# my wife bought a PETCO $2 baby beta......omg



## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

My wife just brought me a $2 dollar PETCO true "baby" it was the healthiest one! He is a bit under 1/2 inch and stressbars bad.....I hope he makes it....I hope


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## Irish Dancing Man (Jan 9, 2011)

Well get him a nice comfortable tank and he should be comfortable!:-D


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

He's going to be ok I think. No idea they sold them so small.


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## Irish Dancing Man (Jan 9, 2011)

Pictures??


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

they're selling them younger, the lps a few months were minimum 6ths old. some LPS have the fish 1 inch total lenght now for sale.


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

i kinda want one.... simply because i adore babies. :V anyone have any idea how young these little guys and girls are? hnng.. i wish PetCo wasn't so far from me... i'd save one.


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## bettafish15 (Oct 3, 2010)

Be careful, others have bought them, and due to their fragility, they died. So be veerryyy gentle with him, FREQUENT water changes to keep him healthy, warm water, and good food.


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

I was at a Petco in Tacoma Washington yesterday.... I couldn't believe that they had Betta babies , at least 15 of them. They were so tiny . Like an idiot, I felt sorry for some of the adults in about 2 inches of blue water.... ARGGGGG.... ended up getting a delta double tail... THAT's what I get for reading about all these rescues on here !!!!!


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

when i got Chappy, she was a month old, and just a speck. had to keep her heater in ALL THE TIME, at a constant 81F, daily water changes, fed BBS once a day, crushed New Life Spectrum once a day.... it was so much fun, watching her grow up....


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## EvilVOG (Nov 23, 2011)

Just bought one of the babies myself and she's probably the most happy of my bunch. Fed them some glassworms and she ate a good 1/2 dozen of them.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

My local Petsmart has babies too and increased their betta count to double maybe even triple the amount they usually do. Why? really though?


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

I guess the bottom line is money. They are a retail pet store that sells fish.
I usually try not to go in the fish section of the giant retailers. I usually get my fish from a couple actual tropical fish stores. They have very healthy, quality fish. I made the mistake yesterday and brought one home.... LOL So, see, it works....
It's like selling parakeets for 15 dollars. makes them seem like they are discardable. People don't realize they are the smallest of parrots, highly intelligent , and are FLOCK birds who should never be sold separately unless they are with you al the time ! JMO


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## EvilVOG (Nov 23, 2011)

stocking up for Christmas perhaps?


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

I would love to post but not sure how?


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

You just did ? Post what ?


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I think they mean post a picture.

Save the picture to either your gallery on here or a photo site like www.photobucket.com then just copy and past the code that starts like this 

I got one of the babies about 2 weeks ago. It was so tiny, I just couldn't leave her to rot at petco. Well, I suppose I could of, but I didn't. Her name is Heartstrings and her she is in a 1 gallon tank. Sometimes I have to look real hard to find her in it, if she is behind the cave or plant. She can eat the tiny pellets and my main concern was that she was too small for them. 

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/midnight_sun_pony/013-2.jpg


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## EvilVOG (Nov 23, 2011)

The baby i got yesterday i fed some glassworms (mosquito larvae) as a treat for her and her tank mates and she ate all of them before the other girls could get to em.


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

Mine IS so small I can't even begin to sex him let alone attempt a type. He is eating and is in a containment tank in the bigger tank for heat. He has eaten and may become blue. His little fins are all tore up. Named him aolac. Means "almost"


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## pumpkinspikepie (Feb 18, 2011)

I just picked one up earlier today. It was inevitable that I get one, since I now work at a Petco. However, underneath the row of betta cups is a shelf of containers meant to be used as their housing... Can't fit much more than a pint of water in those stupid things. I guess the idea is that people will buy a tiny container for the baby and then upgrade as it grows, but really, what are the odds that people will do that?

In any case, mine is super cute. I set it up in a nice little 2.5gal in the living room, and it's been swimming around ever since. It waves its caudal fin at me every time I go to say hi.


