# UGH! My heart!!



## Tsuhei (Nov 26, 2010)

So I was walking through Walmart last night..needed to get some snacks and whatnot...and decided to take a look at the fish section.

My heart sank.

I saw a bunch of bettas in small dirty cups..and to my surprise, a full crowntail BLACK ORCHID! I hesitated, knowing that if I bought him, that I'd be supporting Walmart. Before I could make my decision, two rambunctious little girls started running shouting "FISHIIIIIES!"; "I KNOW WHAT I WANT FOR X-MAS!! IM GONNA ASK FOR A BETTA!"

I grit my teeth, watching the two little snots grab the fish, then proceeding to SHAKE the containers. SHAKE. I knew the first one they grabbed too was the black orchid. I wanted to snatch that container from their grubby little hands.

Not wanting an assault lawsuit pressed against me by their ignorant parents, I painfully walked away. I want to go back and see if the little guy is still there or alive. What do I do?


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## eclover09 (Oct 1, 2010)

Ugh, little people >< I would have snatched it from her, but then again I have lots of nieces, so I'm used of saying "NO DON'T DO THAT!" And taking things from children lol. 

If it was a legit black orchid, I would go back and see if he's there and get him. I never see fish like that at the walmarts around my house, that would be a absolute dream.


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## demonicangel132007 (Nov 27, 2010)

I just now realized that the Bettas in my Wal-Mart are kind of hidden, and are kept way up out of the reach of children but that doesn't help the other fish. I almost screamed at a little kid one night a couple of weeks ago because he decided he was going to tap on the glass in front of his parents. If my brother hadn't dragged me away (he's bigger & stronger than me) I would have. Where were the parents when the little girls did that I wonder?


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Luckily, I have never, ever seen a child or adult shake a betta cup. If I ever see such a thing, I think I'd lose it.... or probably just snatch it from their hands and try to explain without yelling that that isn't good.

I say go back for a look, and possibly get the little guy if you have time, space and a proper set up for him


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## Tsuhei (Nov 26, 2010)

I do have a 1.5 gallon tank and a small 1 gallon hospital tank available, and I have enough space for two more fish if I really, really wanted to. I'm just hesitant to get him because I'm not sure how hard it is to care for a crowntail and the fact that I'm obsessed with plakats.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Crowntail care is just the same as any other betta, though their rays tend to curl in harder water... but that only bugs the owner, I doubt they really care if their fins are a bit curly.


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## Tsuhei (Nov 26, 2010)

THOSE LITTLE BRATS!!

I went back to check on him. Possibly buy him. He's dead. The little monsters KILLED him. I honestly HATE kids that do that crap! I hope those kids don't get any pets for Christmas! :evil:


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## Miharu (Dec 6, 2010)

Poor thing!! Go back and see!! If it was me I would have stayed there until the kids left, and if the ct was still there, I would have grabbed him and ran! Haha

I used to work in the pet section of a wal-mart (about 3 years ago) and I can't tell you how many times I would get to work only to find 2 or 3 male bettas in one cup, or a bowl in the sink with a bunch of male bettas dumped into it!

edit: Whoops nevermind! Poor guy!! Thats so sad! :-(


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## demonicangel132007 (Nov 27, 2010)

People wonder why I prefer animals to humans. Poor little guy.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

>.< Those little brats. Honestly, I can't believe their parents would them them shake a cup with a living animal in it! I'm willing to bet the parents would have had a cow if they'd done that to a box with kittens in it, but a fish... no it's just a fish! 

Ugh, I'm sorry Tsuhie.  Poor crowntail.


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## demonicangel132007 (Nov 27, 2010)

Before my LPS was shut down they had signs posted all over the store that says if you hurt one of the animals you HAVE to buy it and would not be allowed back in the store. It wasn't that big so it was easy to enforce those rules.


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## chavist93 (Oct 20, 2010)

Tsuhei said:


> two little snots





Tsuhei said:


> their grubby little hands.





Tsuhei said:


> THOSE LITTLE BRATS!!!





Tsuhei said:


> I honestly HATE kids that do that crap!





JKfish said:


> >.< Those little brats.


