Are the fish from Petsmart bad?
Well, to be honest, I am less than impressed with Petsmart. Granted, the one in my area is brand new and perhaps they did get a "bad shipment" of fish in like they told me. But here is my story, this happened just about 2 weeks ago:
The new Petsmart was finally open and my Mom and I were there. It had been a long time since I had a Betta, so I wanted to see what they had. They had some Crowntails (which I had never seen in person) and the Veiltails. I just had to get a Crowntail, so I got one active looking male, and all the other necessities. Not two days later, the fish was dead. He never ate a bite while I had him and showed no obvious signs of illness other than lethargy. I thought he might be adjusting, but he was ill.
Since they had the 14 day policy on live fish, I decided to exchange him and try another fish. Again, this one was a Crowntail. I could tell from the start this fish was sick too, as he didn't eat.. And again in two days he was dead. I got my money back as I was tired of having fish die on me... I did find out from them that they did have a problem with their Betta fish dying. This is when I was told it was a "bad shipment".
I got another Crowntail from a different petshop in my area. He is still doing well, very active and eats normally. So, it was not my water, the Petsmart fish were indeed sick.
I went back to Petsmart to get a live plant (as the other petstore was sold out) and while I was there one of the employees told me Crowntails were less hardy than the other Bettas. I've found this to be pure BS... And, the plant I got there died within a week too!! I didn't bother to ask about a refund, as it was less than three dollars.
I've since gotten some live plants from the other petstore and they are doing fine. I don't know why the Petsmart plant died.
I personally will never by another living thing from Petsmart. I also will only buy other items there if I have no other alternative. I don't want to give them my money considering the trouble I had.
One more thing I will note:
The Petsmart Bettas were kept in blue colored water. When I asked about it, they said it was "a lot of stresscoat". I wonder if they were 'overdosed' on the stresscoat and this caused the deaths. The Bettas from the other petstore were at least in clear water.
-------------
This is just my experience, maybe my store is not the norm. Still, I personally have had it already with Petsmart.
~Wystearya