# Things I've been learning about Petco and their treatment of bettas...



## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

So, there's this Petco less than two miles from me that I've been frequenting, thanks to the January $1/gallon tank sale, and I've been going practically daily for two weeks or more -- I've been hard at work on a new 20 gallon for my two year old betta, Murderface (or Galileo, if you're my mom and hate the name), 'cause I wanted more space for him.

Thanks to my frequent visits, I've been seeing the fish daily, and talking to a lot of the employees. I've been favoring Petco over Petsmart because the local Petsmarts take even worse care of their fish than Petco does, at least here. (If you're wondering, there is one independently owned shop run by a very nice man, but he mostly stocks cichlids and is very far away from me so I go to him for very specific needs or for fish I can't find elsewhere.)

I see at least one dead fish every time I go, but the ones who are alive are generally healthy and lively. So far, I've counted... oh, 15 dead fish, and at least another 3 dying fish who were left to slowly, miserably die since I started visiting them, and that includes one sadly dead betta and one dead betta baby I was going to rescue but when I went back he was dead the next day. There is usually this one very nice girl working when I'm notifying the attendants of the sick or dead fish, and she unfortunately "feels bad" about putting the dying fish out of their misery and continues to leave them to die slowly.

I think by far my worst experience so far was when I picked up a second betta from them during this time, a beautiful white and sky blue mottled male, looks like clouds in a sky. When I brought him home, he kept refusing to eat, but was acting like he _wanted_ to eat, so I thought, hey, I'll call up Petco and see if they have any advice or if they feed them something particular, because Murderface eats 1-2 pellets a few times daily and I know bettas need to eat frequently due to their smaller stomachs.

So, imagine my horror when I explain my story to the associate who answers the phone, and he tells me, "Oh, well, bettas only eat once a week, so maybe he was fed just before you got him". I carefully corrected him, saying, "No, that is not right, I feed my other betta daily, and I find that feeding them weekly is rather cruel." He didn't have anything to say about that, I assume mostly because he knows very little about bettas and what he was spitting out at me like a parrot was something Petco corporate had filled his head with. I ended the phone conversation incredibly disturbed.

A few days later is when I walk in to find the dead adult male betta, and the girl who I frequently see is there, so I take the opportunity to bring up the topic of betta feeding and how another associate told me the bettas were only fed weekly. _She was not surprised at all_ and mentions that they are probably fed during the "weekly water changes". In fact, she changed the subject to how she fed her own betta at home three times a week and how that was "totally fine" and she'd been doing it for "years." She told me "because of their smaller stomachs they don't need to eat that often" -- the logic was so backwards it hurt my brain. I was going to explain to her that it should actually be reverse, they should be fed more because of that exact reason, but we were interrupted.

I'm really struggling with the knowledge of what they do to their bettas, but I obviously can't adopt every betta they bring to the shelves, because they always bring more. 

And to add to the list of horrifying things I hear when visiting pet stores: went to Petsmart to compare their fish health, and store associates are loudly and openly encouraging the exotic pet trade because "tiny opossums are so cute" and "this one lady I know went to South America and brought back a baby capybara" were just two shining examples of vomit-inducing dialogue I heard.

Has anyone else had similar experiences? I don't even know the best way to help this situation. I feel like it's not just the associates that are the problem, but the companies themselves. I'm really not sure how to go about making things better for the bettas and the other fish there.


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

and I was just about to make a trip to Petco to get a king but now.....


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## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

jato said:


> and I was just about to make a trip to Petco to get a king but now.....


Honestly, you'd probably be doing the poor guy a favor, rescuing him from them. But at the same time it supports their betta trade, so it's a rock and a hard place.


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## emptypockets (Dec 5, 2014)

Feeding bettas weekly is completely wrong and inadequate, as are the weekly water changes in those cups. They should be fed daily and have their water changed daily too...and they wonder why their bettas are always in such bad shape. Our nearest Petco is pretty decent in the way of both feeding and water changes, Petsmart and Walmart are not. 

It should be mentioned that cutting back feeding in pet stores isn't necessarily a horrible idea. Those cups aren't heated and with cold water, a betta's digestive system doesn't work as efficiently as it would in warmer water. Maybe 1-2 pellets a day instead of 3-4...but definitely not weekly. Makes me sad to see how some fish are treated and how uninformed some pet store employees are about their products.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

I LoVe the name Murderface. That's the best.


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

Cey said:


> Honestly, you'd probably be doing the poor guy a favor, rescuing him from them. But at the same time it supports their betta trade, so it's a rock and a hard place.


