She Says My Bettas Keep Die But I Don't Care, They Are Cheap

[Tizer]

I might buy a betta at the weekend and drown it in a fish tank! How do you like those apples?

 

[Louiseness]

I might buy a betta at the weekend and drown it in a fish tank! How do you like those apples?

That's actually possible if they can't get to the surface to breathe

 

[Tizer]

oh

 

[Baccus]

The ignorance of some people is still astounding, I am currently doing some work in the Rockhampton Zoo ( a free council run zoo open to all public) and I am glad I do not have to deal with the public as just over hearing their idiot comments is enough to make my blood boil. The really scary thing is for every person who does get good advice and then puts that advice into practice there must be hundreds like the " they are cheap so I don't care" lady who never get told anything different and blissfully keep killing/ torturing thier charges until they finally have no pets.

In a way I would want people to have to have a reliable adult with kids/ teenagers when buying pets but at the same time that would have severly curtailed my wheeling and dealing as a teenager when I was breeding many types of birds. The standard comment from my Dad when we arrived at the shoping centre was " you are not going to the pet shop, and you are not buying any more pets" only to have me tell him "I'm off to the pet shop' and then find him later to show him what I had purchased. Thankfully all the birds fish and what not that I baught I paid for out of my own savings and I guess my Dad is a softy when it comes to animals, because he never even attempted to make me return them. If I had been forced to take my Dad with me to the pet shop in order to buy the various birds I wanted I would never have had the joy of having the many species I ended up with. Mum would have been an easier parent to take but the shopping trips where always a bit of a rush with only half day trading on Saturdays (no Sunday trade) and Mum was more interested in getting the groceries done than mucking around at pet shops. So I see both sides for the agruement and think it really needs to come down to sellers disgression (provided they really do care about thier product and not just the $$$$), and if they deem the potential buyer as suitable then sell to them, otherwise try to educate the buyer and if all else fails make an excuse for why that creature can't be sold to that person. The animal is in quarentine or being held for somebody else often works well without ruffling too many feathers.

 

[Whisper]

Its a sad world we live in.....and we are the throw away society. The mentality of us humans (not meaning all of us) is if we buy something cheap and it stuffs up we just throw it away and buy another one. The same goes with pets. But if you paid a high exorbitant price for something you tend to respect it more and try to look after it as best you can because you don't want to lose a lot of money replacing it. Its a shame the bettas have come down to goldfish prices ....but its a money maker and thats all the sellers are interested in... not the welfare of the fish. Quite frankly I feel that most of your lfs want your fish to die so you can come back and buy more. What do yous think...I'm hoping Im wrong.

I don't know. At Petland most of the specialists on the floor had a real concern for the health of the animals and fish we sold. What disturbs me is there are some really dumb people working in the fish depatments of these pet stores that don't have a clue and I hear them giving WRONG advice to people all the time. I bud in and correct them when I can and usually get a rude look from the seller but mostly at least the buyer takes a strong interest in what I'm saying.

Lets face it. It is really hard for some that just think you put a fish in water and feed them to understand water chemisty. And most don't really care to learn it and as I've explained water chemistry to some potential first time aquarium buyers I have had a few shy away and decide against fish because they didn't think all this stuff maters. But it does.

You have to know UP FRONT what water you are going to use and it's GH and KH Hardness levels. From that you can determine where the easiest pH level to maintain will be and based on that you pick the fish. Then you have to understand the cycling of the tank to start the beneficial bacteria to remove the amonia and cloudiness sure to come within 2 to 3 days of a new populated tank.

We are lucky with Bettas as they can handle a wide pH range but they still require the pH to be STABLE all the time.