how much they know. Both chains can get in a bigger variety of plants than you normally see, it's just that they don't know to order those plants. Petsmart in particular tends to get a mixed variety that they don't have contol over, so unless they are diligent about yelling at their supplier, watch out for terrestrials.
If you ask nicely and present them with a list with both common and Latin names, any *good* specialist or manager (ie whoever does the order) can try to get stuff in for you. Good things to try include many of the fairly common swords, val, sag, java moss, java fern, micro sword, hairgrass, chain sword, common crypts, etc) Beware, some things (like hairgrass) die quickly in dealer tanks simply because of the poor design in the plant tanks of both places.
Those plants sold in the tubes with the cardboard backing are really a mixed bag. Some of them are awesome (Heck that's the only way I've found to get java fern, my favourite plant, especially for beginners), but over half the ones my store has been getting in are not aquatic. 
Niether PetsMart or Petco is a franchise. They are both corporations and follw their own company rules, policies, procedures, and guidelines.
If the people in the department don't know anything about plants, seem interested and energetic and you are feeling gabby, talk to them. Heck, I've learned stuff from customers before, it's fun!
Badly algae-ridden tanks are a sign of a. laziness or b. understaffing, either way, yell at 'em! Stir things up, there's no excuse for scuzzy looking tanks. Even if fish occasionally come in sick (as opposed to the normal thing of chain stores simply having poor conditions in general causing healthy incoming fish to get sick) there is no reason for the glass to look nasty.


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## aquatic-store.com (May 24, 2003)

The plants can vary alot from one to the next!!


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## glass-gardens.com (Apr 14, 2004)

The nice thing about Petsmart is you get to see what you get before you buy it, they don't constantly make mistakes in your order and offer you plants you don't want to make up for it.

A lot of online plant vendors (with a few exceptions) don't actually have their own facilities, they save up orders for a week or so and order them from another place, repackage them and them ship them to the customer, so you're getting plants with double the stress on them. I actually looked into doing this after my small nursery was trashed by two storms and decided against it because it basically removed me from the quality control process too much, even though the nursery I was talking with is an excellent place.

If I can't find what I want locally, there are really only a few places I would go for plants, aquabotanic is my first choice, I have yet to hear a single negative comment about them and Robert is a very nice guy from what I've heard. In fact with vendors like him out there, I'd be a fool to try and get into that end of things right now.


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## ColinAnderson (Jun 25, 2004)

All of the plants in my tank are from the local PetsMart (actually two). The local fish stores do not tend to have a very good selection (what they do have looks nice ...) but PetsMart beats them in what they carry.

That being said, the fist time I ventured into one of the PetsMart stores, the planted section (you know, the four or five tanks, one lower than the next, all feeding water to each other) was over-crowded with a lot of dying plants. The next time I visited, it looked as though they had cleaned it all out and had a smaller number of healthier plants.

However, their selection isn't too large either. They basically carry a bunch of assorted swords (in addition to Amazon, Red Melon, and one other type), of which I'm not sure whether they're terrestrial or not -- so I don't buy the assorted swords. They tend to carry cambomba, anacharis, the aforementioned specific sword plants, java fern, banana plants, jungle val, moneywort, and pennywort.

Any more plants I purchase will most likely be from an on-line vendor, however, due to the limited selection locally.


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## ColinAnderson (Jun 25, 2004)

Just an update. roud:

Went to one of my LFSs today looking for otos (I'm having the usual big brown algae bloom post cycling for planted tanks). They didn't have any, so I hesitantly made my way to one of the local PetsMarts (not the usual one I frequent, because this one was actually closer). I ended up leaving because the tanks looked rather dirty (unlike the one I usually go to) and the planted section wasn't looking to good (overcrowded of course, and many dying specimens).

I drove to the usual PetsMart (as I wanted to get the otos today before the aglae became any worse), and the tanks there are pristine and nice as usual, thus I purchased four otos. On my way out, the planted section caught my eye, where I found a bunch of _ludwigia mullertii_ and a couple of very nice _alternanthera reineckii_ speciments. Having a weak moment, I bought one of the alternanthera reineckiis and two of the ludwigia mullertii bunches (one bunch I pieced together from many floating stems [_which I may have slightly "overbunched" if you get my meaning_. ] But, I still asked the lady who was helping me and she said it was fine). Anyway, it turned out to be a nice find, and allows for a lot more color in my 29 gallon. 

I think it's funny how two PetsMarts in the same city can have such a difference in quality.


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## mosasaur (Jul 20, 2004)

You gotta get them soon after arrival, but the local store is pretty good. I was buying a bunch of dwarf sag by the plant at a local store, and in potted clusters at Petsmart; both had plants with good roots and foliage, and there were about 6 plants in the cluster so plants were comparable in price. And I could see what I was getting!


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## steven (Jul 7, 2004)

xt87 said:


> substrate... nothing special right now... just reg gravel. I know I know.
> 
> lighting... just a reg flourecent bulb that I got with the 10 gal set. yes... I know that too.. I'm savin up for a kit.


I'm certainly not trying to be rude, nor to offend you in anyway. However, you posted a picture and complained of unhealthy plants, and no one else seems to have noticed this, so I must comment.

I think you are incorrect in attributing your difficulties to the source of the plants. If your post was complete, you have no food for the plants, virtually no useful light, and no CO2. Nothing is present for the plants to grow well. You have no soil for fertilizers (which you didn't mention using) to bind to in order for the roots to receive good nutrition. If you are using a stock light, you have between 1 and 1.5 watts/gallon.

I really think you need to correct the substrate and the lighting issues before you can expect to see much in the way of healthy plants.

Again, please don't take offense, I'm just offering my 2 cents in the hope that it might be helpful.

Steven


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## rchawk3 (Jul 6, 2004)

I have to fully agree with what everyone has said. I am fortunate enough to work just down the street from a Petsmart so i frequently stop by after work. This one actually keeps its tanks well maintained its just to bad their selection is awful. About a week ago a new shipment came in and i was thrilled to see some large Amazon swords (about 10"-12") for $3.99. I got 2 both with some nice long runners with several 3" plantlets on them :icon_bigg . Now I would have to say stay away from the "assorted swords". At this location they were nothing more than terrestrial Peace Lilies (Spathiphyllum). Some were even still blooming! did a little research and found that while these plants can stay submerged for short times they will eventually die. Obviously I avoided these but the point is everyone should be careful when buying from Petsmart. If you arent sure what it is ask and if they cant answer then buyer beware.


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## tonySanAntonio (Jul 22, 2004)

I bought Egeria Densa and Cabomba Caroliniana. Still alive and doing well.


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