Here's my track record with Petsmart:

I bought months ago: 5 red platies, 5 zebra danios, 5 african dwarf frogs and 10 ghost shrimp

within 2 weeks of that purchase: 1 red platy alive, no african dwarf frogs and 1 ghost shrimp also killing 2 red wag platies, 1 silver tip tetra and 1 zebra danio from a previous online purchase

here's my Petco experience (most recent), purchased: 5 Otocinclus catfish

within 1 week of that purchase: 3 Otocinclus catfish still alive, also lost 4 red platies and 1 red wag platy (which was pregnant)

here's my experience with Live Aquaria (Dr Fosters & Smith) online purchase: 10 zebra danios, 7 silver tip tetras, 1 red wag platy (which mated with many females in tank producing over 30 red wag and red platies in the last few months), 15 olive nerite snails

all those species purchased from Live Aquaria still alive

and one last online purchase from Aquatic Plant Depot (a recent purchase): 20 Trumpet snails, 7 african dwarf frogs

all those species from Aquatic Plant Depot still alive

now either the Petco and Petsmart here in Tulsa, both located on 41st & Yale Avenue have a very poor purchasing department or it is sheer luck, the experience I had with Petsmart and Petco is very poor

nevertheless, we all have choices in life to make, and I am happy to know you had a good experience with them for your fish did not die...but in my experience, I will stay with the online retailers I mentioned above