I am honestly shocked at the hostility and childishness from the posts in this thread. They are KIDS and obviously don't know any better. It's not in any way their fault. This is no way to speak of children.

In all likelyhood the poor conditions are what killed it. I'm sure they endure much more shaking on their journey to Walmart.


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## Tsuhei (Nov 26, 2010)

chavist93 said:


> I am honestly shocked at the hostility and childishness from the posts in this thread. They are KIDS and obviously don't know any better. It's not in any way their fault. This is no way to speak of children.
> 
> In all likelyhood the poor conditions are what killed it. I'm sure they endure much more shaking on their journey to Walmart.


I examined him before the little kids got to him. He was the most active of them all without any ailments. If they're kids, then their parents should have taught them BETTER how to treat a LIVING CREATURE! They were probably 12 years old. That's old enough to understand their wrongdoing! And their parents should have intervened but they DIDN'T. 

They treated the fish INHUMANELY. Children with proper parenting usually learn NOT to kill or put a life in danger before age ten. They were the ones that grabbed the fish. They were the ones that shook the fish. They were the ones that killed the CT I was looking at. Explain the blood I saw in the cup. Explain the eyeball at the bottom. I'm pretty sure poor water conditions don't do that. I wanted to leave out those details, but I guess it can't be helped now, can it?

Tell me, whose fault is it that that poor fish died? Fish are no different from other pets. Tell that to serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and the Columbine killers.

http://cats.about.com/cs/crueltyconnection/a/cruelty.htm

http://thebosun.wordpress.com/2006/08/01/serial-killers-and-animal-abuse/

I guess after they hurt another human being after being cruel to an animal is justification for calling them "monsters", hm?


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## Creat (Dec 6, 2010)

Yeah I have seen that happen I actually took the cup out of their hands and the parents got mad at me and I was like well maybe you should teach your kids not to abuse animals... sometimes I hate walmart I usually go into the big chain petshops and find all the dead ones and stack them up usually like 10ish and carry them to the front of the store to some helpless cashier and say "i think these are dead." I did that enough at one petco that they started moving their betta into the tanks so each freshwater tank had a betta in it XD
poor crowntail if it was a black orchid that would have been quite a find


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## SemioticSleep (Mar 31, 2010)

Even though you don't want to support walmart you should still buy fish from them you'll be rescuing them more than anything. That goes for any pet store Petco is just as worse.


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## Nutt007 (Sep 22, 2009)

Tsuhei said:


> I examined him before the little kids got to him. He was the most active of them all without any ailments. If they're kids, then their parents should have taught them BETTER how to treat a LIVING CREATURE! They were probably 12 years old. That's old enough to understand their wrongdoing! And their parents should have intervened but they DIDN'T.
> 
> They treated the fish INHUMANELY. Children with proper parenting usually learn NOT to kill or put a life in danger before age ten. They were the ones that grabbed the fish. They were the ones that shook the fish. They were the ones that killed the CT I was looking at. Explain the blood I saw in the cup. Explain the eyeball at the bottom. I'm pretty sure poor water conditions don't do that. I wanted to leave out those details, but I guess it can't be helped now, can it?
> 
> ...


I wholly agree with this post. I would understand if they were 3 or 4 or had some mental condition, but this, this is just terrifying! They shook him so hard that he was bleeding! I have seen plenty of Bettas beat up from tail biting or aggressive activity and not once have I ever, I mean EVER, seen blood. That means he basically was EXPLODED. If I had the ability to, I would track these girls down and give them a very mean lecture. (The again I am 12 and I probably live far from your place...) :-?


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

Tsuhei said:


> I examined him before the little kids got to him. He was the most active of them all without any ailments. If they're kids, then their parents should have taught them BETTER how to treat a LIVING CREATURE! They were probably 12 years old. That's old enough to understand their wrongdoing! And their parents should have intervened but they DIDN'T.
> 
> They treated the fish INHUMANELY. Children with proper parenting usually learn NOT to kill or put a life in danger before age ten. They were the ones that grabbed the fish. They were the ones that shook the fish. They were the ones that killed the CT I was looking at. Explain the blood I saw in the cup. Explain the eyeball at the bottom. I'm pretty sure poor water conditions don't do that. I wanted to leave out those details, but I guess it can't be helped now, can it?
> 
> ...


