# ~ Wal-Mart Rant ~ Share your stories!



## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

This thread I thought would be nice to rant about pet stores or Walmarts that you cannot stand. From personal experience any way. 

My rant about Walmart!

So, I was at Walmart, picking up a few items. Normally, I don't go in so late, but I did tonight because I won't be able to tomorrow.

Well, they had 5-8 bettas last time, this time they had at least 30! I couldn't believe it....

I saw the most BEAUTIFUL VT ever. He was pink/purple with a steak of white on his lower fins set right between the pink. I really wanted him but no money until the 6th for a 3rd tank (Getting another betta from polu ;])

So, I left him along with other beautiful fish. If I had people willing to adopt from me, I'd buy them and ship 'em out! Saw some beauties, including dragonscale CT, DARK red VT, purple cambodian females. Little of everything.

Now my rant part (LOL) the man working at night, had no common knowledge of fish and was asking ME questions about if he could put two of them together or the male/females and I was just like .... :shock: THEY HIRED YOU TO WORK THE PET SECTION!?....

Your turn =]


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## Butterfly (Nov 13, 2012)

oh my gosh your betta is SO PRETTY(in your picture). I dream of one day getting an elephant ear. 

The petco guy asked me if i was going to keep fred in the little cup...when it clearly says on the cup that it is NOT a suitable home for a betta.......-_- Half the people don't know what they're talking about/any knowledge about fish/animals/etc. >.< Although they are nice, they SHOULD know their stuff. I saw a veil tail with advanced fin rot. His top fin was just about falling off. I would have bought him but I just can't have another fish right now. ugh. sick. One with swim bladder issue also. I bet the ammonia levels are off the charts and the reason why they don't have any kings anymore is because they all died because of their brown water. yep. Brown.


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## XxXMermaidzXxX (Sep 28, 2012)

At wal-mart (-.-) I saw this half moon betta laying sideways in his cup dieing of fin rot.Well i wanted him for sure but to many bettas at once... to many sick bettas at once... -.- oh well i really hate you wal-mart.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

<--- Not my betta. But I do love him. I also want an EE <3 someday ~


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Ours sells terrible supplies.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

Something I forgot to put in my rant was that their was only 1 betta in a dirty cup last night, and right when I was about to change the water for the fish, the guy came into the isle. I said to him "This water needs to be changed. You can do it, or I can." Needless to say, he picked up the betta water bottle and swapped out the water.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Ours dont sell fish.


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## rubinthebetta (Oct 9, 2012)

I'm not the one who actually saw this,(a good friend saw it) but at one walmart, there were a bunch of fish dead on the shelf, not in water at all, and the rest were sick. Some were even coughing up blood! Luckily, my friend gave an employee there a good talking to. Now, when she goes to the betta section there, they just tell her to take 'em and she nurses them back to health then sells them. And to think that I was the one who got her into betta fish! :-D




ChoclateBetta said:


> Ours dont sell fish.


Very lucky for the bettas who would otherwise be there.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

My Petco says there Fiddler crabs are 22 generations removed from the wild and freshwater.


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## Jessie1990 (May 21, 2012)

The bettas are never exactly in good shape at my Walmart but my walmart actually got banned from keeping goldfish for about a month. This is the story about why they got banned:

My boyfriend will not go to Walmart anymore (he is not a fish person so this is pretty wierd) because one day I went to the fish section to see what they had and I saw that almost all the goldfish looked like their skin was falling off. I was horrified so I made my boyfriend go look the next day. Well, I'm not sure if they had some sort of flesh eating disease or if it was just REALLY bad fin rot, but some of the fish had exposed parts that you should not see. I will not go into details. Anyway, I was not allowed to visit the fish section anymore because I got so upset. I went in without the bf about a week later to see what was going on with the fish and all the fish were gone. I asked where they went and the boy said that they were banned from keeping goldfish do to negligence. I was so happy because i thought this was a permanent thing, but the goldfish are back and most of them have clamped fins and finrot. 

Another day, a mother brought her two children to pick out a fish for the community fish tank at school. I was browsing the decor section and stuck around to see what the kids picked out. Well... the mom pointed to the Parrot Ciclid tank and said "Oh lets get a goldfish!" I about face palmed literally but I decided to stay quiet and an employee came over and she said she wanted a goldfish and pointed at the Parrots again. The employee never told the lady that she was buying a pretty aggressive fish for the tank or that you wouldn't want a goldfish unless the tank was huge.

There are other bad things that have happened but these are the two that really stick out.


