# I cant believe what I saw at Wal-mart last night...



## Jbrofish8 (Jul 7, 2011)

We were looking in the pet section at wal-mart last night for a dog gate for our kitchen and we just happened to walk past the betta section.

So I did what I always do and look at the bettas. 

I cannot believe what I saw...

I looked for an empty cup to split these 2 up, but I couldn't find one. I thought maybe some cruel person had thrown them together to watch them kill each other. I felt awful and I didnt know what to do. I'm sure none of the people at walmart really care, anyways.

They had a fish section (I didn't think walmart sold fish anymore) that I looked at too. It was horrendous. There was a spot for all the bettas they didn't have out on display, and looking back I should have emptied out one of the dead bettas and rescued this poor VT from the CT. I just feel awful I didn't save him. =(


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## GrellxUndertaker (Sep 5, 2011)

Thats just absolutely horrible! Who would do such a thing?!


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## dragonflie (Aug 5, 2011)

It was probably some smart alec kid that decided to throw them together for jollies. Sad, but probably true.

I wouldn't assume that all the employees don't care. The company as a whole? Probably not so much, but this is an assumption on my part; because most of their dollars are not going to remotely come from their pet sales.

The best thing to do in a situation like that I believe is to tell management. If you can't find an extra cup; it is likely they probably can. And; no store manager wants to see an unhappy customer, even if their only incentive is that it makes them look bad.


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## Jbrofish8 (Jul 7, 2011)

I really regret not doing something about it. I should have at least tried to find someone who worked there to come help me. =(

I thought about buying them. Since the last time I bought a betta from a walmart the cashier didn't even know they sold them..I probably could've got them both for the price of 1. I just didn't have an empty tank or a place to put a new one.


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## Gizmothefreaky (Apr 10, 2011)

You should have put them in the main tanks... I know that walmart usually has a tank of neons and another one of plecos or something equally peaceful... If the condition of the fish is that bad at my walmart i do that and then leave the lids in the sink with a nasty note to the fish people. I cant STAND to see crap like that.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

That is so sad =(

Reminds me of a few days ago I went on my bi-weekly shopping trip at Walmart (have to drive a good distance to get to one, or any store really for that matter) and I went to look at the bettas since I am trying to find a female. Unfortunately the only other two pet stores that sell bettas don't get females in.. so I'm stuck going to walmart if I want one. They were horrible. Last time I saw their fish... they were decent for their cups. Blue, pretty clean water.. this time.. all they had were females and it was a sad, sad sight. Barely had water, so very dirty, all clamped up. I wanted to yell at someone, ask if it is so hard for someone to spend 10 minutes feeding and changing their water. They just started selling bettas for the first time last month, wouldn't surprise me if there is no one assigned to them since there is barely a pet section as it is. 
I would freak if I saw what you saw there and definitely bring it to their attention and see if I could take them and bring them back to health. Poor guys =(


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## blueridge (Jul 1, 2011)

That's really sad  poor betta's. I went to my local walmart at school here with my room mate last night and as always we have to go see the betta's. A lot of them were in nasty water and there were some that had huge chucks if not all of their fins missing.


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## Pataflafla (Jun 2, 2011)

On thursday I went to Walmart and saw that they only had 2 bettas left. The male had fin melt so bad that even his pectorals were melting into spikes and he was incredibly thin and burned. The female had mold growing on the bottom of her cup. She looked like she was getting the beginnings of a fungus infection as well (We couldn't stand getting her because of our luck with half giant females dropsying and then spending $80 to try and save them).

I went to customer service to see if someone could come back so I could point this out and get help, but after 30 minutes no one came. Employees would walk by, look at me, and then keep walking. the morbidly funny thing, was when I was there on sunday, there was a kid bragging about being promoted to fish care at this Walmart and that the old guy was demoted (he actually took care of the fish and was there when you needed help).

So this new kid is bragging about being promoted to fish care, but I can see an immediate decline in care. On top of the horrible betta cups there were the same dead fish in each tank as there was on sunday when I first heard he was promoted.

I complained immediately to the manager as soon as I left the store with the melting male, but he unfortunately didn't even make it home.


