I set up my little 10 gallon, am still just waiting for it to finish cycling, so I usually go looking at the fish every weekend to see what I like, what looks healthy and all that. Well this weekend Petco had male Bettas in all their tanks. (No, not the salt water. The other weekends they did not.) I saw many Bettas being picked on, and in other tanks I saw other fish getting picked on by the Bettas, especially the poor dwarf guaramies. Has anyone else ever seen this? I wonder what would make them do that?
2007-09-17 12:29:56 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Actually I wasn't surprised about it because I thought they must live alone. I know that is not the case. I was surprised because they had them in there even though they were clearly getting bullied and/or bullying other fish. I would think at the store it would be better to have them in little cups rather than getting their fins chomped off.
2007-09-17 13:07:45 · update #1
I have to agree with Christian and Al. I've worked in pet stores and keep bettas (and have bred them in the past). They don't need to be kept alone, but there are fish they shouldn't be kept with under any circumstances.
I've kept bettas (male and female) in display tanks with other fish with no problems (males one per section and females all together in one). That's they way they should be displayed, and better pet store will do this (some use the "betta wall", where each fish has it's own section, but they all have running, filtered, heated water which is another good option for display!). The people who put the fish out in the display just need to know which ones that bettas can be kept with. At least in the displays, the bettas have access to heated, filtered water, and don't need to be kept in cups in an air conditioned store that are changed maybe 1-2 times a week so that they need to have methylene blue in their water to prevent fungal invections and hide the fish poo.
It sounds as though your Petco is attempting to give their bettas better care, but they still have much their employees need to learn.
2007-09-17 13:08:25 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
During my entire life of complaining to managers at pecto about the living conditions of their fish [many times many places] i have found ONE!! person who knows what he's doing. The funny thing is that nobody appreciates his hobby, usually they let him care for the tanks a week here, a week there, and believe me you can tell when he does because those fish are as healthy as possible! [The last time i was there he actually showed me how he creates food for the fish by combining random fish food /which is still good/ that the store throws away]
It is advisable for bettas to be in tanks with other easy going community fish such as mollies, platies, guppies, and tetras. They do not mix with some fish though especially not with gourami's. [if you do some research you will find that gourami's and bettas are in the same family and will fight like two male bettas!]
My local fish place usually keeps one betta in each tank it can, that way they do not have to be cruel fully confined to little cups on a shelf.
2007-09-17 20:13:48 · answer #2 · answered by Alison B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bettas under NO curcumstances have to live alone, this is what ignorant people think. A betta can live with most freshwater fish except, any agressive fish, like cichlids, another betta, or anabantoids. if your store is putting bettas in with fish like small schooling fish, plecos, or livebearers, this is fine. If your store is putting them in with anabantoids and agressive fish, this is horrible. I only buy aquarium equiptment, i.e. heaters, lights, salt, decor, and aquariums at petco, never fish. They keep their fish in horrible conditions, almost as bad as Wal-Mart. IMO, Petsmart is FAR better at keeping fish. I buy my fish at Petsmart or order them from a small aquarium store I shop at.
2007-09-17 19:53:51 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It's not that the bettas have to live alone, it's that they need to learn what species are best compatible with bettas.
2007-09-17 19:51:19 · answer #4 · answered by Chris 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
sometimes petco experiments with their fish and would say that they are "under observation" and are not for sale
however, that is very much out of the ordinary
2007-09-17 20:02:42 · answer #5 · answered by tochau 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
wow My local petco dosent have betas I went to a local fish store and got mine!! ( i have two)
2007-09-17 20:08:25 · answer #6 · answered by Doggygon 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
BETTAS ARE FIGHTING FISH THEY'LL BE OK IF THEY ARE ONLY WITH THE OWN KIND OF FISH
2007-09-17 20:16:08 · answer #7 · answered by short stack kingdom of fire dead 2 · 0⤊ 4⤋
absolute ignorance would make them do that.
2007-09-17 19:34:36 · answer #8 · answered by captsnuf 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
what the hell? everyone should know that bettas must live alone :p
2007-09-17 19:37:51 · answer #9 · answered by qwerty23 3 · 0⤊ 7⤋
no
2007-09-17 20:32:49 · answer #10 · answered by dramaqueen9002 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