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521K views 5K replies 635 participants last post by  Lyonfish 
#1 ·
I've seen several threads regarding "Baby Betta" for sale at PetCo. I wanted to start this thread for all discussion about PetCo selling Baby Betta, pictures of your new fish or what you've seen at your local stores, and stories of our success and failures.

I am really not sure how I feel about Betta being sold so small. I know that in the hands of your average fish keeper most do not have a chance. Those that do survive to adulthood will probably spend the rest of their lives in cold water in the 1/4 gallon "tank" they have stocked with them in the display.

Regardless, after hearing about petco selling true "baby" betta, I had to go take a look. Sure enough, I saw no less then 30 colorless, unsexable almost-fry less then the size of my thumbnail, fins included.

I had no intention of actually buying one of these poor fish, but then I saw one that was slightly larger then the rest in the baby cups. This one had started to show a blue and red mix of color and was clearly a double tail. Sure enough I walked out of the store with a miniscule but potentially beautiful new fish at the low low cost of $1.99.

I brought him home on Saturday. He is in M1's old 1 gallon corner tank. My apartment is running at a cool 80 degrees and his tank is holding solid at a comfortable 78. If he makes it to be large enough, I will add him to the empty section of my divided 10 gallon. He currently eats crushed hikari and frozen bloodworms.

Not going to get too attached to his fragile little guy just yet, but my fingers are crossed.

Anyone else fall victim to this cuteness trap? Post your pictures and tell your stories.
 

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#436 · (Edited)
My girls baby stripes didn't fully go away until about 4 months, now the only time she gets them is if she is stressed. Though my girl has a lighter almost lavender body so they may fade faster with darker fish like blue or reds. Not sure as I have only raised Phoenix. Hopefully that won't be true long. Also I am rather confused on her tail type.Sometimes i think she is just veiltail and sometimes I feel she is actually delta because when she flares her tail is more rounded ad full. She also has a fairly long tail for a girl, not nice and tight though it is a girl tail you can tell. Her tail doesn't appear to slop down like a female veiltail but it's not quite the full halfmoon spread though it does fill out when she flares. When she isn't flaring she looks more like a vt. Curious, wish I had my stupid memory card for my camera to take pictures of her with the underwater camera.

Also her color is most baffling, her body is almost a copper lavender, some shades she could almost be chocolate but the inside of her fins are redish orange and the outside are blue, not washed they resemble the mustardgas pattern. What color is that? She went through a freaky color change from being all purple and blue to that. It was kinda funny when it happened too, she lost her blue hue and got more brownish reddish on the body and her fins brightened up tenfold.
 
#438 ·
That's a punctatus cory, and they get about 2.5" long (males are slightly smaller than females).

Cookie really shouldn't be in anything under a 10, and with 4 fish of his/her own species. (Other Punctatus cories, not just other cories in general)

They're a really cool species though, I had a trio for a while.
 
#442 ·
I want another baby betta...I might go get one this Thursday and get the stuff I need to divide my 5.5 gallon tank.
 
#443 ·


Here's an update on my baby! It's doing great! Stripes are pretty much gone and there's some red and blue coming out. The blue is very shimmery <3 I really hope this little fishy is a girl!
 
#445 ·
not from Petco but i got what i now think is a baby/juvie male possible veil tail from walmart yesterday, was in a cup labeled female but he has a very long anal fin..its to long and drapey to be a female and he has lots of color on all his fins. he doesn't have a lot of color on his body but his baby bars have dissappeared for the most part so he should get more color soon.


of 4 in the female section he was the only one alive and when i got him home i tested the water in his cup and it tested 4-5 ppm of ammonia! poor little guy...but i floated him awhile in his new 1g tank(he'll get atleast a 2.5g when get some more size to him) and the slowly added new water till the water amount was doubled the netted him and released him into his new tank and topped the tank off.


he's so little...barely longer then a quarter but i'll feed him well and get him to grow up into a big male like my other 2.
 
#446 ·
Hi all! New here, and have had my baby for a week or so. Pretty sure she is a female because of body shape, and stripes. We recently had a power outage over Christmas and heat was out for two and a half days...so scared she wouldn't make it, but I kept her close to the infrared heater, and she some how survived. Promised myself if she did, she was getting a nicer set up. Going tomorrow to get her a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater, filter, and light. Have named her Sgt. Pepper, so Pepper, for short. Was also wondering if it would be ok to put a few neon tetra in with her??

Also, very annoyed with our Petco! Last time I was there, all their baby Bettas were dead, except for three. I'd love to rescue the unfortunate things, but at the moment, caring for Sgt. Pepper, is my main concern.
 

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#448 ·
Forgot to mention, her fins are a pretty aqua and red when light shines on them, and she has a bit of aqua on her body. She's really friendly too! She responds to my voice and swims facing me. She was curious of me from the first day I brought her home. Surprised to find one so friendly, at a young age.
 
#450 · (Edited)
My New Baby

Hello everyone!
I just recently purchased an adorable little baby from Petco about a week ago. I was very excited to find a little double tail in the store! The other babies all seemed to be veil tails. It is currently in a 3 gallon tank with a heater, filter, and a little marimo ball.
So far my little one is doing very well. It has a very healthy appetite, is very active, and looks to be in overall good health for it's tiny size.
My baby is only about the the length of the width of a penny (including its tail). It's body is transparent, and has no color except for the faintest hint of red on its head and gills. Its fins are mainly transparent as well, but there is also a tinge or red on the inner part of its fins, which is incredibly hard to see without the flash of a camera.
I had a few questions to ask everyone here who knows more about these little babies than I do!

