Bettas And Walmart From A Sales Associate Pov

[walmartpetsalesassociate]

Hi everyone! I'm a sales associate in the pet department at Wal Mart in South Florida. I've recently been contemplating starting my own fish tank so I've found this website. In the pets department part of my job is to take care of the fish, feed them, change the betta water, remove the dead one's, etc... I realize that a lot of you have had terrible experiences with the fish sold at Wal Mart and I would like to apologize. I try my best to take care of the fish, but understand that there is always things to do there. My managers keep me pretty busy and that doesn't allow me to give the fish the adequate attention they deserve. Just to let you all know we do get new fish every Monday and there is a 72 hour warranty on all the fish we sell.

Although I work in the pets department I am not as knowledgeable about fish as I should be. So if you could give me tips on what to feed the bettas that'd be great. I get to "store use" whatever I want to feed them and we carry Bettamin and Betta Bio, is one better than the other? Also is a 1 gallon tank sufficient living space for a single betta? Can bettas live well with goldfish? I am trying to learn more so hopefully you guys can help me out. To be honest with you Wal Mart didn't hire me for my ability and knowledge of pets but rather to fill a space on the roster. If you can provide me with great information please tell me and if you have suggestions for what employees should do to make it a better place let me know. I take pride in doing a good job and I would like to make my department reputable in selling bettas and freshwater fish.

Thank You Anonymous Wal Mart Associate

 

[lisie]

So if you could give me tips on what to feed the bettas that'd be great. I get to "store use" whatever I want to feed them and we carry Bettamin and Betta Bio, is one better than the other?

I'm assuming you mean Hikari Betta Bio-Gold, I'd definitely go for that. My bettas love them, and Hikari is good high-quality food.

Also is a 1 gallon tank sufficient living space for a single betta?

One gallon is the absolute minimum. Personally, though, I would never keep a betta in anything less than 2 gallons permanently, and even that's pushing it.

Can bettas live well with goldfish?

Noooo. Goldfish are "coldwater" and bettas are tropical and therefore need their water to be ~78 degrees.

Kudos to you for caring enough about the fishies that depend on you.

 

[Rynoah]

I think you're probably the best Wal*Mart pet associate I've ever met. lisie has already given you great tips to start off, so I'll just agree with what she's said.

 

[Synirr]

Just a tip about feeding the bettas, don't feed them every day if you can't clean them out every day, it'll just make their water dirty and do more harm than good. I'd say it's fine to skip up to two days between feedings depending on how often you get to clean their cups out... feed every-other day if you get to clean their cups out every-other day, for example. Feed one day then clean out the next

 

[fuman_chica]

Can bettas live well with goldfish?

Noooo. Goldfish are "coldwater" and bettas are tropical and therefore need their water to be ~78 degrees.

I have a fan tail goldfish, and they can be kept in waters of up to 80 something degrees. But, I made the mistake of putting a betta in with it. The goldfish left the betta alone, and the betta left the goldfish alone, for about a month or two months. Then I came home one day and the betta was nearly white (it was teal and purple origionally) and his fins were almost all the way ripped apart. They were very short. He ended up dying the next day.

So, aside from the fact that most goldfish need to be kept in cooler temps than bettas, the chances are that they will fight, and one of them will end up dead.

 

[BettaGardener]

Hi everyone! I'm a sales associate in the pet department at Wal Mart in South Florida. I've recently been contemplating starting my own fish tank so I've found this website. In the pets department part of my job is to take care of the fish, feed them, change the betta water, remove the dead one's, etc... I realize that a lot of you have had terrible experiences with the fish sold at Wal Mart and I would like to apologize. I try my best to take care of the fish, but understand that there is always things to do there. My managers keep me pretty busy and that doesn't allow me to give the fish the adequate attention they deserve. Just to let you all know we do get new fish every Monday and there is a 72 hour warranty on all the fish we sell.

Although I work in the pets department I am not as knowledgeable about fish as I should be. So if you could give me tips on what to feed the bettas that'd be great. I get to "store use" whatever I want to feed them and we carry Bettamin and Betta Bio, is one better than the other? Also is a 1 gallon tank sufficient living space for a single betta? Can bettas live well with goldfish? I am trying to learn more so hopefully you guys can help me out. To be honest with you Wal Mart didn't hire me for my ability and knowledge of pets but rather to fill a space on the roster. If you can provide me with great information please tell me and if you have suggestions for what employees should do to make it a better place let me know. I take pride in doing a good job and I would like to make my department reputable in selling bettas and freshwater fish.

Thank You Anonymous Wal Mart Associate

It would be great if you could change their water every day. In those small cups, they need very frequent water changes. Also, if you could add some methylene blue or some other disease-preventative to the water... another bonus.

A 1 gallon bowl is fine for a betta as long as the water is changed every 5 days minimum. Two is even better. They can go without a heater so long as the room they are kept in is very warm -- no drafts, and not in front of a window in direct sunlight (can you say betta soup?). Live plants are also VERY good to have, since they will absorb and break down nitrates/nitrites in the water, which are harmful to fish. Java ferns and java moss are awesome because they are soft and cozy and also very easy to grow.

