Betta's As Feeder Fish.

[thelastbetta]

I went into one of the new LPS today and saw a tiny tank full of mangled male betta's and written on the tank said feeder betta's.

Surely this is against the law? Gah.. poor fishies, I was so tempted to rescue one or two.

Anyone else seen this before?

 

[penguinpimp1990]

why would it be illegal? its not good but i doubt if goldfish can be used as feeders legally a betta would be different..........

 

[thelastbetta]

Yes but that's like feeding a kitten to a shark though. What fish eats a betta in the wild for them to be sold as feeders? Ah well..

 

[SRC]

um..any fish big enough to get the betta in it's mouth...there are all sorts of wild fish that would be more then hapy to eat a betta.

While I don't promote keeping fish that require live foods, some fish need them to survive and thrive (some will live on a vegetarian diet, but they surely won't thrive).

It only ruffles our feathers because we enjoy keeping the fish that is being used as a feeder...it's just natural for us to feel distaste for it. If you kept meat eating fish (pirahhna, oscar, flowerhorn, ect) and had never had a comet, rosey barb, betta, endler, or guppy as a pet before..it probably wouldn't bother you quite so badly.

 

[Runit]

Ekkk...poor bettas! In one petshop I noticed a beaten-up male being torn to pieces by the other fish in it's tank....alive. I complained to the staff, who said he'd die anyway and didn't bother removing it!

 

[penguinpimp1990]

..any fish big enough to get the betta in it's mouth...there are all sorts of wild fish that would be more then hapy to eat a betta.

actually i doubt there are any natural fish predators of rice patty bettas..... they naturally inhabit shallow rice patty waters, i doubt there are any fish that are large enough to eat these bettas in waters this shallow (unless there is flooding or things of the like).... though i wouldnt doubt that things like snakes and stuff pick off a few.

 

[timmystood]

While I agree it isn't very nice.
It is after all a fish eat fish world...

 

[SRC]

actually i doubt there are any natural fish predators of bettas..... they naturally inhabit shallow rice patty waters

You do realize rice patties aren't the only places these fish live, right? They also live in streams and lakes as well. Not only that..but any fish that is smaller then another fishes mouth...is a natural prey item.

 

[diademhill]

While I agree it isn't very nice.
It is after all a fish eat fish world...

It is actually illegal to sell live vertebrates as feeders in the UK - part of a pet shop license requires that the staff should acertain the pet is going to be suitably housed.

If you kep fish that need live prey it is IMO your duty to breed these yourself. I don't put anything in my tanks without quarantining them so It amazes me when I see the tanks of yukky, cramped, feeders on sale when I visit shops in the USA.
The worst shop I ever visited had two adult Oscars, in a ten gallon tank each, with a tank of feeder guppies beneath them with a sign "feed us please - 3 feeder fish for $1" the Ocscars had HITH and were hunch backed.

 

[Bloo]

It is actually illegal to sell live vertebrates as feeders in the UK

Going by this quote in this thread over in the chit chat section, I don't think that's accurate ?

From memory, the legal arguement (certianly in this country) is whether the life form is sentinent, and that is described as one with a backbone.
Hence the reason the feeding of live food is illeagal.

That's actually wrong. There have been a number of threads on this and in one the RSPCA was asked to comment and agreed with the below.

The feeding of live food is perfectly acceptable so long as the food is not put into unnecessary cruelty. The definition of unnecessary is yet to be fully clarified, but a fish (or any other animal) that is swallowed whole is very unlikely to be considered cruelly treated in the eyes of the law, especially when feeding to predatory animals.

 

[diademhill]

It isn't illegal to feed live vertebrates to other creatures but it contravenes a pet shop licence to sell vertebrates AS feeders - a subtle difference.
A lot of shops turn a blind eye or at least realise the difference between someone with a newly imported arrowana and a kid with a pirhana.
I keep a dustbin fish - a predator that eats cull fry - and I have no problem with fish being fed to others but I do object to the way "feeder fish" get treated.

 

[Bloo]

Ah I see what you mean

 

[Bettaman]

Ah I see what you mean

If they are not being kept in good condition then they will proberley be diseased so regardless of weather legal or not wouldnt want to feed to any live fish.....

 

[Ben]

"actually i doubt there are any natural fish predators of bettas..... they naturally inhabit shallow rice patty waters, i doubt there are any fish that are large enough to eat these bettas in waters this shallow (unless there is flooding or things of the like).... though i wouldnt doubt that things like snakes and stuff pick off a few."

Then why do you think you don't find any colourful wild bettas? That's right, because they don't want to be caught by predetors. They're usually brown with green-ish tints to them. The colours we see today were bred into them, if a colourful betta like the ones we have was let back into the wild it would be gone in less then a week, not even.

"It only ruffles our feathers because we enjoy keeping the fish that is being used as a feeder...it's just natural for us to feel distaste for it."

Agreed 100%.
If theres nothing wrong with using goldfish, guppys, mosquito fish, neons etc for feeders, why would it be a problem if people use bettas (who were probably bred for the purpose)?

JMO

DD

 

[Synirr]

Here's an example of what a non-rice paddy betta natural habitat looks like... trust me, there are predators in there

It's kinda strange to see bettas as feeders, but I imagine they are quite healthy as feeders for tropicals as compared to goldfish as they are closer to what the fish's natural prey would be like. This is one of the reasons convict fry make such good feeders.