Must Boycott Betta Torture Chambers!!!

Discussion in 'Betta Fish' started by 0morrokh, Jan 30, 2006.

  1. 0morrokh

    0morrokhFishlore VIPMember

    Everyone read this, but I take no responsibility for house destruction due to excessive anger :p Tell all your friends about this! Do not let anyone buy one of those things, and if they already have one, make sure they dont! :mad:
  2. dahly

    dahlyValued MemberMember

    Always the drearest fish at the store. Take a tip from Rose and treat them right! They are beautiful fish!
  3. newbie101

    newbie101Well Known MemberMember

    ug the bettas at petsmart (and any and all pet stores i have ever been to) all look dead
    they are in the little punch glass containers wherever i look :'(
    the ones at petsmart look like they are floating in formaldehyde :mad:
  4. chickadee

    chickadeeFishlore VIPMember

    [size=24[color=Red]THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU[/color]pt][/size]

    You know how I feel about Bettas and yes I have been on a campaign for the better treatment of my little friends. They are TROPICAL FISH and need heaters and aeration and filtration!!!! In those ridiculous little cubicles everyone calls "Betta Bowls" or "Betta Planters" or "Betta Vases" they are being mistreated. It is the same principle as putting a fish in an uncycled tank and slowly killing them with ammonia and nitrited build up.

    It is sad that such a beautiful fish is treated in such a sad manner. Like I said about the goldfish bowls, it is comparable to having one of us spending our lives in a toilet with no hope of a flush. And yes I have a Betta in a vase, but it is a Big Vase and it has the afore mentioned heat, aeration, and filtration (chemical, mechanical, and biological - yes they do make them for under 5 gallon tanks - Marineland makes a great one called the Duetto Mini). The vase holds 3 gallons and Noel is happy and healthy. I wouldn't recommend less room. The only reason I consider putting Noel in this vase is he is a very small Betta actually, only an inch long withouth his fins.

  5. not4you

    not4youValued MemberMember

    Why are Bettas kept in those tiny cups in the stores? Until I started frequenting Fishlore I had no idea that people kept Bettas in tanks :eek: I've never seen one in a tank before!! Are there stores out there that keep them in tanks? Do they keep them in the cups because they can be aggressive toward their own kind? I've seen a post or two here that mention you shouldn't even keep two male Bettas in separate tanks that are within eyesight of each other :eek:

    How do they survive in such closed spaces? Reading this makes me want to rescue a Betta :(
  6. Isabella

    IsabellaFishlore VIPMember

    No comment ... I've had enough with fish dyeing alone, and now this :(
  7. chickadee

    chickadeeFishlore VIPMember

    No fish store do not keep Bettas in tanks because they could only put one in per tank. It is true that 2 male Bettas will fight to the death. They aren't called "Siamese Fighting Fish" for nothing. The small cups are so the stores can save shelf space, I guess. They are cruel. Bettas are not large waste producers so when I do go by and see the amount of waste in those cups, it makes me sick because I know it has been a long time (if ever) since their water has been changed. Knowing what I do about the cycling process, I know they are probably living in a bowl of concentrated nitrites and ammonia and most of them will probably die before they are bought. That is why I buy direct from dealers with a small stop at a very reputable pet guy who loves his fish as much as I do. I feel guilty not "rescuing" one of the poor little guys at the LFS, but I went through that once and he was so sick the whole six months I had him, it broke my heart. I don't think I could go through that again.

    I really believe the answer is to boycott those LFS, but instead of waiting for their sales to go down, they need to be told that they are being boycotted and why so they will have a chance to "clean up their act" or quit ordering so many Bettas to mistreat.

    Yes, it is mean to put them in those tanks where they see each other all the time. Like someone else on the forum explained it (sorry I have forgotten who), it is like having to protect your territory from a burglar trying to get in 24/7. Once a Betta starts to flare at another male they will lock their stare at each other and usually not break it until something gets in the way. If this is allowed to go on for more than 10 minutes AT THE MOST the Betta can be stressed until it could die. They do go into a frenzy that damages them from hitting the walls of the tank and injures them. This also applies if you put a mirror up for them to look into for too long. They can literally beat themselves to death in those small tanks.

    I know this has been long and drawn out but I am constantly reading and adding more information to my Betta file of knowledge. They are a great part of my life and I am very particular about their care. I have seen the 1/2 quart bowls that are supposed to be used for children's nightlights and the one gallon vases with a bamboo plant growing out of a hole in the top (there is not any room around the plant and the instructions specify not to feed the fish or change the water because the fish can eat the plant and the plant can use the fish waste as fertilizer - well Bettas are carnivores they don't eat plants. and can you imagine NEVER having the water changed and the plant is going to always be drinking the water - what happens when the water level drops below what the Betta needs to survive?)

    Enough! I have been on my soapbox too long and most of this has been in other posts.

    Thanks for listening again!

