Woman claims PetSmart gave her fish for free ‘to try and save him’

One woman shared her journey as she attempted to save a betta fish in poor condition from PetSmart on TikTok.

The TikTok user who goes by the username @perfectbloomdesign on the platform, normally makes videos showcasing her resin art or packing orders for her customers but this time she shared her experience at the pet store in order to raise awareness for the poor living conditions of some animals.

She prefaced the video by mentioning that she normally doesn’t shop at the chain pet and pet supply store, but made an exception this time because her kids were “dying to see the hamsters.” She explained that it’s normal for her to go and check on the area where they keep the fish and specifically look at the betta fish.

“Unfortunately I see bettas in poor condition at a lot of the big box pet retail stores,” she said in a statement to The Independent. “They seem to be put on the shelf and just forgotten about.”

Sometimes two betta fish will be placed in the same tank together because when the two are both males they can become aggressive toward each other, or the store will forget to make holes in the top of the plastic containers they put the fish in which prevents them from being able to breathe.

During her check-in, she says she noticed the fish that she was holding in the TikTok didn’t look “really good.” So the woman brought him over to a manager and asked if she could receive a discount on him because she’d like to try and “save him.”

The manager replied that they would give her the fish for free because “he didn’t think [the fish] would make it.” All she had to do was pay for whatever materials she would need to attempt to save him.

She then took the fish home and followed some online instructions for treating clamped fins, which she assumed the betta had. Clamped fins are a condition that can occur from bettas being in a tank that is too small or is in poor-quality water which prevents their fins from opening.

She then made a part two to her original video making the announcement that after a few hours, the fish passed away. “After looking at him a bit more, he was really skinny, so he’d been sick for a little while. He came up for air one last time and then he passed away pretty quickly. But I hope he had some comfort in knowing that he wasn’t alone when he passed,” the TikToker said.

This isn’t the first time she’s tried to save a betta fish either. In her statement, she said she had previously saved a fish from Walmart. “About 8 years ago I saved another male betta from Walmart who had been dumped in another plastic cup with another male betta,” she wrote to The Independent. “Male betta fish are known for being aggressive towards each other so I knew I had to save him.”

Comments on the two TikToks expressed their anger at how pet stores are even able to sell animals in specific conditions.

“Are there any petitions available for pet stores to stop selling them or to improve their care standards? These fish are treated badly in pet stores,” one commenter asked. “It made me so sad working at Petco the two weeks I did, the poor bettas were suffering the whole time. It’s just about looks, they order way too many,” one pet store employee commented.

The Independent has contacted PetSmart for comment.