Bettas In Cups

[Htw]

I went to an Lfs incorporated into a garden centre today. They actually had bettas in little tiny cups there! I have never seen them kept like that in the UK. The cups had lids right up to the water surface as well. They looked so miserable, I don't think they even had room to turn around. I had to rescue one of course. Luckily I had a 17L free that my daughter had temporarily used for hers and I'd had the filter and heater going and done water changes. It was supposed to be for the guppy fry, never mind.

He's a lovely red head, turquoise body, turquoise and red fins and is a vt. If they had sold tank dividers I would have bought more though. He's extremely feisty! the mirrored back on the tank is mostly covered but he managed to find a small area and is really going for it.

This is the first time I've seen these cups. They are horrid. The sign up says they are temporary [yeh right] and that customers like to be able to choose their fish easily, hmm. I think customers will buy them just to save them. As for advice given, the guy didn't ask me anything. For all he knew I might have been putting it with another one, especially as I'd asked about dividers. Considering the way the fish were handled, I don't think he really cared. Sorry, rant over!

 

[wendywc]

Well, at least they had a sign up saying that the cups are temporary which gives an implication to people that they should have better housing. Usually when people see the cups over here, they think they can keep them that way. Glad you rescued one though, especially if they had no air gaps or holes in their cups... is that right?!

 

[Htw]

Think the sign was there just to stop people from asking. They were only in them until they were bought by the looks of it. I suppose you could say that was temporary! Yes the water came right up to the lids. There were a few bubbles where the water was flowing in but as they are air breathers it didn't really seem enough to me. They were alive though, so it must have been.

 

[dthoffsett]

My LFS has always sold them that way, and to open up tank space, they've started selling the females in the little cups too. I have to tell myself, no everytime I see them, cause I want to save them all.

 

[ab420]

I was at a LFS when their shipment of fish came in....

There was this cardboard box, inside it were bagged Bettas.

Each bag was (and I'm dead serious unfortunately) about 1.5" wide and 1.5" tall. It is EXACTLY enough room for a male betta... not to move... but literally just for a male betta to "fit" in there, and that's it. There was like 30-40 of these bags all in this box together, all right next to each other, so they were all flaring like crazy when he opened the box.


Believe me, I DO NOT support this sort of treatment, or even the cups at the store, but I just wanted to tell you, that as sad as this may be, the cups may have been an improvement for the poor Bettas! Obviously, your house is a much bigger improvement for the lucky fella! It kills me to see how bettas get treated. Fish in general are mistreated and abused regularly, but Bettas seem to get it worse than the rest...

 

[Rediahs]

I don't think it's cruel if it's temporary. You said they came in a shipment that way? Bettas are ok for a day or two in tiny conditions like that. They do it to save on shipping cost.

 

[Betta_luver]

It is VERY common to see bettas in cups. It is sad but true. Wal*mart uses the largest cup size then any other lfs. But Big Als moves them into these little bowls that is 4-5 times the size of those little cups.

Glad you saved the betta and congrats on the new betta!

 

[Rediahs]

It is VERY common to see bettas in cups. It is sad but true. Wal*mart uses the largest cup size then any other lfs. But Big Als moves them into these little bowls that is 4-5 times the size of those little cups.

Glad you saved the betta and congrats on the new betta!

Okay, it really depends which store you go to - Big Al's here uses small containers, about the size of those cups, that have no lids and are attached to a big wall that's lit up. Unfortunately.... they don't take good care of the fish, and they always look dead :\

 

[Commander Cool]

One LFS near me has little cups with no lids. At the Petco near me they are in slightly larger cups with lids and a hole in the top for air. Still extremly bad treatment. I'm going to Petco saturday so I might be able to save yet another then.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

even the cups are better than one of the lfs's near me, they have them all in this wall of glass bricks, the farontof them is about 2.5 inches square then they're about an inch deep if that. I don't think they can turn around or swim forward or back more than an inch. They all look so sad and in such bad condition, I can't imagine anyone would buy one cos they look awful. Thing that really gets me is it's an enormous fish shop, they must have 150 2 and 3' tanks..... if they just dedicated 2 of them to betta's and put dividers in they'd have ample room as they only stock 10 or so a time. It's not uncommon at all to see some empty tanks in there so I just don't know why they don't do it. It's horrible

 

[Flik]

I was at a LFS when their shipment of fish came in....

There was this cardboard box, inside it were bagged Bettas.

Each bag was (and I'm dead serious unfortunately) about 1.5" wide and 1.5" tall. It is EXACTLY enough room for a male betta... not to move... but literally just for a male betta to "fit" in there, and that's it. There was like 30-40 of these bags all in this box together, all right next to each other, so they were all flaring like crazy when he opened the box.

when i was in singapore and then japan, i visited a pet shop and their bettas all came in those little tiny bagschucked from one place to another, and were all sold that way as well. they were most commonly their sold in a small vase with a flower in its so sad and heart breaking to see them being kept like that.

 

[Synirr]

Honestly guys... it's temporary. It's a crying shame when they are kept in nasty dirty water, but as quarrelsome as bettas are, the cups are really one of the few ways you can conveniently house and display them in bulk. I now work at a fish shop where every single employee is a fish keeper/breeder, and we all do water changes and spot disease so it can be treated promptly... we don't sell from tanks with sick fish, give accurate advice and admit when we don't know something rather than guessing, and all the fish get the best care possible, including frozen and live foods.

We keep our bettas in cups and mason jars.

I personally clean them at least once every couple of days (or whenever I get a chance, we are usually pretty busy) and feed them frozen bloodworms and Hikari pellets. We even have a little sign telling customers they don't eat plant roots. They are treated like kings and queens, they just don't have a whole lot of room to swim around until they are purchased. Trust me, it's not the containers that are the major problem, it's the fault of uncaring, slothful employees, or employees that are being overworked and don't even have time to think about doing water changes on them.

 

[puddle_inc]

i guess you don't have walmart over there? they finally started putting crabs/bettas/frogs/snails in slightly bigger containers there, but still. i am planning on buying some females, wich are usually the ones that don't make it out of the store, most people want the males.