I though the cups were bad.

[Atlas58]

They aren't even bags they are a pouch with a spit of water in them.

[kuklachica]

I know, I've unpacked them. I consider them little baggies, but I guess you could call them pouches. There's about 2-3 tablespoons of water in there with methylene blue.

[Atlas58]

I think the tanks that they were using were the reservoir tanks with no fish in them but the water has still run through the system throughout the other tanks.

[FloridaBettas239]

Yeah that's how betta's get shipped, Its pretty much the best way for them. If you put a lot of water it's going to be sloshing around every where. Plus betta's are air breather's so they only need just enough water to keep them wet but they need as much air as they can fit in the bag..

[puddin]

It is my hope that the breeders researched how to ship mass amounts of bettas with the least fatality. I too have spoken to our pet stores and they also say that very rarely do they see more than one or two arrive dead, unlike other species of fish they receive.

[doggyhog]

I think all petcos do it differently, but my petco takes pretty good care of their bettas. They were MUCH worse a year ago, but they have since improved.

I've seen them changing the water in the cups before and they had one bucket with clean water and one to put the dirty water in. They would simply net the betta and keep it in the net while they cleaned the cup.

As long as the bettas are properly taken care of I don't see a problem keeping them in the cups. If proper water changes are done they are fine. You have to remember it is only a temporary home for them.

[vaygirl]

I think if they weren't grossly overstocked it wouldn't be so bad. My petco usually has around 40-50 bettas and I see the same fish all the time. Last time I went they were a mess. All of them were grossly emaciated, all of them had most of their fins missing. It was sad.

They were like that a while back but I made a complaint and they cleaned up and got rid of a lot of stock. Now it's back to being really bad. I know they're understaffed but don't order so many fish! I've started going to Petsmart instead. They only ever have 15 bettas at a time.

[Jayy]

I've seen bettas came in boxes in those little bags with two inches of water at a lps. I thought that it was mean, but I've never bend there before when they unload the other fish. So I didn't know If all fish came that way or just in bigger bags.

[Adastra]

Smaller bags are a safety precaution--the bigger the bag, the more likely it is to rupture, and the more inertia the betta will get whenever the delivery truck makes a sharp turn or goes over a bump. The small bag helps the betta get knocked around a little less, and as has already been said, air is more important to a betta during shipping than a lot of water to swim in. If you ever get a betta shipped to you from a professional breeder, it will be in a small bag in a small amount of water.

Also, as far as the tap water thing goes--if you've seen the sink in the middle of the fish department, you'll notice that it has a pretty big cabinet underneath. In this cabinet is an R/O unit--not exactly tap water. It does not need to be dechlorinated, but it should be treated with a remineralizer.

[shinybetta]

My petco takes good care of their bettas, but my petsmart is really bad with their bettas.