what if I just can't wait any longer....

Well, as you all probably know my tank plan for my 20gal is: 6 Pygmy Cories, 3 Kuhlis, 2 Otos (Mist and Marble), and 1 female Betta.

I will be getting the Kuhlis within the next week or two, and hopefully by the time they are ready to go into the tank my Pygmy Cories will have recovered from their mysterious disease which I'm currently treating for. So within a month from now I should be ready to add more fish. However...my Otos have to be in q for 6 months (long story for those who don't know it, won't explain now), and I doubt my lfs will be getting a shipment of Pygmy Cories (I need 3 more) for awhile. Which leaves only the Betta to get.

And I don't think I can stand to wait much longer. I neeeeeed a Betta and I don't want to have to wait months and months (which I already have waited) until I can finally put in the Otos and find Pygmies. So I was just wondering if maybe I could cheat a little and not put the Betta in quite last. She'd be a female if that makes any difference. I suppose when I got new fishies I could take out the Betta for a while so the others can settle in. Also keep in mind I have a HUGE tank (20 Long) compared to what a lot of you keep Bettas in so the fish have plenty of room to get away from each other (that's not saying yours are too small or something...oh you know what I mean )

I have my serious doubts about it but I just don't think I can stand waiting. The other day at Petsmart I saw 2 little girls I wanted to take home right then and there...they were both just babies, one bright blue and one white with dark red fins, so pretty and so sad in their little cups. It broke my heart leaving the poor little girls. :'(

Anyway enough of my rambling, do you guys think I could get away with cheating just this once?

 

well I'm told that if you just take the Betta out, rearrange everything, and give the other fish time to settle you should be fine. But don't rush yourself, find that super awesome Betta; after all it is only one Betta per tank.

 

I think with the size of the tank and the idea that you would put a lot of plants and hidey holes for the others and rearrange things like gammerus mentioned, you can do just that very thing!! How about that? It is with the caution that goes with all such things though to be ready with a back up plan and all just in case, BUT that would have to be the case even if the betta was the last one added.

I think M & M can handle ANYTHING..no saucy little female betta is going to intimidate the fish who have dodged as many bullets as those two have. The only fish I would have any concern for are the cories and with a group of 6 they may totally ignore the betta and just play together. When you add the cories, she may have to come out for a day or so just to allow them to get settled. It will work, just be a bit more complicated. Besides you need to have a fish in that tank to keep it cycled...right?? ;D

Get your betta...have fun .

Rose

 

woo hoo!!! I can't wait!!! ;D
Unfortunately though I do have to wait a little since I need to get my Kuhlis right away while the lfs still has them.
Actually though I don't think the Betta thing will be any problem. I doubt I will but if I needed to I could always even leave her in the q tank until all the other fishies are added to the tank. By the time my lfs stocks Pygmies again hopefully M & M will be out of their q tank and healthy (hopefully) and so I could use their q tank to quarintine the new Pygmies. Make sense? Anyway I should certainly be able to move her into a different tank for a day when I get new fish.
I'm not sure rearranging would work as the tank is planted, but hopefully there will just be enough hidey places for the Pygmies and you're right, I can't imagine any of the other fishies being intimidated by a little Betta.

Hehe I'm just wondering if it'd be a good idea to buy a tank divider. Not sure how I'll be able to stand rescuing just one Betta..........

 

that is a good excuse for a new tank.....

Rose

 

I'd go for it. If the female is young she will probably learn better than Rusty, who was fully mature when I got him.

 

Yes that is the other good thing, Petsmart is selling baby girls so I'll get be able to get a really young one.

 

Sounds good to me.  Have fun with your new fishies!

CherryRose

 

I have seen some nice colorful females at petsmart, you shouldn't have a problem finding a cute one.

 

Yeah...thought I'm looking more for a) health and b) personality. They do have some pretty ones as far as pet store Bettas go. I bet they'd get even prettier if they were in a nice big, heated tank for a while. Too bad I can't buy them all. :-\

 

I would definitely buy them all if I had the space. I was just saying that to my boss yesterday when I told her Mr. Red had died. I told her how bad I felt for them to have to be in those little containers and that if I could I'd buy them all. Natalie

 

You all have such big hearts and loving homes for them. I wish we could all provide more homes...I am just stacking tanks at this point. (not literally but it is soon going to be me or them LOL)

Rose

 

Yeah too bad we can't all go to every fish store near us and buy every single Betta.

