My First "rescue"

[metromyers]

Last week I visited my lfs, and saw this absolutly beautiful vt. He had a large bubblenest going and his colors were unique. But I decided not to get him. Fast foward to today...... I needed some filters for my tank at work, and he was still there. Only this time he was laying on the bottom of this bowl, half full with poo filled water. No more nest. His colors seem to have faded, and when I tapped on the bowl he didn't move.So I picked up the bowl so I could be eye level with him and he flared at me. The poor baby.. this time I couldn't leave him to suffer in those conditions. I bought him and put him in a nice 1 gal bowl, with clean filtered water. His color is still a little off, but he is already swimming around his new home. I hope he won't get sick but at least he is in better conditions and I tried. No name or photos yet.

 

[LauraFrog]

You've got the same problem as the rest of us - every nice betta, especially if it's suffering, ends up at your place.

Good luck with him! Nice VT's are hard to find.

 

[metromyers]

I hate to see anything living suffer. Especially when there is no reason for it. You would figure if you run a pet store, that you would hire people who care about animals and know at least a little bit about taking care of them. I, just like all of you, love fish. I always have. I just recently got bitten by the Betta bug. I think they are not only beautiful but they each have great personalities. So to go into a lfs and see fish being mistreated just breaks my heart. It's like seeing those tiny "tanks" being sold and the packages telling people that Bettas perfer them to a real tank they can swim around in. Sorry..... its been a bad day, and going into that fish store and seeing those bettas in such $#!))&*@#$%# up conditions just iced the day. The only good part is I am now the proud owner of Greg, my new vt baby. Sorry no pix yet. Thanks for letting get on my soap box!!!!!

 

[LauraFrog]

I get annoyed by bad aquarium marketing as well. My betta tanks are 2 gals marketed for complete beginners. The photo of the aquarium on the box shows it containing SIX GOLDFISH AND THREE PLATIES. This is very misleading to a beginner - surely if I was thinking I might like to keep fish but not a clue about them, I'd think that the photo on an aquarium box might be a guide to what I could put in it. Also they carry on as though the pH is the be all and end all of water - test the pH to ensure good water quality and a safe environment for your fish. Then let it run for 24 hours and put fish in it.



How long will it take for the aquarium marketers to learn that when they TELL PEOPLE how to cycle a tank, their fish survive, they get hooked on fishkeeping, go back and buy more aquariums? When nobody tells them how to cycle a tank, their fish die of ammonia poisoning, they say 'I followed the instructions to the letter but all my fish died. I must just be bad at keeping fish. I'll give up before I kill any more.'

The other thing that annoys me is when fish shops employ people who know nothing about fish to sell them. It's so horrible - this chain store LFS I was in once was staffed by teenagers. I saw them putting baby angels, neon tetras, three male guppies and one female guppy in the same bag for somebody who set up a five gallon tank the day before buying the fish. They didn't tell the customer that three male guppies with one female would fight and harass her and eventually kill her, or that angels grew far, far too large for a five gallon tank and would eventually eat the neons, or that there were far too many fish being put in the tank. Why? Because they'd received no training and didn't know anything about the fish they were selling.

Sorry if I broke your soapbox standing on it so long.

 

[metromyers]

No please feel free to use my soap box anytime!!!! It is extra heavy duty!!!!!

 

[AngelOfDeath]

companies wont tell people about cycling, because we all now it gets tedious, and newcomers like to buy a load of fish and throw them in, simple as lol

nice job on the rescue as well, how often do you intend to clean the 1 gall? becuase I have a spare 1 Gall, real plants, gravek and decor and am considering buying a betta, but only becuase i know i would keep up with the water changes - say 100% every 3 days?, is this enough everyone?

 

[gibson159]

my LFS "aquapets" is great for advice from the 2 owners, they are the only people who run the shop, they haven't hired anyone at all...

now that i have built up a relationship with them they speak to me and give me advice on everything, they ask people about have they cycled there tank before the go rushing in to buy some fish...

i hate to see bettas and and other fish suffering

and i know i'm only new but i had my first spawn yesterday!!!

i was excited to bits!

as i look round now my male is being such a good daddy!

thanks

paul

 

[modaz]

companies wont tell people about cycling, because we all now it gets tedious, and newcomers like to buy a load of fish and throw them in, simple as lol

not the case that shops dont tell people this, we do with every tank sold, i ask a million open ended questions to see what questions i get asked so i can answer correctly, its not fair to judge everyone by what you may have not heard from someone in the past, im not getting all grumpy about this but a judgement like this is unfair to say and not good for the shops that will explain it to people, i like to think that if a tank is sold in my shop and the cycling info is given correctly the new fish when eventually purchased will live and then the customer comes back to the shop as the info was correct and they know they wont be wasting their money. ive had customers take my advice and buy the tank from us then go to another shop buy fish the next day then come back to me a week later and "you were right, i shouldve waited" a few shops in our area are good at giving info, ive personally checked during my marketing research, there was only one idiot that said add your fish 48hours later but then thats different b/c theyve never had a good reputation as it is. some of the other shops werent 100% correct in what they explained but atleast they tried to explain it, which counts a little.

as for the water changes, on a tank that size you need to do water changes daily at 100%

 

[LauraFrog]

^ Modaz, we know you're different. I'm ranting about Australian chain stores. The particular one I'm carrying on about (I really hate it) is the one selling the iPond (the 650mL or around 1/8 gallon betta tank on top of an iPod). They are franchises, with the managers almost never there. The staff are my age and clueless.

I'm also lucky enough to have found a family run LFS. I have seen them refusing to sell animals to people they dont' think can care for them. They run the only pet shop in town which is good because it makes it rather difficult for people who are stupid enough to make enemies of them or ignore their advice to buy animals somewhere else to abuse them. I'm lucky too because the bloke is personally interested in fish... so not only does he know heaps, he usually has more fish than he can sell, just because he likes the look of them. lol. They're setting up a hundred-odd gallon tank and I can't wait to see what they've done with it - they're stocking it with Australian fish...

People who are too impatient to wait for a tank to cycle probably won't make good fishkeepers, and certainly not good breeders. BTW Gibs - congrats on the spawn! We've sold the farm and have to vacate it by the end of the month but have no house to go to, so this tiny little rental is being cleaned out to accomodate all our junk from the farm. At the moment I have five tanks and I have been ordered not to buy any more or the fish will be poisoned. I don't have any female bettas currently - no room for spawning them.