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## lexylex0526 (Dec 27, 2011)

Here's my story:

Last January I was at Walmart with my family buying some water conditioner when I noticed they had about 7 hardly filled cups with bettas in them. Three were dead and the rest looked extremely sick. One particularly caught my eye, she was a very small vt and she was laying on her side covered in her own feces. I knew I had a spare 1 gallon at home so I bought her. 

I released her into her tank not knowing what to expect. She was tiny and brown and looked slightly out of place in her new colorful home. She ate like she had never had food before and stayed near her heater as if she didn't know what heat was. I named her Pebbles.

I still have her today, and she is my little princess! She is a beautiful blue and red, and she has a ton of personality!!

I would agree Walmart is horrible to their fish, but luckily mine doesn't sell them anymore!


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

There is a petition against wal-mart to ban betta sales. It's for 100,000 signatures and I think with that many, they'll stop selling fish all together. If anyone is interested, I'm attaching the link because I'm tired of seeing dead fish being eaten by the living sick ones.

In IL, they weren't the BEST with the fish, but they at least took DECENT.... barely decent, care of the fish. The bettas normally didn't have dirty water, but it's been a year, so it could be better or worse.

http://www.change.org/petitions/walmart-stop-the-sale-and-abuse-of-betta-fish

Please sign it, every signature counts.


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## lexylex0526 (Dec 27, 2011)

hannah16 said:


> There is a petition against wal-mart to ban betta sales. It's for 100,000 signatures and I think with that many, they'll stop selling fish all together. If anyone is interested, I'm attaching the link because I'm tired of seeing dead fish being eaten by the living sick ones.
> 
> In IL, they weren't the BEST with the fish, but they at least took DECENT.... barely decent, care of the fish. The bettas normally didn't have dirty water, but it's been a year, so it could be better or worse.
> 
> ...


I signed!!


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

Great! Pass the link on through FB if you have one =]


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## Hershey (Sep 28, 2012)

Well, I got 2 Ct's from one of my wal-marts, (we have 2 nearby.) One of them is Cabanela, but the green and red one had a big open wound and didn't make it. Recently We swung by and a few of the Ct's were having a hard time breathing, dirty water and clamped fins. All Cabanela has is bloat (which I'm treating.)

I just think they should care more. I got a few of my sorority girls and they were fine. I actually think my petco is worse (but this is a wal-mart thread.)


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

It's any type of rant on a petstore. Mine was just walmart.


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## sunstar93 (Sep 6, 2012)

(I signed)
So I went today to Walmart to pick up bleach and vinegar (long story...basically i need it to clean out a tank) and wanted to just look at the pet section. Oh. My. Lord.
There was a cup with 2 DEAD BETTAS IN IT!! Someone had thought it would be funny to put them together and both of the boys were dead and still flared out...I nearly started crying and I don't ever cry at anything. And there were 3 other dead ones and their water was atrocious. I flagged down an employee I know works in the pet section and showed her the cups, especially the one with the two boys, and she just shrugged and said "yeah, we don't have time to do that right now". GAH!! Infuriating! I put their cup and about 4 others in the sink...I couldn't stand to look at them any more. Another girl walked by and saw three dead plecos in the goldfish tank and told the same lady and she told her, again, that they don't have time and that it was time for a water change. 

Another time I went and they had a pleco munching on a dead gourami and a ghost shrimp sitting on a gourami SKELETON...makes me sick.


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## Hershey (Sep 28, 2012)

Well, petco is where I got masami but he died the next day. Their fish were swimming on the side and most of them seemed scared. The healthy ones were more expensive. And all I saw was bloodworms in their cups.


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## Hershey (Sep 28, 2012)

sunstar93 said:


> (I signed)
> So I went today to Walmart to pick up bleach and vinegar (long story...basically i need it to clean out a tank) and wanted to just look at the pet section. Oh. My. Lord.
> There was a cup with 2 DEAD BETTAS IN IT!! Someone had thought it would be funny to put them together and both of the boys were dead and still flared out...I nearly started crying and I don't ever cry at anything. And there were 3 other dead ones and their water was atrocious. I flagged down an employee I know works in the pet section and showed her the cups, especially the one with the two boys, and she just shrugged and said "yeah, we don't have time to do that right now". GAH!! Infuriating! I put their cup and about 4 others in the sink...I couldn't stand to look at them any more. Another girl walked by and saw three dead plecos in the goldfish tank and told the same lady and she told her, again, that they don't have time and that it was time for a water change.
> 
> Another time I went and they had a pleco munching on a dead gourami and a ghost shrimp sitting on a gourami SKELETON...makes me sick.


