# Sad day at Petco



## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

I wanted the little guy but my dad said no


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## Unity (Mar 26, 2012)

Were you given an audience with management to air any complaints?

EDIT: I Hope so!


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## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

I was about to but my dad said not to


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## GreyHounD (May 11, 2012)

Such a small container... I pitty the little guy..


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## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

It sickened me


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

Wow..that is sooo heartbreaking..what a sick business they are running when you think about it..wth..If only I had more room, I saw the same thing at our Petco..the baby ones, some VT's and arguing gets nowhere..I demanded to have the water changed, but they just put them in a bag..and walked to the back..WOW


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## Unity (Mar 26, 2012)

I don't know what results truly are but every time I notice something I have calmly spoken to management or even floor level fish reps and pointed out that a fish is being kept in poor conditions or has a disease. The fish are IMMEDIATELY removed from the show room (hopefully for treatment). 

Many who work the fish section at the major chains (WalMart seems to be an exclusion to this) are fish keepers themselves and while they have to follow corporate policy to a degree else wind up with a pink slip, they can save fish lives if notified of issues on the floor/area that they are responsible for.


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## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

Makes me want to cry


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## Unity (Mar 26, 2012)

Oh I feel your pain - I am sure most of us do! The other day at PetSmart in Wilton the poor guy in the front of that neat "tree" they are using to display them now was just dead. Fins disappeared. 

In that situation my main concern (beyond the life of that Betta) is the poor kid who comes in to get into the hobby and decides that he/she loves the coloring on this particular one then all of the sudden "death" needs to be explained on what should be a joyous and memorable day for a child!


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## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

The blond guy who works at the fish department is cool. He lets me look through the betta's when they are delivered on Wednesdays


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

So. .. it was also a sad day at my Petco. Guess what I did? I got so mad about it that I posted photos on Yelp of their dead fish. I did complain but of course it got no results so I would like other people to maybe take up this idea . . . I normally don't write nasty reviews but I just got so angry that for 2 days in a row there were all sorts of dead fish there, not to mention the manager was working and she owns 3 bettas herself so she should know better. Also, this little yellow plakat that I photographed July 3rd when he was healthy . . was covered in red diseased spots and dying. 

The girls said they change the water every WEEK (What? That can't be good enough) and that sometimes they "get a bad batch". I pointed out that the yellow plakat was healthy before and that now he is about to die so he's not part of a bad batch. Also, if they are all a sick batch, take them to the back and medicate them. Also . .WHY are there dead fish that look like they've been dead a long time on the shelf? I'll tell you why- because the employees are too lazy to take the dead ones away, therefore must be too lazy to clean the water.

FYI there were 3 visible employees and only 2 customers including myself in that store at the time, so they weren't overwhelmed by work. 

Here are my photos I put on Yelp. I will write a review when I have time to collect my angry thoughts in a more effectively written manner . .


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

Wow..unacceptable!!


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## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

I would have loved that CT and PK


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Yeah, actually, I had taken the photo of the yellow plakat because I wanted to post it in the thread called "Petco/Petsmart Finds". I remember thinking that if I already didn't have a yellow betta, that plakat was really cute and I might like him. I thought for sure he'd be adopted. When I saw him dying, I remembered that I had taken his photo before, checked the upload date in my iPhoto , and it was July 3rd. So I knew it wasn't true that they were in bad shape only because they got there sick. I have video of that fish from July 3rd. It was lively and really cute. 

I am planning on this being my method of complaining. I mean, I will say something in a store as well, but I think posting pics on Yelp or somewhere else- well they can't exactly explain away visible proof of dirty water and diseased dead fish on display. There really is no excuse. I couldn't believe there were employees doing nothing in an empty store when their bettas all looked so horrific. And then to be told everything is fine, they change the water once a week.


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## Unity (Mar 26, 2012)

One unfortunate thing I do believe is that from time to time I bet chain stores do get "good batches" and "bad batches" and have to try to sell them regardless. 

It is a strange industry we are all involved in.


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## megaredize (May 21, 2012)

seeing the before and after of that (was) stunning yellow guy is heart breaking! i hope your pics get someone attention to start some change on how they take care of their bettas


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Unity said:


> One unfortunate thing I do believe is that from time to time I bet chain stores do get "good batches" and "bad batches" and have to try to sell them regardless.
> 
> It is a strange industry we are all involved in.



I "get" that, but I didn't _believe_ it was the case this time. Once the manager told me they didn't have a lot of bettas because the last shipment was mostly dead because of the extreme Arizona heat that week. I didn't get all bent out of shape that time, I knew she couldn't do anything about the pet industry shipping practices. I'm a reasonable person. But since this time I was there 2 days in a row and it was clear no one cleaned any water and the fish were all clearly stressed and there was a lot of poop and debris in the cups .. . I just got very angry. In any job I ever had from high school on, if you are too busy during open hours to clean/do the chores of the job, then you have to do it after the doors close to customers, or before. And I wasn't even dealing with living creatures. 

And do you really think that changing those half-filled cups of water once a week is a good practice? It seems like on this website, people would scold me if I only changed water in my 2.5 tank once a week. So how can it be ok for a tiny Petco cup?

By the way, I went to Petsmart after that to look for gravel and their bettas were in poo-filled cups too .. . all with clamped fins and looking really bad. Not dead and half-dead, mind you .. but not good. I was thinking "WTH happened this weekend in my town? All the bettas are in much worse condition than usual. It's really hot here but heat doesn't make cups fill up with poop! 

I think I am only going to buy bettas from my great planted aquarium store 30 mins away, or maybe online or something. Yesterday just made me too mad.


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