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## NCPanthersgurl (Jul 13, 2011)

My Betta addiction has been rubbing off on my boyfriend. I found a mustard gas the other day at walmart that had green lining to his fins and green scales; he's not gonna stay the color that I bought him. But right now he looks brown with an off yellow fin color. Pretty, but there's room for change. I knew he wouldn't sell, he was floating in filth, and barely had any water. So I took him. While all this went on my boyfriend found a fish with less water and more waste...and took and dumped him into one of the main tanks. lol. Whenever I buy a betta from the tanks I take one from the cups and put it where that betta was. Our walmart's pet people don't care, they just tell us to do what we like. So we do.


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## hmckin20 (Jul 30, 2011)

Ugh, our Walmart. Thankfully they only keep one or two bettas at a time.. regardless, all of them in filthy conditions. The other fish are terrible too.. I went in and saw these tropical orange fish.. lying at the bottom of their tank. Like they couldn't get up or swim anymore, but were trying their hardest. :C

And then, yesterday, I went in for a heater.. and I saw this guy pretty much shaking this poor betta in its two inches of water. He then proceeded to flick the cup with his finger as hard as he could. I'm standing there, freaking out.. and he puts it down for a second, and then I swoop in and grab him. Poor guy.. he's been hiding under his leaves ever since I got him home.

People are jerks :I 
and Walmart.. is a terrible place for bettas.


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## CrowntailTwitchy57 (Jun 25, 2011)

hmckin20 said:


> Ugh, our Walmart. Thankfully they only keep one or two bettas at a time.. regardless, all of them in filthy conditions. The other fish are terrible too.. I went in and saw these tropical orange fish.. lying at the bottom of their tank. Like they couldn't get up or swim anymore, but were trying their hardest. :C
> 
> And then, yesterday, I went in for a heater.. and I saw this guy pretty much shaking this poor betta in its two inches of water. He then proceeded to flick the cup with his finger as hard as he could. I'm standing there, freaking out.. and he puts it down for a second, and then I swoop in and grab him. Poor guy.. he's been hiding under his leaves ever since I got him home.
> 
> ...


you should have gone up to him, shook him as hard as you could, flick his forehead as hard as you could and just walk away. :lol:


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## snoopy (Sep 13, 2011)

I don´t know why you keep on buying in that shop, I have read plenty of time horrible things in that shop.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

> I don´t know why you keep on buying in that shop, I have read plenty of time horrible things in that shop.


13 of my 18 fish came from Walmart. Why? Simple. The nearest city is over 400 miles south of here. Its either walmart/petco or nothing.


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## Flaretacious (Sep 8, 2011)

OMG, That is so horrible, I thought that Walmart didn't sell fish anymore? well least the ones where I live don't sell fish there anymore. that is just terrible.  Walmart doesn't care about their animals "Fish" nor do they care about their employees such a terrible place to get fish. their employees are also under trained and don't know much of anything when you ask questions. "this is why they shouldn't be selling fish. no one even cares about checking on them" they can't even answer about products that their store sells. "so bad"


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## hmckin20 (Jul 30, 2011)

CrowntailTwitchy57 said:


> you should have gone up to him, shook him as hard as you could, flick his forehead as hard as you could and just walk away. :lol:


LOL
that would have been priceless!



Walmart is unfortunately the better option compared to our LFS.. we don't have a Petsmart/Petco in our local area. I usually have to drive an hour to Petsmart to get my conditioner every week.


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## WiccanWisdom (Sep 5, 2011)

So sad!! 

I'm so happy that none of the walmarts around me (there are at least 5 in a 40 mile radius) sell fish anymore. They used to, the last one stopped a couple months ago. So I do think walmarts are slowly getting rid of their fish sections.


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## Leeniex (Aug 14, 2011)

Mine didn't have any bettas last time I was there....hopefully they're gone for good.


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## Cutekitti (Sep 17, 2011)

Mine is getting new fish tanks built starting this week....so that means the fish they have look like crap....or more terrible than usual


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## MMAsac (Aug 5, 2011)

we have 3 walmarts 2 carry fish one is terribly nasty, and the other one does an awesome job taking care of its fish.


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## Noemi (Jul 9, 2011)

my walmart takes awful care of their fish. last time i was there, there were at least twenty dead goldfish sitting in a corner of a tank. the bettas are actually pretty well take care of, but very tiny  but thankfully people in my tow seem to be always buying bettas, so they don't stay there for long


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