Hands down the dirtiest tanks I have ever seen in my life. There is green algae growing in the substrate and up the walls of every tank. There are sensitive fish in filthy tanks dying and all they do is scoop them out and throw them in the garbage. These deaths could all be avoided by simply vacuuming the gravel once a week.
Poor management. Poor maintenance, due to a combination of not staying on top of their filtration system and just not vacuuming the tanks. The thick green slime on the bottom and sides of the tanks is just horrible. The entire staff should be fired on the spot.
The staff doesn't know which fish go with which fish (although they think they do) they often try to sell people tanks with fish that will outgrow the tanks and or die from ammonia poisoning and they are just generally lacking knowledge. The majority can't even identify a male fish from a female fish, which in certain species is very important to know.
Every fish that I have ever bought from this place has died and or tried to die on me. I've brought home Ich, cotton mouth and multiple fish that have died within 24 hours. I have yet to lose 1 single fish outside of the 48 hour acclimation period from any Big Al's store...
I will never buy any fish from this store, nobody should buy any fish from this store. I will buy dry goods when they have decent sales, but even that's rare.
Big Als is your better bet. The staff knows what they are talking about and their fish are of a much higher quality.
Petsmart just pays dumb kids to scoop dead fish out of their tanks (which happens a lot) and to put fish in bags. That's all...they think they know what they're talking about, but they don't have a clue.
I wouldn't even buy fish on sale to rescue them from this store, I'd be afraid of bringing home yet another diseased fish that will attempt to wipe out my tank. Luckily I have such a solid set up and that would be next to impossible. read more