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

Good for you Pumpkin !!! Looking forward to photo's.
what heater are you using in the 2.5 gallon ?
I sued to be a trainer there (dogs ) when it was run by a big training firm... I applaud your thoughtfulness.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Tikibirds said:


> I think they mean post a picture.
> 
> Save the picture to either your gallery on here or a photo site like www.photobucket.com then just copy and past the code that starts like this
> 
> ...


WOW she is tiny! I can't even believe that is a one gallon, I was sure it was at least 5 gallons. It makes me so mad they are selling them this small.


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## pumpkinspikepie (Feb 18, 2011)

acadialover said:


> Good for you Pumpkin !!! Looking forward to photo's.
> what heater are you using in the 2.5 gallon ?
> I sued to be a trainer there (dogs ) when it was run by a big training firm... I applaud your thoughtfulness.


Oh thank you! A lot of my coworkers are misinformed about bettas, so I try and be the first to talk to customers that are looking at the bettas... Haha. 

On my 2.5 and 5 gal tanks, I've just been using the crappy preset Tetra heaters, and I'm not totally pleased with them as they're not usually that warm. Would you suggest something different?


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

L:OLOL I meant I USED to be a dog trainer there....
Well, it is hard to keep heat stable in a small container like the two gallon . I was at Petco the other day and found one of the 2 gal Aquean(sp ) mini bows in a sale bin. It was 10.00 because the included filter was not in the box. Great deal.... I've been having a hard time to regulate and learned on another Betta forum that it is hard in that small. I do have adjustable heaters... visitherm


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## pumpkinspikepie (Feb 18, 2011)

I'm reading really mixed reviews on the Visi-therm heaters. I might just break down and get the Elite ones since my 10gal and 15gal each have one and I've yet to have an issue with either.


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

where are the reviews ? I've had one in my 45 g. for about 9 years... keeps perfect temp.
HEy don't you get a discount ?/ I'd go for an Elite in a heartbeat.


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## pumpkinspikepie (Feb 18, 2011)

I was looking on Amazon and the size I needed had four reviews, two with five stars and two with one star. The two poor reviews mentioned severe overheating. 

I do get a discount but I don't think we have the Elite heater that I want. Right now it's on Amazon for $11.65, and since I need three or four of them, that's a sweet price, and probably a better one than I'd get with my discount.


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

Good to know !! Maybe I'll try the Elite. That is a sweet price.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I have four of the Hagen elite heaters and they work much better then the tetra ones. I got them in the petco pet keepers.



> WOW she is tiny! I can't even believe that is a one gallon, I was sure it was at least 5 gallons. It makes me so mad they are selling them this small.


Nope, it's a Hawkeye 1 gallon corner tank, except I removed the undergravel filter thing. 
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hawkeye-1-Corner-Tank-Aquarium-1gal-Fish-Aquatic-Pets/10312983

I want to put her in the 20 gallon but I just had one girl die of columnaris. The others seem fine but I don't want to risk putting her in there especially since I don't have access to any of the normal treatments here.  All I can find is Maracyn Oxy and that didnt do a thing for poor amaratsu.


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

i have an old heater that has worked so well well for so long and its so old i cant even make out the name on it. oh the good old days of quality. i truly believe things are designed to have a life limit so you have to rebuy after a few years.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

turtle10 said:


> WOW she is tiny! I can't even believe that is a one gallon, I was sure it was at least 5 gallons. It makes me so mad they are selling them this small.


Oh by the way I meant I am mad that they are selling the fish too small, I think the 1 gallon is fine for her size for now.


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## purplemuffin (Aug 12, 2010)

So how small are these baby girls and guys? Are they smaller than the 3 month old ones sold on aquabid?


