# Fancy Longfin Male? Crazy Petsmart



## Whippet44 (Sep 28, 2015)

I was just looking at the bettas on the petsmart website when I saw this








It's labeled as "Fancy Longfin Male" and is at the SUPER CHEAP price of $24.99!
All I see is a veiltail.
http://www.petsmart.com/live-pet/li..._id=36-33635&_t=pfm=category&pfmvalue=faceted


----------



## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

I think they're just doing that with fully grown veil tails. Their normal fish are usually not fully grown yet.


----------



## Aquastar (Jul 17, 2015)

What you've got to ask is: Why are they PetSmart brand?

It says petsmart brand, what? Are they bred by employees? It's not a animal, it's a brand of merchandise. Just like 'TopFin Decor'. It's not a object. It's a living breathing animal.
I think it's just another way for them to make money, someone here got one that definetly had longer fins than most adults, but the picture is terrible.

Also: Low activity.

Really? Who made this page?


----------



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Australia's betta prices tend to be exorbitantly high, but even here, I don't think I've seen a VT male go for $25. Not unless it was a quality imported one.


----------



## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

In nz that's around the standard price for a vt. Anything better and you're looking at 40-100


----------



## Fin Fancier (Aug 11, 2012)

I think petsmart is trying to catch up to the betta variety offered by petco without actually having to add any variety to their current stock. The Petsmart near me started offering 'halfmoon' females. Every single one I saw was a veiltail, not a delta, just a regular two ray female. There are definitely bettas worth 25 dollars. I can't say I've ever seen one at Petsmart. Petco, while often wrong in their labeling, does offer a better selection just at the expense of stocking more fish than they can ever seem to take care of properly.


----------



## Aquastar (Jul 17, 2015)

Wow. Canada tends to be ignored because of its population , so shipping and everything else is more expensive! 

The average VT where I live if $5-12
CTs $7-15
DT: $10-25
HM: $10-30
Plakat: generally not in stock, other wise $40
HM plakat: never in stock, otherwise $50

America- "Land of Freedom: Land of Free Bettas'.


----------



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

trilobite said:


> In nz that's around the standard price for a vt. Anything better and you're looking at 40-100


I suppose that's the joy of living in countries with fairly strict import/quarantine laws and relatively small populations. 

Everything becomes so much more expensive.


----------



## Whippet44 (Sep 28, 2015)

I have yet to see a plakat at my local petsmart in Alberta. I went to big al's and saw a few giant Pk's, but even the regular ones were around 50 dollars. Sigh.


----------



## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

LittleBettaFish said:


> I suppose that's the joy of living in countries with fairly strict import/quarantine laws and relatively small populations.
> 
> Everything becomes so much more expensive.


Yeah def not the best countries for the hobby but its a small price to pay for protecting the native species


----------



## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Whippet44 said:


> I have yet to see a plakat at my local petsmart in Alberta. I went to big al's and saw a few giant Pk's, but even the regular ones were around 50 dollars. Sigh.


Lol at least you've got giants! Nz has absolutely none. Oz has some but you're looking at 100 or more


----------



## Crash (Jul 19, 2015)

Saw the same thing at my petsmart yesterday!

I will admit one of the "fancy" males was abnormally beautiful, but mostly because of his coloring, I don't see many yellows around here xD Still crazy pricing.


----------



## Whippet44 (Sep 28, 2015)

No, a giant plakat isn't $50.00, a normal one is. A giant is $199.99


----------



## DangerousAngel (Mar 26, 2015)

I've seen this at out Pet Smart, There's a regular HM listed for $30, a super cute pudgy VT for $25, and a little CT for $25.


----------



## Strawberry12 (Mar 6, 2015)

trilobite said:


> In nz that's around the standard price for a vt. Anything better and you're looking at 40-100




Are you converting the price?

25USD is 37.92NZD

25NZD is 16.48USD


----------



## allied123 (Dec 11, 2014)

I'm a little ticked off about it but I bought a "rose petal" betta from petco for the grand total of $20 plus tax. Now don't get me wrong I know he's not a rosse tail or anything but I was in the market for a new betta and he was gorgeous. He is a half moon though and a nice metallic mustard gas, I'm hoping someone can understand where I'm coming from lol


----------



## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

It makes me sad when Petco or Petsmart sells a betta for $20.00 or more because most customer's won't pay that much for one fish. So it's just a death sentence. I negotiated the price for my king down because they had him labled as a half moon and I felt he was a plakat. I argued he was mislabled. I got him for $11 I think. He actually could be a half moon he displays quite a bit now that his water is better. 

The manager at Petco relented on the price when I mentioned the fish was just going to end up dead at that price and they had way to many bettas already. Their rack was full and they sent the last "batch" to the back of the store. Sometimes the price can be negotiated especially if the fish aren't selling.


----------



## Leotah (Oct 28, 2015)

The guy in my avatar pic was scooped up at petsmart. He had hardly any color to him, a bad case of sbd, and an even worse case of Popeye. He's lucky he still has them both. But they labeled him as fancy, when in reality he is just a cool halfmoon. I don't even think he could be labeled as a true butterfly because his tail isn't broken into two solid colors. Still handsome though!


----------



## ShadeSlayer (Jul 20, 2015)

At my petco the vailtails are 2.99, even for a full-gorwn adult. The babies are only .99 cents, which scares me because they are the cheapest fish there and non-fishy people seem to love them. poor guys.


----------



## allied123 (Dec 11, 2014)

I might have been able to argue my "rose petal" down to like a halfmoon or "dragon" even though he's just metallic, "dragons" were only 9.99 while halfmoons were $12? not sure...almost got an EE for $15, that's what blew my mind, the EE was cheaper than this metallic halfmoon? crazy.

But the reason I didn't argue was because the fish manager is awesome and he's actually the one who convinced me to get a second betta tank 

Also, the veiltails at my petco are also all 2.99 no matter what, haven't seen the "fancy" ones for more yet...and the babies are incredibly cheap  There was a woman while I was getting my guy and deciding and she kept eyeing my fish but it was obvious she was really looking at the veiltails because they were so cheap. 

I almost wish all the fish were more expensive so people would think twice about spending so much money on them and actually do some research on how to take care of them.


----------



## ShadeSlayer (Jul 20, 2015)

Like a minimum of $8.99 or somthing. Not too much, but enough where poeple think twice.


----------



## allied123 (Dec 11, 2014)

Exactly! And I don't mind paying more for nicer fish I just don't want to go through the shipping with aquabid..


----------