Question 1: Is the red around its gill area a cause for concern? I was a little worried that maybe it had something to do with being exposed to too much ammonia. And if it is a problem, what can I do to fix it?

Question 2: I know it's a long shot since its still so tiny, but any guesses on age/gender? It's so tiny, and barely showing any color at all that I have no idea how old it is, let alone its gender!

I have attached two crummy cell phone photos of my little baby, I hope they are good enough! The first photo is without flash, the second photo is with flash.
 
#464 ·
Just wanted to know if anyone had any answers to my previous questions? The red on the gills is still a little concerning to me. I just can't tell if it's just a part of my fishy's coloring or if it is indicative of a problem. Also, any guesses on age/gender are still welcome! :)
Hello everyone!
I just recently purchased an adorable little baby from Petco about a week ago. I was very excited to find a little double tail in the store! The other babies all seemed to be veil tails. It is currently in a 3 gallon tank with a heater, filter, and a little marimo ball.
So far my little one is doing very well. It has a very healthy appetite, is very active, and looks to be in overall good health for it's tiny size.
My baby is only about the the length of the width of a penny (including its tail). It's body is transparent, and has no color except for the faintest hint of red on its head and gills. Its fins are mainly transparent as well, but there is also a tinge or red on the inner part of its fins, which is incredibly hard to see without the flash of a camera.
I had a few questions to ask everyone here who knows more about these little babies than I do!

Question 1: Is the red around its gill area a cause for concern? I was a little worried that maybe it had something to do with being exposed to too much ammonia. And if it is a problem, what can I do to fix it?

Question 2: I know it's a long shot since its still so tiny, but any guesses on age/gender? It's so tiny, and barely showing any color at all that I have no idea how old it is, let alone its gender!

I have attached two crummy cell phone photos of my little baby, I hope they are good enough! The first photo is without flash, the second photo is with flash.
 
#451 ·
Hi Everyone. Im usually a lurker on here. But anywho..I wanted to ask a few questions and see if anyone can help me out. Acouple of days ago before I went to pick up my kids from school I stopped by Petco to kill some time. And I was shocked to see they are selling baby bettas this young. I saw a few that were dying..some were laying at the bottom of the cup. I walked out of the store still shock, upset and sad all at the same time. But turned my butt around and decided maybe i could help the poor lil guys out. So I ended up buying two that were just laying on the bottom of the cups. (I do have the tanks and food (brine shrimp eggs that i could hatch) to feed them). So..here's my thing. I decided to put them in a 1 gal tank that's been divided for now. I was thinking maybe i could put them in a ten gallon tank (divided of course) but how much water should i put? Half way? full? As you can see they are pretty tiny. I don't want them to exhaust themselves trying to get air. I do have a heater. Their water are usually around 78-80. They are alot more livelier then when i first saw them. One other problem is that i notice that the red one has alil white spot on her/his fin. What can i do to treat it if it's ick? It's just one speck of white on her/his fin. Thats it. She/he is eating and swimming all over the place. And seem happy. any thoughts or advice is appreciated. thanks in advance.

 
#452 ·
Aww, they are so cute! They definitely look happy in their little tank. If they don't have any trouble swimming I would think putting them in the 10 gallon would be fine...my baby is in a 29g sorority tank with 9 adult females and is doing great! My baby betta also had one random white spot on it's fin when I brought it home too and I just kept an eye on it and it ended up going away on its own. If more spots appear then it's probably ick but I wouldn't treat until then.
 
#457 · (Edited)
Awww a little white baby! How cute! The small white spot looks like it could be a fungal growth, is it "fuzzy" looking? If there are a lot of small white dots that aren't fuzzy looking its probably Ich. Both are easily treatable. Sometimes the fungus will just go away on its own if the fish is healthy, but I dipped my Corydora in some Methylene Blue and within 2 days it was gone.

Today I woke up and couldn't find my baby betta...I freaked out! I checked EVERYWHERE and thought maybe she had jumped out. Luckily she was just hiding behind the driftwood but she was sooooo pale that she was blending into the white sand at the bottom. I don't know whats making her stress so much but I did a 50% water change right away and dropped a few drops extra of Prime. Within 5 minutes she had gained back some of her color but was scared of me when I went up to the tank and would dart around. Usually she happily swims over and greets me. I did get her to eat couple pellets but she ate them very fast and then darted back down to the bottom of the tank again :( Stupid me didn't test the water params because I was in too much of a hurry and didn't even think of it, I should do that now. I hope my bb are ok and that it is not something to do with my "cycle" but it could very well be since the tank has only been up since the end of November and a couple mornings ago I woke up to find the filter was unplugged....so I'm not sure how long it was off for...damn cats :(
 
#459 ·
Ich is highly contagious and fungus lives in basically all aquarium water. The fish only gets a growth if its immune system isn't up to par or it is injured (my Cory took a bite from my betta right where it's fin meets the body). I did not quarantine my Cory from the other 3 and my betta, but only because I didn't have another tank large enough to quarantine it in. I would separate yours just to safe.
 
#461 ·
Omg a lizard!? Wow that is crazy...sorry to hear that. Glad there's no lizards up here in Massachusetts lol.
 
#462 ·
yeah my husband caught the culprit. We had just got home from grocery shopping and he moved this board out of the way that was covering our vent for our dryer machine and it ran out. Made all of us ran like headless chickens lol. Of course out of natural instinct...my husband stomped on it. Here's a pic of the lizard.

 
#463 ·
Just wanted to show off my little baby.
Estimate him/her to be about 9 weeks and already blowing a bubble nest.
A blue marbled..not sure of tail type, the fins don't have as much of a slope as my other VT girls...
 
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