I called over the managers when i saw the betta shelf at one of our walmarts. the dummy tried to justify their terrible conditions by saying they live in mud puddles that form from cow tracks and that they can live in as little as a table spoon of water! i can not believe how dumb some people are
Last edited by dramaqueen; 10-29-2010 at 10:22 PM.
I called over the managers when i saw the betta shelf at one of our walmarts. the dummy tried to justify their terrible conditions by saying they live in mud puddles that form from cow tracks and that they can live in as little as a table spoon of water! i can not believe how dumb some people are
Wow, a tablespoon? That wouldnt even cover the size of Bettas they have at my walmart. Not to mention they couldnt live in that.
Last edited by dramaqueen; 10-29-2010 at 10:23 PM.
All is not lost here. Certainly you have less than desirable people in charge in some instances. Ask for the District Manager which is the store managers boss. If Wal-Mart gets enough complaints about their Betta fish, maybe they will no longer have them for sale. Then we can buy them from a pet store with the same issues or buy them on-line and never know how they were handled. I was at a large Pet Store chain the other day and seen a couple of Bettas dead in their cups and very dirty. When you single out a store like Wal-Mart in general, you imply that all Wal-Marts have deplorable fish practices and all the people that work there don't care. Everybody picks on the number one retail store in the nation, but everyone goes back time and time again. I don't mean to stand up for the super store, but there are plenty of places to lay the blame. What about the fish breeder? He/she shares the blame by selling their fish to stores and we are to blame because we buy those fish.
OK, back to my fish............
Quote:
Originally Posted by nomoretickets
I called over the managers when i saw the betta shelf at one of our walmarts. the dummy tried to justify their terrible conditions by saying they live in mud puddles that form from cow tracks and that they can live in as little as a table spoon of water! i can not believe how dumb some people are
Last edited by dramaqueen; 10-29-2010 at 10:24 PM.
All is not lost here. Certainly you have less than desirable people in charge in some instances. Ask for the District Manager which is the store managers boss. If Wal-Mart gets enough complaints about their Betta fish, maybe they will no longer have them for sale. Then we can buy them from a pet store with the same issues or buy them on-line and never know how they were handled. I was at a large Pet Store chain the other day and seen a couple of Bettas dead in their cups and very dirty. When you single out a store like Wal-Mart in general, you imply that all Wal-Marts have deplorable fish practices and all the people that work there don't care. Everybody picks on the number one retail store in the nation, but everyone goes back time and time again. I don't mean to stand up for the super store, but there are plenty of places to lay the blame. What about the fish breeder? He/she shares the blame by selling their fish to stores and we are to blame because we buy those fish.
OK, back to my fish............
When you choose to purchase Bettas in need, you will find them in every petstore (or pet supplied store) possible..But in saying that.. I have been keeping Bettas for 4 years now and I have noticed that Wal-Mart keeps their Bettas in the worst condition possible, while other petstores dont have as big a issue...Therefore. I will keep buying my Bettas at any petstore, one being Wal-Mart..And the only reason I took this issue further is because I wanted to get the worker fired (which he was) my intention is not set on fixing every little problem Wal-Mart causes in their Bettas health... It will take a lot more people involved to make this change..
I have noticed that some newer Wal-Marts do not have live fish departments.
After rescuing my yellow betta from getting destroyed in a cup with a crowntail, and all of these stories, well...
I would rather Wal-Mart completely do away with their live fish sections than sell fish in conditions like these.
I think they should as well. Obviously people buy the Bettas, our walmart goes through them fast. But I have never seen anyone buying the fish they have on the wall in aquariums. surprisingly my walmart keeps those very nice and clean since they remodeled.
We are seeing the same thing in New England - supplies and tanks available, but live fish departments disappearing -thank God (and all his little worker 'bees' who've complained about Walmart's poor fish husbandry record)!
When you single out a store like Wal-Mart in general, you imply that all Wal-Marts have deplorable fish practices
It's not just a Walmart problem. OR a super chain store problem. Poor fish husbandry is an industry wide problem. It needs to be addressed one store at a time.
But that being said...
I have never seen good fish husbandry in any Walmart I personally have visited that had a live fish department.
It's not just a Walmart problem. OR a super chain store problem. Poor fish husbandry is an industry wide problem. It needs to be addressed one store at a time.
But that being said...
I have never seen good fish husbandry in any Walmart I personally have visited that had a live fish department.
Exactly right, and while it may not be occuring in every Walmart store, the way to tackle this is to take it on at the corporate level. If they can't do it right EVERYWHERE, they shouldn't be doing it ANYWHERE. Get Wallyworld out of the live fish biz period... that's where our efforts will save the most fish in one shot.
I just rescued two boys from Walmart last night. I have no idea what I am doing, but they were the last live fish at my local store, and I couldn't leave them there in those conditions.
Over the last few months I have spoken with the store manager, called the general manager and written to corporate to complain about my local store. I have never owned Bettas before but even I could see that they were not being looked after... once 3 of the 10 cups had dead fish, and one had what can only be described as an explosion around one side of his head... he was barely alive... The first time I spoke with the store manager I was told that they did not have live fish in their store... uhmmm... he sure changed his tune after I marched him over to the pet section.
Their disgusting water was cleaned the next day, and the dead were laid to rest. A few weeks later we were back to square one.
Last night there were just these 2 beauties left. I hope I can save them (posted for help over in the diseases section).
I *think* (Read: HOPE HOPE HOPE) that these will be the last fish I ever see in this store.
I guess in a roundabout way I should be grateful that circumstances brought me to these lovelies... even if they don't survive I hope I can make their last days more comfortable. :)
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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I called over the managers when i saw the betta shelf at one of our walmarts. the dummy tried to justify their terrible conditions by saying they live in mud puddles that form from cow tracks and that they can live in as little as a table spoon of water! 