Bettas need to be kept warm (76 - 82 degrees) in order to remain healthy, active and look their best. Goldfish, on the other hand, prefer colder temps and this makes them incompatible with bettas. Not only that, but goldfish are super-poopers -- a goldfish will foul the water much more quickly than the betta by itself.

Betta females can be kept together but there should be a minimum of four in a tank no smaller than 10 gallons, with lots and lots of hidey places... lots of soft plants and decorations to hide in. Females will pick on each other at first (some can be very aggressive) but most of the time they will establish their own pecking order and get along very well. (I have 13 females living happily in a 37 gallon aquarium.)

As for food, if you can, feed freeze-dried bloodworms and freeze-dried baby brine shrimp. Some people stay away from freeze-dried food because they believe it causes constipation. I feed freeze-dried foods almost exclusively and none of my fish have ever suffered from constipation. Go easy on the pellets -- in my experience, they DO constipate. Just feed 3 - 5 pellets twice a day (if you are changing the water daily).

I hope this helps!!!

I recently attempted to rescue a sick betta from Walmart... he died his first night home. The conditions that he and his shelf-mates were kept in were deplorable. I am SOOOOO glad to hear that there is a Walmart fish person out there who cares.

BLESS YOU!!!!

 

[JoLtNbolt]

to TFF!!! You might wanna check out http/www.bettatalk.com for more info on betta care.

 

[fawnmodel]

I just have to say the Wallymart in my area has cleaned itself up so much it is amazing - they are an example other stores could follow.

They never sell bettas in little cups, but 50 ml plastic containers.
They put others in large vases, not little cups
They clearly have a display section, and also a CARE SHEET - that is real. It has the PROPER care, not the BS care most petstores say is correct. In fact, I took one, I was going to make copies to drop next to the displays at other stores around town.
The water is always sparkling clear.

Petcetera in my area tho, every single time I go there there is GELLIFIED dead bettas in amongst the half dead ones in mucky cups with only two inches of water. It is soo sick, we have complained so much that I won't even go there now.



sorry that was a typo, should have said 500 ml containers, not 50ml.

I tried to edit but it won't work

 

[Syko Lunitik]

I dont know if you know or anything, but i'll add something not significant to only bettas.
when you do the water changes use declorinator. i dont think i've ever seen it sitting by the lil sink at walmart.

and if your walmart is doing the same thing as mine stop selling dragon goby's and puffers as "freshwater"
they are brackish but very cool fish so dont stop selling them totally just be prepared to inform people what a brackish tank is.

and let people know that the "electric eels" are not really electric hahaha and that they will get very large and probably out grow their tank unless they have a large one.

if fish die in the tank please remove them before the others eat their carcass.

if fish have ich label the front of the tank so people dont buy those fish until they are cured.

the labels i've seen on the tanks at my walmart are very good tho. i must say they tell alot about the fish before you buy them.
BUT and its a big but, not hairy but big, PLEASE LABEL WEATHER FISH ARE AGRESSIVE OR NOT. because alot of people dont know. Especially new people to the hobby (which is who usually buys fish from walmart).

if i was there i could tell you alot more but i havent seen the tanks. if walmart would let you take some pics of the tanks with a digital cam and let us see it would be nice. also the implication of some nice betta shelfing of one gallon tanks would be pretty nice you could do away with "cups" completely and walmart would save money in the future. I have a local pet store here that has such a set up for the bettas made of "plastic" with a nice lil filtering system. only thing is they dont have the greatest supplier for bettas so i dont buy mine there. sad to say they come in lets say "not good". i've told them but... yea.

anyway thats all i got to say 8)

 

[Mikaila31]

To add to what everyone else is saying, i suggest you learn about bettas then get one as a pet. Nothing better than hands-on learning . Also i'm not sure how big of betta shipments your store gets. But seeing some stores with 50+ bettas makes you feel bad knowing how long it will take some to find homes . So getting smaller shippments of bettas more often would be better. Less time spent in the cups and you will have less to care for . I'm not sure in this it possible to do or not .

 

[Rynoah]

and let people know that the "electric eels" are not really electric hahaha and that they will get very large and probably out grow their tank unless they have a large one.

It's like you were at my Wal*Mart today, because I saw a situation exactly like this! Two women came into the fish section while I was waiting for an associate, and they had two little girls with them. The girls went completely gaga over the fish and started pointing at them and chittering away. I wasn't paying much attention until they'd wandered over to a small tank that had some cories and a few "dinosaur eels" and started squealing excitedly. I glanced over and they were pointing at a cory that had lain on his side and were exclaiming, "Oh look! Those eels must have electrocuted that fish! Poor fish!"

I had to try hard not to laugh hysterically, especially when the cory went upright and started swimming around just fine minutes later.

But enough thread hijacking.