I though the cups were bad.

[Atlas58]

While waiting for my snails and hermit crabs to be retrieved out of the saltwater tanks at Petco, a new shipment of bettas came in. When removed from the shipping box I expected a bunch of bags with bettas. NOPE, they were these 2 inch by 1 inch pouches with a mouthfull of water in them. This must be a single overnight ship process because it looked pretty pathetic in what they were in. I know that a few members here work at Petco. Care to elaborate on this.

[vilmarisv]

Oh yeah. I've seen this myself at Petco.
A lot of the fish don't survive. I've seen employees just dump the fish in the cup and fill it with water from the tap without caring about the pressure of the spray and not realizing the fish is dead.
I had to actually tell an employee "that one's dead" otherwise I'm sure it would've gone on the shelf.

[SilverCaracal]

Originally Posted by vilmarisv

Oh yeah. I've seen this myself at Petco.
A lot of the fish don't survive. I've seen employees just dump the fish in the cup and fill it with water from the tap without caring about the pressure of the spray and not realizing the fish is dead.
I had to actually tell an employee "that one's dead" otherwise I'm sure it would've gone on the shelf.

Tap water???!!

[vilmarisv]

Originally Posted by SilverCaracal

Tap water???!!

Yes, TAP!

They don't add anything!

[kuklachica]

hmm... if that is the case, that they filled it directly with tap water, then you should report that to the manager DIRECTLY. There is a whole protocol with bettas that includes filling a bucket with water, conditioner and AQ salt and fill their cups with that. We can't even use tap water as there is a special filtered/room temp tap that is specifically for that use (in addition to the conditioner and AQ salt). If you see something like that, please don't let it reflect on the store, but report it to the manager. If the manager doesn't follow through with a reprimand, then it should reflect on the store. Some employees are just lazy and ignorant.

[Atlas58]

I guess mine takes water out of their tanks that are used to sell regular freshwater fish and uses that. Thats what I saw him do anyways.

[kuklachica]

at petco?!?!

[kuklachica]

As for the bags, that is how the majority of bettas get shipped if they are mass-shipped. I've only ever found one dead betta (out of approx. 80) when they arrive in those bags.

[Atlas58]

Yup.

[kuklachica]

Hmmm.. that's not ok. That's how diseases can get spread.