Petstore cruelty to Bettas

[Rach101]

I know you have to keep male Betta fishes apart. And i know males are really mostly, amoung the people that buy fishes at places like that, the only fish that sell.. But couldnt they do just a little bit more for the fish? Like keep em in something bigger? I saw betta fishes in the smallest little cups at petsmart. The fish cant even swim around at all. Its cruel

 

[ChileRelleno]

CRUEL....... Is a unfortunately a matter of opinion.
But I'm with you, some of the containers they market Bettas in are too small, others are just small and none are sufficient IMO.
But, how else would they market'em with the need to be kept apart at all times?
Then there is the general lack of fishkeeping knowledge in the vast majority of those buying them, some of the ideas of how to keep'em/feed'em range from asinine to cruel if the buyers used even a shred of common sense....

Just to put my minimum guidelines for Bettas in the clear,
IMO they require no less than a one (1) gal bowl, atleast a weekly water change with treated water and a proper diet...... Minimum.

 

[Rach101]

id be one of those people who know nothing about fishes... .. I know theres the whole fact that the fish have to be marketable... But these cups were so small! I think that there should have been atleast enough room for a human to have to talk a gulp of the water. (( not litterly.. )) I picked one up and i swear the guy was having a mini breakdown.

 

[eelman]

yeah. i do not know the needs of a betta, and im not sure if anyone really does, so its hard to determine what is ok, what is insufficient, and what is just cruel. however, im still pretty sure those little cups would fall into the insufficient/cruel category.

 

[Rach101]

(( be allowed to take a gulp***** talking on the phone while typing x.x ))

 

[cee219]

I have to agree, when I first got my Betta he was partying in his new 1 gallon home (I'm going to upgrade to a 2.5 gallon for him eventually)

I don't like the little bowls they keep them in either, but for space purposes it's understandable - but that doesn't make it right.

I went to Wal-Mart last night and I just had to glance in the fish section (by the way, Wal-Mart makes me sick - sick sick sick, but I'll save that whole Wal-Mart rant for a rainy day, oh cliche) and was horrifed to find at least half of the Bettas were DEAD (and did anyone notice? NO NO NO. Ugh, Wal Mart makes me ill) Anyways, It's so sad that they spent their entire lives in basically a coffee mug.

 

[youronlysin]

I hear it all the time at those stores too..."These things live in rice patties...there used to it!" or, "Bah, they're used to living in mud puddles." Well maybe native fish live like that, but the majority of the fish bought in local stores are tank raised...so tell me how they got used to living in a rice patty? I feel the same way...nothing will ever be done about it though.

 

[Rach101]

yeah. A friend of mine works in a local wal-mart and they placed her in the pet section. They didnt teach her anything about fish handing or nothing.. Most of wal-marts tanks are filled with dead fish or their devoured carcasses.

 

[penpitt]

A new walmart opened up a couple of weeks ago and I was there the other night and was surprised to see how many dead/dying fish they had already. I felt like buying there last 4 live clown loaches but I'm already at capacity and my qt tank isnt setup. Then I figured I cant rescue all of the fish from terrible conditions. I just feel sorry for fish that work their way to walmarts because the vast majority will probably be dead within a few months.

 

[FishLover14]

Iwould never buy fish from wlamart. They are way to cruel to their fish and 90% oif the fish in the tanks are dead or dieng.

JMHO

 

[ChileRelleno]

OK, Ok, this has degenerated into just another Wal-Mart bashing thread

Ya know whats really a *edit* shame is that probably out of "ALL" aquarium fish sold at LFS's and chain stores, Petsmart/Wal-Mart ect...
I'd bet that over 70% don't last more than a few months and down they go.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

My fiance came home from Wal-Mart a month ago with Cory Cats. I couldn't believe that he actually bought them from that gross place. But I gave in and gave them a new home. A 10 gal tank all to themselves. I then added 2 Apple Snails and they were all happy as can be. Until about 2 days later, Cory Cat #1 Dead. Then about two weeks go by, Cory Cat #2 Dead. Then last week, Cory Cat #3 Dead. I couldn't believe it. Ok, actually I could believe it. They were perfectly fine in that tank. I was feeding them properly, the tank had been cycled for 6 months, the water conditions were perfect. The only thing I can think of is the Wal-Mart curse. We have not had 1 fish last more than a month from that store. But then we bought Cichlid's from the lfs and have raised them from babies. We've had our Cichlid tank up for about a year now and they are all doing great. We have only lost 1 Yellow Lab and that was an unknown death. He wasn't eating at all, just hung by himself by the output tube and never bothered anyone. Wal-Mart stores need to be banned from selling fish.

 

[FishLover14]

It is not the Wal-Mart Curse it is all the disease infections and parasites, internal viruses, any fishes nightmares, those diseas reside in the tanks. They Never clean them at all. If they dont get a disease initally an internal parasttic infection takes hold and u cant tell anything at all and they jst die. The WalMart Curse. Yes i will neverb uy any fish from Wal-Mart, ever. My lfs hadrly ever has dead ones in the tank and the only time they do is like right after a fish shipemtn and a few fish are just to weak to make the journey and tsand the stress-And they remove them immedeatly. I onlky shop their.

JMHO

 

[Rudy_627]

at the LFS i went to they had bigger bowls for the fish and they seemed happy and plus they were some of the prettiest bettas you would ever see like aquamarine blending into a dark lavendar/purple

i loved it

although it is cruel what they are doing to those poor bettas

makes me sad

 

[Rudy_627]

PetsMart does the same thing with thier bettas but my sister (along with me whenever she is gone) is taking good care of that betta


so not all of them are treated bad

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The lfs that we purchase from has a great system. They only keep female Betta's in stock. They span them out in the tanks seperately, normally 1 per tank, then add in the other fish. if you want to purchase a male Betta, you have to special order it. This way they don't have to keep them in stock and have tons of little cups sitting around. You can specify the color that you want the Betta, but it is not 100% accurate (from what I've been told) BUT, they try their hardest to get exactly what you want. I wish all places did this.

I have also seen those little cups of snails at Wal-Mart and Petsmart. I know that snails don't need a big roomy home, BUT, those little cups are NOT sufficient. At the lfs they have a couple of them per tank and then have 2 tanks specifically for snails.

 

[QTOFFER]

There is a lfs (FishTown USA in Flushing,NY) near me that keeps its bettas in divided five gallon tanks. Each fish gets over 1.5 gallons of space - a huge improvement over the 8 ounces most stores keep their bettas in.

Kudos to Fish Town USA! If you live in NYC or Long Island, I heartily recommend them.

 

[XxTitleisTxX]

It is easier to maintain consistant water temperature in a smaller tank...you shouldn't make tank much bigger without having a heater IMO. Also, bettas are found in puddles in ricefeilds =/ not to say they wouldnt prefer the bigger tank... but bigger tanks would just be to expensive for the Lfs

 

[XxTitleisTxX]

Sorry to be the bad guy here, lol

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

TitleisT, it's understandable, with the turn around on bettas and the quantity they keep in stock it's not practical to keep them in thier own 2 Gal. I do like the thought of spreading them around in the existing tanks. I've seen walmarts do this with pleco's and CAE.

Even the LFS here puts them in small containers, like a mini bowl. probably ony 10oz at best. (funny thing is I've never seen one sick or dead any time I go there.)