My Betta Rehoming experience today

[mursey]

I just wanted to share my thoughts on when you have to find new homes for your bettas. I am moving far away, far enough that I am flying, and into someone else's home where they don't want a bunch of aquariums all over the place. So I placed an ad on Craigslist and couldn't believe people would answer so fast for just free bettas. I picked a few people who sounded like they were either really into bettas, or really into fish keeping in general, and they were all very nice!

I have most of my bettas in a 6.6 gallon tank but surprisingly, several of the people I met had tanks from 10 to 30 gallons they would put my bettas in. (Yes I checked to make sure they didn't have anything that would eat my bettas, and they all either had a heater or I gave them one of mine.)

Anyway, just wanted to share that a lot of people will take a free betta, and if you just say in your ad that you don't want someone who is going to stick them in a tiny cold bowl, some people will actually message you with a photo of their fish tanks, or they'll tell you a little but about themselves to the point you can sort of tell they really love their fish and take care of them. I feel so much better having found good homes for my little guys, and now I can finish my move with a lot less stress!

I hope my new "roomies" ( my sister and her family) will maybe allow me one betta and one of my 6.6 gallon tanks, but we'll see. And as soon as I get my own place again someday - Bam! I will put a tank in every room. :)


P.S. Just to be safe, if anyone needs to meet strangers to give your fish or supplies away, I decided to meet people in broad daylight at a Petco or Petsmart parking lot, with another person. You just never know so it's best to play it safe!

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

I am glad that you found good homes for your bettas, it is really sad that you had to give them away but I guess it makes it easier if you know they are going to good homes and I really hope that your sisters family allow you to have at least one betta to keep you going.

I really think that it is a good idea to get a potential "betta adoptee" to send/show you a photo of the tank that your betta will be going into.....

So it is not exactly the same but is sort of a similar situation, we had to rehome a pet parrot once. His mate had died and he was really lonely and calling out all of the time. We did not want to buy another bird so oneday when a lady came out to buy some of our peacocks she was telling us about how she had this massive aviary that all her parrots lived in and that it was all planted up like their natural environment and was telling us what a good life they had......she was really admiring out parrot so we told her that as long as she kept him in her large aviary with her other parrots she could have him. We told her we did not want him stuck in a tiny cage and have her trying to tame him as a pet because we knew his personality and he did not enjoy being handled by people much.

So we let her have him and we rang her the next day to see if he had settled in well. Someone else answered the phone and told us she had left the country for a couple of weeks which we thought was odd because she left our place the evening before telling us that she could never go on holidays because of all her birds....... thinking this was suspicious we rang again a few hours later...... she answered the phone and burst into tears when we asked how he was doing...... she had clipped his wing and tried to insist that he sit on her arm despite the fact that he was an aviary bird and not tame.... he had lept off of her arm and climbed through the fence and the neighbors dogs killed him

We could not believe it but she even confessed that she did not even have an aviary at all for him........

moral of the story, when you give away pets try to ensure they really are going to the great home that they are promised........ a photo of a tank/aviary is a good start to making sure potential new owners really are fit to be taking your pet and not just snapping it up on a whim because it is a freebee........

[mursey]

Oh my god what a horrible end to that story! I am so sorry!

Well, of course I am a little worried sometimes because people that love freshwater fish don't necessarily know about bettas but. . . I guess we have to choose the best candidates we think we have.

If anyone else has to do this I'd suggest this:

Give it a day or 3 to decide who to give your fish to. I did NOT think so many people would email me and tell me they were real "betta people" and would love one of my bettas. I thought since bettas are relatively cheap, I'd be lucky for someone to take any of mine, but I was wrong, I got more responses than I had bettas to give away.

It also helps that I looked around and gave away some plants, extra substrate, and heaters that were extra. I know I won't be able to have 5 or 6 tanks any more so I gave people some of my equipment that works but aren't my favorite. I gave one person who took my 2 bettas TONS of plants today and he texted me photos of my bettas surrounded by the plants they used to have at my house. So that was cute. I gave a couple little tunnels and hidey places they used to like too.

I still can't believe that woman lied to you because she thought she could just cut your bird's wings and everything would be fine. That is wrong, even if she thinks she loves her pets. Just wrong.

So my plan when I move is to just take one of my 6.6 gallon bookshelf tanks, heater, favorite filters, and maybe I can ship myself just a little baggie of plants. I'll just try to keep one tank and one betta for now and keep it simple. :) (I just won't let myself walk near the betta part of pet stores after that:) )