  8. OP

    0morrokhFishlore VIPMember

    Actually, there is a little hope. My lfs (unlike the chain pet stores) keeps their Bettas in tanks! Of course, I'd like to go give the person who puts the fish in the tanks what for, since he/she oh so smartly has previously put Bettas in tanks with fin-nippers :mad:...but I hardly ever have seen that, and hey, nipped fins are better than Ammonia poisoning! The Bettas are free-swimming, not trapped in those little square things they sometimes use as an "in-tank bowl", and of course 1 per tank, except for one tank where they actually have female Bettas. Their fish are a bit more pricey than other places, but they also don't have serious cases of both ich and fin-rot. (Which, :mad: :mad: :mad:, is how most of the fish are at certain places I can't say so I don't get sued :p) Fish must be the most unintentionally inhumanely treated of all animals, and that makes me angry!
  9. newbie101

    newbie101Well Known MemberMember

    ditto! :mad: :mad:
  10. gammerus

    gammerusWell Known MemberMember

  11. Isabella

    IsabellaFishlore VIPMember

    Poor bettas. Of all the tropical fish, many of which are 10 times smaller than bettas, only bettas are kept in a cup of water. How ridiculous? Just think about it: neons and any other fish of the size of neons are kept in 10-30 gallon tanks (though in large groups), but bettas - 10 times larger than neons - are kept in a cup of water. This is a contradiction in itself. I don't know how these bettas survive even ONE day in such conditions, seriously. I think it should be made into a BIG legal issue in the U.S. and everywhere in the world where bettas are treated this way. It is so cruel that it is beyond words. I wish to see the day when keeping bettas in a cup of water will be against the law. I really do. If such a law existed where I live, I'd call the cops on ALL the fish stores that I saw were keeping bettas in a cup of water.
  12. poefox

    poefoxWell Known MemberMember

    It's also the stupid betta myth. The idea that 'they live in rice paddies and mud puddles and all they need is a little tiny area". What nonsense. I bought one of those glass sized 'tanks' which is really meant to be a scoop for Rusty to avoid getting his fins entangled in the net, and no one batted an eye. But they should have. They should have said, 'you're not actually going to keep a betta in that, are you?" but the thing is advertised for that purpose. I felt a bit bad about getting it in retrospect, because in effect I was abetting a bad practice.
  13. chickadee

    chickadeeFishlore VIPMember

    I know it.  It is so depressing to go to the only place here in town that carries bettas and see some of them floating dead in their little torture chambers sometimes.  Every time I see this I go to the Customer Service desk and raise the roof.  They are sick of seeing me but I want them  to be tired of hearing it and maybe do a better job of at least keeping clean water in those little containers.

  14. Miss Mouse

    Miss MouseWell Known MemberMember

    I've noticed both my lfs's are really good with bettas and keeping them in large tanks - so hooray for Swallow Aquatics and Pets at home! :D
  15. chickadee

    chickadeeFishlore VIPMember

    Yes, let us congratulate and give credit to those pet stores and fish stores who do try to keep their bettas in a good environment. :D

    These folks sound quite compassionate and worthy of our respect.

  16. Peter243243

    Peter243243Valued MemberMember

    Bettas really do live in ponds but not their whole life.

    I do think the small cup thing is cruel still and should be illegal.
  17. lokky.funky

    lokky.funkyValued MemberMember

    Things are even worse here. They keep the Bettas in small plastics covers filled with probably 250 to 300 ml of water. And they make them float in tanks where other fishes are stocked. Really atrocious
  18. poefox

    poefoxWell Known MemberMember

    The thing is, a lot of older model pet stores still operate on the idea of needing a 10-20g display tank at the very least. So instead of having say a bunch of smaller tanks you COULD keep bettas in you have these big ones where the bettas would be wasting space. Frankly though I think that the smarter thing to do would be to have say at least 1g tanks and fewer bettas. I'd advocate say a 2 g tank per betta though, and yes I know it's not really big enough but certainly it's better than a cup. Also you don't have to have some beautiful setup; you don't even need a filter or heater properly speaking. So it would actually still be fairly cheap.

    The trick here is not merely to demand more humane treatement but to understand that it is a business and that there has to be some kind of compromise that will result in better treatment of the fish.

    When customers say "I'm not shopping here unless..." that makes them sit up and notice.
  19. chickadee

    chickadeeFishlore VIPMember

    There are Bettas who are in puddles but not to live.  They jump into puddles to travel.  They actually live in areas that are open for swimming.  There is also the fact that they are short tailed and look absolutely not one thing like the bettas that you and I see in our tanks.  The fish we are used to seeing have not only never seen a puddle they would not survive long in one. 

    Let's get real, folks.  THESE bettas were more than likely born in pretty clean conditions and raised in clean conditions.  The dirty cups come in when they hit the fish stores and the staff does not care or does not take the time to clean them.  This is not what they are used to and not the way they were made to live since birth or they would not have survived.  Most breeders do a fairly good if not excellent job of taking care of them as otherwise they would be deformed from nitrate or ammonia poisoning and breeding fish is hard work.  You think you have seen water changes, breeders have us all beat hands down.

  20. Stradius011

    Stradius011Well Known MemberMember

    It must be cruel for the bettas to see the other fish swim around freely while they are imprisoned in the small cup.