I went to Petco today thinking I needed AQ salt. Of course, once I get there I realize I forgot I had purchased it last week.
Anyway, I was looking at the bettas as usual and noticed new little betta cup that don't have the descended airhole in the middle and at first sight I thought it was great because sometimes employees fill the cups with too much water so no air comes in the cups. These cups have the holes in the lid but upon closer inspection I see that the cup has a raised center on the bottom (like coke cans but deeper) instead of flat like before.
They are also smaller and since the employees probably get NO trainning they are still filling the cups half full so the bettas have very little water.
The cup on the top is the "new and improved" cup and the bottom one is one of the old ones.
If you look close, the crowntail male in the top cup is TINY I had never seem such tiny fish in the store. And they aren't small, they are YOUNG. Some females looked like 2 month old fry.
I was getting weird looks from other customers because I was placing all dead fish on top of the sink in the aquarium section. One smartbutt of a customer asked me if I worked there, I told him "No, I just think the fish are kept under very bad conditions. Don't you think?" and I showed him the dead betta in the cup. He probably thought I was crazy but I DONT CARE!!
Some of the "old" cups were filled with water too much so no air could come in . I also took those to the sink and poured out a little of the water. No employee approached me at any moment.
Then as I was taking my last look around to make sure the fish were in a little better condition than when I came in I noticed a cup with an unsecured lid. I picked it up to seal and I see no fish!!
I quickly start looking around the other cups, the shelves and on the floor thinking that the poor habitant jumped out after someone left his lid open.
I gave up, couldn't find him, so I do my last lookaround and notice another cup with too much water and a very active King betta.
I grabbed the cup to take to the sink and empty out when to my HORROR I see the missing fish inside with the King betta!
I was so upset I ran to the fish lady and start yelling "Someone put two bettas together, someone put two bettas together!!"
So I grabbed an empty cup and separated the two males.
The employee looks at me and says "Oh, no. Why would someone do that?" and I said, "Because some people are mean and heartless."
The poor fish had no tail! He was all chewed up. Who knows how long he was in that cup with the King, I was about to cry.
I told the employee to get me some AQ salt. She said she didn't have any but had the great iniciative to get one of the little cups that they have in the tanks out so I could pour some salt into the betta's water.
I told her the betta was gonna need the same thing I did for him done everyday and she asured me she would take care of it.
Maybe she was humoring a "mad" woman but she seemed sincere.
I had NEVER had such a bad visit to a petstore, it was horrible.
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