-shudder-


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## whiskandbowl (Aug 21, 2012)

sunstar93 said:


> (I signed)
> . I flagged down an employee I know works in the pet section and showed her the cups, especially the one with the two boys, and she just shrugged and said "yeah, we don't have time to do that right now". GAH!! Infuriating!


This just makes my blood boil! Make some time, these are live animals you are supposed to be caring for! Ugh

Thankfully my Walmart hasn't had any bettas the last few times I've been there. Their cups are usually semi clean, but I'm sure most of them die before being sold.


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

I used to feel like WalxMart was the worst of the worst, but yesterday I nearly killed.
There's this store I'd never been into. Petland, they call it. And I walk in for thermometers, and because I'm curious. Very curious, by nature.
So, I find the fish. Unfortunately...
*They keep their bettas in cups, 2.5 inches in diameter, 3 inches high. I just measured.*
It's awful! Most of the boys were bigger than that. One could barely move, and the rays in his tail are all bent at a right angle where they grew into the plastic. One was completely pine-coned, but not quite dead, and another was in a vase about the size of a PetCo cup, but twice as tall, with an inch of water in it.... Needless to say, he couldn't move either, and I stood there until an employee saw me and asked if I needed help. I said, "Yes. These guys all need water. Now" and he got all defensive and said, "Actually they don't need much water" but added, after I felt my face turn purple "But I'll get them some more in just a minute"
He actually didn't intend to, but I was still standing there when he tried to slide by 10-15 minutes later. I watched him add water for everyone, and he was all surly about it, I wanted to slap him. 
But the -one- dragon they had (obviously he was in a vase because he was pretty like that) still couldn't swim. Every one of his fins was so curled that he had no coordination.
I brought three home. Two, because they called to me, and the third because the discount for 3 made him practically free. My boyfriend had to pick him, though. I never bring home fish that don't call out to me... I feel that it's very important never to keep a living being (plants included) that didn't instantly infect your heart. So I was having a hard time choosing who else to rescue when my boyfriend came looking for me, took one look and said "That one"


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## Hershey (Sep 28, 2012)

Chuckee said:


> I used to feel like WalxMart was the worst of the worst, but yesterday I nearly killed.
> There's this store I'd never been into. Petland, they call it. And I walk in for thermometers, and because I'm curious. Very curious, by nature.
> So, I find the fish. Unfortunately...
> *They keep their bettas in cups, 2.5 inches in diameter, 3 inches high. I just measured.*
> ...


Very sad. :c


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

I feel the need to add that our 3 nearest WalxMarts aren't too bad with their fish. Honestly, I have been into some that made me sick, but these ones are clean, albeit bare. There was an incident at one where the heating system went out in the middle of the night and the shock killed most of the fish, but they had it all cleaned up, plus set up hidey-holes for the stressed out fish that had to live through it, when i went back, like, 5 hours later (curiousity, you see?)
And I know two of the employees at the little WalxMart up the road, who love fish. One I knew before she got the job, and the other I met while he was in the process of quarantining and treating two fish. Most actual pet stores don't even bother with that!!
The other one is the worst of the 3, but they have less tanks and variety, too. And they're still not too bad.


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

Hershey said:


> Very sad. :c


I was so angry I wanted to cry. I don't cry, but I was so close to it.

I'm very into Life. I grew up completely immersed in It. There weren't any other kids around, except my brothers. There weren't even usually adults around. So, when I have to confront the POV that "It's just a fish/plant/animal/bug" I get so angry and jaded.
It's alive. Many of them even more so than human beings, despite "our" need to see ourselves as #1 Species. We're pathetic next to -many- species. And that is why we're so disgustingly selfish. It hurts to be reminded of that.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Petco keeps Fiddlers in freshwater.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

Wow. Well, today I had to run back to walmart because one of the products I purchased wasn't working. (Went late for nothing) and stopped to look at the goldfish. Their were many dead ones, and the smaller one Ryukin ? goldfish, had like... skin from from there eyes in large bubbles.. I've seen GF with large eyes but these didn't look right. And the last 5 times I've been to Walmart they've had the same dead fish in the tanks.

My boyfriend was really disgusted and told the manager he was fed up with seeing dead fish. Remember that pink/purple VT I mentioned in the beginning of this thread? Alex couldn't leave him. He told the manager to bag him up and we'd take him. So, now we'll have 3 babies when our other fish from Polu arrives. He seems healthy, vibrant even. So I hope he makes it. I really do.

