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Just bought 18 Cardinal Tetras from Petsmart for $12

6K views 29 replies 17 participants last post by  flight50 
#1 ·
The Petsmart by me was having a 4th of July sale and most of their schooling fish were 5 for $4. I went yesterday and most the tanks were empty, and the lady working said they wouldn't get more in because the next day was the 4th. Well I went in today, to pick up some tiger barbs (same price) for my dads tub pond and some serpae tetras for my 45g and they had new fish - including a tank of cardinal tetras! I bought all of them. before the sale the Cardinals popped up as $80, after they were $12. I'm so stoked!
 
#4 ·
I've been going to the Petsmart by me every few days to see if they had any more cardinal tetras. They has a couple on the first day of their current sale ($1 each instead of their usual $4) but none since then. I was complaining to the employee in the fish area about how when Petsmart puts a fish on sale they never seem to get any in after the initial shipment, so they gave me a rain check for the next time they get some, whether the sale is still going or not. next time I see them I'll be getting however many they have!
 
#5 ·
I bought 20 cards for 80 cents each from petsmart and they were all dead, dying one by one, in two weeks. They were in terrible condition when I bought them but figured heck for 80 cents... yep still turned out to be a waste.
 
#8 ·
I tried to get one at 3 stores. None of them would give a rain check on anything live in the store. :mad:

But I was able to get 10 on Wednesday! They are in QT and look good so far. Good eaters too. :thumbsup: Wish I could just dump them in, but think I'll leave them in QT for at least a week.:icon_ques
 
#11 ·
FYI, petsmart is not a great source for delicate fish. Honestly in my opinion any chain fish store more than likely use the same shipper/supplier. I would never buy cardinals from petsmart. The price is right but its right for a reason. That's a dead give away that spells poor condition. The last time I bought fish from petsmart, was when I first started the hobby 10 years ago. Only live thing I have bought from them was a single anubia plant.
 
#13 ·
Nice. I hope they're healthy. Last time I went to Petsmart for the $1 dollar sale, every single cardinal tetra had a horrible infestation of ich. About 70% of their bodies were covered with it. I'm lucky I found my new LFS for fish. Before, I was paying $4 a piece at an LFS. The new LFS I found is 3 mins away from my house and the cardinals are $2 a piece or 10 for $18. I bought 10 and they all survived except for maybe one which had a crooked spine. I bought one more over there and he's still healthy :)
 
#14 ·
I am not trying to defend any Big Box store, but just trying to provide my personal experience. I have had bad experience with them before, but these days not all of them are bad. The one near where I live have good stock and managers. It really depends on who worked there to do the upkeep of their tanks. That being said, I am not associated with any store(s). But have been fortunate to have a better than decent Big Box store near me.
 
#15 ·
Not really Fair to paint ALL PetSmartCos with the same brush. I have a lot of each in NWSubs of ChicagoLand that I occasionally stop in at. It really depends on local management & the fish mgr.

If the distributer sends them sick fish, the best of shops will have problems.

In any shop study the fish in ALL the tanks along with the ones your buying. I do this even if they aren't on a central system. Employess don't always dip the nets after each uses and water finds it's way from tank to tank.

There are dozens of threads here where people realizes too late that a Q-Tank is a valuable tool.
 
#16 ·
Actually, I think they have a central system that connects all the tanks so if you see one thing in a tank, they all have it. I asked her what they do with sick fish and they apparently have a tank in the back where they dump them (sink or swim literally) and if they heal up, they go back out into the main tanks. Unfortunately, I think we've all had such bad experiences that we get weary of it. I bought some beautiful German Blue Rams from them and lost all except for one. They were great fish until they started developing weird stuff. I can tell you one thing - make sure you get a nice large amount of their water when you get the fish. I always acclimatize mine from my local store as I tested their water and found their PH levels to be super, super, super, super soft like a 6.5 so you might be getting die offs from the shock of transferring to your tanks. I use a drip method and that seems to work better.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I guess you're right that it depends on the Petsmart. I love my local Petsmart because the employees are so nice. However, I really don't like one of the guys who works in the fish department.

Back when I started getting into planted tanks, I stopped by the local Petsmart and asked for some assassin snails. The dude looked at me like I was a complete idiot and said "I don't know what you're talking about. I've never heard of them." Then he explained to me that I should get a single clown loach in a 20 gal and it will kill all the snails. I looked at them and they had spots of ich on about 5/6 of them. I told him and all he said was "Oh, I guess I can't sell them to you then." Then he flipped the tag upside down and just walked away.

That's when I vowed never to get any fish from them again.. I will however stop by for some dog stuff because the other employees are great lol.
 
#19 ·
Well, as some of you predicted all the 18 cardinals died off one by one. They just were in rough shape. The thing that redeems it to me is that I can get my money back, whereas if I get a bad batch at a lfs, I can't. My Petsmart as a whole is actually pretty decent, I've had good luck with loaches, corys, otos, platies etc. but a lot of the small tetra like fish over a week or so a certain number seem to die off. Unfortunately, with the cardinals that number was all of them.
 
#21 ·
I also took advantage of the $1 sale and picked up 14 ottos, 15 cardinals, and 11 bloodfin tetras. All the blood fins are alive and kicking, but so far 1 otto and 11 cardinals have bit the dust. I admit I didn't drip acclimate long enough and with pressurized co2 it could've been a little too much for them. Luckily the 14 day return/exchange exists so I plan on replacing all the dead cardinals and will introduce the next batch correctly.
 
#23 ·
When did yours all start to die? My 10 have been in QT for 8 days now and I have not lost a single one. Wondering if its safe to put them in the main tank yet?
 
#24 ·
PlantedTankLover, mine slowly died after day 1 and continued to drop leaving me with the 5 I currently have. Its only been a week since I added them to the tank. I know I rushed it by adding them directly to my main tank with pressurized co2, but QT tank wasn't ready yet and I wanted to get in on the $1 sale. Hopefully the next batch I get survives as I plan to QT then turn off co2 before I add them and slowly crank it up. I know most people QT for almost a month to try and keep diseased fish out their main tank, but its really up to you. I was impatient and wanted fish in my tank.
 
#25 ·
An idea for next time. My qt tank became a grow out after my "male" cichlid got knocked up. So for the cardinals I used a Rubbermaid container and an extra heater I had laying around. I do a 50% water change every other day. I actually find it easer then a glass tank since I can just throw it in the garage when not needed.
 
#26 ·
Wanted to update. My 10 cardinals had been in QT for 25 days, so today they moved into the big tank. :)
 
#29 ·
Well ya cant beat $1 each. And for the price these are great looking fish with great color. If I were looking to breed then I wold be buying them straight from the breeder, but then again, where do you think pet stores get their fish, breeders...
 
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