# Walmart rescue!



## SecretStich (Jan 11, 2012)

This is one of my newest betta fish. His name is Sharky. 
Sharky is a walmart rescue!
he was sitting on the edge of the shelf in blue murky water litterally falling to the bottom from breathing his own dirt. So, i decided i needed to buy him and save him from walmart!
i bought him and after the first few hours, he is only a baby but he is getting around a lot better than he was at walmart.


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## Bettabubble3 (Aug 17, 2009)

um walmart?!!!!!!! Hes beautiful


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## 4everaspirit (Dec 19, 2011)

That's nice what you did for him, but I thought I should tell you that it isn't really a "rescue" because you still bought the fish from the store and they will just use that money to get more fish and mistreat them. If you want better conditions for the fish at walmart, you would need to make it clear to the managers in charge.

As some others have mentioned in other threads, it's like buying from a puppy mill to "save the puppies that are there." In the end, you are still supporting the puppy mill and they will just keep using your money to bring more puppies into the world.

If you really want to "rescue" or adopt a betta, you can sometimes find fish close to where you live at "adopt a pet" websites. I also know that some animal shelters have fish available from people who turned them in or left them at their house, unable to take care of them for whatever reason.


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## betta lover1507 (Aug 6, 2011)

he is gorgeous :lol:


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## mattoboy (Feb 4, 2012)

Isn't he considered a rescue because you saved his life? Thats how I look at it. BTW Hes beautiful for a wal-mart find :')


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## 4everaspirit (Dec 19, 2011)

mattoboy said:


> Isn't he considered a rescue because you saved his life? Thats how I look at it. BTW Hes beautiful for a wal-mart find :')


Right, he saved his life, but by purchasing the betta it leads Walmart to buy more of them and keep mistreating them. He may have saved his life, but if he didn't speak up to walmart staff and managers about the poor condition, he has contributed to the buying of more bettas only to be kept in the same such conditions as the one that he just saved was in. 

It's called a "sympathy purchase," and other forums and threads explain how this, while it's great that people have compassion and care about the bettas, can do more harm than good if the root of the problem isn't addressed.

It's great, no, wonderful, that he cares but I'm just here to point this fact out, so that he will no for future reference.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

He's gorgeous! I'm really jealous. And I would consider it a rescue. Walmart fishies sit there, usually sick, until they die. I would love to rescue one myself but every time we go to walmart my boyfriend pulls me away from the fish saying "you dont need another one" lol


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## Karebear13 (Jan 23, 2012)

Wow I can't believe that is a Walmart find! he is so beautiful!


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## 4everaspirit (Dec 19, 2011)

lvandert said:


> He's gorgeous! I'm really jealous. And I would consider it a rescue. Walmart fishies sit there, usually sick, until they die. I would love to rescue one myself but every time we go to walmart my boyfriend pulls me away from the fish saying "you dont need another one" lol


For the third time, it's not a "rescue."  To walmart, you are simply just buying another fish, then they can make room for more which they will most likely mistreat. You NEED to tell managers if you see poor conditions for the fish. Once again these are, "sympathy purchases," not rescues. I would post a link to other forums explaining this, but I think that's against the rules.

Some people suggest buying the misshapen fish but then exuberantly explaining to managers that you will never, ever come back and buy from this store again if they do not provide better care for their fish. Their argument is, by buying a mistreated fish, plus all the tanks and equipments needed for them, (<----the main profit) the business will listen to you because by buying the supplies for the fish, you are providing their most revenue. While, I can see that working, you'd have to do it right, and keep to your promises of never coming back if the store did not clean up their act.


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

holy crap! from WALMART?! omg! he's amazing! congrats!


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

4everaspirit said:


> For the third time, it's not a "rescue."  To walmart, you are simply just buying another fish, then they can make room for more which they will most likely mistreat. You NEED to tell managers if you see poor conditions for the fish. Once again these are, "sympathy purchases," not rescues. I would post a link to other forums explaining this, but I think that's against the rules.
> 
> Some people suggest buying the misshapen fish but then exuberantly explaining to managers that you will never, ever come back and buy from this store again if they do not provide better care for their fish. Their argument is, by buying a mistreated fish, plus all the tanks and equipments needed for them, (<----the main profit) the business will listen to you because by buying the supplies for the fish, you are providing their most revenue. While, I can see that working, you'd have to do it right, and keep to your promises of never coming back if the store did not clean up their act.


The general attitude of this forum is that it is a rescue if you save it. Most people have come to the realisation that conditions will not improve, people have tried so many things to improve betta conditions and stores will generally not listen. I've read about so many people telling pet stores several times and nothing changes. Wal Mart isn't going to spend tons of money improving it's conditions for betta because ONE PERSON is upset. I know it sounds glum, but you're not going to change anything if 99% of people see nothing wrong with what's going on, and most of them cannot be convinced that betta deserve more than a vase. This fish has a home, yes it will be replaced, but there's nothing that we can do about this really. People still buy PUPPIES from pet stores, word is JUST getting out to the public about puppy mills. I personally believe that a puppy is not "higher" than a betta, but if everyone hasn't realized that pet stores puppies suffer, then they aren't going to give a second thought to a betta, a "less respected" animal in general. I've come to the realization that not too much good will come to betta until conditions improve for puppy mill dogs, cats, birds, small animals, reptiles, then people will eventually start thinking of fish.. 

