I Had To Save Him

[FBTgirl2]

Okay, well, don't be mad..but...uhh. I made a trip to Walmart, and Ive spent the past few weeks in ND, which Im still in. I live in California though. Well, I took a trip to walmart and went to the pet section, I was told there where no fish in this store, guess who was wrong. I found betta fish on the bottom shelf in the pet section. All there waters were below half of there betta cup. Then I found this little guy, his water was so little his whole back was sticking out of the water. I alerted someone on walmart that all the fish looked sickly and needed there water filled. She said she would be right on it. I continued the rest of my shopping and came back, same thing. I couldn't leave this little guy behind. I had to take him away. I got him to the bathrooms and filled his cup up a little more. I don't live here, and im taking a plane back in 6 days. I am trying to find him a home here with some of my friends but if all else fails Im gonna ship him to my home back in CA. He is pretty miserable looking but has wonderful color. I am trying to find him a tub to live in since I have no fish tanks here. I need to name him, so any suggestions? The poll above is some of my favorite names but suggestions welcome. No pictures yet, but he is blue with red tipped fins.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I voted Wasabi cos it's different lol.

I like the first name actually but we do contract work for a company of the same name hehe.

You'll have to get photos of him up

 

[BethK]

I know this will sound horrid but by 'saving him', you are only making more room for the walmart to think it's ok to sell bettas in cups like that and they will replace him with another fish, who is highly likely to be abused.

His health/mmune system will be very low and chances are he male well suffer for finrot or another disease.

I, personally, would not buy him. Hard to walk away but by doing so, you are saving more fish

 

[loraxchick]

while it does promote more selling of bettas/fish in general and probably living in the same conditions, i dont think it is fair to criticize someone for taking pity on a helpless animal who obviously needs a better quality of life. it would be different if someone were thinking of buying from such a place and was asking for advice. i like the rescue stories, especially when the fish turns out to be healthy and vibrant. like a stray cat or dog that was taken in. makes a nice story.
good luck with your fish. pics would be nice hes a lucky chap.
cheers

 

[BethK]

i wasn't criticizing

 

[FBTgirl2]

BethK, I do understand your point, and if he wasn't in such miserable condition I would not have bought him, but I didn't want him to die. It was too sad! I just got him into a new 3 gallon tub. He already seems so much happier with clean water and space. He is swimming a lot more and wants to fight everything, he still hasn't eaten yet and that kinda worries me.

 

[BethK]

BethK, I do understand your point, and if he wasn't in such miserable condition I would not have bought him, but I didn't want him to die. It was too sad! I just got him into a new 3 gallon tub. He already seems so much happier with clean water and space. He is swimming a lot more and wants to fight everything, he still hasn't eaten yet and that kinda worries me.

don't worry, new fish may not eat for a good 24-48hrs of being re-homed, he'll eat when he gets hungry, bettas don't do 'starving themselves'

give his immune system a kick, when he does start eating, soak his food in garlic juice x

 

[FBTgirl2]

BethK, I do understand your point, and if he wasn't in such miserable condition I would not have bought him, but I didn't want him to die. It was too sad! I just got him into a new 3 gallon tub. He already seems so much happier with clean water and space. He is swimming a lot more and wants to fight everything, he still hasn't eaten yet and that kinda worries me.

don't worry, new fish may not eat for a good 24-48hrs of being re-homed, he'll eat when he gets hungry, bettas don't do 'starving themselves'

give his immune system a kick, when he does start eating, soak his food in garlic juice x

Garlic Juice..hmm.. never heard of that for fish I will definatly do that. He seems so much happier though with his new temporary home. It has no plants or anything but its probably 20 times bigger then his little cup. I watched him for about an hour and all he wants to do is swim around, poor little guy probably been in a cup his whole life.

 

[BethK]

soak his food in the garlic juice, don't put garlic juice or garlic in the tank

You can also buy brime shrimp soaked in garlic.

 

[keithp]

If i was in the situation I would have done the same thing. Cant wait to see pictures.

 

[FBTgirl2]

soak his food in the garlic juice, don't put garlic juice or garlic in the tank

You can also buy brime shrimp soaked in garlic.

I would get some better food for him(brine shrimp) and water conditioner and an actual tank but I am in a tiny town in north dakota seperated from all of my supplies or even a pet store. So I will just soak his normal fish food in some garlic juice.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

We have a jar of crushed garlic at home and I just took the guice from that; put it in a little jar and put the food in there .

Mine eat betta pellets (but my male won't touch them when they've been soaked as they sink and he is too "stuck-up" for sinking food"); however blood worms in garlic juice = YUM YUM. My male won't eat brine shrimp either . My girls will but not him.

 

[FBTgirl2]

Okay, Wasabi won. I think I found him a nice little home with my moms friend, but im not sure yet. Uhg, any tips for shipping him to my house? Like supplies for the box? I might end up doing that if I can't get someone here to take him.

 

[Mauricia]

You could see if you can convince someone to take him for a month to get him stronger for the journey since it would probably be hard for him to ship him now. I've never shipped a fish so I dont have much advice there, but I have received a lot and the ones in bigger bags always see to be better. Also make sure to double bag, if you do it in a way the rounds out the corners in the inner bag then they won't get stuck in the corners. And leave the bag half filled with air so they have lots of oxygen. I think they make breathable bags, you could look into that. usually people use a Styrofoam container in within the shipping box with newspaper to keep them insulated from temp changes. These are just things I've noticed though so anyone can correct me. I thought there was a sticky on shipping but I couldn't find it. Also when you get him on the other side make sure to unwrap him in the dark and to acclimate with drips over a few hours because he will be weak from poor treatment.

 

[FBTgirl2]

Thanks, I much rather find him a home here, so I wouldn't have to put him through any shipping or stress but my time here is getting closer and closer to being up so I don't know how that would work out.