this is literally no way to treat any animal, and it’s completely avoidable.
.5ppm+ ammonia is inexcusable - this betta was literally burning alive every second he was in that water - and it’s entirely from lack of care. not to mention his fins are literally rotting off and he is completely emaciated - this fish was not being fed.
for example, here is my completely healthy male dumbo eared betta, arwen:
his back has a nice curve outward to it, meaning he is a healthy weight. his stomach has a gentle swell, meaning he was fed recently and an appropriate amount for his size. he doesn’t have fin rot, meaning his fins are not blackening and necrotic - literally rotting away.
for comparison, here is the doubletail male i got today:
both his back and stomach are sunken in - this betta is both emaciated and hasn’t eaten in several weeks at least. his fins are necrotic and rotting away - he is quite literally decaying while still alive. he is also VERY pale - meaning he is stressed and sick. (NOTE: the healthy betta used as an example isn’t a double tail - which means exactly what it sounds like. he only has one tail while the betta i got today has two)
this is a comparison between the two from above:
it was difficult to take a picture of arwen from above because a healthy betta is very unlikely to sit still when your hands are hovering above them - my betta would be excited and dancing around for food, because they are conditioned to associate my hands above them with eating. in general, a healthy betta isn’t going to sit still for a picture. aside from that, i think it’s very apparent the difference between the two. arwen’s body is all gentle, healthy curves. his head isn’t large in proportion to his body and it doesn’t look weirdly disjointed from the rest of his body.
i’d normally post this to my fish blog, but i think it’s extremely important for people to really SEE this cruelty for what it is and understand just how easy it would be to provide proper care. i don’t suggest anyone “rescue” a betta from petsmart or any other store- especially walmart. that being said, i just couldn’t leave him, he was belly up and i knew if i didnt take him no one else would - not like it would have mattered because i got him at closing and i know he wouldnt have survived the night had i not taken him. i also saw an opportunity for education - because i have 10k followers on this blog.
this is his new home. a clean, warm environment dosed with aquarium salt and stressguard(a fish antiseptic). i will have to monitor him closely for a while, change out his water daily and dose him with more antiseptic and aquarium salt.
this is the difference in just 5 hours
please, properly care for your animals, and dont support companies that don’t, either.
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