the retail betta

[ren]

and by retail betta i mean the mass produced uniformly packaged horribly upkept fish left in the corner of a certain retail store and ignored until dead type of retail betta.
i dont know if it is ALL retail stores (those stores not soley focused on pets) but the one in my area has more dead bettas than alive. the ones that are alive are infested, have scant enough water to cover A gill, or have been shaken by small children until they go mad. is it just me? and is there anything we can do?
i have done my research as best i can at my particular chain store, and found most of the time the tiny jars the bettas are secluded to (in blue water???) are stacked 6 high suffocating the lower levels. i stagered them in such a way that i could easily identify which bettas have been moved noting the position of certain colored bettas thus indicating approx. the activity level in that department for the bettas alone. i went back two days later not one jar had been moved (as far as i know) i subsequently went back over a period of 10 days noting only a few had ever moved and more were dead each time. thats 10+ days in the same filthy water, in a cold store left to die on a shelf.
what can be done? this store will not cease to exist if bettas are no longer carried. so how do you go about saving all those bettas?:confused:

[bellasly]

Personally, I think that the bettas they carry are too far gone. There isn't anything you can do, and unless you really feel like it, you could buy them all, but if they all die, then you've wasted quite abit of money. I would write a letter and send it to whoever you think will listen, that means more than one person. Eventually, if enough consciencous people do it, they will stop selling them in such conditions, or altogether.

I have a little store about "retail bettas". My husband and I went to a certain retail store to gauge prices on tanks. I want to get a betta and he didnt want to get one at all but its my grad present so he was getting one for me anyway. So I went to the section with the bettas and showed him and he was far from impressed, he thought they were terrible looking fish. He also saw all the other tanks that were full of dying/dead fish and said he wouldn't get any of my aquarium stuff there. He still didn't understand why I'd want an ugly fish like a betta. We went to an aquarium store yestersay where they take care of there fish. He saw the cared for bettas and thought they were just awesome!! He really wants one now! He couldn't believe the conditions that the retail bettas were in when he saw these ones (who are kept in 1/2g bowls as opposed to little cups with lids).

[SkarloeysMom]

Even the "big box" retail Pet stores that don't sell dogs and cats unless they are homeless keep Bettas in sad, dirty little cups with blue water. I feel so sick everytime I walk by and see them swimming in s@#t and looking like they are about to die. I get that crazy feeling like I wish I could buy them all and give them a good home but I know there'd be a shelf full to replace them the next day. Perhaps next time I'm in that store I'll ask them if there is a better way to sell bettas than their current blue cup method.

BTW-I bought one of those blue water Bettas about a year and a half ago and he's been an awesome fish. I can save one every few years when I get a new one but I don't want to think about how many die in the meantime.

[Incredulous_Ed]

I think the blue water come froms a treatment to prevent fungus or something. One tme I was at a 99 cents store, and they had the bettas there. One of them was on display in a small bowl with really shallow, SOAPY water!

[cocoa_pleco]

the blue water is an anti-disease/parasite treatment.

All because a betta CAN survive in a puddle doesnt mean they like it

[Rue]

I don't know that anything can be done frankly...not unless you can get a larger political organization on side...

Maybe if enough people approached the SPCA something would at least get started.

I have no issue with male bettas being held in cups (provided they're large enough and have enough water in them) in pet stores as long as the water is changed every 2 days and they're fed appropriately...

...what I have issues with are the teeny tiny bowls that are sold to house them in...if someone came up with an affordable, attractive betta aquarium...I betcha people would buy it...esp. if it's LESS work than one of the stupid tiny bowls...