Amen!!!


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## chavist93 (Oct 20, 2010)

There is just too much to respond to in your post. I'm going to just leave it at that. If you are an adult and you think that is a proper way to talk about a child (12 is very much a child) then so be it.

Oh and shopping at Walmart is supporting Walmart. May as well buy a Betta.


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## Tsuhei (Nov 26, 2010)

Nutt007 said:


> I wholly agree with this post. I would understand if they were 3 or 4 or had some mental condition, but this, this is just terrifying! They shook him so hard that he was bleeding! I have seen plenty of Bettas beat up from tail biting or aggressive activity and not once have I ever, I mean EVER, seen blood. That means he basically was EXPLODED. If I had the ability to, I would track these girls down and give them a very mean lecture. (The again I am 12 and I probably live far from your place...) :-?


Well seeing that your signature says you live somewhere around Pluto... :lol:

@chavist93: There's a difference when it comes to buying from Walmart and buying a fish from Walmart. If a store, any store, can't get rid of stock of a certain item, they stop buying it because they aren't making a profit. 

I understand that I'm just one person that doesn't buy betta fish from Walmart, but each person makes a difference. In many examples in American history, one person (or vote) can make a huge difference. Eventually, not necessarily now, people will realize how cruel Walmart is to their fish. So no, I won't go out and buy a betta. I'd rather see their live fish section close down.

As for talking about children, I guess it's your own opinion on how you want to talk about them. Times have changed, unfortunately. Kids aren't respectful of a lot of things lately, including animals, adults, and each other. It's not like I'm targeting every child in the world. Just two kids that performed an extremely cruel act against a fish in front of me. I personally love kids. I want to start a family when I'm ready. But if you want to assume that I'm attacking every child in the world, go for it. It's not worth wasting my breath and my education on justifying my answer.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Chavist: very nice piece of propaganda... Anyways, I have nothing against small children. At all. I have two younger siblings and I babysit frequently, so it's not like I'm some girl who detests small kids. However, let me tell you. When my little brother was 2. two years old, he knew to go "nice nice" to the animals, be they scaled, slimy or furred. And it's not like he lives in a zoo. We've just got a dog, that's it (apart from recently bettas), and we as a family made sure he understood not to be mean. There are plenty of normal toddlers out there that know doing stuff like that is bad. unless they were like 1 years old (in which case they probably wouldn't be able to speak in full sentences or even reach the betta cups), that is horrible behavior, which the parents should have stopped.

Now we know the kids were older than that, maybe teens, that makes it worse. 

Edit: and I don't talk about them like that unless it comes to horrible things like this. In this case, they really are brats, though that doesn't mean I have much against them. (I love my little sis, but somtimes when she throws half temper tantrums, she can be a brat) Believe me, I know kids can be cute and cuddly and so adorable, but really... 12 is not quite a child, still a kid, but not a teen. by that age they should have common sense. My 11 year old sister has more morals than that


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

chavist93 said:


> I am honestly shocked at the hostility and childishness from the posts in this thread. They are KIDS and obviously don't know any better. It's not in any way their fault. This is no way to speak of children.
> 
> In all likelyhood the poor conditions are what killed it. I'm sure they endure much more shaking on their journey to Walmart.


I hope you dont mind me asking...But how would you feel if two kids who obviously didnt know any better started to shake one of your bettas and decided.. "hey this is fun...lets see if it bleeds..maybe we can pop its eye out.." how would you handle that situation..?


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## chavist93 (Oct 20, 2010)

JK, I understand what you are saying. However your siblings were obviously raised properly and taught at a very young age how to treat an animal. We cannot assume at all have proper parenting, if any.


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## chavist93 (Oct 20, 2010)

crowntail lover said:


> I hope you dont mind me asking...But how would you feel if two kids who obviously didnt know any better started to shake one of your bettas and decided.. "hey this is fun...lets see if it bleeds..maybe we can pop its eye out.." how would you handle that situation..?


