# What horror! Oh how I hate Wal-Mart!



## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

So.. I visited my local Wal-Mart today to pick up some supplies and I was horrified with what I found in the pet section!!!!! The betta self was horrendous! I find a male betta and a female betta in the same bowl with about a inch of water in it..The females fins werent that bad..but she had taken some bullying!!!!! Oh no..Thats not all! I then find two male crowntails in the same bowl....Their fins torn to shreads!!!!! They didnt look alive! I was so angry! So I took it upon myself to seperate them into tub-aware bowls that I was buying already....I wanted to take those crowntails home so badly...But they were too far gone...Their fins werent even present on their bodies..But I did take home the male betta that was in with the female... and I have contacted the General Manger about the issue..and I have a good feeling that someone will be getting fired soon..And hopefully the care of the bettas will improve soon! 
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The new guy..I have housed him in a two gallon vace with a live plant with the temp set at 78degrees...and I have treated his water with aqua salt and ICH away..But his fins arent in too bad of shape at all..and I probably will only continue the treatment for the next day or so. 
He is eating normally and is swimming around flarring at Cornelias with no problem! haha! 
I really dont know what I want to name him yet though.. He is a VT. And he has amazing coloring! A turquios, velvet colored body with a black head..and his fins have a bright turquios color as well with a little mint green..he also has black spots on his fins... Any ideas?


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## Feral (Sep 19, 2010)

crowntail lover said:


> So.. I visited my local Wal-Mart today to pick up some supplies and I was horrified with what I found in the pet section!!!!! The betta self was horrendous! Oh no..Thats not all! I then find two male crowntails in the same bowl....Their fins torn to shreads!!!!!


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*AAAAAAARRRRRGGGHH*, not again :evil::evil::evil: 

I ran into the exact same thing at Wallyworld not long ago, and was I ever (expletive deleted) . Time to go to war with Walmart I guess.....


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## Canuck Fins (Oct 5, 2010)

Yikes! That is sad.

(Hmmm, I wonder if Wally World is getting rid of their fish though. At least here in Canada anyway. The old stores have tanks for sale and no fish while the new Supercentre that opened last spring has tanks for sale, but no tanks to put fish in for sale. Here, they only sell a very few fish supplies.)


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## charlindabob (Oct 24, 2010)

crowntail lover said:


> So.. I visited my local Wal-Mart today to pick up some supplies and I was horrified with what I found in the pet section!!!!! The betta self was horrendous! I find a male betta and a female betta in the same bowl with about a inch of water in it..The females fins werent that bad..but she had taken some bullying!!!!! Oh no..Thats not all! I then find two male crowntails in the same bowl....Their fins torn to shreads!!!!! They didnt look alive! I was so angry! So I took it upon myself to seperate them into tub-aware bowls that I was buying already....I wanted to take those crowntails home so badly...But they were too far gone...Their fins werent even present on their bodies..But I did take home the male betta that was in with the female... and I have contacted the General Manger about the issue..and I have a good feeling that someone will be getting fired soon..And hopefully the care of the bettas will improve soon!
> ---
> The new guy..I have housed him in a two gallon vace with a live plant with the temp set at 78degrees...and I have treated his water with aqua salt and ICH away..But his fins arent in too bad of shape at all..and I probably will only continue the treatment for the next day or so.
> He is eating normally and is swimming around flarring at Cornelias with no problem! haha!
> I really dont know what I want to name him yet though.. He is a VT. And he has amazing coloring! A turquios, velvet colored body with a black head..and his fins have a bright turquios color as well with a little mint green..he also has black spots on his fins... Any ideas?


I will hazard a guess and say that the Bettas were tampered with by the customers. I do not believe that the supplier would knowingly ship two Bettas to a container, whether it be two males or a male and female. And as to an inch of water, again, I believe it was customer tampering. A lot of us can thank Wal-Mart for getting us the Betta that we have as many of us have no other resource other than to purchase one on-line. Two things might make shopping for Bettas at Wal-Mart a better experience. One, more knowledge of the salesperson and two, maybe the Bettas should be behind a locked glass cabinet for their own protection. I have two great Bettas, and they both came from Wal-Mart.


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## kfish (Oct 5, 2010)

My betta is from a non-super Wal-Mart checkout line. My mom picked him up for me as a surprise. His coloring is gorgeous, but he was so torn up. My poor little guy! His fins are growing back nicely now, but he had about 1/3 of an inch of fin left and he looks like he has battle scars on his body if you look at his scales against the grain.

Seems like someone threw him in with another fish as well. Wish SOMEONE at stores deciding to sell fish cared and knew what they were doing! It's not like they don't lose money when the fish die. 

