I Really Need To Rant Right Now!

[BettaBum873]

I went into a wal*mart today to look for ink for my printer. This is a new wal*mart and I've never been in their fish section before. Well the other wal*marts by me, while not the greatest, take decent care of their fish. But this one... OMG! It was the worst I've ever seen! All of the bettas were horribly sickly, their fins were ripped in so many places that some didn't even look like bettas. There were 2 dead females and all of the fish were so stressed that they were horribly pale, almost white, with very prominent stress lines. Their "cups" were filthy, they were all breathing very fast and their weren't air holes or anything in the cups so they were all probably runing out of oxygen. But the worst part was, while I was looking at the fish a couple came over and asked the sales associate about fish, well they ended up getting a 10g set up, and the sales associate told them that they could get the fish today and put them in the tank as soon as they had water in it! They asked what kind of fish the bettas were, the associate told them, that A. the males were ferocious and under no circumstance should they be put in with another fish but they're nice to keep in "little bowls" because they're "pretty" and don't need any space to move. Then she proceeds to tell them that the females can be with other fish, but you should only have ONE female. and she also says "Oh but you don't want the females, they're terribly ugly" Well I just couldn't stand there anymore. Places like that should not be allowed to have fish . Believe me if I had the money I would have bought the entire shelf of bettas . Ok done ranting

 

[Synirr]

"Oh but you don't want the females, they're terribly ugly"

Blondie (in avatar) takes offence to that!

 

[fawnmodel]

my local one used to be the same way -

But you would be amazed at the turnaround they have done. Quarrantines, info, clean spaces, no sick fish left to rot, only compatibles for the most part!

And, the other day a little boy and mom were eyeing bettas. I sided up to listen as the staff assisted. They were going to put two females and two males together! But, the staff told them no, and they still wanted to do at least one male/fm. So she showed them the teeny tiny split bettahut there (ooh, prob 500 ml total). They thought THAT looked mean so they bought one in a bowl

and I never even said a word

 

[TigerMan]

tell the animal thing about that

 

[afireinside]

I have a walmart story, completely un-related to bettas though. So, I'm at walmart, buying some kritter keepers to keep my new bettas in. So, I'm when I'm looking for them, I hear a walmart employee talking to these people buying a new 10 gallon tank. They said they wanted goldfish, and he said atleast 5 could fit in there!

Oh, the bettas there looked like they were in pretty bad shape too.

 

[catxx]

i was in an LFS on sunday

a couple and a toddler walked past me and my friend (and all the tanks) and asked an employee were the fish bowls are because they want a goldfish for their son (who was about a year old). the employee said they don't sell fish bowls anymore. the couple looked taken a back. was going in the right direction until he pointed at the 5 gallon tanks and said they could put goldfish in that instead. the couple were insistant they wanted a bowl though.

i cringed and walked away.

 

[flautist]

At the walmart in my town, they don't have them in the little cups. They have them in the even smaller square things hanging over the sides of tanks. They will line up 5-6 all on the side of one tank. I have seen two bettas that jumped out in the same tank, and one that jumped out into a neon tetra tank. Well, when I told the associate about the one with the neon tetras (who had shredded fins from the tetras nipping) she said, "Oh, he's okay, he's been in there all day." and then walked away. If I had the room, I would have bought him... it was the hardest thing to walk away from that little guy.

 

[hakkobetta]

Three of my bettas are walmart rescues. My male and female (Dolce and Gabbana) were in the same less than pint sized cup! The manager at walmart later tried to tell me that a "male would NEVER attack a female, only if they wanted to breed". I told him that that was ridiculous, and that they needed to be properly conditioned with at LEAST a ten gallon tank for breeding. Gabbana was terrorizing Dolce, and ripping her fins terribly. I was so angry I bought them both. The next week, I came in to find two males in the same cup! One of them is my lovely Miracle. He was the lucky one, being full grown instead of the juvie whom he pretty much fought to the death with in the same pint sized storage cup. Miracle's fins are growing back lovely though, I'm very excited about that. I did give the manager a piece of my mind afterwards though.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Alright guys, I understand your frustration, maybe if you try dealing with it in another fashion. I understand that ranting on a message board makes you feel better, but it doesn't really do much else. Have a looksy at this thread for a good example iof handling things.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=131664
Maybe you guys can try with WM For now I'm closing this. I look forward to positive posts from you guys on this subject in the future