Why betta tanks should ALWAYS have lids.

FuulieQ · Mar 23, 2011

I went to Petland today and swung by their betta section. They had just gotten in a new shipment, the fish all looked wonderful and the water was crystal clear.

And then I noticed two bettas in one cup. One had jumped right into the other's cup and they had totally ripped each other apart. After freaking out a little, I found the empty cup, washed my hands and transferred one to it. Bits of fin were everywhere, one of them was in really rough shape.

And then something caught my eye, a little flash of blue.

There was a betta in the sink. He had jumped out of his cup and into the basin (filled with murky, untreated, standing water) and was swimming around in there under a bubblenest. I found his cup and quickly scooped him back in there.

AND THEN. I saw, next to that cup, YET ANOTHER empty cup. I found its former occupant dried to a crisp on the side of the sink.

There were still two empty cups whose fish were missing when I had to leave.

GienahClarette · Mar 23, 2011

That's terrible. Good job on putting the fish back in individual cups, though. I feel bad for all of them.

hannah16 · Mar 23, 2011

Wow...thats horrible.. Good for you for helping them out as much as you could.

PewPewPew · Mar 23, 2011

I would say something to the store about it, that happened to me once and when I mentioned it, the manager said he would make certain they were lidded correctly. They certainly dont want* to lose stock, so maybe bring that up to hit a nerve.
:c

Luimeril · Mar 23, 2011

i agree with PewPewPew. let the manager know what happened, and suggest they get cups with lids. good job, putting them back in their own cups! poor Betta Jerky fella. D: wouldn't have happened if they'd had lids. ;A;

FuulieQ · Mar 23, 2011

I did inform the staff after correcting the problems myself, the girl who was in the area immediately put lids on the containers. I plan on popping back in again sometime this week to make sure they are all still lidded and the poor fellow whose fins got ripped to the base is being treated.

Luimeril · Mar 23, 2011

poor boy. D: i'm glad we don't have things like that here. x-X worst issue i've seen, is walmart, where there's no staff watching to make sure brats don't put two together. :/

FuulieQ · Mar 23, 2011

That's what I'd thought had happened at first, and I was surprised since this store usually pays better attention than that. But when I saw the fish swimming around in the sink, I realized what exactly was going on.

fleetfish · Mar 23, 2011

Sometimes, when I go to the hole in the wall mall pet stores .. . . I find mummified bettas on the shelves because for some reason they have no lids on their cups. It's disgusting.

FuulieQ · Mar 24, 2011

Ew! I felt so bad for this poor fish. I have to wonder how he managed to dry up so completely before I found him.... it must have been terrible.. :c

dramaqueen · Apr 2, 2011

Not having lids on those cups is irresponsible!

Arashi Takamine · Apr 2, 2011

You know what's even worse? When people put betta's together in the same cup for the hell of it. When I was having trouble deciding I thought one girl was dead but she moved and when my friend picked it up we discovered there were TWO betta girl's. I told her to watch them and ran down the next aisle flagging down an employee. The little girl had LEAPT into the sink. They finally caught her and her sister. I felt so sad for her since the girls they were all listless and stressed. The boys were the only ones thriving.

Why betta tanks should ALWAYS have lids.

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