The best you can do is try and convince a store to give you a sick betta for free/a discount, tell your friends about betta care, even tell local pet stores. A big chain store doesn't care about it's betta, but maybe a local pet store could be more easily convinced.

That is a lovely betta, I can't believe your walmart has nicer fish than our fish stores


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## a123andpoof (Apr 10, 2010)

+1 to person above. 

He is beautiful! Just wondering if he was labeled female? I got a male pk labeled female from walmart. But wow is he beautiful very jealous!


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## BettaFishLuver (Feb 5, 2012)

It is a rescue but I can see where 4everaspirit is comming from. Technically you saved his life and there for rescued him!  but you also gave the people money kinda like "I feel so bad for these bettas, I'll buy them and buy the meds to nurse them back to health." And the wal-mart people are just going to take that money and get more. I don't know what side I'm on. I guess to save a life you have to give one? But if we just "rescue" bettas aren't we just rooting wal-mart on?


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## 4everaspirit (Dec 19, 2011)

Olympia said:


> I've read about so many people telling pet stores several times and nothing changes. Wal Mart isn't going to spend tons of money improving it's conditions for betta because ONE PERSON is upset. I know it sounds glum, but you're not going to change anything if 99% of people see nothing wrong with what's going on, and most of them cannot be convinced that betta deserve more than a vase. This fish has a home, yes it will be replaced, but there's nothing that we can do about this really. People still buy PUPPIES from pet stores, word is JUST getting out to the public about puppy mills. I personally believe that a puppy is not "higher" than a betta, but if everyone hasn't realized that pet stores puppies suffer, then they aren't going to give a second thought to a betta, a "less respected" animal in general. I've come to the realization that not too much good will come to betta until conditions improve for puppy mill dogs, cats, birds, small animals, reptiles, then people will eventually start thinking of fish..
> 
> The best you can do is try and convince a store to give you a sick betta for free/a discount, tell your friends about betta care, even tell local pet stores. A big chain store doesn't care about it's betta, but maybe a local pet store could be more easily convinced.


I see what you are saying, however, one person CAN make a difference if they work at it enough. Many just don't have the patience or diligence to do some (me sometimes included). You are probably right, that until most of public is aware of puppy mills, there won't be too much concern over conditions for a fish. It seems like we are all taking baby steps at different points of the issue, hopefully we will get to the same place eventually <3


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## 4everaspirit (Dec 19, 2011)

BettaFishLuver said:


> It is a rescue but I can see where 4everaspirit is comming from. Technically you saved his life and there for rescued him!  but you also gave the people money kinda like "I feel so bad for these bettas, I'll buy them and buy the meds to nurse them back to health." And the wal-mart people are just going to take that money and get more. I don't know what side I'm on. I guess to save a life you have to give one? But if we just "rescue" bettas aren't we just rooting wal-mart on?


In a sense, yes, we are rooting them on, especially if you just buy the sickly betta without even talking to the manager about the conditions.


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## FishyFishy89 (Jul 3, 2011)

What I consider a rescue is you are saving a living being from something threatening it's life. Thus wally world and how cruel they are to their fish. Another example would be me rescuing my pug. I found her running the street, chasing my truck of which she was not even a quarter of the size of my truck's tire O.O

ANYHOW, gorgeous betta. I look forward to hearing more about him. You should open a virtual journal taking notes on him day by day and posting pictures of him


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Like I said, the difference you as a person make is convincing the minds of as many people as possible. I recently convince one of my friends NOT to put her betta on top of her microwave just because when you turn the microwave on it swims around in circles really fast (GOD I do NOT want to know what that does to the poor fish- my science teacher from 3 years ago this too, I didn't have the guts to say anything to him though). 
Once enough people develop this mind set, things can and will change.. Buying a fish or not buying a fish doesn't affect even a larger store much, supplies is where profits are at.. Buying meds/tanks/stuff online or second hand removes the ability of the store to make a large profit off of you.


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## blueridge (Jul 1, 2011)

:shock: From Wal-Mart?! Lucky find!


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## 4everaspirit (Dec 19, 2011)

Olympia said:


> Once enough people develop this mind set, things can and will change.. Buying a fish or not buying a fish doesn't affect even a larger store much, supplies is where profits are at.. Buying meds/tanks/stuff online or second hand removes the ability of the store to make a large profit off of you.


