will they always be mistreated?

[JacopoFishy]

I guess I just wanted to rant a bit.....

I was browsing my LFS when I noticed they'd just gotten in a new shipment of bettas. I bet many of you have seen the little plastic triangles these particular ones had been shipped in (from Singapore, apparently, the night before). I started looking the batch of 20 or so over, and spotted one poor little guy with what must have been about 1 mL of water, not even enough to cover his gills. I picked him up and held him in my palm. I carried him over to the store guy working at the time (he knows me well, even let me buy fish when I was $1.65 short one time ) I asked him if we could give my fishy some more water.

He said sure and started to lecture me on the labyrinth organ, but I interupted and finished for him, since he thought I was just another silly customer knowledge-wise. Long story short, I ended up taking home two bettas from the batch. The one I had first spotted is ridiculously gorgeous- he's deep red throughout, and the tips of his fins curl in some places. The other is all crazy colored with reds, purples, and blues.

'm going to assume we all know the general betta stuff, concerning their origins, the labyrnith organ, and the conditions they can tolerate. But just because they have the ability to survive in next to no water high in awfulness levels, why do we all seem to think its okay to subject them to it? Sure, humans can survive on bread and water with few nutrients. We could also survive okay with no social contact, cut off from beauty, neglected, and in tiny spaces with poor air quality. That doesn't mean we should all live like that. I know we all know this, but I feel like everyone else needs to know that they way they see bettas being kept in pet stores in tiny cups is wrong. Let's get the message out at every opportunity.

~~Bettas need a minimum of one gallon of space. Ideally, they should be kept in 2.5 to 5 gallon tanks at the least.

P.S. I know a few of you have a ton of bettas and are unable to house them in the ideal manner-its all good

 

[Carolinesugar]

Bang on, but as we all know, however hard we try, iLFS and companies in singapo n the likes of, will neva ship bettas in the rite amount of water and everything, as they dont think that it is effient use of funds. If we all thought like the large majority of the ppl who use this site, and we took over the international shipping of bettas, we would know they were safe frm poor conditions, and would know that they wudnt cum 2 ne harm during shipping.

But just a note and shout out to all betta lovers, and all fish keepers who have the space and time for a betta, if your unfortunate enough 2 see a betta being kept in poor conditions at ur LFS, please tell the shop assistant that u dnt approve, give him a mouthful, and if you have the space and time, give him a home!

==========

Caroline
xx

 

[jkun17]

I know how you feel. My bettas are all so beautiful (I've got a half dozen and fully intend to expand on that number). I have somehow managed to get my hands on a large number of old and unused bowls that I've been using for my fish. I put an electric blanket under my bowls to heat the water a bit. I went paranoid when I realized that my conditioner was removing chlorine and chloramine while not dealing with the ammonia derived when breaking up chloramine. I spent the past two days scrambling this forum trying to find answers and a few were actually knowledgable to help me. I've cycled (in the past 5 minutes) all my bowls.

 

[BeccaBlain]

I just bought two halfmoon genotypes from my store, and because I bought the expensive fish, I got to take home the storage cups...

*digs them out.*

They hold about 200 ml of water. 2 inches tall, 3 inches diameter.

Including lids, which were sealed.

They had about an inch of water to swim in.. at least they didn't suffocate.

So, I have these two cups.. I'm going to use them as temp holding for when I do waterchanges or need to do a very very temporary holding of a fish for some reason or another...

But yeah, these are by far the worst cups I've ever seen. The walmart cups are x10 better than these.

The fish are adoring their new homes, and those are temp by my considerations!

Okay, one has 10 gallon (filled up almost half way since I was too lazy to put in the second bucket of water..) but the others in a breeding trap until I get around to adding said second bucket later today.

Needless to say, they adore their current situation and are flirting with each other. The female is going to get different housing arrangements in about an hour though.

 

[JacopoFishy]

hehehhe, betta flirting..... cute!

