The Beast....

SuckerLove86

Fish Crazy
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
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Location
Austin, Tx
Well, I was just sitting here at home hanging out when my b/f came in with a bag of two albino cory cats. Now, I love cory cats, but it was just kind of an odd gift considering I had dropped him off at his house only and hour and a half earlier. Then he told me his story.

He said that he went to the official supermarket of global take-over on his part of town to do some shopping, and because I'm such a fish nerd, he couldn't help but go to the fish dept. He's the biggest cory cat fanatic I've ever met, so he got all chipper when he saw the albino cory. Well, he got an employee to come over, and he says the guy fill the bag with tap water, went after the cory with a net and tried to pick the fish out of the water with his hand when he got it close enough to the surface. The fish off course fell to the floor and flopped under the fixture. AND THE GUY SAID TO LEAVE IT THERE!!! Mark (my b/f) threw a fit, retreived the cory, filled one of those plastic things with water, put the cory in it, and set it on the desk, telling the guy to keep an eye on him. The employee finally admitted he didn't know what he was doing and just let Mark do it. Well Mark said the entire situation was completely terrible, so he and I went over there to let me check it out...

There was no gravel in any of the tanks. No decorations, no plants. Nothin but fish. The coldwater fish weren't aware of their enviroment at all. Probably because they didn't have an enviroment to be aware of. One tank of lionheads had a horrible fungal thing going on. One fish, laying on the floor of the tank but still breathing, looked like it had dropsy, fin rot, pop eye, and ich. All the other fish in there had a layer of fungus. Briefly, I was tempted to cross over an aisle to the medicine, get some Alka Seltzer and euthanzize them all, as I've read it's quick. I didn't. Oh, and apparently WalMart carries koi now!!! In those tiny tanks!!!

There was a dead pleco in a tank with some gouramis. The row of tanks containing fruit tetras, irridescent sharks, clown loaches, and some various other fish had no lighting at all. When an employee passed by, I interrogated. It went something like this.

"Can you turn the light on so I can see them?"
"It's broken."
"How long has it been broken??"
"About three days. We tried to fix it but it made it worse."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. We're gonna fix it tomorrow."
"I'll be back tomorrow to make sure."

At LEAST three fish in every livebearer tank were trying their hardest to find something to scratch on. Guppies, mollies, swordtails, platies.... they were all miserably ich ridden. And pregnant to boot.

A man came into the fish aisle with an employee and pointed out a giant danio he wanted. She netted the danio, plopped it in some water in a bag, spun the bag around and tied it off. And they were done. I asked the employee as she was passing if the tanks were being treated for anything. She said not that she knows of (not like I expected her to) and walked off. After she left, I inspected the sink area. There was NO pure oxygen tube. None. At all. I opened cabinets and everything. In one of the cabinets was a trash can. In the trash can was a bag of roughly 30 dead fish.

I turned the corner to find the bettas in all their melancholy splendor. I was slightly relieved that they were in fair sized containers. I was suprised when I discovered what I thought was a crowntail. Nope. The fins had just been torn. There were bits and pieces of fin in all the cups. Some obviously torn by fighting. They were too apathetic/worn out to flare at all.

I'd seen more than my fair share. Tomorrow the manager is going to get a pretty informative call on the condition of his fish. And the worst part of all?

I want to work there. I want to do what I can to try and nurse the fish back to some sort of health. It's just.... sickening. I need a job... these fish need life... the store on my side of town has an astounding fish department, all because of one incredible employee I know.

The albino cories are in quarantine right now. Absolutely ridiculous. On the way home, Mark and I joked about taking out a loan to save all the fish. Heh... :shifty:
 
Its great to here u wanting to do that, and those poor little albinos will be very greatful! Sad though as it seems, saving those few fish will only encourage the store to buy more. Very sad. Its disgusting how ppl will treat other living creatures. Maybe u should get a job there! that would b really cool!
 
I agree! Some of the fish stores only care aout making money - they don't care at all about how the fish are treated. And it's horrible to see something like that - it makes you feel sick. I'd definatley have something to say to the manager, but it wouldn't be civil. I hope you get a job there and help out all those poor, sick, ill-treated fish. :nod:
 
Well I called up a manager and told him about to condition of his tanks and asked if anyone there was even treating them. He basically said that all the fish were fine and that no one really works that area because they're understaffed. Anyone even passing by the tanks can tell they're not fine. Jeez.
 
Do you have any animal welfare organisations over in the US? Over here we would report animal abuse such as this to the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

Jon
 
As far as I know here in town, we have the Humane Society. I adopted my cats from them but I doubt they would bother with fish mistreatment.
 
Find someone. Don't work there; they won't have the proper equipment to keep the tanks clean, and I doubt the owner will let you use his money to buy meds. About the lack of the pure oxygen tube: The local fish store here (A great one; every fish is healthy and lives in a planted tank) lacks an oxygen line; it's usually not nessescary. If you tell them you have a long drive they'll just divide the fish up into more bags, which obviously will be as good as an overfilled bag with pure O2.
 

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