Rescued betta - looking 'betta' already!

[9Red]

I was on the practicalfishkeeping website using their shop finder tool when I found a listing for a shop I'd never heard of that was literally a 10 minute walk from my flat in the city centre.

We went there and basically found a grotty as hell aquatics shop made from a large converted garage/shed on the side of a house down a residential street. In fairness, most of the tanks and fish looked ok and there were some stunning fancy goldfish there.

What got me upset was the african grey parrot in a cage with literally months worth of crud at the bottom. The bird itself had a list of things wrong with it as long as my arm (I'm a vet tech so I could recognise the symptoms) and was shivering and depressed. There were also a few snakes - normal corns (underweight and priced at £90 each ) a couple of milks, and a pair of normal royals for £300 the pair. All their vivs were utterly, utterly foul - from the layers of feaces and shed skins and the crust of scum in the water bowls I'd say they hadn't been cleaned out in 6 months at least.

Anyway, we were looking in the tanks when I saw what I thought was a brown leaf in the bottom of a jam-jar floating in one of the tanks. I looked a little closer and to my suprise the leaf uncoiled and turned into a very grotty, tatty looking male betta! I think he was originally supposed to be a veiltail but he's lost some sections of tissue, and he was a dark muddy brown colour all over. The jar he was in had a layer of waste and mouldy food at the bottom about a cm thick, and he could barely turn around.

Needless to say he came home with me and went straight into a 5 litre mini-quarantine setup with some live plants. This was 2 days ago and now 'Dragon' is looking so much better you'd think it was a different fish! He's active, eating, flaring up (apparantly for the fun of it) and has even started to change from muddy brown to red. He's got a way to go but I wouldn't be suprised in 3 months' time to have a stunning bright red veiltail. Its amazing what good nutrition and clean water can do isn't it?

As for the shop, I phoned the licensing team at the council and, suprise suprise, their petshop license doesn't cover reptiles and birds, so looks like they will be temporarily shut down while the parrot and snakes are taken away and given veterinary treatment, and the owners will have to pay a fine. Serves them bloody right - if you don't know/can't be bothered to look after the animals you sell you shouldn't have them in the first place!

Pics of Dragon to follow this evening.

[Natonstan]

Wow, So nice to hear you saved the fish, i'm sorry but if I had tanks that bad Id be too scared to open a shop for everyone to see, if your going to open a shop at least keep everything looking clean and as it should

[_jake_]

Aww.. amazing. Im hoping to get a betta for a 10litre. THere just such beeaauutiful fish!. My LFS only stocks ' normal' betta's. So im really trying to find a fs with veiltails and that. If anyone knows of one in the bristol area, let me know!, thanks!.

[Trillian]

Well good for you on two counts. Rescuing the Betta and reporting the "shop".

Just one point though. IMO longterm a male Betta should have at least 15L.

[_jake_]

Originally Posted by Trillian

Well good for you on two counts. Rescuing the Betta and reporting the "shop".

Just one point though. IMO longterm a male Betta should have at least 15L.

Trill, you got a betta?... can i see piccies?

[Trillian]

Your wish is my command.

Here's my lovely Beau - a Delta Doubletail, I believe.

[_jake_]

That is bloody brillinat!

Wow, i do say. The heater is humongus

[Trillian]

Originally Posted by herpmad_boi

That is bloody brillinat!

Thank you.

The heater is humongus

That was only a temporary 50w heater until I got a 25w heater which is much more to scale.

[9Red]

Originally Posted by Trillian

Well good for you on two counts. Rescuing the Betta and reporting the "shop".

Just one point though. IMO longterm a male Betta should have at least 15L.

Hiya,

Yeah he will be going into a larger setup when he's out of quarantine. I'm just giving him a couple of weeks to adjust and make sure he's not carrying any nasties before he goes in with the corys and ember tets.

[Trillian]

Originally Posted by 9Red

Hiya,

Yeah he will be going into a larger setup when he's out of quarantine. I'm just giving him a couple of weeks to adjust and make sure he's not carrying any nasties before he goes in with the corys and ember tets.

Good for you. Even better would be a Betta Bachelor Pad but a lot of them do okay in community tanks, depending on the personality.