idk if this has been asked already but i need to know i have a petsmart on 1 side of the street and a petco on the other i dont know which 1 to go to please help


i am looking for customer service, food, fish, and good products

ex. airstone air pump decor air tubing etc

I prefer Petsmart to Petco, however it depends mostly ont eh staffing and aquarium conditions, scope them both out, and see what you think.

ok i like petco because the cichlids come at least 3 inches for like 3 dollars same for the firemouth cichlid thats the only reason i like petco and some other things but i dont want to go to petco then 10 min later go to petsmart and back and forth

Sounds like a plan. It's a tough decision to make, I frequent two local pet stores, sometimes one gives me a better deal then the other. It's always good to frequent two,for barganing and variety

I prefer the petsmart here over petco...they seem to have better looking fish than the petco and their product selection seems to be better. But as stated above it all depends on the staff at the places. The main guy at the petsmart here has a few large tanks set up at home including saltwater and is actually quite knowledgeable. There are a couple other small non-chain stores as well that I try to go to just because i'd rather keep them in business and there fish are much nicer than either petsmart/petco.

I would say which every keeps their fish and tanks in better condition.
Where I live there are a few good small independent shops that I prefer to buy from.

I think it varies by region. One good thing about both Petco & PetSmart is they both advocate dog/cat adoption and ONLY offer dogs and cats from rescue organizations. Neither will support or sell dogs from "puppy mills" (which in the US is a hideous industry).

I typically purchase smaller supplies and items from the independently owned fish store - even though I may pay a few dollars more; I like to support the "little guy" - and find the customer service is better than the big corporate places.

I buy my larger ticket items at Drs. Foster & Smith (online)..... If you don't get their catalog it's great.

If i had a choice, I would do Petsmart every time... Petco here is horrible... The fish are always dead, they had baby oscars in there one day that were an inch long, and had HITH so bad the holes almost went through.

it was horrible.

I frequent 6 pet stores in my area. I like the local stores for saltwater, but I go between all 6 to look at their stock, it's always changing in the local stores.

6 wow..I don't think there are 6 pet stores within 30 miles of me...I can think of 4

lol well i personally have a vendetta against petco since they kicked me out of one of their stores for trying to take a picture of a lionfish. i have one of each within a couple miles of each other, i prefer the petsmart shop bc its cleaner, better organized, and it seems they have more knowledgable staff, however i also have a saltwater aquarium and they carry no saltwater fish... im torn... they are both cheaper than my LFS. generally anymore im disappointed with my LFS bc it seems they are more into dogs and cat grooming than fish keeping anymore, atleast the clerks they have seem to know more about giving dogs baths than fish... meh... petsmart is where i find myself buying filtration and fw fish stuffs mainly. between petsmart and walmart im covered on what i need. sadly it seems i find myself in situations without an answer when i try to use my local sources for a solution. it seems my best luck with technical and medical tank issues has been answered here. this is no understatement

i never really use petco but there stuff is cheaper and there fish are bigger for a lesser price and i just thought about petco i dont know i need you guys to keep talking

i got my oscar from petsmart