Hello, I am new here and have just bought a Betta. I have a few question and sorry if I have posted in the wrong section.
I was very shocked to see the pet shops selling Bettas in cups, or extremely tiny square boxes. The poor things can hardly move around. When I questioned the keeper about how wrong this was they said in the wild the bettas live in rice paddies which are about the same size as what the store is keeping them in. I don’t think this is true. Rice paddies are Huge! Yes there water may drop due to drought but surely a cup is nothing like the wild rice paddies which would have plants and things in it.
How do you stop pet shops/aquariums selling/keeping bettas in this condition?
Also how do Betta’s breed in the wild?
I have been told that you can’t keep a male and a female in together, what happens in the wild?
Hello, I am new here and have just bought a Betta. I have a few question and sorry if I have posted in the wrong section.
I was very shocked to see the pet shops selling Bettas in cups, or extremely tiny square boxes. The poor things can hardly move around. When I questioned the keeper about how wrong this was they said in the wild the bettas live in rice paddies which are about the same size as what the store is keeping them in. I don’t think this is true. Rice paddies are Huge! Yes there water may drop due to drought but surely a cup is nothing like the wild rice paddies which would have plants and things in it.
How do you stop pet shops/aquariums selling/keeping bettas in this condition?
Also how do Betta’s breed in the wild?
I have been told that you can’t keep a male and a female in together, what happens in the wild?
The only way to stop Bettas being sold in small cups is for people to stop buying them. It's too much work for an LFS or LPS to set up appropriate tanks for them because they can't easily house them together especially the males. With the cups they can have more which means more money in their pocket. As far as the wild, my understanding is that they live in relatively shallow pools even though rice paddies are huge & they can jump from "puddle" to puddle. You may have multiple females to one male & if another male invades I would imagine there would be a death battle. Someone with more knowledge about them in the wild will probably chime in.
the reason people go to pet stores is that it's a problem is finding where to buy bettas... i'm looking for a pretty one in NJ and so far i can't find anywhere.
The only way to stop Bettas being sold in small cups is for people to stop buying them. It's too much work for an LFS or LPS to set up appropriate tanks for them because they can't easily house them together especially the males. With the cups they can have more which means more money in their pocket. As far as the wild, my understanding is that they live in relatively shallow pools even though rice paddies are huge & they can jump from "puddle" to puddle. You may have multiple females to one male & if another male invades I would imagine there would be a death battle. Someone with more knowledge about them in the wild will probably chime in.
in the wild, bettas usually don't fight to the death, they fight until one or the other runs away. domesticated bettas have had their aggression cultivated for centuries to make sport animals, which is why they fight more viciously.
The rice paddies are actually miles large. They're shallow but not like rain puddle shallow. A male's territory spans large areas, females come around when they need to spawn. Actually I have now words for wild bettas mating but there is no validity in the pet store myth that says they live in the footprints of field workers.
There is plant matter in the water, and along the perimiter there is live plants, plus not to mention um.. rice.
If bettas ever ended up in a puddle it would not have been on purpose lol. It would also be during the dry season.
The one problem with cups is people SEE cups they may think SMALL SPACES is OKAY. I remember a girl asked her dad why they put those fish in cups and not tanks. His reply was "because they can live in cups" it also does not help that stores allow myths to become as such, making easy money off of 0.5 gallon tanks that come with dividers.
Also, in the wild you will not find the long fin males we keep as pets and it really isn't a fair comparison IMO. The Betta we keep as pets are much different than their wild cousins.
In the wild they have space to get away from each other, in a closed system we keep our Betta-No place to go to get away.....However, in the proper setup-some domesticated males and females can be kept together long term.
The small temporary cups Betta are sold in are the safest and most practical method to keep them for re-sale. Just like all the other species of fish in pet shop that are kept in overstock, poorly stocked tanks. This is for display for re-sale-Plus, with the long fin males-if they are kept in larger tanks the fins/tails could tatter and most people buy long fin males for their fins/tails and color.
Also, in the wild you will not find the long fin males we keep as pets and it really isn't a fair comparison IMO. The Betta we keep as pets are much different than their wild cousins.
In the wild they have space to get away from each other, in a closed system we keep our Betta-No place to go to get away.....However, in the proper setup-some domesticated males and females can be kept together long term.
The small temporary cups Betta are sold in are the safest and most practical method to keep them for re-sale. Just like all the other species of fish in pet shop that are kept in overstock, poorly stocked tanks. This is for display for re-sale-Plus, with the long fin males-if they are kept in larger tanks the fins/tails could tatter and most people buy long fin males for their fins/tails and color.
i was gonna say something similar...yeah it sucks to keep bettas in those cups when selling them, but consider the seller for a second. in most cases they're not sadistic fish-torturers. a lot of them realise that seller cups are far from ideal environments for bettas, but know their unique anabantid physiology makes it a liveable short-term situation. think of the space, electricity and water costs it would take to house them all in individual heated 3-gallon tanks until they're sold. the real burden comes upon their sale, both from the seller, to inform on what their proper care should be, and the buyer, to adequately provide it. think of it like a tattoo: no matter how good it looks when you get it, it will turn to a muddy color-blob if the artist doesn't tell you how to aftercare it, and the customer doesn't follow his instructions.
Last edited by homegrown terror; 10-13-2012 at 12:05 PM.
It's at store level where it becomes worse. You can consider the supplier in that way but once they hit stores and the employees dump them into their cups and then forego cleaning them ever (by squirting that blue stuff in) it makes for poor representation of their care.
It does. However, it also depends on management itself... Who says what and teaches who works. (PJS PETS in west Edmonton mall VS PJS PETS in Kingsway mall, Edmonton)
As for breeding I know people wont stop breeding pet store fish. Therefore, instead of detouring I inform why I think they should breed quality (not superb even... Just decent) fish...
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Similar Threads
it also does not help that stores allow myths to become as such, making easy money off of 0.5 gallon tanks that come with dividers.