~completely irrelevant, I just gave halloween candy to a little girl in a Winnie the Pooh costume. she was too young to even know what was going on!!

yea, I'm afraid that now every time I walk into a pet store I'll come out with a couple of bettas, just to save them! I've started seeing random household objects as potential temporary betta bowls. maybe I'm losing it a bit

 

[BeccaBlain]

1 liter mixing cup I use as temp housing and water changes is currently helping out a slinker who can't manage in the 10 gallon tank.

I filled it up, plunked it into the tank along the edge, handle holding it into place, and instant betta house.

The betta in question seems to love it, now that he can get oxygen... he was always stressed prior, barred and unhappy, fins clamped. Now, hes flaring, has good colors, and isn't just struggling for air.

(Yes, its a liter. But, the fish cannot swim very far -anyway- and seems to like it, so.. good enough for me.)

 

[GuppyDude]

the reason their shipped like that with little water has to do with cost mainly, not ignorance. as anyone here whos ever shipped a fish would know, u wanna put as little water as possible for the fish to survive in to keep down shipping cost, i know when i get bettas the water lvl is quite low, juts enogh to cover over the fishes dorsal fin and that should be the standard on bettas. i love rants thanx

 

[BeccaBlain]

Yes, in SHIPPING.

These fish were -not- being shipped. They should have been in more water.

They should NOT have been in an airtight, sealed container, either... as obviously they were not being shipped at the time.

They had been in the store long enough proper housing should have been gven to them.

The show fish at that store are usually very badly abused, while the non show fish get respectable sized cups, air and other basic necessities to their life.

 

[jkun17]

I'm going to a betta show this coming saturday and I wanted to know some of the techniques that breeders use to get these awesome fish.

I'm just wondering because I don't want to be patronizing them if they've been doing terrible things to get them to look and appear that way. What are some things I should be looking for to make sure that they have been treated well?

 

[BeccaBlain]

Shows are kinda different than stores. The shows usually try to put the health and care of the fish in front of anything else... sick fish tend to not show, if you get my point.

Stores tend to not give a wit about bettas, since they are considered "cheap" fish.

 

[JacopoFishy]

Yes, in SHIPPING.

These fish were -not- being shipped. They should have been in more water.

They should NOT have been in an airtight, sealed container, either... as obviously they were not being shipped at the time.

They had been in the store long enough proper housing should have been gven to them.

The show fish at that store are usually very badly abused, while the non show fish get respectable sized cups, air and other basic necessities to their life.

exactly. that really bugged me. and this FS has about four small shelves set off specifically for bettas with small bowls. it takes about five seconds to put the bettas in a bowl *since I watched the guy do it with Frank, my new betta* its just so frustrating.

I know shipping must be tough with expenses, but these guys basically took them out of the box and that was it.

*sigh* poor bettas. their adaptation has ended up hurting them, as well as helping.

 

[D Chia]

I know shipping must be tough with expenses, but these guys basically took them out of the box and that was it.

These guys travelled economy class with very little leg (fin) room.

Having travelled so far, they definitely need more space to S-T-R-E-T-C-H after the trip.

If I were the seller, I would add more water to allow the bettas to stretch out their fins like peacocks to show off their beautiful caudals to my customers.

 

[Kittycat]

I know shipping must be tough with expenses, but these guys basically took them out of the box and that was it.

These guys travelled economy class with very little leg (fin) room.

Having travelled so far, they definitely need more space to S-T-R-E-T-C-H after the trip.

If I were the seller, I would add more water to allow the bettas to stretch out their fins like peacocks to show off their beautiful caudals to my customers.

I agree. A lot of times I have a hard time selecting fish just because there is too little water for the little guy to flare and show me if his fins are healthy or not. Or the water is too murky/dirty to show the fish's colors well.

 

[candy]

yay to everyone on here who has saved a betta.i saved my first one today and he is sooooooooooo beautiful even with fin rot..that we will soon fix.

i just wish everyone knew how these fish should live and how beautiful they are.

today i even taught the pet shop owner the diffrence between a VT and a CT. and iv lernt everything i know for u guys

so thank you

 

[tekknocolor]

It's all too often that you see bettas in these kind of conditions, but there's only so much room in my house for another. So the end question is: Do we buy them to save them or do we buy them to encourage the seller that it's ok to do so?