information on anyone who may purcase fish at places like petco

[lori]

to give some info on purchasing fish or more at places like petco,you all should know that those large sections of individule tanks put together all share the same water.i know this because i worked there and watched a lot of fish and corals get sick.so if you purchase at a place that has tanks put together,make sure none of the marine life are sick in those sections.also make sure before you purchase ask how long its been there.2 weeks is a good time.also make sure you ask them to feed the fish and make sure it is a good eater.if its not,dont get it.hope this helps anyone.

[ricksreef]

except for one shop back in 1972, all the shops I've been in, worked at, or built, all have central systems and share water.

but on petco, etc., I'd say just stay away from them. period.

[leebca]

To be fair, almost all LFSs today have a similar setup. The water systems for their invertebrates are separate from the water system for the fishes. But all inverts share the same water with other inverts; all the fishes share their water with other fishes.

Fish may be acquired from anywhere. The thing to do is to try and obtain a healthy fish. Go to the store, any store, with a check list of things to look for: Is The Fish Healthy?

Once you've decided on a good fish to acquire, acquire it, then the next thing to do is to perform a quarantine on the fish. The hobbyist must protect their emotional, financial, and time investment into the hobby by using a quarantine process on all newly acquired marine life forms:
A Quarantine Process (step-by-step).

These two steps are all that's needed to acquiring your marine fishes -- from any source.

[lori]

sorry i put it in the wrong post.next time i'll check.oh and i dont know how it is in ca petco but ours here put invertebrates and fish together.besides i was just giving some info on to just realize that if the fish is sick in the tank next to the tank of the fish you are looking at,there could be a chance it had spread its disease through the tank your fish is in...thats all.not everyone knows this and this post is for them!

[leebca]

There's nothing to be sorry for lori. Personally I don't do business with the chain stores -- at least not for livestock. I don't like the way they handle or care for livestock when it comes to marine fishes. I find in general their advice to be poor or non-existent.

One good thing about mixing invertebrate and fish waters -- at least you know the water doesn't contain copper. Copper is often added to the fishes' water to keep at bay Marine Ich and Marine Velvet. If invertebrates are exposed to this copper they would outright die. So the two being together indicates that they are not putting copper into their system.