I bought one of my bettas from a local shop, a specialty aquarium shop in fact, and in the course of the transaction told the guy I had a five-gallon tank for him and he said that was "too big" and I'd be better off with a vase or one of those little things that are a gallon or so that they push at the pet shops as betta habitats. I got a little huffy and said MY babies have the very best I can provide and I was not going to "sentence" him to a life in a tiny bowl with no heat or filter. LOL I might have been a bit too vehement, but honestly.

 

Just go to the DMV and stand in line for awhile folks, the bar out there is pretty low. Take your time and explain that the betta fish is a tropical fish and the normal temperature they live in is around 80 degrees vs the standard we all know of the petco cup. I think (all) people believe betta fish come from petco ;?

 

Trust me the same thing happened to me at petsmart! The worker told me that bettas are lethargic and inactive fish! That's why they were at the bottom of their cups with ich:roll:

 

i came across a dude of a lfs that sells exotic fish and he was happily encouraging everyone to keep betas in community tanks!
he also sold the small containers but he kept saying that they would live more in big tanks
he even kept all the betas with the other fish

on the other hand....i have been on a store that kept their betas on a glass, encourage water change just when the water is dirty and not even using dechlorinator

 

I have never had this issue with my LFS. Although, my LFS closed down for business soon after I purchased my first Betta. I was going to get my fish and as they were bagging him (long time ago, was a little inexperienced), they asked if I had a tank set up for him yet. I said no and they looked at me and said that they can't sell me the fish as the bag only had an hour of oxygen [not true, they were a bit silly on that part, but they were doing it for the wellbeing of the fish]. They asked also if I knew what the Nitrogen cycle was, and I didn't but they gave me a bottle of Quick Start and I left, a little discouraged. Then I went to Petsmart and picked out a 10 gallon Grreat Choice with a filter and hood, which I'm surprised I did because I knew nothing about tank size back then, I just thought the small tanks looked ridiculously small. I picked out some hiding places and a clam bubbler as well, and the lady was helpful and told me I needed a pump for my bubbler [again, inexperienced] as she owned bettas herself. She then pointed out some Tetra pellets to get, I was going to get two bottles but they said it'll last for a while...and it did.

So I went home, set up my new tank, and put in the Quick Start. I didn't have dechlorinator because my well water doesn't have any harmful chemicals or chlorine [thank God...I didn't know about dechlorinator back then]. A few days later, we went and picked up my new fishy, that was Milo! He did wonderfully, until I realized he needed a heater and stole one from my dad x3. Regardless to say, I myself wasn't misguided here in Virginia by the pet store employees when I first started, I got decent information. But also my Petco cleans their cups twice a week [better than most petcos] and uses the Python siphon to clean out their fish tanks.

I've never had a bad experience with employees, but that's probably because I'm around such fish dedicated stores, even the chain stores. The manager of my Petco loves fish and has many fish herself so I'm assuming that's why. Not all chains are bad, it's the people running them.

 

It wasn't a LFS, but a chain, but I was told that a betta fish was an option for 50* water tank

 

Petsmart told my neighbor who had not kept fish before that 2 females cod be kept together in a one gallon tank. I went back with her and each betta got their on 5 gallon (I had one from a previous community tank someone tried to start and another one she had from owning a frog). She pointed him out to me and I caught him telling a mother and a 5 year old how females can be kept together in a bowl smaller than one gallon. I got REALLY upset. I went over there and explained to him that female bettas have to form an hierarchy so you should have at least 5 and that each fish should get 2 gallons of space. Thinking back on it I should have been a bit "huffier", but I got intimidated because he looked at me like I was the one who was uninformed. I'm only 13, and back then I was 12 so I would have been suprised if he actually absorbed anything I told him. I was kind of disgusted with him. I know that probably sounds stupid...

 

The shop where I got my betta from was the opposite. When I was buying my betta, I think the employee thought I was someone who knew nothing about fish and probably had a tiny tank with nothing else. I believe he thought this because he asked me questions in an almost challenging tone when he was getting my selected betta, like "so, what have you got set up for him?" "how big is his tank?" I could just tell from his tone he wasn't expecting my reply when I told him about my 6 gallon cycled tank. He seemed impressed. But at that same pet shop, they have a betta fish fact board, one which says "betta fish prefer small spaces so they don't need big tanks". -.-

 

I'm not sure I would be so hard on LFS and chain pet stores.

People don't pass on misinformation because they are trying to hurt a Betta; they do it because they've been taught and believe what they are saying. My neighbor told me Betta couldn't live in community tanks because they kill other fish. I then showed him my Betta-based community aquariums and his response: "Well, I'll be damned. You learn something new every day."

And it isn't just pet stores that pass along bad information/myths/whatever; it happens on forums, too. Unfortunately, the person reading it thinks that person knows what they're talking about and passes it along as if it were gospel...and so on...and so on.

For me, one of the hardest things to do is tell someone they're wrong when all they're doing is trying to help. But you have to do it or the cycle will continue.

 

I once visited my LFS to pick up a new bottle of water conditioner, and *of course* ended up leaving with a new betta.

Someone had knocked over his cup, so they threw him into one of the goldfish tanks. He wasn't faring well and I already had 8 bettas at home to care for, but I caved in and took him home. The store owner asked how many fish I had and tried to get me to buy one of those really small 1/2 gallon tanks, the kind that is divided so you can put two fish in it... I let out a really big sigh and tried to explain why he shouldn't even carry those things, but of course he didn't listen. I try to correct people when I can, but a lot of them end up thinking I'm just being condescending and don't retain any of the information. It's worth a try though, you never know... you just might impact some lucky little betta's life. :-D