Stop the abuse!

Siamese fighting fish, who are often sold as “decorations†or party favors and even collector items, are becoming more and more popular. Pet shops, discount superstores, florists, and even online catalogs sell Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) in tiny cups or flower vases to consumers who are often uneducated about proper betta care. (Very bad)
Many people mistakenly believe that betta fish must be kept in “solitary confinement.†Female bettas can live together, and while male bettas will fight with other male bettas, they can be placed singly in a “community†aquarium containing other species of fish.
Another common misconception about bettas is that they can survive without being fed in a so-called “complete ecosystem†that consists of nothing more than a vase and a plant. As a result, fish are being sentenced to dull, lonely lives and slow deaths by starvation. These tiny containers are not suitable for any fish.
Plant roots do not provide adequate food for betta fish. Bettas are omnivorous; in nature, they eat mostly insects and insect larvae. A diet consisting of plant roots may keep them alive for a while, but since it lacks the proper nutrients, the fish eventually become sick and die. A plant placed at the top of a vase may also restrict access that the fish needs to obtain oxygen, since bettas (known as “labyrinth fishesâ€) take their oxygen from the surface of the water.
Betta fish are native to Asia, where they live in the shallow water of rice paddies, ponds, or slow-moving streams. Since the water is shallow, it is also warm, which is why betta fish in captivity require a sizable amount of water in an aquarium that can be kept heated to at least 75 degrees.
Bettas require a minimum of 10 gallons of water...

It really is the saddest thing to see when they are all caged up and not properly looked after.

Please stop this act of abuse and neglect people it is not fair towards the small living being we call Betta... We really can be Betta than this!

 

Agree, from what I've seen, bar pet stop, and city pets, I think all Lfs that sell betta's, sell in jam jars, no filtration, no aeration no water flow, probably little water changes as well.
The Australian spca has a minimum care sheet for these fish, which I've linked to before, same narrative as above, made no difference.
The abuse doesn't stop there, plenty of dyed parrots, tattooed mollies, "heart parrots" where tails are cut off with scissors, so the deformity resembles a heart. Then we have purpose bred deformed fishes like balloon mollies. And we have to contend with terrible advice given at Lfs, such as "a fish will only grow to the size of its tank" that doom fish to early deaths, the list and the practices go on and on and on....

 

Guys, walk into a shop, pick up a few things and take it to the counter. Then leave it at the counter and tell them you wanted to purchase a few things but seeing how they treat the Bettas you would rather not buy from them.

Here the only people seeing your complaint is other fish lovers.
Complain where it counts, at their shops and in their pockets.

 

I've tried to speak to a couple of them, not interested, one agreed, promised to look into it....nothing...don't shop there anymore, but yes I'm going to take up your good suggestion, buy about R5000 worth of good, let them ring it up and bail.
I was hoping the sponsors that sell betta's in jam jars would see how some of their (potential) customers feel and mend their ways, no such luck

 

Jwh I agree but at the end it is the customers that allow them to do this.

 

Agree but there are some more species !!!

 

Vis, it's in the pursuit of a buck that shops sell dye injected fish, fish that are purposely deformed, and stock and recommend fish totally unsuited to setups that customers have. Most customers (excluding avid hobbyist such as on this site) do not know about these practises in this industry, and are heavily reliant on the ethics of the industry that are often sadly lacking. I don't think you can blame a customer, reliant on the advice from a shop, to buy a deformed creature, especially if they are blatantly lied to.
I would like to see that the industry has the moral fortitude to self regulate and stop unethical practices. In the U.K. there is an active drive by Lfs to stop these practices, they display signs explaining why they do no sell dyed, or deformed fish.

stepping off the soapbox now...

 

Rather support locals where you can. Also inform the people at the pet stores who are looking to purchase said deformed/dyed/tattoed fish what they're really buying.
The LFS won't listen, it's loss of income to them... they'll only start listening when they lose sales. If there's no demand for those fish, they'll not stock them.
Another route is to contact animal anti cruelty league. They could step in and put a stop to the cruelty.

 

I agree completely, no living being deserves to be treated this way, I lash out at managers in pet/ aquarium stores if I see this.

I will never agree to it and I will do my part to let them know how I feel about how they treat these little guys - this goes for all animals, not just the Betta.

Great to see that you guys are also against it!

 

My turn on the soap box.

If I go to a pet store and see dead fish, dodgy breeds and incorrectly kept livestock I make a noise there and then, tell everyone I know and never go back. Im no activist and what I can do is deny them my patronage and my cash.

done..

 

The way Siamese fighters and a lot of other fish are treated is really bad, I am also in the pet trade industry but I do things differently, the tank from which Siamese fighters are getting sold from is a custom build tank which is divided into a lot of other tanks of 20 x 20 x 20cm with a free water flow through all partitions, with filtration and heating. I also display a sign stating that my shop does not sell fish that is injected with dye. This sign do state that it is cruelty to animals to inject fish with various colorants. This unfortunately has gone down bad with some of my clients who want this kind of fish, and they went elsewhere, but then on the other hand I have gained some clients who really care about their fish.

Pet shops also have the bad habit of supplying fish keeping clients with wrong or very limited information, I am solving fish keeping problems of people that bought there fish and aquariums elsewhere on a regular basis. I however do not complain because I am getting new clients.

I am a passionate fish keeper myself, and therefore I will rather have fish keepers as clients than fish havers.

You are doing a wonderful job with this thread, I just hope that a lot of people reading this will see what the right thing is to do. Keep up the good work.