Can I resist? Should I?

[Bombalurina]

Alright, you terrible enablers, work your magic. :p

Today I decided to make a little excursion to the petshop, just for fun, because that's what I do. I sat in front of one of their community tanks for about 10 minutes and made the staff think I was crazy. The reason I was doing this will soon become clear.
Inside this community tank were some glolight tetras, a couple of bristlenoses, and four tiny adorable darling little female bettas. All of them were a bit pale and stressed (can't blame them - they were smaller than the tetras!), but I could see that one was going to be purple, one would be royal blue or possibly an MG, one would be red and one was too pale too even tell. I have a fixation on female bettas, possibly even more than males. I've owned more of them, and I just love how crazy their colour changes are when you get them in a new tank. Now, the big question is, do I go back tomorrow and buy these girls?

Before you look at me and roll your eyes and say, "Duh, yes!" here's why I'm hesitant.
I have a couple of different tanks at the moment. My large tank, a 16 gallon, is what these girls would go into. The normal betta queen of this tank, Artemis, is currently recovering from a possible internal parasite/msyery disease in a three gallon hospital tank with my male, Odysseus (seperated, don't worry). I don't know if she'll ever recover enough to go back into the large tank, but if she does, I'm not really worried about any aggression from her as she is very docile and used to living with other females. In fact, I think she actually misses it, as she perked up no end when Odysseus joined her in the hospital tank. So that's all fine and dandy.

BUT.

In a few weeks, I will hopefully be getting a 23 gal, into which will go all the inhabitants of the 16 gal, barring my ember tetras. I have great plans for it to be a gorgeous NPT. However, I wasn't sure I wanted to start another sorority in there, and if I did, I was considering actually spending out on Aquabid or buying from Jodi-Lea here in Australia on some super-beautiful HM or CT females. If I didn't go with a sorority, I was considering a single male, a gourami or maybe even some kind of crazy new species, like a killifish. Right now, though, the lure of a sorority is pretty strong.

So, bearing in mind that these girls cost $10.50 each, are just ordinary VTs (yep, welcome to Australia), and have a suggested lifespan of two years based on my previous petshop bettas, should I give into their siren song and welcome them into my community tank where they can grow into big, strong, beautiful fish with adorable grumpy faces? OR do I just wait til I have the new tank and decide what I want then?

If you've read this far, congratulations, and thank you. :)

[LinkLover]

In my opinion, you should think about how you would feel if you went back to that store once you had your new tank and the girls were gone. Would you be disappointed and regret not buying them? Or would you just feel like it was a sign you were meant to get something else? If your answer is that you would regret it, then go buy those fishies! If on the other hand you feel neutral, then wait until you have your new tank. :)

[Tabbie82]

Ditto what LinkLover said. If you'll regret it later, go for it.

[Tabbie82]

I mean... If you think you will regret not getting them later on, then you should get them. Lordy. I'm going to bed. Good luck making a decision! I know how difficult it can be!

[waterdog]

Personally, I would wait. Most of us in the betta fancy are given to impulse buys, i.e. we fall in love with what's in front of us.
It sounds like you are planning a really nice setup. I would concentrate on that for now. Make it as grand as you can imagine. Then sit back and ponder the question, "are common fish worthy of such a setup, or should I go for better?"
Only you can answer that!

[jesssan2442]

I think you should buy the fish from the petstore because if you don't they will most likely end up in a small 1g or will die at the store but the aquabid fish will go to a good home because if you didn't know much about bettas you wouldn't get one off aquabid.. but it is not my decision so you do whatever you feel it best

[LittleBettaFish]

I'd wait.

Honestly, I could pick up a whole lot of poorly treated and low quality females from most of the pet and fish stores around here.

But I know that as soon as the initial excitement of the 'rescue' has worn off, I'd be regretting that I didn't wait.

I know, because I have wasted two years and hundreds of dollars on impulse buys and pity purchases. I cringe when I think about it, as only now have I finally stocked my tanks exactly as I want them.

Jodi-Lea has beautiful fish. She is one of the only stores I will support with my money because her fish have always been healthy and well cared for.

You cannot save every single betta, and even if you purchase this group of females, more will just come and take their place as soon as the next fish order is in. It's why I now make it a point to not look at the fish in stores where I know the care is going to be substandard. It just makes me sad.

So I choose to vote with my wallet and will only support stores that provide exceptional care and service.

Jodi-Lea also sells single females. Having had both, I would rather a sorority of imported/high-end females over pet store mutts any day.

[Bombalurina]

Oh, these girls aren't rescued, the PetBarn here treats their girls well. :) They are in clean water with gentle fish. I suspect that their stress is just due to not having much cover in what is a huge tank for such a tiny fishlet. They are not even an inch long yet, and are in a 40 litre tank with one piece of driftwood and anubias. But on the whole, Petbarn is good to its fish around here. :)

[jesssan2442]

oh well in that case maybe you should wait... you could tell the store manager that if they gave the girls some more plants/houses that they might color up a bit and be easier to sell...

[LittleBettaFish]

Definitely wait then. Think of how nice it will be to have your new tank all set-up with the fish you really want in there.

Petbarn is generally good down here too. One fish store I sometimes go to is horrendous with how it treats its bettas. Usually the sorority tank is full of sick or torn up females and I don't know how they can ask full price for them. It's such a joke.