I don't mind at all. In reality there is not much I could do other than ask them to stop and teach them the proper way to handle the fish.


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

It still is not right for and child of any age to treat any type of animal that way.. No matter how they were raised.. They do have common sense...and common sense doesnt tell use to shake a cup with a live animal in it..


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Chavist: True, but most kids, even those without proper parenting have some forms of empathy or morals, or _something_ that tells them, hey this isn't right. I know there are kids like that out there that should know better but don't seem to, but for the most part, even kids without good parenting know better.


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Yes, those kids acted immaturely and should have known better. I would have had a talk with them and possibly even their parents. Why didn't YOU? YOU witnessed the situation. You COULD have done something about it. So lets not act the victim and toss the blame to someone else. 

And, Lets not blow it out of proportion. A fish can die a much more gruesome death at the hands of a predator. In the end a life is a life. What's the difference between the life of a betta and the salmon you carve up on your plate during dinner?


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## crowntail lover (Apr 25, 2009)

Alex09 said:


> Yes, those kids acted immaturely and should have known better. I would have had a talk with them and possibly even their parents. Why didn't YOU? YOU witnessed the situation. You COULD have done something about it. So lets not act the victim and toss the blame to someone else.
> 
> And, Lets not blow it out of proportion. A fish can die a much more gruesome death at the hands of a predator. In the end a life is a life. What's the difference between the life of a betta and the salmon you carve up on your plate during dinner?


I dont like Salmon.. lol. I understand what you are saying.. But sometimes you cant just go up to kid and tell them to stop with there parents right there.. I personally would have.. But thats just me..


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## Tsuhei (Nov 26, 2010)

Alex09 said:


> Yes, those kids acted immaturely and should have known better. I would have had a talk with them and possibly even their parents. Why didn't YOU? YOU witnessed the situation. You COULD have done something about it. So lets not act the victim and toss the blame to someone else.
> 
> And, Lets not blow it out of proportion. A fish can die a much more gruesome death at the hands of a predator. In the end a life is a life. What's the difference between the life of a betta and the salmon you carve up on your plate during dinner?


Because mommy and daddy could have said that I "assaulted" them if I took the cup away. They could start a fight with me. I'm a very, very small person. 5'3'' woman vs. two parents that are maybe half a foot taller than I am didn't seem very smart. And I'm not the child's parents. And I'm not acting like a victim. The real victim is the fish.

The difference between a betta fish and a salmon is the fact that a Betta is regularly sold as a pet. Something we can empathize with. Something we can pour love and affection into. We really can't do that with a live salmon because they're wild and undomesticated. 

I'm also not saying anything about predators in this post. I understand, for example, that a cat can eat a betta fish. However, the situation was two children that shook a betta and killed it. In fact, the children were technically the predator in this situation. Just because they didn't eat it or eviscerate it doesn't mean that it wasn't cruel or their fault.

EDIT: In a predator prey situation, the prey has a chance to flee and protect itself. This fish was in a cup without a place to hide. That's unfair.


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## eclover09 (Oct 1, 2010)

In this day in age, you really DO have to be careful about what you do to children with parents around. Even though I would have said something and took the cup away, if the parents would have jumped in angrily, I would have backed off regardless how bad I feel about the fish.

Once in a pet store, they have a open pen with bunnies in it, and this child kept yanking on the rabbits ears and laughing cruelly about it, enough that the rabbit would squeal and as a person who has owned several rabbits, takes a lot to make a rabbit make such a sound. The parents were there and I intervened and told the child, of course nicely, that that wasn't very nice to the poor bunny and tried to gently remove his hand from yanking at the rabbits ears as it squirmed. The parents threw a HUGE fit, and complained to the manager that I "slapped" there child's hands away and yelled at him. Luckily a store employee was watching and vouched for me, but the fact of the matter is, you seriously have to be careful about intervening. Parents these day can be absolutely awful, worse then the children.

And as a vegetarian, even I know the difference between the life of a salmon and the life of a Betta. Totally different. 