:evil::evil::evil:


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

I think someone just needs to be in the pet center, and not leave. Everytime I am in the pet center for supplies, no one is to be found anywhere near there. I don't even understand why the sell fish, but if they are going to shouldnt someone be avaliable to get fish out for you, and then someone would always be back there. verrry frustrating.


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

The thing is.. I know the person who was assigned the job of taking care of the pet section..And I also know that they find Betta Fighting very hilarious! Therefore. I dont believe a customer would take the time to sit there and change around the Bettas and watch them fight..I think it was the worker who did this..


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## peaches3221 (Jun 1, 2010)

:evil: I CAN'T BELEIVE THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE!!! ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!! :evil:


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

I know!! Its ridiculous!


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

crowntail lover said:


> The thing is.. I know the person who was assigned the job of taking care of the pet section..And I also know that they find Betta Fighting very hilarious! Therefore. I dont believe a customer would take the time to sit there and change around the Bettas and watch them fight..I think it was the worker who did this..


You would be surprised. Immature people have nothing better to do at walmart I guess.


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

Its a shame! I have posted a new thread of pics of the male I rescued in the Betta Pics forum!..


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## Duskdog (Sep 22, 2010)

crowntail lover said:


> The thing is.. I know the person who was assigned the job of taking care of the pet section..And I also know that they find Betta Fighting very hilarious! Therefore. I dont believe a customer would take the time to sit there and change around the Bettas and watch them fight..I think it was the worker who did this..


It could very well have been an employee, if they're someone whom you know is this cruel... but believe me, customers can and will do it, too. 

I don't work at Wal-Mart, but the same thing just happened at my store the other day. I look at the bettas every shift I work, just to make sure they're all okay, and Thursday morning they were fine... then when I looked at them at 7 AM Friday morning, a cup was empty. And, you guessed it, I found that the female had been dumped into a male crowntail's cup, presumably by a customer sometime Thursday night. I know that _none_ of our employees would ever have done such a thing, especially not the ones who worked that shift (we usually only have 3-4 people per shift).

The female was perfectly fine -- not a scratch on her -- but the male's fins were ripped to shreds. Officially, we wrote him off as dead, but unofficially, they gave him to me so that I could try to take care of him and give him a fighting chance at living and having a happy home.

So he is now Lorenzo "Tatters" De Luca, former mafia strongarm turned government informant, whose death was faked so that he could move seamlessly into witness protection. (All my bettas have weird backstories like this. Don't ask.)

Poor Tatters is having a rough time. He keeps the remains of his fins clamped, and last night was the first time he ate anything -- he ate three pellets, but only picked at the bloodworm. He's swimming around watching me right now, though. He seems a bit depressed, but at least he's moving around and is languidly interested in his environment.


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

Aww poor Tatters! (love the name) Hopefully he will feel better soon! :]
But yes...I actually found a little immature kid trying to put the Bettas together!!!! Of course I scared the crap out of him and he ran away! But I mean..Some people are truly ridiculous!


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## Maryrox247 (Aug 10, 2009)

What happened to those bettas was animal ABUSE. It is so sick that the pet store doesnt keep a better eye on them, and doesn't take better care of them. "The cats and dogs need very good care the bettas are *just fish*, plus they don't need much care they are very hardy." Yeah right! Well if they were _just fish _than why wold they be so popular among people? Hm? And business-wise isn't it important to take good care of merchandise? ESPECIALLY live merchandise! I hate it when people dont take good care of animals. Plus being that wal mart doesnt really sell any live animals other than fish should they be able to stop organizing inanimate objects for a second to take care of LIVING CREATURES! Regardless of species, this is life and death we are talking about... and from what i hear about moth wal marts its mainly death that happens.....


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## Feral (Sep 19, 2010)

Duskdog said:


> ....he is now Lorenzo "Tatters" De Luca, former mafia strongarm turned government informant, whose death was faked so that he could move seamlessly into witness protection. (All my bettas have weird backstories like this. Don't ask.)


Haww! I love the background stories idea


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

Maryrox247 said:


> What happened to those bettas was animal ABUSE. It is so sick that the pet store doesnt keep a better eye on them, and doesn't take better care of them. "The cats and dogs need very good care the bettas are *just fish*, plus they don't need much care they are very hardy." Yeah right! Well if they were _just fish _than why wold they be so popular among people? Hm? And business-wise isn't it important to take good care of merchandise? ESPECIALLY live merchandise! I hate it when people dont take good care of animals. Plus being that wal mart doesnt really sell any live animals other than fish should they be able to stop organizing inanimate objects for a second to take care of LIVING CREATURES! Regardless of species, this is life and death we are talking about... and from what i hear about moth wal marts its mainly death that happens.....


Couldnt agree more!!


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

The Walmarts around here don't sell fish anymore, except for one place. The conditions aren't the best, but they're not TOO bad.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

At my Meijers they had female bettas in a tank with angelfish! They seemed to be in pretty good shape though.


