# Seriously, Petco, what the hell?



## berceuse (Feb 4, 2013)

So I went to Petco to buy my sister a fish and saw they had an elephant ear for sale. I've been wanting to buy one for a long time now, but when I picked up the cup I was greeted with this. 









One of his eyes is halfway rotted out, his fins look like **** and he just looked miserable. I mentioned his state to an employee and he just took him and left him on a sink. So I grabbed him super quick and decided to buy him. At the register the girl kept telling me "Oh he's active, and healthy I'm sure he'll be fine." 

That doesn't even BEGIN to excuse the fact that he is in this state in the first place.


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## Seaman2012 (Feb 20, 2013)

That's awful


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## angus (Apr 13, 2012)

I hope he heals up with you!


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## Hail0788 (Feb 14, 2013)

Poor boy.  Thank god you saved him and hopefully he heals fast.


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## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

What the ****?!


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

you havent seen the little blue baggies that they are shipped in then... its abysmal to say the least.


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## blueridge (Jul 1, 2011)

Poor guy. I would have been terrible to leave him at that sink.


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## waterdog (Dec 31, 2012)

None of these places give a d** about the animals. They are just product like a can of dog food.


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Petco better not have charged you the $30-$40 they charge for EEs in this area. The poor guy is in horrendous conditions. It's despicable. He looks like he would have been a really nice betta.

I sincerely hope he pulls through and heals.


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## berceuse (Feb 4, 2013)

They actually charged me $20 which is full price here. Worth it if I can keep him alive.


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## waterdog (Dec 31, 2012)

$30-$40 for an EE??????????????
Here they are 19.99


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## bettabunny (Jan 3, 2013)

Aww.  Poor thing. One of the Petcos by my house had popeye. I pointed it out to someone and they told me the fish guy will be in tomorrow and he will help him. I said okay. I'm going back there today to see if he's feeling better I hope so. If he's not I'll probably take the poor guy home with me.


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## gill2 (Sep 17, 2012)

Poor poor fish. I cant imagine how he feels.Its so sad. Please keep us all updated on how he does.


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Warm, clean water will do him a lot of good. Bettas are really resilient.



waterdog said:


> $30-$40 for an EE??????????????
> Here they are 19.99


I don't know... The list price flucuates, but that's the approximate price on Petco's website and I've seen them labeled that much in-store last time I went (I don't go there that often though). Maybe it's where I live. The few times I've been out of state, I've noticed prices not being as high as here.


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## juju (Jan 29, 2013)

I've seen dead bettas sitting on the shelf at Petco. Obviously they don't pay attention to them at all.


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## BeautifulBetta123 (Aug 27, 2012)

Please keep us updated on how he heals I want to see how the poor guy turns out.


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## MoonShadow (Feb 29, 2012)

Poor guy!!! I would have bought him to!! He's going to be gorgeous all healed up! Keep us updated please!


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## Tabbie82 (Jan 24, 2013)

That is so terrible. I am glad you took him home. Keep us updated on how he is.


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## madmonahan (Aug 26, 2012)

That is so horrible...:shake:
I hope he makes it now that he's got a good home!
Keep us updated!


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## blu the betta (Dec 31, 2012)

thank god you saved him. i hope he pulls through.


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## BulletToothBoris (Jan 8, 2013)

This should be against the law.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

I would have raised hell, that's not an overnight condition he has, that took like a week or better to happen I would have gotten him at a big discount or free, I have seen dead ones floating in cups that looked in better condition than him, keep us posted on how he is doing...


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

That is pretty normal for Petco, sadly.

I frequently get ammonia reading this bad in their cups









That reading belonged to this guy









who made an AMAZING recovery with just clean, warm water


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## kyle89 (Mar 1, 2013)

Poor little guy. I hope he gets better. Pleas keep us up to date. We must have gotten lucky and got to pick from a new batch f bettas t PETCO. His water was clean and he was happy


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

And people wonder why I call all the places I shop at and find out their fish delivery day, walmarts from what I know are on thursday, petsmart on wensday, petco thursday, So when I fish shop I try to get in on the new ones before they get all sick and damaged by lack of care, but I still will rescue one here and there, it's hard not too....


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## kyle89 (Mar 1, 2013)

Well that explains it. We went Thursday afternoon to pick her fish out


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

At the rate the petstores have dead fish (which I've seen more at PetCo than at Walmart, shockingly) and they brush off the obviously sick ones, I'm thinking a little shock tactic may be in order.

go in, find the dead ones (if they're fuzzy, even better), load 'em up into the cart, place a couple sick bettas in the seat of the cart, and 1-2 healthy ones for comparison.

Find a manager, complain about sick fish, when they say they're "fine", hold up dead fish (this is where a really fuzzy one would be perfect). Ask if they're fine too...

Or, take a dead one up to the register and pretend you're going to buy it. Give it a cheezy name like "fluffy" or "rover". When they point out that it's dead, tell them it looked better than all of the sick ones on the shelf!

Idk, I think I'm grasping at straws for a way that the dead ones can still make a difference for the living, so their death isn't in vain.


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## MiyuMikaelson (Feb 4, 2013)

Definitely keep us updated on this little guy! Fingers crossed he makes it!


Everytime I go to my PetCo I inspect the betta's and if one of them looks to have an ailment, I bring the cup directly to the fish guy. I can understand how he can get overwhelmed and miss 1 or 2 because the company sends our PetCo 50+ and he has the other freshwater & saltwater fish to tend to. (He really is awesome with our fish for the conditions they have to stay in.)


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## konstargirl (Mar 9, 2010)

I'll keep him in my thoughts. Please keep us updated..


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## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

Things like this make me so angry! DX

The way these stores treat their betta fish is so infuriating, and so illegal. This is animal abuse! 

Good on you for rescuing~ please keep us updated! I hope he makes a speedy recovery!


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## Sea Dragon (Mar 20, 2012)

At least in California, the idea of keeping vertebrates (including fish) in decrepit conditions is illegal, but petstores find a loophole around this by saying that this is all "temporary" housing =_=


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## Karebear13 (Jan 23, 2012)

that is sickening! hope that guy recovers! he will be beautiful!


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

Oh my gosh, that's horrendous! Poor baby. I hope he gets better. Keep us posted please. 

It's terrible how people at petstores don't give ten cents for their bettas (I would've used stronger language, but I'll leave it at this). Sometimes it's just so frustrating!


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## Artemis (Mar 9, 2013)

You guys must have bad PetCos. Mine is good with bettas, relatively. I have been there but once and found 2 dead fish. They move them in winter so they don't get cold by the doors. Lucky Stars has a great recovery. I'm working on my first rescue Dominic. Some places are awful. Mine takes good care of their fish as far as pet stores go. No 10 gal per fish but not the worst I have seen by far.

Any updates on him?


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

i can't see the picture....

but i totally get ya'll. the Big Ears are way overpriced, but they're still 'new'. HMs used to cost that much, once upon a time, and on AB, Big Ears still cost a good bit.


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## SamJustice (May 5, 2012)

Mine's alright with Bettas, not the best, but never any really bad off.
EEs are only like 14.99 here most the time.


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## Pinnacle94 (Feb 18, 2013)

I can't see the picture but it sounds horrible enough by the description. I can't help but feel the common idea you see on this forum of saving the fish is a good idea. It seems to be a common thing and you are giving them the sale, which means they will continue to treat fish terribly. If you want the abuse to stop you are better off not buying and trying to convince others the same. For every fish you save you encourage another, or maybe even more, to be bred in it's place and sold via the same horrible means.


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## bettafishgirl (Mar 29, 2013)

Thats terrible! How is he doing?


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