Betta/Jam jars

[fatbobsufc]

One of my LFS that has been on the go for years (I don't go there anymore as I have never been impressed with the quality of their fish) keeps it's bettas in tanks with other fish (not Bettas) and floats them in a jam jar at the top. You can see that the fish look unhealthy (their fins droop and lack colour) and the jar is full of poop.

I was wondering whether this is normal practice for Bettas? I always thought it was cruelty but after reading some background info on Bettas, people seem to keep them in vases and allsorts (sorry but that has to be cruel ). I understand they will fight another male to the death but when the Betta is the only one of it's breed in the tank, why the jam jar?

 

[canis_lupus]

well most stores keep bettas in dixie cups which is worse than jam jars imo. and a lot of the time lfs don't know what fish can go with bettas and maybe they had a problem with other fish nibbling on bettas or vise versa and they decided to not risk it. also by floating it in the tank the temp is always the same. but this is cruel! to keep a betta in something so small is unfair and to not clean it is worse. but humans aren't always very kind to animals

 

[KnuckleHead]

Ive seen this as a common practice in many of the lfs Ive visited. Yes it seems very cruel but it has to be better then those little cups you normally see them in. As far as them being dirty well thats just plain laziness on the lfs part. Jars are also used as grow out containers by breeders. They use them once a male is identified by his aggresivness. I have 25 half gallon jars waiting until mine show their attitudes.

 

[wuvmybetta]

most of the betta sold in the US come in specimen cups, a jam jar would be 10X the space , it's sad , but it's mainly practiced because the betta is just so darn easy going as far as housing is concerned so they're mistreated terribly

 

[akhtar]

yeh they do it, my LFS cleans theres out everydsay as they say! (i asked)

i think its sad, i bet when we buy them there really happy to be outa those jars!!!

 

[Dreaded]

My LFS doesn't sell them, you have to order them. So I got mine from PetSmart, and the lady who runs the fish counter was very knowledgeable. She also cleaned out every single specimen cup every day for every betta. The bettas of course, didn't look happy to be in the cup, but at least they were getting food and clean treated water. My betta is quite happy to be out, for sure.

 

[Xiphophorus Nezahualcoyotl]

1 they love in small pools in summber months that are almost dried out
2 it the only save way for stores to keep them toghter "with males" or they would tear each other to bits the reason for them looking out of colour is die to the fact half the time there kept in to close a proximity to the other males being able to see them or being able to see there reflection causing them to take to the "spar stance" where the flair there bodys and fins out exhasting them selfs


3 when breeding there fish how do you expect to be able to raise a brood of 50 to 200 of them in saying half the brood are males

as long as you look after them jam jars are more than substancial accomdation to keep there beautiful little fish

as long you you make sure to clean the jars at least 2 times a day removing any uneaten food and replacing water in there jars twice a day with aged water from other tanks

they will be quite fin there i used to have over 500 jars on my centre isle in my hut when breeding them and never suffered any loses due to them being in jars unless due to old age and did have them for many years there

 

[glubglub]

Not too worry, Betta's originate from China where they are commonly found in the wild in little streams and rice patty fields in which there is minimal water so they are bred in small enviroments. They also can live in very low oxygenated water aswell because of this, so again a small environment like a jam jar is fine except fot the fact that it is dirty. I clean my Betta's 25% water change once a week and he's been doing great. They do like small enviroments to live in but they are ideal for a moderate size fish bowl, he still needs some room to move around. Also keep in mind that Betta's are sold so often that they are not kept in the store for very long in those jam jars. They are often shiped to store's in long sausage rows with about 8-10 fish per row, kinda like a pearl necklace, with about, 10mls of water for each fish.

 

[Sinuhe]

In the 2 LFS's in my city, they keep the male bettas in the regular tanks with other fish. They only have like 5 of them in the whole store, so it's different from places that always have tens of bettas for sale.

glubglub, you must mean 100ml per fish and not 10ml? 10ml would be less than the size of a betta.

 

[Alien Anna]

I've seen bettas kept in divided large tanks (say a 4ft with a divider every 6 inches). That way they get a bit of swimming room but more importantly, they can have a decent filtration system and clean water.

 

[White Whale]

Sorry for being 'uuuhhhhh-duuuhhhh' , but can someone explain to me what a jam jar, a dixie cup, and a specimen cup is and the differences in sizes between the three? Tenx!

 

[cassandra]

did you see the new product out now for bettas that don't get along with other fish it's like a jar but it sits at the bottom of the tank with a plastic plant on top of the lid it looked cool but i would never use it for any fish

 

[White Whale]

did you see the new product out now for bettas that don't get along with other fish it's like a jar but it sits at the bottom of the tank with a plastic plant on top of the lid it looked cool but i would never use it for any fish

It's cruel turning a betta into a 'boy-in-the-bubble'.

 

[cassandra]

yah i think the same, it's funny but people that work at the fish stores say only put betta's in bowl or something small how can they say that

 

[glubglub]

no i ment 10 mls, and yes it is just about the size of the betta. If you ever saw it you would know how little water it is. i work it a pet store and belive me its about 10-15 mls of water.