Bettas on E-Bay

[Caleen]

I have owned betta fish (usually only one at a time) for almost a decade now. The four I have owned to date have all been from pet stores. I actually had a lot of success with them, and each of them lived for well over two years, although unfortunatly they came to un-natural ends (RIP Estelle, Wolverine, and Bob). The males both died due to my ignorance of proper Betta care (I have become more educated now) and the female jumped out of her tank and was not discovered in time.

Anyway, we are finally moving into a house and I would like to aquire more bettas (not for breeding, just because I think they are beautiful). I have seen some for sale online and I was wondering how safe it is to buy them on E-Bay.

Would it be better to try to find a reputable breeder in my area? Is it ok to buy Betta from specialty fish stores that probably care more for fish than Wal-Mart?

Is it ok to keep betta in large glass containers (not aquariums, more like a vase or something)? My betta seems to be fine with the water I use (tap water that is left to sit, no conditioners), and the temperature that we keep the house at.

I don't want to buy any more Bettas and have them die because I did the wrong thing.

Sorry if my questions have been answered elsewhere. I have two kids under three and I don't have a lot of free time to read all the threads.

Thanks in advance for any hlepful advice I get. I am so glad that I found this place!

[briggs]

If you can find a dealer in your area that would be best. I didn't even know you could get fish on ebay.. but I think that would be my last option.

I get mine from petstores too, and the next ones I get will be from a breeder in my area. My second last option is aquabid.com, but i think for your situation just getting them from petstores or from a breeder close to you is best. Depends what fish store it is, some are worse then pet stores some are better. (For instance, the big als aquarium services in my city decided to leave two male bettas in the plant tank, not cool. but the walmarts here usualy keep everything nice and tidy and i havnt seen one dead fish yet in their stocks)

I use water conditioner, most people do. It's cheap and lasts for quite awhile (Prime) and doesnt take long to apply to the water.

If the vase is big enough, 1gal or more then all the power to ya.

Nice to see though that yours lived that long, a mothers friend of mine does the same thing as you do with yours, (except she uses this water condtioner then you just squeeze/drop in) and it's been alive well over 2 years also. You obviously have experience keeping them.

edit: I change my view on ebay bettas. I didn't know they had them on there, the last time I checked they didn't I guess. If you are goign to get one from an auction, it would obviously be best to bid on ones in your country (most aquabid ones are over seas, but it looks like these ones are mostly in the US)

[twoluvcats]

I've done bettas on eBay and bettas off of aquabid. So far...i've had very bad luck...my eBay betta only lasted about 6 months and died suddenly. My aquabid betta (he was from thailand) has a unknown lump on his head, and I don't think will be living a 'full' life.

Shipping is very hard on a fish...but the less distance it has to go, the better it is. All fish that you buy are shipped, so it has to be successful sometimes. It is VERY hard on them to come from Thailand...its almost 4 days in a teeny eeny bag with only about 4oz of water. Before eBay and aquabid...look at some of the breeder sites like IBC...they have GREAT stock and the fish would only be within the US or from Canada...so it wouldn't be such a trip.

Don't try to get one 'cheap'...that was part of my problem...I got 'deals' on my guys, and it showed in the fish.

As for the vase...it would be ok, tho personally I don't like to house a betta permanently in anything less than 2 gallons.

You NEED to start using a conditioner...many water treatment plants are switching to chloramines instead of chlorine to treat your water...chloramines do not offgas like chlorine and they are very very harmful to your fish.

HTH

[briggs]

twoluvcats said:

You NEED to start using a conditioner...many water treatment plants are switching to chloramines instead of chlorine to treat your water...chloramines do not offgas like chlorine and they are very very harmful to your fish.

HTH

Ah yeah good point I forgot about that, that's the main friggin reason!!

Say, that lump on your fishes head.. does it look anything like this?

www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/closed.cgi?view_closed_item&fwbettasct1116739008

[twoluvcats]

=-o YES!!! His is dark blue and closer to his eye, but that's the closest representation I've ever seen. Without melafix in the water it develops a white 'crust'...he has tremors, and i've had a heck of a time getting his tail to grow back after dissolving from the high ammonia in the shipping bag.

[Caleen]

Thanks for the advice guys! Oddly enough, last night while driving to an appointment with my husband I passed a little store for specialty marine critters, and the sign had a huge Betta on it! I will be checking that store out at my soonest convenience, looks like it might be a good place to buy Bettas (can't really tell until you go inside I suppose).

I will start using conditioners. And I will make sure that any glass containters I use are at least 1.5 - 2 gallons (you can get HUGE glass vases at many home decore stores, that is my plan).