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## Brian10962001 (Nov 1, 2011)

Tikibirds said:


> I have four of the Hagen elite heaters and they work much better then the tetra ones. I got them in the petco pet keepers.
> 
> Nope, it's a Hawkeye 1 gallon corner tank, except I removed the undergravel filter thing.
> http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hawkeye-1-Corner-Tank-Aquarium-1gal-Fish-Aquatic-Pets/10312983
> ...


Columnaris is gram negative and despite what people say I've seen it pop up in clean water and repeatedly appear only in the fish that touched something from the tank it originally appeared in. You need Maracyn 2, tetracycline, or some other gram negative antibiotic if it's too severe to treat with AQ salt. I would for sure give her time before introducing her to the 20 gallon. I had a hard run with columnaris a while back, and with a fish that small it wouldn't take long to over come her.


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## Brian10962001 (Nov 1, 2011)

purplemuffin said:


> So how small are these baby girls and guys? Are they smaller than the 3 month old ones sold on aquabid?


The ones in Indiana are about 1in long. You can't really sex them aside from some show an egg spot. I could make out one that had a longer body and a slightly different jaw plus shorter fins; he may have been a plakat but it's very hard to tell. I'm assuming these are culls from certain spawns but it's really hard to say. It'll be interesting to see how some of these peoples fish turn out.


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## purplemuffin (Aug 12, 2010)

Interesting, Dionysus was less than an inch long when I got him from an AB breeder. I guess I'll have to go see for myself how little they are!


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

im going to go in again tonight and take a thermometer to check the water temps that they are at. ive never seen them anywhere but out front in open display. for the ones in real bad shape im going to ask to do a rescue on them and if they make it, i can bring them back.....or not..just to not be in the cup again.....hmmm...idea


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## pumpkinspikepie (Feb 18, 2011)

Mine is just over an inch in length, and I haven't tried to sex it yet since it's been moving all around its little tank!


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

mine was a bit over half inch. not sure as to anything. guy girl or type. kind of a christmas surprise.


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## wwendy104 (Nov 10, 2011)

I got one of these little guys and truthfully its been a little up and down with him over the past 3 weeks. He was maybe a half inch and now maybe an inch. He is currently in QT with Epson salt cause he was displaying with SBD. I didn't realize they were so fragile as babies. When I was in Petco the other day they had row of these babies some much smaller then a half inch and you could not tell what sex they were. Many of them I could have guessed but it would have been very hard and so many of them had stressbars. I am pretty sure mine is a male and definitely a plackat.

The adult ones looked so sad sitting right inside of the main door with the cold air on them every time the door opened. Then there were many that were not alive at that. Atleast they have the babies off to the side and hopefully its less drafty. Petsmart here takes better care of their bettas although they still recommend much smaller tanks then I would.


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## Brian10962001 (Nov 1, 2011)

Wendy, what Petsmart did you go to? The ones I saw are at Petco in Greenwood.


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

mountaintrout said:


> i have an old heater that has worked so well well for so long and its so old i cant even make out the name on it. oh the good old days of quality. i truly believe things are designed to have a life limit so you have to rebuy after a few years.


I so agree with you. I have a visitherm form 10 years ago in my 45, and still keeps totally accurate temp.


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## wwendy104 (Nov 10, 2011)

I live in Fort Wayne so I went to the one here. It's a pretty nice one they gave me a care sheet with my first betta and lots of info. I'm not crazy about the petco here though.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Our Petsmart just about sold out of bettas over the weekend. Maybe they'll get some babies. I want one! lol


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## wwendy104 (Nov 10, 2011)

Here is a picture of my baby Ponyo, he is about 1 inch now. I got a couple good pictures of him in the QT tank. I can't usually find him well in his big tank he has alot of plants in there and he is too fast


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

With everything I did and hoped, that half Pincher passed away tonight. I thought he was over the hump. I feel like I failed him. Very frustrated tonight.


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## acadialover (Nov 17, 2011)

argg. so sorry. I think you should share it with Petco,.
Seriously !


