The pet store in our mall had re-opened (under new management) recently and I’ve been checking on their fish & supplies. Their stuff is expensive. Bummer. They have some betta stuff. None if it suitable other than food. I swear, they had a tiny globe bowl for 3.99, smaller than cups that they come in at other stores. But that’s not why I’m upset.

Along the back wall are shelves with 10g tanks. I head back happy to see they FINALLY have fish. I’m checking out their fish, no bettas at first glance. I see one in a tank labeled Swordtails, another in one that says Sarassa Comets (these looked like goldfish, making me wonder about water temps), and one in a tank of Rosy Barbs. I’m not up to date on what good tanks mates are, but I was both relieved & nervous about the groupings. The bettas had lots of room to move but it seemed weird… normally pet stores keep `em separated. I watched each of the bettas to see how they liked their roomates, but then I saw an unlabeled tank:

(Bad pics as my bf was rushing me lol)

Aye, 2 bettas and a handful of other mollie-sized (but unidentified) fish. I did a double take to make sure they were both male, but even so, there still should not be 2 together for normal living conditions. The reddish one was flaring, chasing, & nipping at the yellow one that seems to have a growth in his gut. I thought for a moment that it could be a long finned female full of eggs but I doubt it. Breeding in a tank full of other fish can’t be good.

It has also crossed my mind that this was a hospital tank, but that’d be dumb to mix all the sick fish. And only the yellow one looked out of the ordinary.

I tried to get a better look at the lump before I was pulled away:

Unfortunately we were on a time schedule & didn’t get a chance to talk to “the fish” guy. The girls that worked the counter were too busy playing with the rabbits for me to even bother today. I do plan on stopping in again soon to talk to someone. *sigh*