- Hey guys, Cory from AquariumCoOp.Com.
Today I've got something a little bit different for ya.
It's my top 10 fish I would buy
if I only had access to a PetSmart.
Now, if I had access to PetSmart and Petco,
I would choose PetSmart.
They typically have
a better selection of fish in my opinion.
Now, things that I'm taking into consideration:
How likely are these things to get sick?
How likely are they to be, you know,
kept correctly at the store?
And how likely are you to be successful with them?
And then in general, overall compatibility.
So I've got 10, not necessarily, you know,
best to worst or anything like that, but 10 solid choices
that I would feel okay with buying from PetSmart.
That being said, quarantine everything.
Whether you're in my store, or you're going to PetSmart,
whatever, always quarantine first.
That's just safe.
But these are, in my opinion, your best options.
All right, the first thing, bettas.
Because they're kept in their own little containers there,
they don't really see any other fish,
they don't get diseases really, so they're pretty safe,
and they typically have a wide selection.
Now, that being said, depending on where you go,
sometimes they're not taken care of that well,
so make sure you're buying a healthy, active betta.
Maybe you buy them a few days after they come in,
something like that.
But in general, I can't down-talk 'em.
They got a wide selection and a lot of 'em,
and they typically are priced right,
and a lot of people get great bettas from PetSmart.
Next up, I would say a real winner that seems to survive
for everyone would be albino corydoras.
They're pretty much universally at every pet store.
They're pretty darn hardy.
They are a scavenger, but you wanna dedicated feed 'em,
get at least three to six of 'em,
six being better than three, but, you know,
it depends on what tank size.
I would say, optimally, 20 gallons or more,
but you might be able to shoehorn 'em into a 10
with, you know, three or four of those little buddies.
And they'll kind of be a great cleanup crew for ya,
and as long as their bellies aren't really sunken in,
you're probably okay, you know.
Obviously look for ick or something like that,
but if they visually look okay,
they don't have sunken in bellies,
you're probably okay to take them home and quarantine them.
Next up, I got the glowlight tetra.
Now, it's a silver and orange kinda tetra.
It's a silver above the orange,
so it mostly looks like it's got an orange line.
They get about three inches or so,
very very very hardy.
Now, because they're so hardy,
they can live in, kinda sub-optimal conditions.
They're a tetra, so you wanna get
a school of six or more.
They're gonna school around,
I recommend 10 gallons or more.
Anywhere from a 7 to an 8.0 pH.
They're real tolerant, real forgiving,
and usually, about the only thing
you really gotta watch out for
is that ick. If they don't have ick,
you're probably okay to quarantine them,
and after a week or two, go ahead
and move 'em into your main display tank.
Next up, I've got the Australian rainbow fish.
Now, that's a specific rainbow there.
They're called the Australian rainbow fish,
even though, y'know, lots of rainbows are Australian.
But, Australian rainbow fish tends
to be about three bucks, which is a great deal.
Gets about six inches, and if you had
a big 55 gallon, or 75, and you had
y'know, like silver dollars, and that
kind of more boisterous fish.
These would fit right in.
Now, you can also keep boesemani rainbows,
turquoise rainbows, all that.
You just want to look for ick,
take 'em home, quarantine 'em,
keep that pH above seven.
Keep them in a group of six or more,
so yeah, six, at three bucks. Pretty affordable.
Six at 10 bucks, you know, and some
of those fancier rainbows, not as affordable.
But hey, if you like the look, go ahead
and grab it, but they're super easy to keep in my opinion.
They can be quick to get to food, so
you wouldn't want to keep them
with the bettas, for instance.
But, otherwise, with other quick moving
fish, they do great. Tetras, rosboras, all that stuff.
Next up, another tetra!
And that would be the red eyed tetra,
or the monk tetra, as it's sometimes called.
Silver, black dot, red eye on it.
Really really hardy fish, gets about
two and half, three inches.
Keep them in a group; they'll tolerate a
pH from seven to eight, and as long
as they don't look sick in the store,
take them home, quarantine them.
You'll probably be okay.
Next up, blood parrots. Now, I know,
it's a hybrid fish, but,
when you get them at PetSmart,
y'know, it's one of the cooler fish they offer.