And children or not children, people who truly have morals, raised or not raised to have them, just don't do things like that. My neice is FOUR with ADHD, my sister has certainly never told her to be kind to animals and this is a child who brutalizes her toys, and yet when she was here for christmas last year and I was changing my fishes water, she got mad when I was taking him upstairs in his little cup because she said I was shaking him too much and thought I would make him sicky. So I think if a four year old knows to be nice to a fish, a twelve year old certainly should know better whether there parents taught them to be nice to animals or not.


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

You really have to watch what you say around children anymore; I used to teach dance classes to three and four year olds. If you even say something sternly to a child or even grab the child's wrist to stop them from running and screaming around the room, the parents will be on you like a pack of wolves...

I don't blame Tsuhei, it can be very difficult to stand up to two parents, you wouldn't believe the dirty looks and complaints I have got from parents for bringing their child out of the classroom to them because they were misbehaving. Just suggesting to parents that they should punish their own child is enough to get you in trouble anymore.

The children were 12, they are definitely at past the age of accountability. These kids are probably 7th graders, WAY old enough to know the difference between right and wrong.

It's just sickening to me when people do stuff like that... it's so hard to make a fish bleed, they must have literally slammed him against the walls of that cup


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## tsoto80 (Nov 26, 2010)

Did the parents just stand there and watch the kids do this? If you felt intimidated by the parents then I understand and you may have been in shock. The parents are to blame for their kids careless behavior. When I was that age I treated animals with love and respect because my mom taught me to do so. Some kids dont care about other living beings because they were not taught right from wrong so as they get older their violence became more aggresive. Kids in my neighborhood use to do unthinkable things to cats on 4th of July. Parents were no where in site. Blame the parents in the store not the naive kids.


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## DormDrax (Dec 1, 2010)

REALLY don't want to post this... but... 

These are from Saturday when I purchased Drax's tank. 

If you get enraged easily when seeing Betta's in small containers... don't look and scroll down. 

Honestly... I wanted to buy all of them >.< 









STACKED?! Don't worry... I unstacked any that were... 









Some containers didn't even have holes... 









The one on the right... Drax's Long Lost Brother????? haha


I have no idea what an Orchid Betta looks like as the thread was started about... just here 90% of them were very pretty... but depressed looking and just sat at the bottom. 

That all being said... this is were Drax came from and you all already know the problems he had with his eye and I'm pampering him! I feel bad if some of these guys/girls go off to uncaring parents as gifts to their spoiled children. 
One kid did come by... but thankfully he had a stern mother! She wouldn't let him touch any of the containers, only that he could LOOK at them. 
YEAH FOR STRICT PARENTS!


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## demonicangel132007 (Nov 27, 2010)

DormDrax said:


> REALLY don't want to post this... but...
> 
> These are from Saturday when I purchased Drax's tank.
> 
> ...


WOW! That is a lot of Betta's. I'm not entirely sure if I like that set-up. My Wal-Mart only gets a handful of them in at a time and are kept on these racks over the sink between the Warm Water fish and the Cold Water fish, with not enough room to stack them. It looks like someone had picked them up, looked at them, and then put them back anywhere like everything else at Wal-Mart. Kind of like this.


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## DormDrax (Dec 1, 2010)

demonicangel132007 said:


> WOW! That is a lot of Betta's. I'm not entirely sure if I like that set-up. My Wal-Mart only gets a handful of them in at a time and are kept on these racks over the sink between the Warm Water fish and the Cold Water fish, with not enough room to stack them. It looks like someone had picked them up, looked at them, and then put them back anywhere like everything else at Wal-Mart. Kind of like this.


This was Petsmart... whats worse... it was cold in there. Maybe 70F at best.


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## baylee767 (Nov 5, 2010)

Chavist: I don't like how you assume 12 year olds are just too young to know any better. Many members on this site are in the 11-14 year old range, and they ALL know that you don't harm a living creature for no good reason. I believe you said something about how fish are killed by predators in the wild? Well, in the wild they aren't killed for no reason, they're killed for food purpose. I'd rather have a Betta die at the hands of a starving predator that will die with out food than at the hands of some 12 year olds just killing the poor thing and walking away.

Minor rant Xl Those kids should learn. I'm 13 so I could probably get them to stop without parents jumping on me but to be honest most parents loosen up after 12 years, so you can tell them to stop usually. 

