What else can I do???

[Gen2387]

I visited a friend's house for the first time yesterday and when I got there I saw she was changing the water of her betta fish bowl. It was one of those less than 0.5 gallon tiny bowl thing. Then I looked around the kitchen and saw 4 more of those bowls with bettas in them!!!! I pointed out that 2 of them were sick (a fin rot case that seemed to always stay at the bottom and the other one was clearly bloated). Then a pointed out that the water was a little cold and she told me that bettas lived in cold water that's when I explained to her that bettes are tropical fish and need to be in water between 76 and 80 and that my bettas at home were in filtered/heated 5 gallon tanks. She was surprised and said that the guy at the petstore said they didn't need that and I told her that they didn't really know what they were talking about and that it was a way for them to make money. Anyway, she didn't care at all about what I had to say and now I keep thinking about all those little bettas at her house... what else can I do. She does seem to take care of them. She told me she changed the water twice a week and fed them every day... what would you do?

Sorry for that huge paragraph.

[Olympia]

Well she obviously cares somewhat. I'd tell her to not feed the bloated one till his tummy is better. Maybe tell her about the one with fin rot and offer to treat him for her? Unless she wouldn't mind doing 100% changes daily. If she doesn't wanna spend money tell her to look for some cheap fish bowls that are at least a gallon online, even in stores they don't usually cost over 10 gallons. Then she could get small heaters. Though I doubt shed donthis for them all at once, most people don't want to spend that much. xD

[Bombalurina]

I would buy her a present of a betta care kit - a Kritter Keeper, a heater and a little cave, and help her adjust one of her bettas to this. Maybe when she sees the difference in his health, she'll be motivated to help the others, too.
If you can afford it, of course, you could buy 4 such things, but obviously it isn't fair that you should have to.

That was the only thing I could do for a friend who was keeping three goldies (two comets and a fantail, one comet has since died) in a 5 gallon tank. I bought her a filter, a bottle of Prime and a bottle of Stability to kickstart the cycle as an "Easter present". Hopefully, I'll also be taking her remaining comet for my pond.