# Petco's Betta Selection



## Duskdog (Sep 22, 2010)

So today at work the new reset of the betta planogram was due, and in addition to a change in layout, there was a new flipbook about varieties of bettas (which I had seen weeks ago) and, more interestingly, a whole host of new price stickers for a whole new selection of bettas!

I don't know if this will be company-wide, available in all stores or just some, etc. but apparently some Petco stores, at least, are going to be expanding their betta selection! None of the new ones have come in yet so they're not yet in stock at my store, at least, but we now have price stickers for: 

Plakats, halfmoon plakats, halfmoon doubletails, king halfmoons, and a couple of others that I can't recall off the top of my head (doubletail plakats, I believe)? I was busy so I didn't get to look over all of it as much as I would have liked. As you might expect, though, some of them will cost you a pretty penny more than a veiltail or even a crowntail.

It's possible that your local Petcos may have these in stock already, but like I said, mine doesn't, so I'm not sure what the status of other stores is. The prices are on our shelf now, though.


----------



## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

I was just at Petco today and was asking them when the next shipment of fish will be in, so I don't think mine will have it anytime soon or she would have mentioned new kinds. =[ 

I sure hope we get them though!


----------



## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Hmmm - My petco has king plakats but not regular ones. Im gonna have to check it out. Did it say when they were gonna start selling?


----------



## dirtyfishbow (Oct 20, 2010)

my store has the new bettas in, how good looking they are. but only two types of femails,are there doubletail femails?


----------



## Posaune (Sep 17, 2010)

I just went to petco today, they had a better looking display for them I noticed, but I didn't see much for selection (maybe they're waiting on others, I dunno )


----------



## cballas (Sep 1, 2010)

Maybe the betta bug has gone nationwide? lol

I just talked to the small mom N pop pet store manager..He said that people were requesting females,
whereas a few months ago he had no demand for them at all. :shock:
The ones they have always look healthy & the employees obviously care. 
OH! And they have Wild Type betta too now! big ones! 

I hate Petsmart's treatment of them, at least the one by me. Petco is a bit better,
but there is always waaaay too many & they are not very happy looking. 
I've only seen VT and CT offered so far...


----------



## celine18 (Sep 25, 2010)

my petco has a bunch of types!!! veintail, crowntail, plakat, hmpk, half moon, doubletails, all different types of female, oh, and one or two giant bettas of course!!! about a week and a half ago i went in and that little book was there, and the bettas had a new display, and there were so many pretty aquabid-ish bettas!!!! they had this BEAUTIFUL pure white crowntail!!! 

but, i went a few days ago and the fish weren't looking as good, so i guess i got there right after their arrival....and theres a bunch of em now...BUT STILL!!! they're fun to peruse through XD


----------



## cballas (Sep 1, 2010)

Dang ya'll are lucky! I think Tampa (Florida all around??) has crappy chain pet stores.
They look shabby all around, not just the bettas...the birds, the reptiles...the employees are
mostly rude...why I stick with small stores here. FL sucks. LoL


----------



## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Huh, this is cool. I haven't been to a petco in about a month now, and the one I visited was way up north in ohio XD (we were on a trip) Lol, if the Petcos near me get a selection like that, I think the 1/2 hour drive would be worth it . Can anyone tell me how the cups at petco are? I heard that they've gotten even smaller.


----------



## metalbetta (May 17, 2010)

The petcos in my town have different selections...
The one up north (further away) has HMPKs but doesn't have "kings", where the south one (right next to me) has deltas, halfmoons, etc. Sometimes the accidental doubletail marked as a VT.


----------



## MizzVamp115 (Oct 2, 2010)

My petco has gotten a few of the new bettas. They also got a new set up away from all the other fish with their own shelves and things like that.


----------



## Fawnleaf (Aug 31, 2010)

My Petco's bettas are ok... hardly any dead ones... they are all pretty healthy. Most males build bubble nests. However, it could be better. One great thing though is THEY HAVE A HUGE VARIETY! It's clear they don't get all brothers and sisters because they have plakats, half moons. ect. My friend got a pure white crowntail there a while ago. BEAUTIFUL! Anyways, I always come out of Petco with a new betta (as long as I have room)  I love them! So... if you catch a new shipment they're all gorgeous!


----------



## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

I went to petco today, they have the new set up now. I think it looks worse. before they were on a shelving system alone that was like stairs, now they are in little cubbies and it just seemed more complicated to me. 
I am still searching for 'the one' - most of them at petco today were dead =[


----------



## CodeRed (Jun 11, 2009)

My Petco has had all of those for about 3-4 weeks now  There's one lonely King left, the rest are all HMKings, for the ridiculous amount of 30 bucks.


----------



## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Those poor halfmoons kings  If they're big, then the cups used to hold regular bettas would be too small for them, they probably wouldn't even be able to swim forward... just float. If the prices were lower, they'd be sold faster, and wouldn't have to stay in a cup for so long.


----------



## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Yeah. The cups diameter is only a bit bigger than the fish's total length  its sad.


----------



## Fawnleaf (Aug 31, 2010)

The cups are not shrinking??? oh no!!! my petco's bowls haven't shrunk yet.... oh great!!


