My local aquarium here in Coburg gets a lot of mixed reviews on the internet business listings. Some of the tanks are kept beautifully, though the reptile enclosures aren't so nice at times. But it's the betta display (yes, more tiny, filthy cups and miserable, sick or dead fish) and the TINY awful betta cubes on sale which have made me furious.
And some of the dolts who work there swear bettas love tiny spaces and unheated water, yeah...
My daughter insisted on saving one - she's just a kid, so I let her do this kindness, despite my misgivings about ever buying livestock from them. On seeing the betta display, my usually staunch girl broke into tears. There was cloudy water, half filled cups with thick bubbly green algae on top, yellow water, fin rot, droppy miserable bettas, and one little guy (or girl) at the bottom of the shelves, so small it looked barely past a fry. Dead, pale and on its side. It was heartbreaking, it really was. I made sure to speak to several staff members quite firmly (in front of a lot of customers) about how their disgusting betta display made my child cry, and that people come to a store to purchase a healthy pet, not adopt a pathetically ill animal out of sheer pity.
The b**** idiot who was dealing with the bettas DUMPED my daughter's fish angrily and carelessly into a plastic bag. Yeah, that proved some kind of point, what a muppet. I then spoke to an older staff member about this, and the state of the bettas in general, dropping a comment about them being RSPCA cases, and how this did nothing for the image of the store. My daughter added her two cents, still in tears over the sad little dead fish, and we left after being told somebody would 'see to it'.
In a few days, we'll just see whether they 'saw to it' or not. If not, we're calling animal protection. If they can't help, my girl wants to write to the media.
