JasperII

Almost everytime I go into the Petco near me the Betta bowls are stacked so that their air holes are covered. The person in the fish dept. always blames it on someone else. I've gone to the Mgr. several times. They probably hate seeing me, but I hope they are learning. My Petsmart has people that all have fishtanks and are very caring. One is from the Petco store, they had left it.

ThisGuy

Speaking of bettas i was visiting my mother-in-law yesterday so i took that opportunity to check out a LFS and they were keeping their bettas in the glass juice containers... That was a new one for me but with such a small opening i don't want to know how they shoved all of those betta into them.

krazykid933

I went to Wal-Mart today (don't buy fish at Wal-Mart... Wal-Mart has cheap shoes, clothes, food, etc... just not the fish...). Anyway, I went to check out their fish and I looked around and got to the Rosy Reds (a type of goldfish) their was about forty dead/dying fish in that tank. There was a pile... a pile now of them. It was sick and inhumane. I went to gardening to get assistance to clean up that sick mess. Of course, no one ever came. But that's not all. A few of their fish looked dyed. One fish was picking at another's bones. Their tanks were mismatched. Each tank had at least one fish. And the little bowls of bettas... there was two bettas in one of them! I will never come to Wal-Mart even to look at fish again.

The Petsmart I go to has extremely caring employees (most of the time).

goggles

ther is a large fs near me called watermarque and they keep there bettas in ting sealed bags that are not mush bigger than the betta and just float them on top of the water. i did complain and thay said that the betta didn't like their system. god i nearly punched the bloke

Lucy

I've complained to Walmart about how they keep they're fish.
I watched in horror one day as other fish picked at those goldfish that have like big bubbles over their eyes..sorry I don't know the proper name for them.
I was in tears seeing other fish pop the bubble eyes.
I went straight to customer service and told them I'd be waiting at the tanks until someone came and separated them.
When no one showed, I marched back to customer service and made a scene and told them I was going to do it myself. You better believe by the time I got back to the tanks, someone was separating them, giving me dirty looks the whole time.

hockeyref88

Geez......Reading the LFS stories is like watching "Faces of Death"...........I keep reading and wanting to look away at the same time. I hate that this goes on. Its hard to understand the lack of compassion. I guess for some it comes natural and others its nonexsistent.

mlinden84

After reading these posts I realized how lucky I am! I usually on go to 2 fish stores where I know the employees and trust what they say. One is Petland (i know! a chain store! but they have 2 guys in the fish department who have probably 10 tanks each at home). The other is a small mom and pop joint that is, unfortunately, under water at the moment. But I really, really hope that they will come back after the flood and re-open. They have such a beautiful store and very awesome fish for a good price.

Butterfly

of course their compatible- they will soon fit right into his mouth

Mom and Pop stores are disappearing rapidly because of competition from chain stores. Please if you find a mom and pop store that does a good job tell them so and give them as much of your business as you can. We need them and they need us to help them stay in business.
Carol

Alessa

There was a mom and pop store when that i discovered by accident when I began my fishkeeping carrier. Unfortunately, it was already in the 60% off -closing stage

I talked to the lady who helped me a lot and gave me good advice like not to put cycle because I would need it forever... she also helped me choose good foods for my fishies.
I tried to tell her not to close, but she said it was already too late...

so bad it closed

FishFolk

I love "Bettas like living in small bowls.No they don't need a filter or a heater, they like it that way." And the other one that REALLY griped me was " I don't take time to catch the one kids want. They tell me 'I want that one' and I block their view and give them whatever ends up in the net." You can bet we eagled eyed him as he netted our fish. Funny thing is that a child is more likely to spot the uniqueness of the fish (or other pet) and truly know the difference than a Mom or Dad with no experience.

Isn't it great when you find people you can trust for good, healthy fish (thanks Dino and CWC!)

ThisGuy

Thats to bad you lost your LFS for the moment at least is your house ok?

pamd

Well, it's true that PetCo actively spreads the myth that bettas in the wild live in mud puddles, so therefore the bettas in the horrid little cups in their stores are just fine, and that a betta can live happily in a tiny little bowl. I heard it myself. Two PetCo employees on different occasions told me this. They were talking about the sad little bettas in their sad little cups, no doubt hundreds or even thousands of years' generations from their wild ancestors. But these people had no idea what they were talking about. Does PetCo spread this myth in some sort of official paper to new employees?

I might take the dubious prize for receiving the least informed, cruelest advice. Of course, I knew better, and was just there to see if I could get some Garlic Guard or whatever. But a guy at the locally owned fish-reptile-bird store was puffing about all he knows about fish, and told me, "Bettas need almost no care. You can keep them in a small bowl and you hardly ever need to feed them. I recently experimented with a Betta to see how it would live without food and in a cup. It lived for three months." After I finished banning myself from the store forever and finished puking in the parking lot ...

goggles

i think i am one of the lucky ones, my lfs that i go to for everything is bloody great. they are called aqua-one and is no bigger than your average size house. but don't let size fool you ,they know alot about fish and care for them alot. thae people are freindly and i have never seen a dead fish in any of their tanks.

COBettaCouple

It never ceases to amaze me how people can be so cruel and heartless.

alyssium

the worst i had was at my lfs i went in one day and there was at least one dead fish in every tank. it was hard to watch. for me, i don't drive so i can't go to big al's *pout* the commute would kill any fish i would purchase.

for me though, every time i go in they tell me something different. i mean i stop in once a week or so and they tell me different things. it makes me very happy for fish lore.

Annabelle

Stupid store owners are terrible and they make me so mad but what makes me even madder are the stupid pet owners. I am a regular at a small local pet shop where they actually care, are hobbiests themselves, and usually give good advice. I usually spend some time chatting with the owner and she tells me about all the crazy things that happen during her day. Last time I went in there she told me about a woman who came in with 2 goldfish in a bag wanting to surrender them and buy some guppies. The lady said "I have these goldfish and I dont want them anymore. I didnt want them to begin with but I was talked into getting them but now I dont want them. I want guppies."

Due to some previous surrenderings the owner didnt have a spare tank in which to keep them so instead of letting them be flushed or be with a bad owner she is having to quarantine them in buckets till she can put them in a display tank. Not the most ideal situation but people just dont think and the poor store owner cant turn down surrenderings because she ends up feeling terrible and worrying about the fish. (or other animals). The horrible pet shop near us sold mice to a couple of children (10 and 7yrs approx) without thier parents being ne where in sight and the boys ended up dumping them at the good store (thier previous option being the garbage bin). I think that if you want to be the owner of a living thing you need to gather info on it asap. If you cant do it before you buy which is preferable then do it as soon as you can afterwards.

Chief_waterchanger

You made my day! Hearing the misdeeds of fishkeepers and fishstore owners/employees, and the praise we receive on our fish, shrimp, snails, etc just drives Dino and I to save that much more money to open a fishstore to have a higher quality product and top of the line experience, customer service, and advice.

I know that was off topic, and I'm sorry for that, but maybe it sheds a glimmer of good on an otherwise gloomy thread.

NeonKnight

We wont sell you a male Betta because you can't keep them with female betta's

I keep my male betta with 2-4 females in a 30L tank, with plant of hiding places and have done for a few months. It hasn't been a problem except for one female that had the behavior of a male, so she got taken out.