It's so sad those poor Bettas had to die an unnecessary death )=


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

I agree with you Baylee, I feel like most 12 year olds should know better, even if their parents didn't teach them properly. Most middle schoolers KNOW right from wrong, even if they don't always do the right thing  Unless those girls had something mentally wrong with them, they should have known better...

Sadly, those betta cups are 2-3 times larger than what my local pet store and Walmart use :'(


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

To clarify: I do not agree with what these kids did. It was horrible and uncalled for. But, all I meant to say is that you guys sometimes tend to get too sentimental about this. 

And how exactly is the life of a salmon different from that of a betta? Is it just because we eat it? That doesn't change the fact that they both ended up dead. I honestly doubt that the fish cares what we did to its body AFTER we killed it. That is, IF the fish was an intelligent and emotional being; which its not. I think thats the problem here, we get too attached to our pets. We make them human in our heads when in fact they are not. My mom pampers our dog and treats him like a baby. I show him who's boss. Who do you think he obeys? Don't think I'm all cold and heartless; Would I get upset if he was to get run over and killed later on today? Yes. He's been a part of my family for several years and I have grown to love him in a way. Would I be upset if Sherman (my betta) was to die later today? Not really...


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

DormDrax said:


> REALLY don't want to post this... but...
> 
> These are from Saturday when I purchased Drax's tank.
> 
> ...


 
This is exactly what my walmart looked like the other day and it broke my heart. they never have so many bettas, usually just 10-15. and to walk abck there and see this exact thing made me want to cry.


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## Tsuhei (Nov 26, 2010)

Alex09 said:


> To clarify: I do not agree with what these kids did. It was horrible and uncalled for. But, all I meant to say is that you guys sometimes tend to get too sentimental about this.
> 
> And how exactly is the life of a salmon different from that of a betta? Is it just because we eat it? That doesn't change the fact that they both ended up dead. I honestly doubt that the fish cares what we did to its body AFTER we killed it. That is, IF the fish was an intelligent and emotional being; which its not. I think thats the problem here, we get too attached to our pets. We make them human in our heads when in fact they are not. My mom pampers our dog and treats him like a baby. I show him who's boss. Who do you think he obeys? Don't think I'm all cold and heartless; Would I get upset if he was to get run over and killed later on today? Yes. He's been a part of my family for several years and I have grown to love him in a way. Would I be upset if Sherman (my betta) was to die later today? Not really...


Does it matter if a fish can or cannot feel emotions? I understand it's a hot topic for debate, but a pet is a pet. It's something again we can pour love and affection into. However, a fish CAN feel PAIN. Why do you think a fish squirms violently if you squeeze it hard enough or swims as if it's seizing if you shake its container violently?

I'm sure you would feel upset if your betta died though, regardless if you say you wouldn't. I'm not saying you empathize with it and give it human emotions and characteristics, but that you put a lot of time and effort into it. You care for it. You'd feel something, if not some sort of sorrow. 

I'm mainly upset because of the children's behavior. As in one of my previous posts, animal abuse can be related to minor and very serious criminal offenses. The underlying emotion of this topic is directed at the two children who killed this betta. How they should know what a living creature is and the fact it can feel pain. Lacking that sort of empathy as a child shows that something is wrong. It bothers me. Rather, it upsets me that I had to witness such behavior that wasn't stopped by their parents (who were present) that coincidentally involved a betta fish. So removing all empathy to relate to your concerns, I posted this topic because it involved a betta fish. This is a betta fish forum, after all.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure everyone would have a very different perspective on this situation if I said that I saw two children shake and beat a puppy to death until its eyes came out of its head while they ignored its yelps and screams of terror and pain. But who am I to make such a wild accusation?


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## DormDrax (Dec 1, 2010)

Alex09 said:


> My mom pampers our dog and treats him like a baby. I show him who's boss. Who do you think he obeys? Don't think I'm all cold and heartless; Would I get upset if he was to get run over and killed later on today? Yes. He's been a part of my family for several years and I have grown to love him in a way.
> 
> 
> Would I be upset if Sherman (my betta) was to die later today? Not really...


