Petco Baby Betta Fish Controversy

Petco betta fish abuse has always been a touchy topic. I want this video to help others. Betta fish need high quality heaters.

More in-depth conversation:
Is it cheaper to buy kits of assemble your own tank? They have simple glass tanks on sale right now and I was wondering if I bought one would I be able to buy a lid for it?(terta) Would it be cheaper to buy the tank, lid, heater, filter seperatly or just get a kit?

I was going to take advantage of petcos dollar a gallon deal. Turned out not to be worth it for me just starting up because it doesn't come with the hood. Just ended up going to Wal-Mart for a 5 gallon kit.

I'll add that the tank would have been 10 dollars, the hood 30 dollars, and then a separate filter which I didn't price after figuring all that out. I already had a heater that I ordered on ebay for 7 dollars with shipping. 5 gallon Kit also comes with water conditioner and lights, the hood and tank, some food I'm not using and it was all 30 dollars.

With the dollar per gallon sale & home-made filter & lid it's about the same price wise (I have 2 kits & 2 I put together) it's more of a quality/preference difference.

Hey guys, I used to have 27 bettas several years ago then I had a break once I started working full time but I’m so happy to say I have a betta again now! It’s like a part of me was missing when I didn’t have at least one haha Below are a pic of one of my faves from years ago and the orange koi boy is my current betta.

URGENT!!! Not exactly betta related but my 30 gallon tank is leaking I think since there’s water everywhere. Does anyone in Vancouver Canada happen to have either a spare 30 gallon tank or some place where I could keep my fish for the time being while I sort this out? My quarantine tank isn’t big enough to keep everything in especially since I have a 4-5 inch Kribensis who I got as a baby. EDIT: thanks everyone got a tote and they’re all in there for now. Also had a neighbour with a shop vac so the floors and carpet are saved haha!

If you can get someone to run to the store those big plastic bins can work. Rubbermaid is a good brand, but if you double up on those see through plastic ones it should be fine temporarily. Thanks everyone. Got all the fish into a Rubbermaid tote I think it’s 15 gallons which will have to do for now. Got a shop vac from a neighbour and I’m also running a space heater to dry and dry the carpet. Gonna have to make a trip to PetSmart tomorrow haha

Is this tank okay for a betta fish or I should be looking at bigger ones? I wanted to get three bettas in three tanks but if not ill just buy one bigger tank and get one. The filter flows downward on this one. I personally didn't care much for it but you might not mind it. And a heater, at least the ones I used, fits inside the filter compartment so it saves you from taking up any extra tank space.

The tank is absolute minimum to hold a cycle - better to buy one larger tank and house one betta well than struggle with that tiny thing. I used one I got off of eBay. It was 50 watts. The seller was cll_petsupplies. I used my tank like this as a quarantine tank for 2 Mystery snails I had but never had a Betta in it due to its size and the filter flow. It's actually a fairly small tank so you may decide later to upgrade.

First betta,
I have gold fish in a big tank. Had tropical fish ( neon tetras and guppies ) before that. I cant see sick fish (severe anxiety) thats why always scared to keep bettas as ive seen so many sick ones on groups. now my son wants a tank in his room too (just to look obviously it will be mine) so thought ill get bettas now.

As long as the water is kept clean and at the right temperature and you're feeding them properly, they generally do really well in my experience. You're probably seeing a lot of sick bettas in groups is because they're a popular fish, but most people will only post if they need help.

Can I split 28 litre tank in two? Three? Will it work with just one heater and filter? Sprry for so many questions I dnt even know what can be used to partition it guess I need to spend time googling before I get buying stuff. You couldn't split more than once with that size. And as long as there's adequate water movement between the serrated areas then you'll only need one filter and heater.

Honestly go bigger if you can, even if it’s only to 15 litres
My sisters betta has been significantly more active since we upgraded him from 9 litres, he used to just lay around and didn’t swim much.

[michaellesky]

"There not just going to have dead fish in jars"

30 seconds later there's a dead fish in a jar

[getthatcornouttamyface]

I bought a "baby boy" from Petco for my community tank. She has grown into a beautiful blue female, and has worked out great with all the other fish and shrimps. Would have liked to have a male with long flowing fins, but I'm glad this fish has gotten along so well with the other inhabitants and her color is a nice bright blue.

[aprilninthr]

Good video. My Local Petco really tries hard to keep their bettas and other fish tanks in good condition and alive. They are a great bunch of people working there. Yes, occasionally, I might have to point out a dead fish but all I’ve had a good experience with them.

[deevoetsch]

You need to check Walmart....they do have dead bettas in cups!

[JohnJames.]

real talk. showing my daughter around petsmart (lots to look at) their was a man buying a betta with the classic $10 plastic bowl. I over hear the fish lady (who said they can live in just tap water ), I pipe up trying to be friendly saying that it's nice he's getting a betta and asked if he has a heater, shoulder shrugs and walks away.. Kind of the stores fault for not giving the proper information. But it's also his fault for not researching. all in all the fish is going to suffer. I'd love to see a nice posting by the Bettas showing them off in a proper tank

[marypaigeflynn]

I have a paradise betta a friend got me and he is doing well. He is actually what brought me back into the hobby😁✌️❤️ I wondered where he had come from. I figured it was from Petco... Then you just spotlighted one ♥️ and I was like...yep, I recognize that😂

[leastallwitz]

Those Baby Bettas are at the stage of those from my last spawn... and I keep them in bigger containers but still have to do water changes 1-2 times a day and feed them 3 times a day... I don't know who thought this is a good Idea, because it isn't.. they still are soo fragile. Also, my room currently is super warm, so that their water never goes beneath 26°C. Luckily here in Germany Bettas (or any fish) aren't even allowed to be sold in those cups, while at the store they always have to have a tank. While that means that there are fewer to choose from, at most stores they are really healthy and there pretty much never are dead ones. One Store near me has one that isn't exactly beautiful and it's been there since April, still healthy and happy, his only tankmates a few shrimp.

