So Tuesday I decided to rescue a very small clown...

...from petco, who was placed in a tank with a full sized tang that beat him up a little.
The females who were working there didn't think anything of it, thought that he was just fine, and I don't think they ever moved the other one into a different tank.
Of course he had a couple of knicks in his fins, but when he was out of the tank and in the specimen cup, he swam around like he was a happy camper It was really cute, and I felt great like rescuing him and stuff...
I really had hope for the little guy.
Two days later he died

I'm never going to rescue a fish again.

 

That sucks.

 

I have done the same.......more than once, and have had the same outcome. Its a nice thought but for my sake and my tanks i had decided to purchase the healthy, good looking ones

 

rescued an anthias from a cooked heater tank... same outcome

 

yeah. usually i buy healthy looking fish, and they live for years. i have a clown in my large tank from petco that's almost 3 years old. i usually don't buy too much from them.

i just felt like doing something different. i felt like i could save him.
but instead i lost 17 dollars.

 

good of you to try though. I did the same about two weeks ago little clown about an inch long getting tossed around at the LFS but he's strong as a ever now. He paired up with my widowed clown and they are inseparable now.

there are wins to be had.

 

Nice try, sorry it didn't work out. I have found petco fish are the easiest to get to survive if you purchase them the same day the stock arrives and before they dump them in their tanks.

 

I've been there before too... My local Petco ordered a false lemonpeel angel for me... when it got there, they called me to come pick it up... well, a stupid store employee stuck an undulated trigger in the same tank with it... of course, the trigger took a chunk out of the side of the angel about the size of a nickel... scales were missing and it was blood red.

I was pretty bummed that they let this happen. I convinced the store manager to take 50% off and told him that if they let the fish stay there, it would die and would have a better chance of survival in my tank... well, 6 months later, I still have the fish, it's fat and happy, scales have grown back, and has a very slight scar... I feel that I rescued this fish, even though I wasn't sure it was going to make it, I'm glad I took the chance.

the problem with doing this with a store like petco though, is that they will repeat this behaviour, purchase more fish that will soon die in their tanks because they are not housed properly...

that being said, I have seen some nice fish come in petco, and have several in my tank that are doing really well... I have mixed feelings about petco, because as much as I'd like to say they are an evil corporation, I've seen just about every LFS I've been to do the same kinda things they do... and there are at least five nice LFS in Atlanta that I frequent besides petco.

 

yeah i wish it worked out. and i think i got there the same day they got their order in, but someone just put those tiny clowns in with that full grown tang. i think if the anemone wasn't in there they wouldn't have had much to protect themselves with. they should like keep a compatibility chart on the counter for the workers so whoever receives them knows where and who to put them with.
i go to other lfs but petco beats a lot of their prices on some stock. most by 50%. it just sucks cause of the careless corporate bs.