PetCo Bettas....

[bckrazy]

I went to a PetCo, which is nothing like our local store, on the way home for dog stuff yesterday (IGOTMIKO!), and I had to stop by the Betta section... there was a huge shelf full of cups, like, 4 deep. I only saw about 10-20 out of ALL of them that did not have bad fin rot and several had ich. Me and my sister were pushing through the cups to see the back row, and we found several Bettas with horribly torn up fins. Two boys had NO tails, just stumps

I was about to bring both of them home and try to save them. But, my sister completely talked me out of it (I'm very very busy right now with 2 dogs, my bettas already and college classes).... of course on the drive home I was kicking myself for not taking them. But, I did have a very strong conversation with the manager and the fish guy... very strong. It was the first time I really, really got peeved. Not only were these two poor boys NOT recieving any special care for their horribly torn tails, no one even realized how bad these Bettas were, and none of the severe cases were taken to the back to be nursed to health! .. needless to say, I didn't buy ANYthing from them last night. I'm thinking of going back and asking to have both boys or at least one for free... I already have tons of supplies and I only need a $10 Aquaview for him.

Ok, so the point of this is.... I know a lot of people who are into Bettas read TFF and stand up for the suffering and dying Bettas at pet stores, but I still wanted to remind everyone (and I know we all go to Petsmart/Petco/Wal*Mart/etc on a daily basis!!) to let the manager know that you are disgusted when you see Bettas in poor conditions in their stores.

[chrissycat21]

I hate places like that. The poor bettas....

(On TFF you might want to tell BettaMomma about this WM.)

[IRescue452]

Never seen them in bad conditions at our petsmart or our petsuppliesplus because they are kept in the tanks in the plastic seperators you put on the side but petco near us is another story. You can bet that any they find that people aren't likely to buy because they are sickly will get the deep freeze or a flush down the toilet. They wouldn't waste any money or effort nursing fish. As hard as it is try not to be tempted to buy them as it shows the manager that you will complain, but then you will turn around and spend money on them.

[flamepony12]

I hate how most people think bettas are "just fish". If you ask people why they don't put more water in the cups, they'll just say, "bettas are used to cramped conditions". They are not from puddles, they are from ponds in rice paddies!!

Originally posted by chrissycat21
(On TFF you might want to tell BettaMomma about this WM.)

I Agree, but make sure to do it by PM.. or in her thread about getting walmart adresses and phone numbers... or else wuv will lock it.

[Suki Wingy]

It is just like people don't think fish are live animals. Yes, be sure to pm her so it's not closed.

[My Peanuts]

I don't doubt that the conditions you saw were bad, but my betta, Drew, is from a Petco. The Petco I go to is so clean and the animals look well taken care of. I have heard of bad conditions in Petco's and Petsmart's. I think the bad ones need to be reported to the corporate office. The bad ones are making it look like they are all bad. It depends on the franchise owner and how dedicated the staff is.

[GoldenRetrLuver]

Bah.. how sad. The Petco over here doesn't seem to take care of their fish very well, either. We have a pet store in our area (called Kahoots, I think? I'm not sure if they have them where you are..) that takes excellent care of their fish and they're very knowledgible.

Kinda off topic, but, you're watching Miko already?! Lucky bum! Maybe I'll have to make another visit over there soon.