[speedknot]

Everybody should have a betta in every single tank they have. I do it with all kinds of different fish and nobody messes with anybody

[KuyaCraig]

I’d honestly rather buy Bettas from Petco than Prism Bettas and imported Bettas.

[Shomealiens]

These fish stores aren't going to take better care of the fish, they're going to take better care to hide the evidence of their animal/fish neglect. There's got to be something we can do to reach the audiences who don't care or think to look better into what they are actually buying, and how their purchases contribute to continued neglect. Like, if only we could pass out flyers in front of their doors directing them to youtubers in the hobby who talk about these issues, or leave behind notes in stores from the perspective of the fish(Ive done that at least twice lol). Or hobbyists could flood the stores as employees and try to make a difference with the manager/education issue in pet store chains. Or even open up more ma/pa fish stores. I don't have any withen a few hours of me, and I know a lot of people have that problem. If they want fish a lot of them have to do it from these chain stores, and that sucks.

[utopiaria]

I am glad you touched on this subject! I started my fish keeping hobby 4 years ago with a 29 gallon tank and had 2 goldfish my oldest lived 4 years before he got sick

! My goldfish were great and lasted years but they were so dirty! I then decided to transition to tropical fish with a 10 gallon tank, i started noticing that most of my pet store fish would only last a couple of months and not more which for me was very sad and also gross since I hate handling dead fish! My tropical fish no matter what I do don't live for very long and now im starting to think maybe they aren't coming from good suppliers/ they are stressed, and maybe its not something im doing wrong. Now i am transitioning to just owning bettas since I have had 1 before that I had for a couple of years! Its not good that 70 percent of the fish end up dying but it is the sad truth!! then having to replace the fish every so often adds up thats why i am not going to be keeping any more tropical fish! my nearest petsmart sucks and taking care of their fish and they sold me 2 sunburst platys, 1 i returned the same day i bought once i brought him home i noticed ich spots and then the other one died the next day. I also bought 2 zebra danios recently and they both died and were sucked in by the filter??? i just dont have very good luck with tropical fish :/

[FKJ_WORLD]

awesome presentation and notes. I dont keep these fish but finds this video really informative.

[pabloescobar]

My petco is pretty good with the bettas as far as I’ve seen. All their baby bettas seem healthy, I’m no expert of course. But I would like to buy one eventually. The price is definitely right and I think it would be good to see the baby grow.

[derekchecketts]

It's amazing to me how everyone in the fish hobby doesn't want to see what the fish hobby is. If we actually cared about the fish we wouldn't put them in tanks.

[MyTeaandCrumpets]

I think it’s just people don’t like seeing death it makes them feel uncomfortable, once I started watching a few unboxing videos I realised that some fish just suck at being moved I only keep Americans cichlids just simply being I don’t have a lot success with the smaller tropical fish it’s really hit an miss

[lowlife]

My first fish were 2 baby bettas from petco. They lived in a 20g long for a long time and watching them grow and get their colors was awesome! I didnt even divide them. I just let them live together with some snails.

[phillypophunters]

I have 3 Betta fish that I bought from my Petco. I really like my Petco because everyone who works there is really educated on every animal at the store. They also take pretty good care of all the animals. Of course none of the animals or fish there are in big enough tanks but they are, at least the ones at my store, are in good size tanks for their size and as temporary tanks. Every time I’m there I see them taking different proper care of each individual animal they have there. My local store is also pretty good with their fish too. They always look healthy, their tanks are always clean, and I’ve never seen any dead fish there. They only thing I’ve ever seen is when tanks get put on quarantine, which is good, they refuse to sell any fish in tanks that are quarantined or any tank that could have had water transferring into another tank in anyway. They also have someone specifically there to care for the quarantined fish. My store doesn’t have baby Betta fish, occasionally I’ll see a young female but no babies. I’m not saying that every store is great but I don’t group all chain stores together because there’s definitely some good ones out there that do make sure to hire employees who are experienced with animal care and really know what they are doing. They also have there adoption room in the back that I’ve been in on many occasions and those animals always have the proper size tanks/cages and there’s always someone in there handling he animals so that they can have human interaction. They actually just received a leopard gecko for adoption who l’m going to go back to adopt. They said he’ll definitely still be there because even though they try hard to get those animals adopted first they said people always think of the animal is for adoption there’s something wrong with it which I think needs to change. Oh and I get most of my fish from them. The previous ones where Oscars, Green Terrors, and Jack Dempsey’s who all where healthy and grew to full size and slowly they eventually passed of natural causes. Right now from them I have 2 Green Terrors, 2 Jack Dempsey’s, and 2 Zebra Snails who are all doing really well. I have all male Betta’s so they are separated but they are really beautiful with no problems. I can understand people thinking they are dead when really they are sleeping but they shouldn’t just assume. There’s been plenty of times I’ve had to check on mine in their bigger thanks because they where sleeping but at the same time looked like they could be dead 😂 My local store also does great with water changes on the Betta cups because they water is always super clean, I don’t even think I’ve ever even seen 1 piece of Betta poop in any cups 😂

[jackiem]

All my bettas are from Petco, sadly I've seen a few very sick and some dead. I have a new baby betta. I feel so sad so every time I go I end up coming home with Bettas currently I have a 7 female sorority. Have a baby for my new sorority to come because my little sister wants to save as many fish possible.

[rubenowitzv.]

Blame the greedy store managers & the amateur employees.👀🙉💰✨

[kimjongowl]

I live in Europe, the Betta's here still have a small tank, but that is much better than a small jar