----------



## BettaBuddi1221 (Jul 21, 2010)

There are a lot of veriaty at my petco wichis great! But a week ago I went and they were all healthy and I went this week to get some more gravel and the cups were dirty and there was this one female you could se her internal organs and her fins were clamped shut and she was the size of a dime! Poor little girl.


----------



## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Fawnleaf said:


> The cups are not shrinking??? oh no!!! my petco's bowls haven't shrunk yet.... oh great!!


I was talking about the king bettas. They should have Bigger cups than regular bettas.


----------



## CodeRed (Jun 11, 2009)

Actually, the HMKings are the same size as the Kings x.x; They're just big HMPKs, not big HMs. There's almost no difference between them and the Kings besides the occasional nice coloration. That's why they stay there so long. 30 bucks for a fish that looks the same as a 10 dollar or so one.


----------



## Duskdog (Sep 22, 2010)

We still haven't gotten any of the new ones in yet at my store. We did finally get a new shipment of regular halfmoons in last week (we've been out of them except for one steel blue lonely one for over a month now) -- but they only sent us six and five of them are already sold!

I hope we get some of the new ones soon.


----------



## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

cballas said:


> Dang ya'll are lucky! I think Tampa (Florida all around??) has crappy chain pet stores.
> They look shabby all around, not just the bettas...the birds, the reptiles...the employees are
> mostly rude...why I stick with small stores here. FL sucks. LoL


I live in Florida as you can see and I couldn't be happier with my chain pet stores along with local ones. Maybe it's where you live that sucks. lol:lol:


----------



## cballas (Sep 1, 2010)

LOL I should have said "Tampa" yep you're right. 

OK The Petco today didn't have any betta's on display...They DID have the new betta design layout up though, with the list of all the different tail types, and I saw a bunch more tank options for sale, not just bowls.


----------



## zelilaa (Jul 31, 2010)

cballas said:


> Dang ya'll are lucky! I think Tampa (Florida all around??) has crappy chain pet stores.
> They look shabby all around, not just the bettas...the birds, the reptiles...the employees are
> mostly rude...why I stick with small stores here. FL sucks. LoL


 :O aww- dont say all of florida sucks when you obly know about tampa! the pet stores here in miami are great. espiecially my local Petco. their amazing!


----------



## cballas (Sep 1, 2010)

omg I know I've heard great things about the ones down there!  
I smell a betta buying roadtrip.....


----------



## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

I got my female fry betta veiltail, Baby Blue, at Petco. She couldn't have been more than 6 months old when I got her; so was so tiny! She lives in a 5 gallon tank and is about 8 months old now. Everything I've ever heard about bettas she contradicts!

She swims around like a manic, enjoys current (when I do water changes, she has to get right under where the new water is coming in), is mega territorial and inquisitive. 

Now that I'm raising a tiny female betta wild child, I wonder: Is the reason bettas seem to like lower current in a tank because they generally wind up in those tiny store bowls, with no room to really swim or be stimulated, and their swimming abilities atrophy? 

After living in an empty apartment sized bathroom for half of your life, how well would any of us cope in a larger, more turbulent environment?

Have you noticed at pet stores where bettas are in tiny bowls, they don't barely move? Even if practically up against each other, these older bettas don't even bother to flare at their neighbors?

I was lucky to find a fry.

I know I sound like I'm down on the pet stores. Some are very good; others not so good... chain or private store, it doesn't matter. It pains me to see poor fishy husbandry. :*(

I go into stores and if I see poor conditions and ill fish, I bring it to the attention of the clerk in that department. If I come back and it doesn't get better, then I talk to the owner or manager. If they don't improve, I don't go back...


----------



## purplemuffin (Aug 12, 2010)

They naturally come from pretty still water, and the males have such HUGE tails they get blown around by the currents! Girls and plakats can do better with higher filtration current most definitely! 

Pet store care is never great, even the good ones are only as good as they can be considering it would not be cost efficient to keep each and every betta in 5 gallon filtered heated tanks! 

Pet store bettas don't move usually because they are bored and COLD!! Cold slows them down!

That's a good policy on poor pet conditions!


----------



## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Just wanted to say that my petco was selling HMPK kings for the same price as regular PK kings ($12). I think it's ridiculous to charge more for them. All that means is that not many people will buy them and they will probably die in the store.


----------



## Capricorn (Sep 4, 2010)

Stopped at my petco today, saw a HUGE, huge HM king.. he had to be almost four inches long, I'm not even joking. His FACE was at least 3/4", if not an inch!

Wish I had room for him here. D:


----------



## cballas (Sep 1, 2010)

Went to the same Petco that had the new set up...Well...I was not impressed...They didn't change how they care for them, just how they advertise them. 
There were about 50-60 tiny cups... 25% had swim bladder, and 25% had fin rot. 
Boooo...:-(


----------



## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

cballas said:


> Went to the same Petco that had the new set up...Well...I was not impressed...They didn't change how they care for them, just how they advertise them.
> There were about 50-60 tiny cups... 25% had swim bladder, and 25% had fin rot.
> Boooo...:-(


Mine are all really poor health as well. 
I had taken a betta back that had died recently since I had him only a few days, and when I looked at the bettas to pick out another if they had one I liked, and all of the VT were super bloated, swimming on the side, very nasty water.. :-(


----------

