Raising a baby betta from Petco

Hi all. I keep seeing baby bettas being sold at a nearby Petco. I work at a wildlife rescue and so I stop by to pick up stuff for our animals sometimes - I don’t like Supporting them and their betta industry given how awful they are cared for. However, these baby betta look so sad and way too young to be sold. Some you can barely see in the cups. I have 5 adult male bettas and have been in the betta hobby two ish years. I have a cycled 5 gallon and an old 3 gallon tank I had for a sick male that’s not up and running anymore. I’m debating getting one of the babies to try and give it a chance. I’m looking for any advice on raising betta babies from Petco. Should I use 5 gal tank or 3 gal to then upgrade as they grow bigger? I saw water changes frequently and no filter or sponge. Just looking for advice as I debate whether or not to get a lil baby.

 

Used a 2.5 gallon with heater and small sponge filter for mine. Also fed crushed flakes.

 

Word of warning to you if you try. I just did this and the fish died in ~24hrs. Turns out it was probably stunted due to the parasites it clearly had upon closer inspection when it was home rather than a "baby". In hindsight I should have known something was going on because of how colored up she was already despite how tiny. Now I am stuck with the fun job of deworming my favorite tank to make it safe for the next inhabitant. So I'd recommend the 3 gallon as bare as reasonable to start for that reason. I probably will never buy a betta from Petsmart/ Petco again. My mind went too far down the rabbit hole envisioning the disgusting conditions that poor girl was probably subjected to in her short life.

 

Just to be clear you should only buy one and grow/quarinitine it in its own tank, you shouldn't buy them all and try to care for them in the same tank unless you have dividers but that's not enough space in a 3 gallon. Seen as the 3 gal isn't cycled, you would need that setup before purchasing the betta, however it's quite likely that due to the conditions in those cups by the time to tank is cycled the fish would likely be dead or sold already. I would steer clear from this, seems like it could end poorly.

 

Just to be clear you should only buy one and grow/quarinitine it in its own tank, you shouldn't buy them all and try to care for them in the same tank unless you have dividers but that's not enough space in a 3 gallon. Seen as the 3 gal isn't cycled, you would need that setup before purchasing the betta, however it's quite likely that due to the conditions in those cups by the time to tank is cycled the fish would likely be dead or sold already. I would steer clear from this, seems like it could end poorly.

Yes I would only get one! But I’m thinking I probably won’t anymore. I am trying to downgrade my tanks as I have so many now so this wouldn’t be ideal the little guys just pulled on my heart as I imagined what they go through in the pet stores care. I bought from PNW BETTAS and will only ever buy from there or other breeders I trust. I don’t want to support the Petco and petsmart. I tried a betta sorority when I first began beta keeping after receiving bad info from the Petco worker and will never be homing bettas in same tank together again (two of my male bettas are in a 20 gal divided to two 10 gallon but that’s it).