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## charlindabob (Oct 24, 2010)

crowntail lover said:


> The thing is.. I know the person who was assigned the job of taking care of the pet section..And I also know that they find Betta Fighting very hilarious! Therefore. I dont believe a customer would take the time to sit there and change around the Bettas and watch them fight..I think it was the worker who did this..


If you know that for a fact, then go to the manager, not just any manager, the store manager and explain to him/her the situation. The pet section person could be moved to another department away from the pets or worse. I have been around exotic animals all my adult life, I'm 64, and have seen just about everything. Whether it be a Wal-Mart employee or a customer, both are your neighbors and friends or at the very least, someone who lives in your town. There are cruel people everywhere, even in Wal-Mart. If someone hates Wal-Mart, then they should make a statement and not shop there. I personally would try educating the salesperson and the manager. Most will listen, and many managers may have no idea what the mindless twit that enjoys betta fighting is doing. Having an upset customer is just not good business. There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to admonish the culprit, but to accuse the employee without proof is foolhardy. And, I realize just how hard it is going to be for you to point the finger and be 100 percent right. Sort of like being between a rock and a hard spot. I feel for you as I also detest hurting animals on purpose with no reason. No, I am not against hunting and I eat meat, but to torture any animal for your pleasure or gratification is sick. All this is my personal opinion of course.


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

Duskdog said:


> So he is now Lorenzo "Tatters" De Luca, former mafia strongarm turned government informant, whose death was faked so that he could move seamlessly into witness protection. (All my bettas have weird backstories like this. Don't ask.)


Bwhahahah this made my day! That is AWESOME.. great idea! :-D


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## nomoretickets (Sep 29, 2010)

:shock: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! :shock: i can not believe how dumb some people are


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

nomoretickets said:


> :shock: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! :shock: 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.


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## charlindabob (Oct 24, 2010)

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............;-)





nomoretickets said:


> :shock: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! :shock: i can not believe how dumb some people are


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

charlindabob said:


> 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..


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## Ajones108 (Jul 7, 2010)

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.


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

Ajones108 said:


> 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.


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

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)!


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

charlindabob said:


> 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.


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## Feral (Sep 19, 2010)

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy said:


> 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 W_almart 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.


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## acloudconnected (Oct 28, 2010)

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.


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## nomoretickets (Sep 29, 2010)

this is the video that i shot at walmart before calling the managers over (i wanted to preserve the evidence in case i report them for animal cruelty since missouri's laws hold corporations accountable). 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4AYPY5ZKxg


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

nomoretickets said:


> this is the video that i shot at walmart before calling the managers over (i wanted to preserve the evidence in case i report them for animal cruelty since missouri's laws hold corporations accountable).
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4AYPY5ZKxg


That is DISGUSTING!

What was the manager's lame excuse?


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## Feral (Sep 19, 2010)

nomoretickets said:


> this is the video that i shot at walmart before calling the managers over (i wanted to preserve the evidence in case i report them for animal cruelty since missouri's laws hold corporations accountable).
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4AYPY5ZKxg


 
My hat is definitely off to you, way to go! It finally dawned on me that the only reason Wallyworld even offers the Bettas is so they can sell the accesories- buy $5 worth of fish and then be obliged to buy $30-$80 worth of aquatic accesories- what a sad, cynical approach to merchandising, but it does account for why they don't care for the fish. It just doesn't matter as long as _something _wiggles enough to prompt the additional buying. Heartless to say the least.


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## acloudconnected (Oct 28, 2010)

Oh My God. That is horrific!


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## AngelicScars (May 5, 2009)

nomoretickets said:


> this is the video that i shot at walmart before calling the managers over (i wanted to preserve the evidence in case i report them for animal cruelty since missouri's laws hold corporations accountable).
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4AYPY5ZKxg


I don't think I've seen anything that bad at any pet store (or Walmart).


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## nomoretickets (Sep 29, 2010)

There was no excuse. The sad part is that was the SECOND time going into that store. I was there 3 days earlier and saw the same thing. The first time the manager said that they just got the shipment in and this happens Everytime they get a shipment because the fish don't survive the transport. The second time the manager didn't even want to come see what I was complaining about and ran off as soon as he could. I have since returned and it is clean... For now. Next time I see this I'm just going to call the police for animal cruelty.


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

nomoretickets said:


> There was no excuse. The sad part is that was the SECOND time going into that store. I was there 3 days earlier and saw the same thing. The first time the manager said that they just got the shipment in and this happens Everytime they get a shipment because the fish don't survive the transport. The second time the manager didn't even want to come see what I was complaining about and ran off as soon as he could. I have since returned and it is clean... For now. Next time I see this I'm just going to call the police for animal cruelty.


he wouldnt even face you the second time? what a joke. I would complain about the manager after that.


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