Why Don't Lfs Sell Females?

[Devorax]

Well in fairness, the MA I got my females from (I had 7 for £10, VT's I think) had a tank of some 15-20 all together with no problems at all. I do think they are juvenile siblings though, but none had stress lines etc, all showed their colours well (this helped a LOT with picking the prettiest...lol). They were not fighting, chasing, nor flaring at each other (which started here once they were released )

I do think it probably also has something to do with the fact that most pet shops in the UK have some degree of ethical practice. Yes we have all read about individual howlers that blight the LFS reputation, but most do an acceptable job, and I think they don't stock females in case none-the-wiser new keepers decide it is okay to keep males with females. Maybe it's to stop people breeding them so readily in the homes of people that would be unable to successfully condition/spawn them let alone house several dozen fry individually when they need it before they are mature enough to be re-homed. Maybe it's to stop the market being flooded with bettas that are not as picture perfect as many that are presently available in LFS.

And Modaz, I am thinking of doing the 300 mile round trip to come and see what a 'real' LFS looks like......lol

 

[JustKia]

Yes, Shirley is reasonably close by. They didn't have any females - and I'm wary of buying from them as everything bought there (except for 6, of 10, danios) has died.
Tried MA at Solihull and Stratford and also tried P@H in Leamington and Coventry (the one by Maplin).
Maybe it's just round here, or I got unlucky and they were all sold when I went looking?
Rosedale at Whitnash has got females but I'm being picky about the one I want (and the one I wanted got sold let that be a lesson not to hesitate in future) so was hoping some other places might have females I could have a look at.
I don't fancy asking a shop to order them in as I only want one and she's got to be the right colours

Most of those places have the males singly in tanks with livebearers, corys or other peaceful fish. So, I wonder what's happening to the females - are they culled?

 

[mfcclc]

Hi my local maidenhead aquatics has loads of females all the time. The last shipment even had about 10 double tail females, well 8 now cause i bought two of them. They always have a nice selection of colours and the fish all look healthy. The boss is now stocking different males as i kept moaning about having the same males in all the time, he even ordered in some wild bettas. It a shame your so far as he has quite a few green females at the moment. Also if there is a specific fish your after he will order it specially in for you, mind you the amount of money me and my husband spend in ther i should think he would order us anything!!!! lol. Good luck with the female hunt x

 

[LauraFrog]

One of the reasons hardly anybody has females is that they've given up on getting them... some places have had shipment after shipment of 'females' that are actually male plakats in wild colouration. When compared to the CT and VT males in their interesting colours, nobody wants PK males - so if they can't get real females they give up. That's happened to a few places around here, I've got five females at the moment and every one a treasure because they are so difficult to find.