What would this be called???

[PaintingPintos]

I was at Petco a few weeks ago browsing and drooling and sobbing over the poorly taken care of but beautiful betta fish.
Of course they have these tiny shelves with separate cubbies that they put each cup in so the betta has his own "room"....
One beautiful fiery orange/red/yellow Crowntail was so stunning....he was flaring at me and moving around so energetically, until I noticed something wrong with him...
His ENTIRE anal fin had COMPLETELY FALLEN OFF.
Or was laying, in one piece, at the bottom of the cup.
All I could think was "WHAT THE HELL!!!!?????"
Of course I begged and pleased for him and one of the suffering baby bettas (very bloated, swimming on side, severe fin rot, only half an inch long!!!) and my mom said NOOOO. She would not let me "waste your money on an animal that is going to DIE in a day anyways!"
I just felt so bad for them though....
Why would an entire fin fall off cleanly and be sitting there peacefully at the bottom of the cup?
Is that finrot?
Because it was freaky.

Also something that made me extremely angry is that on the metal shelves where products are displayed, there was an advertisement for those tiny betta cubes for sale.....they filled up all the way from the top until about 1/8 from the bottom....and on the very bottom shelf, obscured from the light, were around 30 cups with baby bettas in them.
Not just bettas. Baby bettas.
That made me so sad. It was dark down there so I swapped lots of tanks with all 30 of the cups and they had some more light. WHY would you put living, breathing animals somewhere where you KNOW they won't be taken care of or noticed?
That was very cruel...

[lelei]

Omg..that is horrible..I would of gotten a hold of the Manager of the store, to make sure it was noticed, but I am glad you moved em around..in regards to the fin..in the water, yes, that would of been extreme Fin Rot..to the core..I have seen lil fins (like black spots) in the cups at our Local Petco, and you can tell it's from the fins..it's sad, and makes you very angry..but a whole fin..my god, those poor fishy's sounds like they are not being taken care of at all..

[kellyyoungmoney]

i completely understand! i was at petco and i fell in love with one platinum white betta (along with like 4 other boys) and even though i was going to pay for it, my mom refused. so now im coming up with plans to sneak it in the house without her knowing :)

[Aus]

Go back.
Take a camera.
Take pictures of dead/sick/dying fish. Take lots.
Email these to the manager, explaining that whoever is in charge of the fish is doing a very bad job of making his store look presentable, since heinous animal cruelty is really frowned upon these days and all. Ask him/her if they could please let you know whether or not conditions will be improved for the fish.
Wait and see what they say.

Photographic evidence of animal cruelty tends to make people more inclined to listen, has been my experience.

[lelei]

Originally Posted by Aus

Go back.
Take a camera.
Take pictures of dead/sick/dying fish. Take lots.
Email these to the manager, explaining that whoever is in charge of the fish is doing a very bad job of making his store look presentable, since heinous animal cruelty is really frowned upon these days and all. Ask him/her if they could please let you know whether or not conditions will be improved for the fish.
Wait and see what they say.

Photographic evidence of animal cruelty tends to make people more inclined to listen, has been my experience.

From now on, when I go to Petco/Smart..I will do that..because it's true, they cannot deny what is right there in the picture, or video, and they have to at that point do something..Thanks Aus, Great Idea

[Aus]

Well, the sad thing is, they more than likely don't actually -have- to, if it's a fish.

I used to take pictures at horse markets and pet shops.. that alone (aside from getting me a few fairly serious death threats and being throw out on my ear once or twice) is generally enough to freak them into picking up their game a bit.

Mind you, I never made a single threat, never made any outraged demands (this will get you and the animals exactly nowhere at best)just a very polite request for the deformed/starving/dehydrated/injured/diseased animals to receive proper care. While I was snapping away with my trusty camera. If it was a particularly nasty store, we'd take tape measures too, around our necks and say things like, "What's that in inches..?" while looking at the too-small cages..

But that's animals. Not fish. The store manager probably has no clue his staff are drooling idiots who are making his store look really bad. And that's what he'll care about, probably. Not the fish..