Does anyone know Walmarts fish policy? I think it's 3 days right?

Edit: He wasn't in a cup, he was in one of those plastic containers they hook on the side of the tank when pulling fish out to bag 'em up. I don't know why.... but that is why he was bagged.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

My Petco used to keep applesnails and goldfish together.


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## a123andpoof (Apr 10, 2010)

My walmart is so up and down with there fish care. When they get new shipments everyones water is cleaned. And sometimes even more often then other times it goes weeks. But I find all my best boys and girls there. I feel sorry for all the females though as they usually only have wild types, so they don't get bought to often.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Wild type lucky.


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## a123andpoof (Apr 10, 2010)

Well wild coloring.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

^ That's a pretty girl. But sadly, most people just want the bright colors.


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## a123andpoof (Apr 10, 2010)

yeah, I know its pretty sad.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

Personally, I can understand wanting the pretty colors, but that doesn't mean the wild colors should be left to die =[


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## a123andpoof (Apr 10, 2010)

Yeah no me to. But I don't mind the wild colors either.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Carter does not have pretty colors and he is awesome.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

All fish are wonderful <3


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Except the evil fish in pet stores.


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## allucity (Nov 28, 2012)

Well, this isn't in a WalMart store anywhere (I don't think Canadian WalMart stores sell any livestocks, thank God!), but this is in a LFS near me. They had 20-30 betta fishes in cups where they are left in basically a shelf along with aquarium supplies. I was angered because they placed it there as if the betta fishes were not as special as the other fishes. They were in cups and most of them were sick, depressed, or dead. Though the water quality was okay, I was still so pissed about it. I saw this small halfmoon, he was blue-bodied; red fins with green outlines; the only problem with him is that he has a small wound on his right side. He reacted very well when I stopped infront of the shelves and I felt an instant want to take care of him and treat his wound. I took him home and now he's in a ten gallon tank enjoying the spacious, clean water. I've been adding aquarium salt and additives to treat his wound (his wound before I got him was bigger, and now it kind of decreased in size, and his blue scales are starting to clot over it) hopefully he'll be in great condition at the end of the week. I'm planning to get him his own tank mates this weekend.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

20-30 store wise there not selling alot which is good.


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## Solaris (Dec 2, 2012)

I live in Canada, and the Canadian Walmarts are no longer allowed to sell pet fish. 

But, there (obviously) are other places to get them. One place that actually does pretty well is a pet store called Safari. They keep the Bettas in glass mason jars. 
Another place, however, is called Nature Pet. They're really great for equipment and such, but the fish are often in bad shape. They're kept in these little plastic cups, probably half the size of the mason jars at Safari. 

Before I knew anything about Bettas, I went with my aunt because she wanted to get one. Most of them were so still, we thought they were dead! We asked the guy there if they were okay, and he said that Bettas weren't supposed to move around a lot! I believed him then because I thought he was supposed to know what he was talking about.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

I went to Wal-Mart today, and as always stopped by the fish. Most had clean water, but the three needed water changes. No employees were in sight so I took it upon my self to change their water. I wish I had the set up to get them =[


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

hannah16 said:


> I went to Wal-Mart today, and as always stopped by the fish. Most had clean water, but the three needed water changes. No employees were in sight so I took it upon my self to change their water. I wish I had the set up to get them =[


That's generally what I do when there's a sink near the unattended bettas. Once, I used bottled water, but I usually don't have that on me.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

They have a filter tap connected to their sink, and I just stand there and do the water changes. Really don't care if they see me. Or I use the "betta bottle" water.


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## sunstar93 (Sep 6, 2012)

It's so sad how some people/corporations are uneducated about the animals, or just don't care about them....its honestly disgusting. It breaks my heart to even think about all the ones left behind on the shelf when I leave the store :'(


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

sunstar93 said:


> It's so sad how some people/corporations are uneducated about the animals, or just don't care about them....its honestly disgusting. It breaks my heart to even think about all the ones left behind on the shelf when I leave the store :'(


What I don't understand is why they don't advertise WANTING knowledgeable staff! Really, do not understand why they hire semi-educated people for these jobs.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I dont get why stores order more than they can sale.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

I don't understand that either. I read some where Polu heard that petstores buy bettas for like $1 a fish? Well, if they bu $50 worth of fish, and $25 of them die, they're still wasting money =/ Not to mention wasting valuable lives.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I have heard they get them .50 each.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

Really? ....

Even so, not a good reason to neglect them..


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

In thialand thats like 150 in there currency.


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