One good thing I can say

[RandomWiktor]

You know, we do a lot of Wallmart bashing here, but after an experience at Petco today, I daresay I have something good to say about them for once!
I had to buy a new filter cartridge for the tank the girl is now in since Tim is always sick and I didn't want him giving her anything. As always, I cast a glance to the fish section in passing. Well, inside the tank where they keep the female bettas, there were about 8 girls... well, 7 if you don't count the eyeless, chewed apart dead one.

There was one female in the tank who was HUGE. Bigger than most males in body, though smaller in finnage. She was purple and black and was tackling every female that got within a few inches of her. Two of the girls in the tank were in shreds, the one was dead and chewed completely open, and she even tackled some little brown algae eater while I was there. Heck, I almost bought her for the sake of the other fish!
Instead, I bitched out the manager and advised they keep the girls separate like they do the males; 8 was way too many for the size of tank, and I'm sure the origional shipment had even more. If nothing else, they should at LEAST separate the one with the agression issue. She said she'd "look into it" and I told her that's great, but until the problem is fixed, I'd be "looking into" a different place to buy my fish supplies.

That said, I must commend Wallmart for their large size betta cups (so far as betta cups go) and the fact that ALL bettas, male and female, are kept singly in such cups. This little girl Jocelyn got me is a Wallmart girl and she's the healthiest looking little betta woman I've seen in ages, probably because most other LFS keep them together and overstocked so that they're mauling one another.

I'll probably check back at Petco before I leave PA for the summer, and if they still have that big agressive girl in there, I'll see if I can trick one of the fish section employees into thinking its a male Plakat so they'll separate it out. Or I'll just complain again.

 

[BettaMomma]

I do have to say - I agree you with WalMart's cup sizes and that they separate them.

That is probably the only thing I like about them but I do agree with you, for sure.

 

[RandomWiktor]

Oh I agree; I still absolutely hate them, will never buy a fish there, and think that they have some of the sickliest fish in the world. I'm just saying that at least they keep them separate and in large cups, which is more than can be said for petco/petsmart in my area at least.

 

[BettaMomma]

Yep!!

PetSmart doesn't carry females here. I went in one day quite a while back looking for some, and asked them about them. They told me they stopped selling them because they constantly had people coming in asking about them for breeding purposes so they didn't want to add to the problem of veiltail overpopulation.

That sounded somewhat responsible to me I guess but they still have deadies floating all over the place when I go in there. Their bettas, however, are usually in relatively good shape. The only one I've had to rescue from there (and it wasn't REALLY a rescue... i *guess*) was Louis my blind boy.

 

[Haiku]

The PetCo in my town keeps them singly in fairly large little tubs too. I guess it depends on the management. The Wal-Mart's bettas always look despicable here, but they still keep them in bigger cups than the PetsMart here. However, I've not seen a dead betta at PetsMart yet either, and I have at Wal-Mart. I will maintain that the PetCo here is the lesser of the three evils (Wal-Mart, PetsMart, PetCo). They also do not sell tiny bird cages, but only larger, roomier, better quality cages for birds. Their tanks look better, and bettas usually look better with cleaner water and bigger containers than the other two stores. Come to think of it, I've only seen female bettas for sale at Wal-Mart, and not at PetCo or PetsMart in my town.

 

[RandomWiktor]

::nods:: Oh, I'm sure its the one here. ALL of the LFS/Aquarium stores in my area are bad. Actually, the Petco/Petsmarts here have very overcrowded, poorly maintained enclosures for all of their animals. Yet the ones back at home are impecably clean, roomy, and not overstocked. Bleh, I can't wait to get out of PA.

 

[50000_tears]

my petco is nice here my only one complaint was about nippy (search on my story on nippy) they keep them in very large tubs usually clean and the employes mostly love the bettas (except matt) alot of them get so concentraited on the bettas they dont carea bout anything else ..one sits there and talks to each one (usualy 16-20) .the petsmart here is awfull...fin rot and no lids at all!..walmart is the worse i am not even going to start!

 

[Raechal]

My walmart has rather large cups that they keep their bettas in as well, but they only fill the water up about an inch. I find myself tempted to fill them up myself and bring some dechlor with me to walmart to treat the water. I think I will do that next time. No one is ever there anyway.

 

[50000_tears]

ok i took a job(not offcial). I went there this morning at six (i acctually snuck out and its 24 hours open)to check on the bettas i first took the dead ones put them on the sink (there was 4),then i snuck a gallon of bottled Ice mountain© water made sure it was warm enough went through filling the cups fully, then i took the dead ones drained all the water from the cups. took 4 napkins and put one deadie on each napkin rolled it up put 3 more napkins over that and trashed them in the bathroom baby diaper thing(haha now you know where i take the deadies). i almost bought this pure red female but i didnt want to since i already have 2 females.