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## wwendy104 (Nov 10, 2011)

Ow I am sorry, they are so fragile. I really feel bad Im not sure those babies are ready to be shipped and handle all that stress. I would make sure that Petco knows about it for sure!


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

thank you maam. im going in tonight to tell. them. they are just too fragile to be sold as that. thank you for your kind words maam


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## mjoy79 (Jul 13, 2011)

mountaintrout said:


> With everything I did and hoped, that half Pincher passed away tonight. I thought he was over the hump. I feel like I failed him. Very frustrated tonight.


I commented in the other thread but wanted to say I'm sorry again. I agree you should tell Petco. If the babies are dying even with excellent care, then I'm sure most of them are being brought home and dying all over the place


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

The real problem is the breeders that sell their babies to Petco. They should know better.


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## Brian10962001 (Nov 1, 2011)

tpocicat said:


> The real problem is the breeders that sell their babies to Petco. They should know better.


Honestly they're probably selling their culls to Petco so all in all it will end up being crueler, but saving a few of them.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

I thought that they would die if not kept at certain parameters and heat and such. How old are betta's in the cups then? The 'adult' ones? 
I would definitely go talk to someone at Petco about stopping the sale of these fragile babies. The ones pictured are cute but they survive only because people know what they're doing. If I was suckered into buying it, it would surely die! As would perhaps 95% of them who are sold to dumb-dumbs who don't know what they're at. 

I have only ever seen adults for sale in all the stores here. As they come from Singapore and Malaysia (depending on the store) I assume it would be the responsibiliy of them to ship out only proper aged bettas. To add though, the LPS here reported a flood at their supplier in Singapore so perhaps an increase in sale of younger bettas would make up for such a loss elsewhere?


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

i think they are doing it for the bottom line as you say. i hate more money vs. whats right


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## Brian10962001 (Nov 1, 2011)

I'm going to pick one of these little guys up and give him a few weeks in the cup with just water changes to see how he does. It's been a full week, many of the ones who just weren't going to make it should now be gone and the ones left will be the tougher of the young fish. I'll let you know how their selection looks compared to last week.


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## mountaintrout (Nov 24, 2011)

my wife went in and found 8 0f ten babies dead in the containers. im not happy im still in my wheelchair for a month, butter than a life..kinda like a much better outlook than the babies at petco....


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## wwendy104 (Nov 10, 2011)

Im so sad, that is really cruel


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## mjoy79 (Jul 13, 2011)

I have normally been a fan of Petco because they keep their bettas in larger cups and keep them clean. But now my opinion is changing. I haven't been in to see the babies and I'm not sure I want to. I already bought 2 girls that were too young back in August (they died within 1-2 days of bringing them home). I dont plan on purchasing any more bettas for a long while anyway, which is good!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Brian10962001 said:


> The ones in Indiana are about 1in long. You can't really sex them aside from some show an egg spot. I could make out one that had a longer body and a slightly different jaw plus shorter fins; he may have been a plakat but it's very hard to tell. I'm assuming these are culls from certain spawns but it's really hard to say. It'll be interesting to see how some of these peoples fish turn out.


Although some young males show egg spots sometimes, so you can never be 100% sure.




Brian10962001 said:


> I'm going to pick one of these little guys up and give him a few weeks in the cup with just water changes to see how he does. It's been a full week, many of the ones who just weren't going to make it should now be gone and the ones left will be the tougher of the young fish. I'll let you know how their selection looks compared to last week.



If you buy one of them, DO NOT keep it in the cup it came in! It is extremely small and very cruel to keep one in there as their home. I really hope that is not what you meant to say.


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## mjoy79 (Jul 13, 2011)

turtle10 said:


> If you buy one of them, DO NOT keep it in the cup it came in! It is extremely small and very cruel to keep one in there as their home. I really hope that is not what you meant to say.


