purple_drazi
Fishaholic
I went to my local Walmart today to buy some clay pots for Spike & Sparky to hide in and went by the pet dept. to see what they had.
What they had was stupid 1/4 gallon and smaller(!) jars advertised as Betta Jars.
What they also had was about 10 or 15 pathetic vt mutt bettas trapped in tiny, tiny plastic cups filled 1/2 way with absolutely FILTHY water.
I asked to speak to the store manager and when he came I did my bit for betta justice. I asked if he knew about bettas and he said that his wife had 2 or 3 at home but that he didn't know a lot himself. I explained about minimum conditions for bettas and did the speel about just because they can survive in a tablespoon of water doesn't mean they should have to etc.
I was pretty upset by the wretched condition those animals were in but I did my best to be polite and in the end he was pretty good about it. We shook hands and he said he would see what he could do.
I don't have any illusions that anything will change. His fish supplier is some local breeder who obviously doesn't give a damn; he seems to be breeding vt mutts by the truck load and probably treats breeding bettas as a cash cow. I can already hear the conversation the manager & the supplier are going to have - the manager is going to ask him about what I said, and the breeder is going to say I didn't know what I was talking about.
:sigh:
otoh, I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight if I hadn't said anything.
What they had was stupid 1/4 gallon and smaller(!) jars advertised as Betta Jars.
What they also had was about 10 or 15 pathetic vt mutt bettas trapped in tiny, tiny plastic cups filled 1/2 way with absolutely FILTHY water.
I asked to speak to the store manager and when he came I did my bit for betta justice. I asked if he knew about bettas and he said that his wife had 2 or 3 at home but that he didn't know a lot himself. I explained about minimum conditions for bettas and did the speel about just because they can survive in a tablespoon of water doesn't mean they should have to etc.
I was pretty upset by the wretched condition those animals were in but I did my best to be polite and in the end he was pretty good about it. We shook hands and he said he would see what he could do.
I don't have any illusions that anything will change. His fish supplier is some local breeder who obviously doesn't give a damn; he seems to be breeding vt mutts by the truck load and probably treats breeding bettas as a cash cow. I can already hear the conversation the manager & the supplier are going to have - the manager is going to ask him about what I said, and the breeder is going to say I didn't know what I was talking about.
:sigh:
otoh, I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight if I hadn't said anything.