 

Yeah too bad we can't all go to every fish store near us and buy every single Betta.

Not to jump in at the end and be all "well...actually" but well, actually I think that'd be the worse thing we could do. That'd create an incredible demand, which would result in an increasing number of fish being treated horribly to fuel the demand.

I think the best thing we could do, aside of educating and getting these stores to change their methods, is to not purchase any of the fish. If a boycott of sufficient strength was in place the stores would be forced to listen and would then alter their methods for the better.

I'll now step back from putting my 34 cents in.

 

Well yeah that would be bad to buy out all the Bettas, I just meant don't we WISH we could ;D

We can refuse to buy fish from Walmart, but with stores like Petsmart and Petco I don't think that's the right strategy. What we can do there is write them letters and such saying we would like them to stop selling their Bettas in cups. Anyway not buying there is not an option for most of us since that is where we buy a lot of our fish supplies. We just need to make them realize we want them to change the way they handle their fish, not boycott them.

 

Well yeah that would be bad to buy out all the Bettas, I just meant don't we WISH we could ;D

We can refuse to buy fish from Walmart, but with stores like Petsmart and Petco I don't think that's the right strategy. What we can do there is write them letters and such saying we would like them to stop selling their Bettas in cups. Anyway not buying there is not an option for most of us since that is where we buy a lot of our fish supplies. We just need to make them realize we want them to change the way they handle their fish, not boycott them.

I know you meant it well when you mentioned wanting to buy (rescue) them all. But, a boycott really would be a drastic method that these companies respond to. Even with letters it'll be tiny containers for most of the fish with many fatalities. Keep in mind that fatalities are not only acceptable to fish stores they're expected.

We bring you back to your previously scheduled program.

 

especially since petsmart and petco simple wont stop selling bettas. Most people don't understand bettas, and they take them home and put them in bowls about the same size as the cups; so I think education is our best weapon.

 

Education is what this forum is all about, and while we wish that people would find us or people like us BEFORE they buy the fish and the wrong equipment, it seldom happens that way. All we can do is try to make sure that people who come to us for help or advice are given the best advice we can give and the combined experience of us all to help them take care of the fish they do own.

I am not a firm believer in boycotts and rabble raising myself. If people find that a place is not a good place for fish, they will quit buying there. The thing is that the chains have a following with the general public as they can keep the prices down on some fish that a person may not be able to buy at a reasonable price from a local pet store or a breeder who will deal with the public.

Rose

 

cwforums, I'm glad that you mentioned that. It's what I've been thinking too, though I'll have to admit that GrI'm came from petsmart. Anyway... I think that if more of us oredered our fish from repituable sources, it would lower the demand at the other stores. Unfortuanatly, I don't think that will do anything for the poor fish stuck in thoes cup right now. ~J~

 

I went to Petco yesterday after work to see if they had the filter's I need for my tank and I also wanted to see if they still had the Betta that I wanted to get, but they didn't. I was looking at all of the Betta's and more then half of them were half dead and one was actually dead. I don't shop there very often because I simply don't like them. I don't think their store is very clean for one thing and that is the main reason why I don't go there.I was so upset when I saw all of those poor Betta's and when I found the one dead I was thinking, " don't these people pay attention. " So, I went to look for someone and I found a girl. I looked at her and was about to ask her to remove it and she looked at me, said hi, and walked away from me. That really made me mad. I was like " Oh no you did not just walk away from me." I said" Excuse me!" she completely ignored me and went into this room. I was so ****. I wandered around looking for someone and no one was in site except for this guy, but he was doing something for another customer. I finally found domeone coming out of the grooming section "Excuse I don't know what section you work in( and frankly I don't care) (I thought to myself) , but I found a dead Betta in one of the containers and I think it should attended to. " I follow him back to where theywere and he walks right by them. They were in plain site. I said" UM... here they are" so I picked it out for him and he looks at and said" OOH" and walked away with it. I will never buy a Betta or anything from them again. They clearly don't care about anything.

In any case I do agree with what CWForums said. From now I only shop at Petsmart they atleast care somewhat about their animals and their store is kept clean. Natalie

 

Yeah, boycotts are good but I don't think that's what we need to do with Petsmart. They care somewhat it's just their employees don't know that Bettas shouldn't be kept in cups. They're not like going to altogether stop selling Bettas, so I guess we might as well rescue a couple while we wait for them to change their ways. At least them one Betta has a good home. Course I'd always rather buy fish from a good lfs with Bettas in tanks than from even Petsmart.