Worse than Walmart!

[eudielynn]

I am on a new rampage at the local Meijer store. Anyone who is not familiar with them they are a chain similar to Walmart. A little higher priced and worse to their fish than I ever saw at Walmart.

When I was in there Friday, I decided to check out the fish supplies since they are closer than the LFS store that I usually go to. I was sick at my stomach when I left. Every tank had dead fish in them. Every one of them! Many of the tanks were mislabeled and I found one tank of female bettas with a male in it!

There were two shelves of bettas. The bottom row had the usual dirty cups with about an inch of water, but the top shelf was what got to me. There was one empty cup and another with two dead bettas in it. Both bettas had been there so long they had both turned white. There were big chunks of fins in the water that were decomposing. There were several other bettas on the shelf and they all looked sick, many of them without enough water to cover them.

I found an employee in another department and had him fix declorinated water to change the cups out (he had never worked with the fish before and was willing to do whatever I said as long as I could stop crying long enough to tell him). I did not get upset with him because I got him from the toy department and at least he was trying, but when he saw how upset I was he called the store manager for me and pointed out the problem.

I had to leave, because I couldn't dry up. I do plan on making a betta check there again this week. ....and this time I'll be ready for them.

 

[Kiarra]

It sounds like you did make a difference there, and they've got clean water for now.

 

[Joby]

Good for you

Must have been a sorry site to get you so upset, its just not on that these poor fish have to go through that sort of thing

Lets hope they get more attention in the future thanks to your intervention

 

[eudielynn]

Lets hope they get more attention in the future thanks to your intervention

Oh, believe me, they'll get more attention, if I have to go in there every week and get someone to clean and take care of them. I just found out a friend of my son's is working there now. I will be all over him to check on the babies for me, too.

 

[Jen21]

I think it really depends on the individual store. I have gotten some of my favorite and most healthy fish at Meijer, and Walmart too! But I have also gone sometimes and seen bad tank conditions... even our Petsmart has dead fish in the tanks at times.... just depends on the store.

 

[infant340]

i go to meijer but the fish here are in great condition when ever theres a dead fish they take it out immediatley and makes sure there is no illness' lurking around the tank
the male bettas r kept in crystal clear water in a 32oz jar
so like walmarts each one is different

 

[Shark_Lover]

they obviously have no experience with fish.

 

[50000_tears]

i have never heard of this store ..i want to go on a rant give me the phone number to the main HQ and i will call them up and complain..are there any in Illinois??

 

[OrkyBetta]

We need to clone people like you. I mean, honestly, there is so much betta cruelty around here, and with no car, job or money, there is little I can do about it. Well, kudos to you. I plan on making a run to my local walmart this weekend (SO gross!) and rescuing a betta.

 

[OrkyBetta]

Just did a google search for meijer. Got this. http/www.meijer.com/pet/fish/betta.asp for a store that has a care sheet on bettas, you'd think they'd take care of their own.

 

[GuppyDude]

most large chain store dont care for their fish in the same way, if varys depending on who runs the pet depot and how much the manager cares about makeing sure people are happy. and the only way to make the fish people happy is to sell happy fish

 

[RandomWiktor]

I'd say most stores in general - not just chain stores - don't treat fish well. Nor do many fish owners. Frankly, fish are still veiwed as far too disposable by society to be treated properly and humanely by most people.

 

[Styx]

I agree with RandomWiktor here. People don't think of fish as animals even, because you'll walk into Petsmart and see all this effort to save homeless dogs and cats and you look to your left and see the dying bettas in their filthy cups.

There is one Walmart here in Utah that is the worst I've ever seen in my entire life. The bettas water was so filthy you literally could not even see the fish, it was a dark yellow-brown, very murky. The most disgusting water I've ever laid my eyes on. Not even dirty pond water could match this. And they had these big fancy goldfish in the big tanks and they had fungus on them, but that wasn't all. They also had holes in their bodies, one hole on one fish was so large I could see half it's ribcage, and it was still alive somehow. Everything I said to them was as good as speaking to them in another language.