I even have some at home, they get, y'know
about this size, full grown, kind of
full grown angelfish size.
And, being that they're a cichlid, they're pretty hardy.
Now, as long as you don't put them
in a way too small aquarium,
usually they're not too aggressive.
You can get one out of 10 or so,
y'know, that's Billy beat him up type of attitude,
instead of peaceful.
But they've got really small mouths,
and they can't really open or close them.
So, you can usually keep them with other fish,
and the most they can do is try
and aggress and bully them, so
they can bully thing like angelfish and gouramis.
But tetras, and that kinda stuff, not so much.
And so, you can keep them in these big
planet tanks, y'know, I would say
optimal 55 gallon or larger
And just a big centerpiece show fish
that can do well with a lot of
other, y'know, silver dollars, and even smaller fish.
So, a lot of variation in that
orange and red color bring something;
it's not quite easy to get in your aquarium.
Next up, I got the algae eaters.
So what's the best algae eater in my opinion
to buy at a PetSmart?
A lot of you are thinking the bristlenose.
It's good, it was my second choice.
But my favorite pick is the rubber lip plecostomus.
They're really good at eating algae,
they tend to be very very hearty.
And it's way easier in my opinion,
to see when they've got ick or something like that.
Whereas bristlenose are already spotted,
and sometimes they have the ick
and you don't notice it until you get home,
so that's why I think the rubber lip
is a better buy for most people.
Cause you can spot that ick early,
and go oh, I'm not gonna buy this batch,
I'm gonna wait down the road,
maybe try again in a month or six weeks.
You only need one, pretty much
no matter how big your aquarium is.
I mean, I guess at about 300 gallons,
maybe keep more than one.
But, you'd be better off varying
the types of algae eaters you keep
than getting more than one.
They only get about five inches for the ones
you're normally gonna see at a pet store.
There's some other types of rubber lips out there
that get much larger. That being said,
I only see the common smaller ones actually being sold.
Next up, I've got Rasbora Hets.
So, they're a fish that get about three inches,
they school around, they've got orange and black on 'em.
They look super cool, they're super duper hardy.
They tolerate a wide range of pH.
They got a big enough body not
to get eaten by a lot of things.
And they tend to be very cheap,
so, it's kinda like, why not get that?
It's got all the things I want:
color, it's cheap, it's got the size,
they're peaceful, and I don't have
to buy too many, just six.
The more the merrier, though.
Next up, I've got the black neon Tetra.
These things are bullet proof.
They get about three, three and a half inches
and they get about an inch tall.
They get beefy in their older age, but
they're still super laid back, easy to keep
As long as they don't have ick, again,
you're probably okay.
Take 'em in a group of at least six.
Add 'em, they look really good against a green
background of plants. And really,
I keep them in a lot of aquariums,
and I sell them a lot. And if you're a newbie,
definitely want to get some of those.
They're just super duper cool and hardy.
Alright, my last favorite fish from PetSmart,
and I actually found this fish at PetSmart,
and I bought them and keep them to this day,
still, is the marigold variatus.
Very very close cousin of the Platy.
The colors of these things are amazing,
I now keep a high fin form, which
PetSmart doesn't sell, but it's one of my
absolute favorite fish, even if I couldn't
get the high fin, I carried him,
or I kept him for a very long time in my fish room.
With just, the PetSmart ones.
And they were like, you can buy them on sale
for like a dollar.
Now, with these guys, it's pretty common
they have bacterial infections,
so you probably want to treat
with something like azithromycin.
Not as common with the ick, they can get it,
but, really look at the fins and see
if they're all clamped up.
That's usually a sign that they're
gonna have a bacterial infection.
And that's what I would watch out for in these guys.
But, let me know what your favorite fish are from Petsmart.
I don't shop there much anymore,
I do walk in and see what they got going on, just to see.
But let us know down below and,
if you want you can hop over to like the Patron page,
and post pictures if you're unfortunate
and you can only shop from a PetSmart.
I know a lot of you guys around the country
have that scenario, where
you don't even have a local store,
and your local PetSmart is three hours away.
But hey, you drive there, you go get your fish
and you enjoy the hobby all the same.
So, thanks for watching, we'll see you next video.
And, don't forget to subscribe!