If You're Buying a Betta . . .

I decided to put this under Beginners, because For all beginners reading this, don't do what this beginner did. My good friend who moved to town recently has a nice room, but on his nighttable is a teensy weensy little tank with a betta in it. I explained to him that the tank was too small for the fish and that his Betta wasn't living a happy life, but he disagreed. Then he asked me how much bigger I thought he needed his tank to be, and I said about a 5 gallon tank or bigger, and do you know what he said? " The pet store told me that if it went in a bigger tank it would DIE! " COMPLETE OPPOSITE! So that's an example for you of the care of bettas!

 

what the **** that is positively EVIL!

 

Last time I went with a pet store with my mom, she asked about Bettas as I was buying a small tank (3gal) for one I had rescued from a friend. They told us that the open water would stress and kill the fish, and my mom agreed. Let's just say I'll never go there again.

 

Thanks for posting this story RoboDude. We've gotta be making people realize the truth about how these poor fish suffer in the conditions they live in. What kind of a person works at that store? Not only is the guy utterly incompetent in the matters of fish keeping, but he is also cold-hearted. I mean, you don't even need to know anything about fish to see right away when you look at the poor thing that it's suffering in so little water and with so small a space. What I always do - and that applies to just about anything you can think of - is I try to imagine myself in the position of another person and or/animal (for that matter) in order to really understand what it must feel like what they're going through. You should always put yourself in another's shoes before you even start to judge. Same goes for fish in our case here: try to imagine what you'd feel like if you had to live your entire life in a tiny closet with no fresh air ever. This is horrible. People insensitive to animal suffering (as well as to human suffering!) simply disgust me. I can never understand that, ever.

 

A tiny closet pumped full of poison gases, too! A tank with no filter has got to have ammonia, nitrite and nitrate if any, off the charts!

 

Unfortunately, the goal of the fish merchants is to sell fish and if they think and evidently rightfully so that they can sell more Bettas by offering them as practically "care-free" fish with no equipment or special care needed then they are more than happy to sacrifice the fish to do it. After all, if the fish dies, they will just sell more fish. The thing is they are lovely fish and it doesn't take a whole lot to sell them this way. I have people in my family who have Betta bowls on their desks at work and leave the job on Friday and come back Monday and the fish hasn't been fed for 2 days. They are in a bowl not much bigger than the cup at the pet store. I feel awful about it, but when these so called "experts" at the LFS tell them it is okay, we really have an uphill battle convincing them they are wrong. If the fish dies, then it was fate or some such.

It is inhumane, out-and-out cruelty and there are not any other words for it. That is all.

Rose

 

Or those vases with the plants in them. My Dad was going to get one and I told him that they were not a good idea. My Father does want a somewhat low maintenance pet and I did tell him that in a way that is true of fish but they still need to be housed well, fed well and given at least some daily attention just to make sure they're doing well. And that bettas in fact need personal attention, more than other fish seem to.

 

IMO fish are much higher maintenance pets than others (not to mention more expensive in some cases). Fish, there is the work of setting up the tank, then water changes, testing, gravel vacuuming, and if the fish get sick, medicating, more water changes, and if you have an algae problem then youhave to scrub it off all the different places, and if you have plants, fertilizing, co2 injection, propagating, and on and on and on...
Cats all you have to do is change the litter box (not even that if it's an outdoor cat.) and play with it, and feed it and water it. Birds you have to feed it, give it fresh water, change the cage paper, and play with it. Plus the occasional vet visits. And hamsters you just gotta feed it, refill the bottle, and change the substrate once in a while.
With fish you have a life support system that the fish depend on.

 

WOW! GOOD FOR YOU! seriously! That is so cool! If you lose that suit for libel and whatnot, I'm going to sue back lol! Unfortunately though, that is how almost all lfs's keep their bettas > > > > :'( :'( :'( :'( > > >
That is awesome!!!!!

 

waytogo shorty

 

Wow! You guys should get the Betta Medal of Honor or something!

 

I would immensely enjoy suing Walmart for animal cruelty ;D They have bettas in an inch or less of filthy water, most of them dead, the cups stacked on top of each other. > >
It would be so fun, suing them ;D ;D

 

My God, Shorty, I am utterly amazed! I really really am proud of you! Thank you for what you're doing. I am so glad there are people out there who not only care, but actually do something to prove that they care. Shorty you have my full support in what you're doing. Laws are laws, I understand, and I do think we as a society must abide by laws - however, when it comes to cruelty and suffering (whether human or animal) then there must be exceptions made if laws do not protect the weak. Under no circumstances should suffering and cruelty be allowed. Although libel and defamation are illegal per se - and they have the right to sue you for that - I believe they are nothing as compared against the suffering that the fish store caused to the fish. PERIOD. An understanding judge and compassionate jury will easily see that. Let us hope that excessive bureaucracy and intricacy of the legal system will not stand in the way of real justice. I am with you Shorty!

I am sorry to hear you lost the privilege to attend college. I imagine it must be very stressful as every semester at college counts and is very expensive - or at least here in New York colleges and especially universities are very expensive. I hope you'll be able to go back and finish your education - it's very important to do so. How many years have you already completed at your college? If the college doesn't admit you back, will you be able to apply to another school and continue your education? I really hope all will turn out well for you. I wish you best of luck. Please let us know how you're doing.

 

Of course you're being sued...by handing out leaflets and protesting you were seeking to keep them from making a living, doing business or whatever you want to call it, which is their right to do regardless of whether or not you agree with the way they sold their fish. I would venture to guess that it's what you said in those leaflets that got you into this predicament. And the reason you can't countersue is because you have no hard proof that they treated those fish cruelly.....If they have one sentence from the breeder that indicates that this method of temporary holding is acceptable, you have no leg to stand on whether you agree with the practice or not.

I understand what and why you did it, but obviously it had an effect on their right to make a living and you're probably going to have to pay for it in the long run.

 

I think the better way to go was as you said - report, report, report to the local animal rights agencies. Let them handle the matter.

Hopefully you won't be raked over the coals in all of this mess....Good Luck!

 

I hate seeing fish or any animal being treated badly. I went to this fish store that I have never been to the other day, and there were more dead fish there than live ones. :'( Not only that, the tanks were filthy too. > I don't think they'd ever cleaned the tanks before.

I don't buy my fish from here, but it's the closest place to me that does the right sponges to fit my filter, so I'll have to go go there every now and then.

This shouldn't be done. >

Gwenz

 

Nevertheless, Shorty, you did what felt right in your heart. Your intentions were to save the suffering fish, not to "destroy" the life of the LFS owner.