1. My dog Pepper is the same way... she's old but I'm still stern with her sometimes even yelling (When she whimpers or barks for attention). Yet when my parents go to bed (Who pamper her) she just stays with me... when I go to bed... she follows. When I go outside to smoke a cig... she wants to follow. I guess Dogs follow the strongest member of the pack haha which I guess is me even if I'm only home on the weekends during school. 


2. About your betta... *Slaps* 
You are right though, I would get upset if Drax died right now since I've done so much for him in so little time. But it would be a Time and Money wasted Sadness... 

*UPDATE* 
Found out some news about the 50 Betta's that were given out at my dorm... Drax was one of those 50... *Sigh* Half of them are already confirmed dead. It's the Dorm's fault though... I don't think it was smart to give out Pets just before Finals start popping up...


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Tsuhei, I understand where you're coming from. Kids drive me nuts!! Not the ones on here. lol OK, maybe some. lol I was at the store the other day with my mom and a kid about 9 or 10 almost ran into my mom. My mom had back surgery 6 months ago and isn't real steady on her feet. This kid could have knocked her down! I said, loud enough for them to hear me, why are we running in the store! I believe kids as young as one or two years of age can learn to be gentle with animals. I also understand why you didn't want to get involved. People are so sue happy these days, they could have accused you of abuse or harrassment or whatever. Another one of my pet peeves is kids in restaurants. Parents let their kids run around instead of making them sit. I think an 11 or 12 year old should know better than to pick up a cup with a fish in it and shake it.


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## FiShFiShFiShFiSh (Jun 21, 2011)

Something that I do, even if it may not be the right thing, is rescue bettas so that none of them die alone in the back of a shelf or being shaken until their eyes fall off and they start bleeding like the poor fish on this thread :'( Even if you don't have the money to buy all of the bettas, if one of them that you bought dies, you can return the same body again and again for more betta fish, for free.  You could keep the body in a freezer, and I doubt anyone at walmart knows enough about bettas to think it is a different fish.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

I would have had NO PROBLEM telling those kids not to shake the cups, I would have had a talk to them as well. I have had parents approach me after speaking to a child, and I tell them "What your child was doing was dangerous (to them or others) and no one was around. What kind of person would I be if I just let them get hurt?" and most parents say thank you. Like the kids up the street who were running in front of cars. I stopped that and had a parent knock on my door and walked away pretty upset with their kids. But when it comes to pets, I will tell any kid what they are doing is wrong and explain to them why. If that fails, I'd just grab the fish and tell the kids to take a hike and spend 2 hours at the fish dept.

Sorry the little guy didn't make it, those kids will eventually understand what they did. I just hope they remember this boy when they do


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## cajunamy (Apr 28, 2011)

What the kids in the store did was wrong, that is very obvious.

Bettas are to an extent, intelligent and curious creatures.

And it is VERY obvious to me that most of you participating in this thread don't have children.


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

Um...This thread was dead...


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## MissRockyHorror (Jun 25, 2011)

What Brats!! Poor fishie :'( I would have had a strong word with those kids parents about not letting their children run rampant and do that to living things  Poor guy


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## cajunamy (Apr 28, 2011)

buwhahaha I assumed it was live cause the posts above me were recent.

funny thing though, I was in petsmart yesterday buying a 55 tank and stand to divide, and this mom with 2 kids was talking to an employee. I was waiting around for the guy to come with the trolly for my tank and stand, and the 2 young kids (about 5-6ish) were looking at bettas that were with the crickets (no idea on that one lol) well I was watching them otu the corner of my eye with this thread fresh on my mind .... the girl accidently knocked it over and looked at me (so I think not accidental) saw me looking and put it upright. Now, I'm hard to ignore cause I have bright teal blue hair lol.

So the girl starts shaking the cup (not violently but still!) and I looked right at her and told her to gently 'don't do that, you can hurt him!' and she and her brother put him down and walked away. Mom wasn't really paying attention to where they were (they were in her range, but she was busy talking to someone, happens to all parents) so I just gently corrected the child since Mom wasn't watching. I heard no response but if I had I would have continued (not argue but inform)


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