Exactly, if $ wasn't a factor I'd be buying for a serious breeder. Oh decisions. Thanks for sharing that. Good to know how they're treating the poor guys


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## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

I have tons of petco stories from over the years. The worst is probably the one that happened over a year ago when I was buy my girl Stella. I had just moved into a new apartment and wanted a new friend. I had a tank and heater and everything so all I needed was a new fish. Now, we've all seen those horrible divided .5 gallon tanks that aqueon sells right? Well I stood there while the "aquatics expert" told a mother with twins that if she got this tank then both of her kids can have their own fish. After he walked away, I calmly went up to the mother and told her that all of that information was incorrect. I filled her on the 2.5 gallon per fish, that they need a heater, etc, etc. Finally she cut my off and said she didn't listen to dumb teenagers. I looked her and without blinking said, first I'm in my 20s and I've had bettas for 15 years but if you want to listen to the employee then expect to be back here in a week buying new fish.


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

^ that was rude of her!( I have more choice words but you know ) And sadly I got swindled as well by the "experts" and was back the next morning getting a new tank filter and heater.


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## AmaV (Jan 11, 2015)

I have noticed that most employees don't really take the time to educate themselves more on individual fish(which I don't blame them, when you're working pet care there is _a lot_ to learn about the various animals the stores have). Bettas are a top seller at my store(not a petco). We sell so many and we end up running out of supplies quickly! After getting my betta I've really started researching them, so I'm trying to work on making changes in their care. Currently, We change their water 2x weekly, but I tested their water yesterday for ammonia and yeah it wasn't good, so I talked to my manager and he agreed on changing their water more then 2x a week and also to start focusing on their health. Ours get fed every day(and usually over fed :roll: ) so we are going to be focusing on how much they're fed too. 

I'd suggest maybe asking to talk to management and make it sound like they'd sell more bettas or get better feedback for their store if their bettas were healthier and had better living conditions(water is cleaned more often, they are fed more often).

I think that would be maybe the only thing customers can do to try and improve the treatment.


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## selah (Oct 14, 2014)

your experiences reminded me of a store where I used to live that exclusively sold tropical fish and accessories. The fellow there used to feed all the fish only once a week, I really don't understand the reasoning behind that.


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## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

emptypockets said:


> Feeding bettas weekly is completely wrong and inadequate, as are the weekly water changes in those cups. They should be fed daily and have their water changed daily too...and they wonder why their bettas are always in such bad shape. Our nearest Petco is pretty decent in the way of both feeding and water changes, Petsmart and Walmart are not.
> 
> It should be mentioned that cutting back feeding in pet stores isn't necessarily a horrible idea. Those cups aren't heated and with cold water, a betta's digestive system doesn't work as efficiently as it would in warmer water. Maybe 1-2 pellets a day instead of 3-4...but definitely not weekly. Makes me sad to see how some fish are treated and how uninformed some pet store employees are about their products.


That is a good note about their digestive system working slower in those cups, I hadn't thought of that. I could understand them cutting back feeding for that, but as you say, not for just once a week. I mean, that's feeding a fish that should be fed 30 days of the month and is only being fed 4. 



emptypockets said:


> I LoVe the name Murderface. That's the best.


Hahahaha, thanks! I'll post some pictures of him below. His name is Murderface because I originally tried to house a ghost shrimp with him in a one gallon (just one, for cleaning purposes), but he showed his displeasure by separating the shrimp into three pieces and leaving each piece at a different end of the tank (it's a triangle). He was very deliberate about it, and he's a very smart fish; he enjoys watching me while I work in the kitchen and is always attentive when I enter the room UNLESS he is mad at me, in which case he will immediately turn his back on me and go into his cave and shun me. He is also very deliberate about that. He has a great personality.

He's currently in quarantine being treated for some fin tears, he is a royal blue double tail halfmoon betta and he has these very frilly fins that are incredibly delicate, I switched to ALL live plants in the new 20 gallon tank because of this. In the pictures, you'll see a plastic plant that was very inappropriate for him and got immediately removed after the pics, I realized soon after adding it that it wasn't good for his fins, but the color was nice for the photos for a quick minute. I hope his fins are able to repair themselves okay; they are quite lovely. I am currently trying an aquarium salt treatment before I move on to anything else, to see if that helps. 




VivianKJean said:


> I have tons of petco stories from over the years. The worst is probably the one that happened over a year ago when I was buy my girl Stella. I had just moved into a new apartment and wanted a new friend. I had a tank and heater and everything so all I needed was a new fish. Now, we've all seen those horrible divided .5 gallon tanks that aqueon sells right? Well I stood there while the "aquatics expert" told a mother with twins that if she got this tank then both of her kids can have their own fish. After he walked away, I calmly went up to the mother and told her that all of that information was incorrect. I filled her on the 2.5 gallon per fish, that they need a heater, etc, etc. Finally she cut my off and said she didn't listen to dumb teenagers. I looked her and without blinking said, first I'm in my 20s and I've had bettas for 15 years but if you want to listen to the employee then expect to be back here in a week buying new fish.


