Don't you wonder what happens to the majority of female bettas we DON'T see in the petstores? I only see a handful of petshops that sell the females..and they can't all be used for breeding.
That's so sad. I'd bet I could find homes for a lot of females to keep some of my co-workers company. Do you think a breeder would be willing to give the "useless" ones away?
You're talking about the pet store ones probably. I see one every so often and people seem to buy them. I think the Veiltail breeders sell of their males after they've produced some broods for them and people have no idea they're buying an old guy. You love em just the same but still you'd like to know up front.....It's a good question though what happens to the females....
There are always about 10 female bettas at the LPS near me. Even though they are fairly small, they are in cups that are half the size of the male cups and the water is only 2-2.5cm deep. I just got one and put her in my community tank. She has a pink body and a blue tail and she glows in the tank so I named her Firefly (plus that was a really good tv show). I find the females have pretty weak pectoral fins and have trouble dealing with the current in the community tank for a week until they build up strength. Maybe if they had bigger cups to swim around in they wouldn't be so weak when they are purchased.
I'd like to sell a humane betta bowl kit I constructed, which is small enough to fit on a desk but big enough to include a heater. I was thinking I might be able to sell unwanted females along with the kit to give them a good home, raise awareness, and make some money at the same time
Culled, I'd be willing to bet. A lot of wholesale betta breeders also breed other things, like flowerhorns, for example, which probably thrive on live foods.