Petland Bettas

[Caleen]

Ok, I am sure you are all getting tired of my posts by now, lol.

Today I stopped by Petland to pick up water conditioner (yes, I am going to start using it now that I know how hard I have been on poor skippy). And because my kids love to look at the animals. Anyway, I couldn't resist taking a look at their bettas, which is always a bad idea, since I want to save them all from their half-cup of water hell.

I was actually surprised. Not because they had put them in proper half-gallon tanks, but because they seem to have had a variety explosion. They had double-tail, crown tail, and what they claimed were half-moon's (didn't look like it to me, they were delta tails at best). They had females and males of different sizes (some were even advertised especially for breeding). And the prices were higher then one usually sees, anywhere from $10-$40 per fish.

I almost weakened and bought this beautiful royal blue crown-tail female. I felt so bad for her, the water in her sour-cream sized container was so dirty it was hard to tell what color she was. She looked to be close to mature size, but I am in the middle of moving so I could not really justify getting another fish, at least until after the move.

Anyway, this post has a point, I promise. I have read that Petland sometimes buys animals from local breeders. The labels on the containers would lead me to believe that someone with at least a basic knowledge of betta types and genes wrote them. Perhaps they did come from someone who breeds bettas in the area.

Do you think it would be a good idea to buy bettas from Petland? Obviously they are not all the healthiest fish, which just makes me want to give them a good home all the more (can't we all relate to that, lol). I want to get some varieties of bettas once I get into my house. Not for breeding (too much work for me, thanks), but I love bettas and now I am coming to want them even more (oh no, I've got the betta bug!).

I could find a local breeder I assume, but if I can just get them at the pet store, should I? Would it just be supporting the poor treatment that they recieve? Will it really make a difference when so many of the betta-ignorant buy fish there? Isn't it good to save some if I can?

I am just getting started with bettas, so I hope no one minds if I ask a lof of questions. I don't want any more bettas to suffer from my lack of education.

Speaking of which, I got some betta meds at the pet store and I am hoping that skippy will improve. I think that maybe his lip thing is a type of mouth fungus (or I could be totally wrong). I got Splendid Betta, BettaFix (hopefully it works), and the water conditioner I got is Betta Plus.

Anyway, will post an update if Skippy gets better!

[Ella3]

I don't really know that much about Petland. I've been in our Petland one time and they had a nice store, but ours did not have a good variety of bettas. I was looking for females at the time and they didn't have any.
I have met the guy that runs a lps right down from my daughter's dance studio. My son wanted to go in there like it was a zoo everytime we were waiting on my daughter to finish class. ;D So that is how I got to know the owner. Anyway, he goes to a breeder and selects a wonderful variety of bettas. They keep them in glass bowls with color coordinated marbles. They have heating lamps over them and the water always looks clean. He is very knowledgable about them too. The good thing is that he still only charges about $3.50 for the males. I think the females are $3. I really have to restrain myself when I go into the store since he does have such a great variety.
I have bought 2 fish from Petsmart. The last fish I bought from them was a young (because he is a lot smaller than our other males) crown tail. I was looking at the bettas and saw mostly red and blue veil tales. Then I spotted him and my daughter said that we just couldn't pass up a crown tail. So I am guilty of buying a few from the little cups. You just can't resist them sometimes.

Ella

[akestler]

I actually think it's better to get bettas from pet stores (assuming they're not really sick). I liken it to getting a dog from a pound vs. a breeder. With breeders, you know that they are receiving good care and they will find good homes. With the pet store, they're not receiving the best care in the world, and they are most likely going to go to someone who's going to throw them in a vase and not have the slightest clue how to care for them. So I say that if you find a betta you like at a pet store and it doesn't have a life-threatening disease, go for that over a breeder. That's just my opinion.

[Ella3]

they are most likely going to go to someone who's going to throw them in a vase and not have the slightest clue how to care for them.

Speaking of this.....
There was this old couple looking at the bettas in Walmart. My daughter and I were looking at them too because they had one that looked like our "Erik". The guy who worked there asked the couple if they needed help. The lady said they wanted to buy a fish. He started telling her a little about bettas and took her over to pick out some food. As he was telling her about the different foods I noticed that she had a very puzzled look on her face. She said, "Oh, I thought they just ate plants." He explained that myth to her and then proceeded to tell her about how to treat the water and how often to change the water. She looked even more puzzled and acted like she didn't want to treat the water. He talked her into buying some anyway. That's when he told the story about him personally having a tank with males and females living together. The lady said, "How do I know what kind I have?" I spoke up and told her about males and females and a little more about their care. The Walmart guy had done a really good job though.

I just looked at my daughter later and said, "Oh that poor fish!"

Ella