Banning Betta Cups

[jourdy288]

True, but it also encourages customers to keep bettas in smaller containers. Superstore LFS need to educate people.

 

[lljdma06]

True, but it also encourages customers to keep bettas in smaller containers. Superstore LFS need to educate people.

That is the superstores biggest flaw. The lack of correct employee training, and that is where I think FTBgirl has the potential to make the most impact. I do remember my training at the superstore where I worked, and thank goodness I had a lot of tropical experience behind me, because most of their information is just plain wrong. My coworkers kept sticking java fern in the gravel, and I kept pulling it out. They told patrons that bettas live in dirty rice paddies, I told them that yes they live in still, shallow water that happens to grow rice, but the paddies also stretch for miles and the emersed growth of the rice keeps the water extremely well-filtered and clean. They told them that goldfish can live in 10g tanks, I was the biggest seller of 55g starter kits for goldfish. They sold patrons anything, I would make a patron sign a receipt assuming responsibility and wavering their right to return if they insisted on buying a fish that I didn't recommend. My manager didn't like that, and I was thrown to the back and made to close everynight and face 5 aisles, while everybody else faced 1. I got the point and quit afterwards. It is a sad truth, they are out to make a buck, but I still agree with Guppydude, the cups, provided that they are clean, and roomy enough are the best option.

And FYI, the betta containers that you put in a tank, there isn't nearly enough circulation going into that container and the feces gather in the bottom, so essentially, you are keeping a betta in a cup with only slightly better circulation. Most of them are also too narrow, and there is a legitimate risk that the betta's fins can be trapped between the partitions, shredding them.

llj

 

[Kyrielle]

It's a fine dream to be sure, but the bitterly cynical part of me knows it just will not happen. Superstores have one moral compass, and that is profit. If it increases profit, they will probably consider it. Putting bettas in small containers is cheap and efficient and easy for the customers to carry home, therefore it increases profit. If superstores, which are never really super at all...except perhaps in the fact that they are the largest collection of things of mediocre quality--outside of a packrat's garage sale, were to use anything that holds larger than a pint, they would have to pay more for the containers, water, and time spent cleaning the containers. Customers would have a more difficult time carrying the containers with them, in addition to the store needing to provide more shelf space. Less cheap, less efficient, and less convenient in other words. However! It would be very easy for these stores to change the shape of the containers used such that they are wider than they are tall. I imagine merely doing that would solve many problems associated with superstore bettas.

 

[mr. beta]

just cos theyre cute causes this whole thread. do you all do the same for fair gold fish?, god knows what they go through when you bring them home they just die.

 

[starrynightxxi]

actually, if you went to the coldwater fish section you would find just as many people up in arms about the conditions of goldfish. There are just as many folks out to end the giving of goldfish - and other animals - as prizes. It's just that this in particular happens to be the betta forum so we don't talk about goldies so much

 

[GuppyDude]

Really not an issue that you can pick a choose favorites on. the selling of and mass production of fish in general for the entire hobby has got to change, not just bettas.

 

[*Fishkies*]

Petition Online

There is an online site, if you haven't already been given that. I'm not sure how it works but i've found a few online petitions like that. Such as "Crab in a Cup" and other closely related items.

Best of Luck with your Efforts!!!

 

[Phaedra]

Gah, don't get me started on Goldfish. Before I got a betta, I wanted a goldfish. Until I did some research and realized just how much they require.
lljdma06, I wish you were my local LFS employee. I'm disgusted with how misinformed so many of them are! It's as if they've never even bothered to read a book on basic fish keeping!

Anyway, I've signed the petition. 500 character limit just isn't enough space.
I truly hope it'll do some good and I'm glad to hear that other people are planning on taking printed versions over to their LFS's too. I think I'll do the same.

 

[lljdma06]

lljdma06, I wish you were my local LFS employee. I'm disgusted with how misinformed so many of them are! It's as if they've never even bothered to read a book on basic fish keeping!

That's sweet, thanks. It's a matter of just being prepared and it is the foundation of who I am as a person. I won't go into anything unprepared. When I worked there, I learned about everything, from rodents to fish. I was better in some areas than others, but I could give basic advice on almost anything. And if I didn't know, I pointed the customer to someone who did.

Good luck with the petition, I hope it can bring about some sort of change. If not a total ban, then perhaps a resizing or better betta care by employees, or at least more accurate training.

llj

 

[roseK]

i went to petsmart a couple days ago and they were in pretty big cups, and they looked clean to me.edit: but i signed the petition

but the employees dont know that much... good thing i knew what i was getting, all the girl did was bag me the fish i asked for.