Wow, I agree with jato, that was very rude. Sadly, I've gotten the same condescension from mothers with rowdy children when I try to tell them about betta care and also that those glo-fish are horrible, horrible fish to buy... and yeah, .5 gallons is nowhere near enough for a betta. I mean, one gallon is small enough for any prolonged period, cutting it smaller than that is not taking into consideration the needs of the fish. It is sad to see bettas treated as "vanity fish" without concern for their health, so long as they stay looking pretty for their owners.



> AmaV


That is good that you were able to make changes for the bettas where you worked! I am sure they are very appreciative. It's funny that you bring up the manager, because.........


.... I didn't think I'd have any more horror stories so soon, but I went to Petco twice today, once around 10 AM and just now around 3 PM. At 10 AM, I noticed three goldfish at the far end of the tanks, and I thought, oh my! Wow! What pretty goldfish, I've never seen anything like those, and THAT one in particular is gorgeous, he looks like starry skies with those markings. And indeed, from where I was standing, it looked like white stars on a silver background for their scales.

I was immediately horrified when I got closer to see what kind of goldfish they were and realized it wasn't his scales that were white, but my first time seeing those tell-tale "salt-like" lesions I've heard described of ich. He was covered from head to tail in them, they were clinging to every bit of his tail and fins. I know for a fact he came in with Tuesday's order, but I read that ich tends to appear very rapidly, so I am not sure for how long he's been infected since I didn't notice him on Tuesday. However, I'm guessing he hasn't been infected that long, because.... there were two females swimming with him, and they were unaffected. The store was dead with no employees to be found except for a new, clueless register girl who was not much help.

I came back at 3 to pick up gravel for a second 20 gallon I am working on for my mom, and I stopped by to check on the goldfish. The primary fish who was infected, had now doubled in spots... and the two females were now spotted all over as he had been this morning... I tried to get an associate to the aquatics section, and again, none to be found. I waited 20 minutes, with three promises that someone was coming, before I finally got the cash girl to call the assistant manager. I told him as soon as he walked up that all three fish were infected and needed to be treated immediately or they were going to die, but all he could say was, "Thanks, I appreciate that" without sounding like he actually cared, or like I knew what I was talking about. The normal nice girl that they kept calling, never showed up, and was nowhere to be found.

I got pictures of the goldfish this morning, but not this afternoon. Just imagine the infection being twice as bad on all three fish, in less than six hours. In the AM, just the male? I wanna say he's male, was infected, but by this afternoon, all three of them were heavily infected, with everyone ignoring them. I hope the assistant manager actually listened and did something about it.


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

The Petco in Sioux Falls, SD actually did a surprisingly nice job of keeping the bettas. Their water was clean, they had dividers for each betta not allowing them to see themselves (unlike Walmart or petsmart) and the fish keeper even did me a favor and moved my new king off the shelf (I was driving an hour and half to get the only one) put and put him in fresh water. I didn't see one dead betta there and while most were lethargic they all seemed in good shape. That being said I think that is a one a million store

Heres my new king, the poop on the bottom was from after his ride back, and not there when I picked him up. (lol the drive scared the poop out of him)


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

My petcos are pretty great. I have two males, one DT and one RT that were alive and well for two months in their cups and would have probably still done very well for more months had I not been able to get them. I see few dead bettas (maybe 1 or two every week to every other week) and some that are lethargic from cold but well and appearing very healthy otherwise. Usually, most of the actual ill ones around this time are from being shipped in the cold and turn around quickly in warmth.

I tend to only get my bettas from those two petcos now, simply because of the better animal treatment.


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

Even our local pet store only fed their fish every other day. They also told me that I only needed to do 25% water change 1 time a MONTH on my 10 gallon tank! One of the petco employees had the gall to tell me I killed my first betta because the tank was too big and he was trying to "expand to fit it" and should have been in a tiny cup instead! 

I guess their feeding habits are why their fish are so skinny. I guess that's why the fish always look at me with big eyes when I pay attention to them at all. I wish I could save them!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

My PetCo's are awesome.

I do have to let everyone know that there are reasons why it works the way they do.

Temperature: the colder the fish is, the less active they will be and thus the less food they will need to eat. It's actually better to feed less than to overfeed in any situation regardless, but in lower temperatures; the fish (any fish, not just Bettas) don't digest as quick so it will take them a few days to digest the food.

In small cups such as the ones they have to be sold in, not all Betta's are compatible with tank mates and thus will be stressed out if placed into bad situations. And because of the amount of stock they have to carry, it's not practical for a store to have each fish in a 1 gallon heated tank. But anyway, because of the small cups; they feed less so the fish doesn't poop as much so there isn't as much ammonia in the cup.

