Blowing some steam about betta care

[Kassidy47]

My 20 year old sister owns a betta, has him in a 1/8 gallon vase, cleans his vase about every 2 weeks, and feeds him like 6 pellets once every other day. It annoys me soooo much! I just want to save him from her! When I try to tell her that use needs a WAY bigger TANK for her betta (not a vase either). Then she just comes at me with the thing that just makes me want to explode, "well bettas live in mud puddles in the wild. So my betta is in luxury." and if I try to tell her about her feeding or cleaning, she just says, "hey, I'm the betta expert in this house!" really!? I have 5 bettas, the smallest tank I have being 2.5 gallons! I spend hours on this website and others learning about bettas and ensuring they have the best care possible! And her only source for her betta information is the mostly clueless employees at petco! It all just makes me so angry! Her betta may as well he back in its cup at petco! Haha sorry I really just needed to blow some steam about this!

[lvandert]

its alright. I think we all have the relative or friend that refuses to learn. Just wait, at some point in time her fish will be sick and she'll need your help if she wants to save it.

[thekoimaiden]

Take it from an older sister, we don't like to be corrected by our younger siblings. So you're going to have to go about this gently. Maybe if you tried to contradict her "betta expert" objectively with fact like showing her pages that say "bettas don't live in puddles" and how fishkeeping in general requires water changes she would come around. Present the facts like blah blah (I can't remember names right now but put in a fishkeeping magazine or something) says that betta need at least 1 gallon of water and tropical temperatures. Don't talk like the facts are coming from you; talk like they are coming from outside, reputable sources. Hope this helps!!

[Kassidy47]

Thanks to both of you! I just had to tell someone (that actually knows that she is not taking appropriate care of it). Haha I tried saying this stuff to my mom, the person who wanted to get a couple of bettas to hang out together lol, but she just nods and acts like she understands. :) I showed her a picture of where bettas actually would live and she is just like, "oh I would love to live there!" haha but anyway thx for the advice!

[lvandert]

hahaha does your mom have gills and fins?! Well while she's down there do you think we can convince her to get some wild bettas? lol Silly moms, mine looked at me weird when I told her I made bunny treats today. Sad thing is she's 600 miles away and we were talking on the phone and I could still hear the odd stare

[lelei]

Did you see the Betta care Sheet that a forum member made? It would really be useful to show to her if you could print it out..and show her do you need the link..or I might be able to do a copy and paste for ya:)