Petstore cruelty to Bettas

[Apocalypse_Gold]

My lfs has an awesome system for their bettas. I can only describe it as a "betta wall." It has 5 or 6 rows of compartments, all lighted, filtered, heated, CLEAN, and they can keep them at least one compartment apart. They said that in the first two months that they had it running they lost only a few fish, which was better than when they had them distributed through the other tanks.

 

[cheezysquirrelz]

OOOOHHH, I could go on for hours about my "fishy rights campains", hehehe...
---I went to walmart once armed with sticky notes and a pen, I was on a misson(hehehe ) I put post-its with phrases like "SICK-do not purchase", "Don't support walmart", "these fish suffer neglect", etc....
---I have saved many bettas too....I always seem to find a cup with a betta who has no water(somebody tipped it over! ) I walk over to the counter get water and dechlor.
---When I go into stores and see filthy cups, I take em to the fish counter and demand they clean em!
---I also put the dead betta cups in the front so all can see.

What absolutely annoys me most is parents who buy the poor little betta or goldfish for their 5 year old to put in a cup on the shelf, neglected and forgotten.

In fact, I was once in petsmart and a lady picked up one of those little plastic cups they sell to put bettas in and she asked, "Can I put 2 goldfish in here?"

 

[Rach101]

heh... My teacher used to have one in those plants thing.. she had it for like..mm.. a good two weeks then it died. She said it must have been old cause she got it from wal-mart. I asked what she had been feeding it... She said the guy at wal-mart said it didnt need to be feed, just stick one of those plants ontop of it... guess this betta was a picky eater?

 

[cheezysquirrelz]

Bettas are carnivorous, they hate plant roots.

 

[Rach101]

People think all the time that they can do that though. Countless people i know have been told that thats all they have to do. Not even change the water .buttt... thats not wal-marts fault... but ill go ahead and blame them anyways.....

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm going to pipe in here on the Wal-Mart rant. We just went tonight and I always stop by the fish section (I have no clue why I do because we never buy anything from there. I basically go and if a customer is standing back in the dept I will offer advice if I can help.) to look at the tanks. There were more fish dead than alive. They were stuck to the filters, fish meat floating, the goldfish tank was COVERED in algae, the poor Betta's were in cups 1/2 full of water (the teeny tiny cups), and they had at LEAST 15 cichlid's in one of their tiny tanks. None of the tanks had gravel or even a plant. When my fiance brought home the Cory Cat I was reading the bag and you should have seen what it said. It said that all you have to do is float the bag in the tank for 30 minutes, net out the fish, and put them in the water. I read that and thought, What, Wal-Mart doesn't acclimate? There was nothing said about adding/removing water from the bag. No wonder they lose so many fish!

 

[Devilishturtles]

It said that all you have to do is float the bag in the tank for 30 minutes, net out the fish, and put them in the water. I read that and thought, What, Wal-Mart doesn't acclimate? There was nothing said about adding/removing water from the bag. No wonder they lose so many fish!

I always acclimate this way...and over the past year and a half, I personally have lost 2 fish, shortly after buying them (and I got them all from walmart too!) . When I put fish in at walmart, I do the same thing, except I float them for about an hour. No problems, again.

Last time I went to a LFS, both of the best ones in my area, I was sickened at the look and display of their bettas. Dead fish everywhere, just sitting out. It was horrible.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I have no clue why I do because we never buy anything from there. I basically go and if a customer is standing back in the dept I will offer advice if I can help.

haha, so I'm not the only one, I had the employee there start asking me questions

Devilish, I'm glad to see a walmart does have someone who actually loves the fish, but a majority of the walmarts I've been to do not have such compitent staff in the fish dept.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I've always been told to float the bag in the water, then take out a cup full of water from the bag, then add in a cup full of water from the tank. Repeat this every 15 minutes 3 times.

Every fish I have ever bought from Wal-Mart has died within a month. Not every Wal-Mart is alike, but, the one around here does not know how to take care of fish. It is absolutely disgusting.

 

[Blucat]

when i go to a locla walmart i take food and try to sneak some bloodworms into the little containers. I havent gotten caught yet. Allmost all of their betta fish have ethier ifn hot swim bladdder or some other horrible disease.

It is terriblke how cruel they cruel 2 fish.

LOL and i commend for your courage. That is just so unexpected and such a true sign of an aquarium addict that its actually funny. You reallystick your foot out for those fish

 

[tracygh]

I must have the only half decent Wal Mart on the continent. The tanks are all incredibly clean, and I didn't see a single dead fish in any of them. The fist time I was in, the girl was incredibly knowledgable, the second time I went in, she was on break so they had to get someone else...they weren't the sharpest knife in the drawer. I got my cory cats and my guppies from walmart and they are great, mind you, my walmart angels all died...
as for acclimatizing, I have always let the bag float for 30+ minutes, then I open the bag and let the tank water seep into the bag slowly, and after a few minutes of that, then I tip the fish out, water and all. So far so good.
I mentioned the Betta cruelty factor at my LFS yesterday, and the gal said to me "oh they live in mud puddles in Thailand, so these cups are like cadillacs and penthouse suites to them"....yeah, right.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It is not a good idea to add the bag water to the tank. Regarding the Betta's, yeah they live in puddles in Thailand, BUT, that doesn't make it right to stick them in a teeny tiny little plastic cup. I cringe every time I see them that way at Wal-Mart.