They can't do as much maintenance as technically they should because usually they're busy doing other things. Just because they're not on the floor doing water changes in the big tanks doesn't mean a thing, they do a lot of behind the scenes works as well. Yes, not all stores are great and it's a shame that not all the employee's have a want to learn more about it but there are reasons for things. Trust me, I've worked at a Wal-Mart and my best friend works at PetCo and she works damn hard.

Granted, yes, they shouldn't advocate this care but that's the reason for the care, not ideal but it's how it works usually.


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## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

It's good to see that not all the Petcos are as bad as mine; there's a second one in town a lot farther from me I'm thinking of checking out to see if they do any better.

This Petco I've been frequenting that's right by me keeps all the bettas in clear cups, clear water, all stacked side by side and on top of each other.... the majority of the males are usually flopped over looking depressed all the time on their sides on the bottoms of the cups, it's really sad to see. The ones that are less sickly will rest upright, and 3-5 are usually VERY active; there's this gorgeous red that always notices me inspecting the cups and is very interested, swimming back and forth and watching me. But that's 3-5 active bettas out of the 30 they typically keep stocked. Their whole betta section is just miserable to look at, but I think I'm the only one aware of how miserable it is... I see people come in all the time and treat the conditions as normal and don't understand the difference between a healthy and sick fish, they just assume it's normal behavior.


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

^^ perhaps the red one has its eye on you? After all, I feel the betta picks you when you enter the store! (like it or not!)

and ya, the one here in Sioux Falls was really nice. The one back in my home town of Des Moines does not do as great of a job but the Walmarts there were a much much sadder story.


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## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

I know, the red bugger is super keen on me, and I'm trying to justify to myself spending more money, it's awful. :checkedout:


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

Cey said:


> I know, the red bugger is super keen on me, and I'm trying to justify to myself spending more money, it's awful. :checkedout:


That part's easy! Just look at his eyes and think of what will happen if you don't get him. (worked on me.... and my wallet :'( lol)


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## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

Oh my god. The fish I got from Petco infected both my 20 gallon tanks with ich.

Thread here, 'cause it needed it's own.


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

Oh no!! I hope it get's settled quick! Maybe have them toss in the other betta to make it up to you for this disaster?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

As I posted before, it's really not PetCo's fault and blaming it on them isn't going to help anything.


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## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

Look, I appreciate your prior help, but coming here also just to tell me to stop blaming Petco doesn't help me, either.


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

They had some young Koi in a tank together, and one was eating the other's tail off  The submissive one was in submissive posture, and the other was nibbling pieces of the tail fin off. It was almost gone!


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

Sadist said:


> They had some young Koi in a tank together, and one was eating the other's tail off  The submissive one was in submissive posture, and the other was nibbling pieces of the tail fin off. It was almost gone!


How sad


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## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

Well jato, I went to go look at that red boy to see if he was still there, and found two more bettas had died in their cups, instead. I am glad that others have less horrible experiences with their Petcos, but mine is proving to be a nightmare now that I've been getting an up-close look during my almost-daily visits for the past two weeks.


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## Cey (Jan 15, 2015)

Sadist said:


> They had some young Koi in a tank together, and one was eating the other's tail off  The submissive one was in submissive posture, and the other was nibbling pieces of the tail fin off. It was almost gone!


That is awful. I wish they would separate the fish when things like that start happening.


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## jato (Jan 12, 2015)

Aww i always hate to hear that! Was the red one still there?


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

I've had many, many similar experiences, each of which has contributed to my steadily waning hope for humanity. Nothing really surprises me now. I expect the worst and am rarely, if ever, contradicted


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

At least the employees don't give you dirty looks and roll their eyes when you point out ill fish... I've pointed out hair algae growing in some betta cups and that the water needed to be changed and the employee was just like "I know" and walk away from me to continue chatting with the cashier. I have completely given up with the store, it's a PetValu (Canadian chain store) and the only store within an hour's drive. But I still give homes to some of the bettas because I feel horrible for them. They majorly overstock and rarely change the water weekly. This is a tiny town, they probably sell only 2-3 bettas a month.


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## BamNeko (Jan 10, 2015)

I only have had bad experience at Petsmart with their Betta fish. Got a nice Orange one from them, died within 2 weeks. Nothing showed on the outside and I left a complaint on Petsmart Facebook. I said, that I am no longer going to purchase fish from your franchise anymore. The only reason I will walk into a store is if my Guinea Pigs need hay or pellets(cause PetCo doesn't carry Oxbow). I've gotten plenty of healthy betta's from the Petco by my house, Neko and Leroy Jenkins is my only example. The lady that works the fish area during the weeks is very helpful, when my sister and I went in earlier to look at bird toys for her birds we found a Mustard Gas and asked her to put him on hold for us and she said she would feed him and change his water for us. Sadly my sister can't take care of fish and he died a few days ago. Though Newb came from a different Petco(near another college campus). And this happy and content fish is already working on his bubble nest.


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