Maybe these stores shouldn't be making a profit off of you. Do they deserve to with the way they treat the fish? That's is the question. Even if you buy their stuff, how would that change their behavior? You would have to at least bring up your concerns to them, otherwise they wouldn't realize that there was a problem at all, and to them, you are just buying another fish and all it's equipment. o.o. Though, wouldn't it seem weird to say to a manager, "I'm buying this betta and all of it's tank and supplies, but you guys need to provide better care for these better or I will not be coming back here."? Would that person even be believable? If someone is okay with buying fish in a poor state in their store once, who's to say they won't do it again, and again? Hence, the store could just keep railing profit from you. You would have to keep checking with the store to make this work, and sticking to your commitment to not buying anything more from them if they have not changed.

Anyway, I just personally think it's better to adopt fish that people are trying to get rid of because they can't take care of, or adopt from shelters. I'd rather not support those causing the problems in general


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## FlaneryPlakat (Feb 7, 2012)

Wow.. This thread was definitely hijacked...

Gorgeous fish though. I think he's grateful for what you did to make his life worth living again. (ouo)b


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## FishyFishy89 (Jul 3, 2011)

4everaspirit said:


> Maybe these stores shouldn't be making a profit off of you. Do they deserve to with the way they treat the fish? That's is the question. Even if you buy their stuff, how would that change their behavior? You would have to at least bring up your concerns to them, otherwise they wouldn't realize that there was a problem at all, and to them, you are just buying another fish and all it's equipment. o.o. Though, wouldn't it seem weird to say to a manager, "I'm buying this betta and all of it's tank and supplies, but you guys need to provide better care for these better or I will not be coming back here."? Would that person even be believable? If someone is okay with buying fish in a poor state in their store once, who's to say they won't do it again, and again? Hence, the store could just keep railing profit from you. You would have to keep checking with the store to make this work, and sticking to your commitment to not buying anything more from them if they have not changed.
> 
> Anyway, I just personally think it's better to adopt fish that people are trying to get rid of because they can't take care of, or adopt from shelters. I'd rather not support those causing the problems in general


trust me
these companies are FULLY aware of how they are treating their animals. More than 90% of animal lovers aren't going to keep their mouths shut. They WILL speak up. These stores treat the animals this way manly because they have very limited amount of money to give them proper care. That and the animals are there as a fast sale. They don't expect to be keeping these animals more than 3-5 months.

Really sorry to hijack your thread OP


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## freemike (Feb 3, 2012)

Wow wish we had fish that nice at our Wal-Mart. Glad you gave him a home to be happy and safe in.

The way I look at the Wal-Mart issue is that even if the people that were knowledgeable and gave them proper care stopped buying it wouldn't stop them. The problem lies within the general population's mindset toward these fish. Even with animal lover types they don't really ever think or talk about mistreatment of the fish. If it doesn't weigh 10 or more lbs and have fur it usually doesn't get much awareness of the abuse they go through. Consider how many people just buy Bettas on a whim. I'll admit the two fish in my tanks right now were bought on whims. They see these $4 cups with these cute little guys in them. If you watch the people that don't have a clue about these fish when they pick out a fish the ones that are sickly looking don't even bother them. They don't ask why these fish are in such poor condition or shouldn't they be better taken care of for the time being. They just look for the best one at the time to take home. They ask the associate what it needs and the associate (that doesn't really know the fish) looks at the shelf and picks out a designer Betta home and chunks it at them. They do this because they don't actually know the fish... they just read the packages and make the best guess as to what kind of water and water change schedule you should have. The guy that sold me my fish actually recommended me to put my fish in untreated tap water. I was lucky I suggested that maybe I should use the gallon spring water jugs. I put them in that then came here and got my ducks in a row. Then had to go back to a Wal-Mart to buy all the stuff unfortunately because they was the only place that was open at the time my money came available.


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## Enkil (Jan 15, 2012)

A great rescue. He's gorgeous. Good for you!
How did they have him labeled? I know some places get confused when they get PKs in and males end up labeled as females. XD

Hope he really thrives for you. You did rescuing/saving him. I'm sure he likes or even loves living with you. ^_^ Hope he brings you lots of smiles!


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## SecretStich (Jan 11, 2012)

I did talk to the manager and they weren't very moved by my 'betta speech'
I plan on taking their abusive ways to a higher athourity..but who? :/


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## 4everaspirit (Dec 19, 2011)

FlaneryPlakat said:


> Wow.. This thread was definitely hijacked...
> 
> Gorgeous fish though. I think he's grateful for what you did to make his life worth living again. (ouo)b


What do you mean by hijacked? I'm not hijacking the thread in the literal sense because I am staying on topic about the fish and the action that was done for him. If I had switched to a different topic, that would be hijacking. I'm entitled to my own opinion of how I don't see the betta as a "rescue." If people can't handle a difference of opinion maturely, that's not on me.


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## 4everaspirit (Dec 19, 2011)

SecretStich said:


> I did talk to the manager and they weren't very moved by my 'betta speech'
> I plan on taking their abusive ways to a higher athourity..but who? :/


Hmmm, did you try calling their headquarters? You might have to talk to the person above the manager. I'm glad you said something about the fish's condition though


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## Jrf456 (Jun 23, 2011)

Bettabubble3 said:


> um walmart?!!!!!!! Hes beautiful


EXACTLY my reaction! ROFL.


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