Tazmiche

I went to look at Corycats at a store on the wirral today, it is a big store and i have mentioned it before. I made up my mind NOT to look at the Bettas, usually males kept in community tanks. Saw the cory tanks but as i'm skint they were too expensive for today. Went back to the Cherry/Checkered barb tank as if you look at my sig i have them too and next to it a little girls face popped out! Oh my heart broke. Must only be about 10 gallons, at least 15 girls, 1 male, mollies, sharks it was awful! the male was looking good and not too nuts but the girls! 2 thirds were grey with stress bars, infact if i describe all now i'll cry again. One little pale pink girl with red fins all clamped was floating in a plant, another nudged her and she spred her fins OMG she was stunning, blues and reds in her fins. OK i'm crying!! then she went back to depressed. I burst into tears with guilt as i don't have the cash to save her. I had to just leave the very packed store. the fish is ?2.50 which is nothing but the tank and heater are the big money.

I sat in the car and made me reason with myself. At the moment i have 33 living beings in my care if i count each fish and furry pet, i'm not rich so for now i have to do the best i can for them, it just kills me when i can't do more.

So i'll do the lottery today and cross my fingers.

Having the betta bug is fantastic when those 'hi mum' eyes look at you but when you see the real sorrow in their eyes in a store then i feel ignorance could be bliss!

voiceless_kat

Oh, Michelle, I know how you feel. But you should not feel guilty ( i tell myself that all the time) You love the critters, and you are for sure doing the best you can..that is the most anyone can do. I wish I could fly over and get her, I so desperately want a little girl!! Hopefully, and I am sure this to be true, there are others that feel like us, and someone will come along and save her and her friends. Rest easy, my friend.

COBettaCouple

yea.. we understand & have been there.. it's hard because you're more loving & compassionate than the owners of the shop.

Tom

That is so sad.
Tom

Phloxface

I feel the same way whenever I go and look at the Bettas. I want to take them ALL home! I especially feel sad for the females. The males seem to make an effort to get your attention and say "take me!" but the females all just float in their cups and have such a sad and hopeless look in their eyes. They just break my heart! They perk up when you pick up their cups like for a moment, they have hope. I cannot even bring myself to pick up the cups. Everytime I do I bring home another Betta. Once I pick a cup up I cannot put it down and choose another. I would be haunted by the eyes of the one who was rejected.

Val, I really wish you were around here where I live. The Petsmart I go to has so many darling little females needing homes. Some are just tiny specks and all are clamped up in depression, stressed and lonely. I wish I could bring you one! All mine were like that and just blossomed the minute I brought them home and put them in their new homes. The females are even more dramatic than the males in the changes you see in them after you bring them home, both in their color and their personality.

Tazmiche

I knew you guys would undertsand. As soon as financially possible i m ging to get a tank for my bedroom and help one. The other option i have is that big tank i have been given, i forget off the top of my head how many gallons but divide that. I have to admit i'm not too keen on that idea. .

Val i've seen beautiful crowntail, plakats and another unusual one but not sure what it was.

Phlox you are right about that look, they have just given up!! So sad!

BUT Val you will be the next to get one for sure!

voiceless_kat

Just 22 hours by highway, Phlox....LOL. Well, at least your store has them in seperate cups.....Walmart has them all in a community tank, I don't know how they are when they get them in. But the last shipment that was quarantined, by Saturday they had all died - well there were none in the tank. then when I bought Scooter, I looked up and saw one tiny little girl still swimming around, she must have been on the bottom of the tank before and I couldn't see her. White with red fins and tail. The betta/tetra tanks is one of the high ones, so it's hard to see in. Well, a few days later I took my hubby in to show him the 28g aquarium I wanted, and I looked into the tank, and she was floating dead on the top. I am pretty paranoid now......

But I will check tomorrow night when they come in to see what condition they are in. I would wait for a healthy one, on the other hand, like Taz and yourself, I would love to rescue one. I'll let you know how it goes, anyway.

Val

lolagurl

yea rescue one.if you do , you'll feel so good about it!

Tazmiche

I agree lola....such a BUZZ.

Midweek lottery tonight, i bought a ticket, wish me luck! OH if only!! i NEED a new saddle and pay off credit card then GIRLY BETTAS!!!!

sirdarksol

I've done that before. I cried when I had to give the little stray tabby up for adoption recently. Any time I see an animal (or person, or plant to a lesser extent) suffering in a way that I can't help, I get choked up at the very least. I recently accidentally caused the (rather horrible) death of a bird and a shrew, and could barely stand myself, and I was supposed to be cooking for my wife's birthday party. I could barely stand it when I walked into Petco and saw a wall of bettas that were all ash grey with shredded fins. Some of the cups were even choked with fungus, the fish had been dead so long.
I am going to once again push for activism. You shouldn't feel responsible for what others do to animals, but you should (in my opinion) try to do something about it. Write a letter to the store manager telling him/her what you saw and how horrible it is. Let them know that this affects their bottom line in more than one way. Dead animals can't be sold, and people who see a bunch of sick fish in a store's tanks are less likely to buy from them, even if the particular fish they want is healthy.
I don't believe we (meaning those of us who love animals) are in the minority, but too many of us are quiet about it, while those who see animals as either pests or resources, and nothing more, are very vocal (such as the people in Alaska, Idaho, and Wyoming who are pushing for the near-eradication of the timber wolf). We need to raise our voices (politely, though) and be heard, in unison, that we want the fish we buy to be treated well before we buy them, not just after.

armadillo

And I cried when I gave my molly fry away this week-end. It's official: we're all softies.

Tazmiche

YES i'm up for that. I have 3 stores in mind right now.

It is late here, i'm sleepy and could cry but in the morn i will and will post a copy of the letter!!

WE DO need to speak out for them, it will mosy likely fall on deaf ears but if only 2 people hear us then a result!

COBettaCouple

yea, we try to let people know, and show them our bettas, that fish aren't "just fish" and people are always saying "i never realized they had personalities or were so smart". maybe the petstores don't care, but i think a lot of well-meaning people just need educated and there'd be a lot more of us calling for better treament of fish.