Rescued a betta from Wal-Mart - do you think he'll make it?

wow i have never seen a betta that bad he looks very ill hope he gets better, not even the betta at my local Wal-mart has that anyways hope you cure him or give him a more peacefull life :-D yeah SftWrmRain wal mart does suck i went today a little while ago they were taking dead fish out....and i dont mean 1 or 2 they were taking out a whole tank of them out i got mad and just left i went to go buy some gravel for a 10 gallon tank i had in the shed all dusty and old :-P but anyways i left and went to petsmart instead :-/ well anyways yeah listen to SftWrmWater about the BS and Blood Worms they will go wild for that. Best of luck :)
 
We in england dont have wall marts but can it really be that bad? is it just a big supermarket with a aquatic section? cos only pet stores or garden centres sell fish in england.
 
It is essentially a large department store with a fish section. They are notorious for giving the worst of pet store care to their fish section. They just train kids off the street in basic handling, and allow for large numbers of "acceptable losses" in livestock. they keep their bettas in the little shipping cups, and often don't clean them from the time they get them to the time their sold. It varies store to store, as some have fish-knowledgable employees that take care of their stuff better, but for most it's pretty bad. It's not unusual to go itno a walmart and see 5-6 dead fish in each tank.
 
dwarfgourami7 said:
We in england dont have wall marts but can it really be that bad? is it just a big supermarket with a aquatic section? cos only pet stores or garden centres sell fish in england.

Honestly, be GLAD you don't have Wal-Mart in England! The higher ups have NO concern over loss of life in their pet department. They refuse to pay people who may actually CARE about the tanks and fish because those people won't usually work for minimum wage, just to be transferred to electronics next weekend.

I was in there last week and there were 2 tanks (one had Oscars, the other tetras) ENGULFED in ich. So bad I can't believe they were still living. :( I had someone paged to the department, because it's very common for the fish dept. to be empty of personnel. No one came, so I went to the service desk and asked to speak with the store manager. I told her of the awful condition of the tanks, and asked if she could please get the poor ADF's leg out of the filter, and get someone to clean a tank so cloudy you couldn't see to the back of it. I educated (ranted to) her about how using the same tank equipment on all their tanks, as per their minimum training of high school kids, would only transfer the ich to every single tank they have.

Furthermore, I told her I'd rather be fed to a pirannah, than to know my fate (as a fish) would be a Wal-Mart fish tank. Unfortunately, all she can do is say she's sorry and will send someone over to check it out and treat the tanks.

The bettas are so poorly cared for that it actually STINKS to be near them at our store. :( :( :( I couldn't even WORK there because I'd be so torn up over not being able to test water, do water changes, etc. I think it would be WELL worth the money they'd have to spend, to hire a few full timers that care. Their prices are cheaper and if people thought their quality was better they wouldn't boycot their fish department, taking all their friends with them.

Sorry to rant. Ugh. :: stepping off soapbox :: :devil:
 
He is now swimming with poor balance...but still, he is swimming. So I suppose that is a somewhat promising sign. He looks really angry. If he lives, I assume he will be a betta who prefers to live alone.
 
Looks like he's a red base, and red's tend to be among the more aggressive bettas in general.

As for the funky swimming, could just be dealing with muscle atrophy from sitting in a cup not moving for so long. Also could have a bit of a digestion problem that was causing a bit of swim disorder. Feeding him the inside of a shelled pea usually takes care of that (cleans out the digestive system)
 
I hate wal-mart! I wish I could have their aquatic sales banned. It makes me sick seeing numerous amounts of dead fish in their tanks. We've spoken with managers about it, and does that help? NO, they could care less. As a matter of fact, next time I go there i'm bringing my camera. I don't know if its as bad at all wal-marts as it is here, but what business do they have selling pets? When you see fish eating other fish and skeletons floating ontop of the water. It's bad!! :(
 
The fish seem fine here with clear water, but still cruel treatment for Betta splendens. Some dead fishes appear from time to time. I don't like the policy (one store has 1 day guarantee, another has 2 and another having only 3). This policy doesn't allow the buyer the time to see whether the fish is sick due to disease, parasites, etc. This doesn't allow the new owner to bring it back to be replaced if it dies after 3 days. They only sell them for the money and I just hate to see little kids wanting to buy fishes while the parents and clerks allowing them to buy fishes (eg: buying a goldfish, common or fancy, for a 5G aquarium that they have although they would need to have a larger tank than that)
 
IF I were to survey as to how many member in here buy fish and how many buy fish related products from Wal Mart. You will see a clear difference.
The Wal Mart's strategy (I believe) is to increase their fish related products by selling fishes.
Here is another example. Firestone, when it started, only sold tires. But now they do wheel related maintenance.
The bottom line is profit margin and not the well being of the fish they sell.

Rohn
 
Well, he's gone now. Maybe around 10pm or so. Poor little guy.

But at least he died in dignity, under the care of a dedicated aquarist, in clean water. Somehow I still feel good about it, even though I couldn't save him physically.
 
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