"ugly" little females

[OrkyBetta]

Now, me, being the devout animal lover I am, thinks these one inch, sickly brown little females are beautiful. But the LFS was so upset with this shipment of vt women that they marked the cups with 'UGLY, 1 dollar.' The whole lot of them, probably 20 or so, have been there for longer than my boy Sky had been there.

One little femme in particular has been keeping me awake, thinking about her poor little self. She's probably going to die in that miniscule cup, to never know happiness. She was such a card, followed my finger eveywhere, had a real love of life despite the word UGLY or her depressed little cup.

I want her, but my mother said she would kill me if i brought another living thing in this house. But how often is she in my room anyways? I don't have like, any money. I couldn't afford a new bowl, gravel and decos for her. I do, however, have a half gallon bowl with gravel and a castle in it that I COULD use. It housed my ADF which I am moving to my 10 gal.

Would it be terribly cruel to keep a tiny female in a half gallon?

 

[WILDER]

It must be better than what she in for now, not ideal, but you could always get a bowl, your mum might take pity on her any buy her one, good luck.

 

[mrplaty]

well i would think that it would be OK because surely it is better than what she is being kept in at the mo!!!
go for it!!!

 

[SarahBravo]

It's not optimum....but look at it this way, it's a heck of a lot better than what she's in now. Maybe she has to be in the 1/2 gallon for 6 months or more till you get her a bigger tank, she's still better off with you!

 

[OrkyBetta]

thanks, guys! I never really looked at it that way. Maybe I can weasel her in when I go pick up fish food later today...

 

[BettaMomma]

OH my god. If I saw cups like that I'd walk over to the guys working there and say - "I'll take all twenty for five bucks. After all, since they're "UGLY" you probably won't sell them anyway, right?!?!?"

As far as something to keep her in... the 1/2 gallon bowl should be just fine for a while. Just make sure you keep it covered - cuz the girls jump just as much as the boys do!
As everyone else has said - that will be much better than what she's being kept in right now.

Ya know - when you think about it, it seems to make sense that we all should be mad at the lfs for this whole situation, because I mean really - how petty... When, in reality, we should just be mad at people in general - because it's much like in humans... people much prefer to be around pretty things than ugly, which is why these things will probably never sell. And that really torks me off.

 

[WILDER]

My fancy goldfish tweety pie has two different eyes, and a bump on his back where his dorsal fin didn't grow, he was my sisters i took him in, i love him to bits and hes is a pleasure, and i have a cat with one eye, i'm not that sort of person who just choises an animal for it looks, some animals that are not perfect in the looks department are a pleasure to own.

 

[BettaMomma]

I COMPLETELY agree.
I like to think of it as having a brood of misfit animals.
They seem to be the most loving and rewarding kind to have around.

 

[MegTheFish]

Wow...thats pretty sad. I never knew people could be that low. Labeling bettas "ugly" right on their freakin cups? Like...come on people. If you do that nobody's going to buy them (only the nice caring people, like the people on this site ) so they'll be stuck with them. I could see if it was a joke or something...but it sure doesn't sound like it. I myself just bought an "ugly brown female'' that had been sitting there for weeks. I brought her home and after a few hours in her new home (10 gallon) I noticed she was crowntail AND she had a very bright blue "shine" to her fins when the light hits it at a certain angle. She's awesome! She doesn't look anything like when she was in the store.

 

[WILDER]

Good on you meg, she might turn into a beauty.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Is it written on the cups or on a label? If the latter, change it Why don't you stick a label on the workers saying 'Ugly, 1 dollar' or similar Hehheehee...

 

[Nik_boyd]

I don't know if the use of 'cups' is restriced to America, but all the Bettas that I've seen for sale in the UK are usually suspended in floating traps in larger tanks, or in some cases (depending on what they arein with) allowed to just swim around. How big are 'cups' exactly? I think I might have seen one on TV the other night (Wife Swap US, I'm sad to admit) and I must say I was horrified, if I'm right, and thats what a cup is. the poor Betta could hardly move

 

[ladyhawke]

I don't know if the use of 'cups' is restriced to America, but all the Bettas that I've seen for sale in the UK are usually suspended in floating traps in larger tanks, or in some cases (depending on what they arein with) allowed to just swim around. How big are 'cups' exactly? I think I might have seen one on TV the other night (Wife Swap US, I'm sad to admit) and I must say I was horrified, if I'm right, and thats what a cup is. the poor Betta could hardly move

I would say the cups are 10 ounces or less.
And, they are never filled to the top with water, usually half full or so.


edited to add more info.

 

[Nik_boyd]

so about the size of a small coke in fast food chains...poor little creatures. In general, in America do you get many specialist aquatics places? in general in the UK, most 'pet shops' only sell goldfish if anything, I've only ever seen Betta's in specific aquatic retailers.

 

[ladyhawke]

so about the size of a small coke in fast food chains...poor little creatures. In general, in America do you get many specialist aquatics places? in general in the UK, most 'pet shops' only sell goldfish if anything, I've only ever seen Betta's in specific aquatic retailers.

We have the veiltails all over the place around here. WalMart, PetSmart, PetCo., Pet Supplies Plus and even LFS non-chain stores have them. They all have a variety of other fish as well besides goldfish, platys, tetras, etc. I've only found one store just recently in my general area that had some crowntail males. (Southeastern, Pennsylvania, USA).