I dont think he meant he would keep them in the cup permanently. He said for a few weeks. I think he meant he would do this in an effort to reduce stress on the baby betta until it is older and can move to a larger tank.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

mjoy79 said:


> I dont think he meant he would keep them in the cup permanently. He said for a few weeks. I think he meant he would do this in an effort to reduce stress on the baby betta until it is older and can move to a larger tank.


A few weeks is still bad in my opinion. At least put it into a one gallon tank. If he kept it in the cup he would have to do 100% changes everyday, in the one gallon he could at least skip a day, which wouldn't be as stressful. Not only that, but in a cup that small the temperature will fluctuate wildly, there is no room for a cave or cup to hide in, or room for plants. I really don't think the petco baby bettas would even survive weeks in that tiny cup.


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## mjoy79 (Jul 13, 2011)

I'm not sure how I feel about them staying in the cup either, but all i know is the baby bettas are dying in larger tanks even with great care. (I have seen several stories just the last few days). I think its just not good that the stores are selling them this young.


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## Brian10962001 (Nov 1, 2011)

It's not cruel and very well could save it's life. You pick a surivor keep it in the smaller enclosure with the water temp it has adapted to for a while, let it adjust to the new surroundings, light schedule, water changes (quality/frequency), and food, then acclimate it to a larger/warmer tank. It's too easy to think with emotion and believe you're doing the best thing for these small fish when it would be better to just give them some time. Even though these fish come from a tropical environment it doesn't mean you want to slap one in a 2 gallon with 80 degree water right away, that's a massive change for a tiny fish that has already had to adapt to one. I do the same with sick fish, they stay in their cup for a while until they're healthy enough to start changing them over. I would be attempting this right now if I had found one of the babies I was interested in purchasing. It looks like Petco had somewhere between 1/2 to 1/3 of the baby bettas left from last week so either they sold a lot on Black Friday or had some pretty serious die off. I also noticed they have no new adult bettas, and they had several CT's and a double tail HM with serious swim bladder. They do still have a couple Dragon HMPK's that are just gorgeous and one that looks like an Arapaima (I think he has a spinal issue but he looks neat and he's a survivor he's been there for a while now).


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

For $2 and so small, most likely you got a VT female. Males they tend to wait until right after prime breeding age, females they go younger.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

> If you buy one of them, DO NOT keep it in the cup it came in! It is extremely small and very cruel to keep one in there as their home. I really hope that is not what you meant to say.


I always take the fish out of the cup as soon as I can. Not because its small but because every petco betta I have gotten had an ammonia level of at least 4.0. Although sometimes I use a syringe to get out old water and replace it with clean water before putting them into a tank


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Brian, I never said two gallon tank with 80 degree water. A one gallon is still very small, but to keep a fish in a cup that is less than 1/4 of a gallon is just a bad decision in my point of view. There is virtually no way to keep the temperature stable and the amount of water changes you will have to do to keep the water clean will just stress the baby out. They need a calm tank with a hiding place, stable temp (does not mean 80, it means a temperature that will not fluctuate will the temperature of the house), and clean water. In my opinion a one gallon _is_ a small enclosure. It is a big change, but a POSITIVE change. The small amount of stress that a fish goes from being in a less than 1/4 gallon tank to a 1 gallon tank is worth it when I think about the large amount of stress it will get in a CUP with fluctuating temp (which negatively impacts the immune system btw), too much movement from the daily to twice daily water changes, no place to hide, and basically swimming in his own poop. 

If in anyway anyone felt I was being harsh, I sincerely apologize. I just strongly believe that the petco/petsmart cups are just too small to keep in for more than a day, much less weeks.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I am not saying the small Bettas you are seeing in the pet shop are young fry or not-since I have never seen any of them....but sometimes the size of the Betta is not always a good indicator of age per se......sometimes the small size can mean the Betta is of poor genetics/breeding, poor husbandry, poor nutrition or just a runt-

Often in a spawn you will have varied sizes of fry...eggs are not dropped at the same time and they don't hatch at the same time and in the fish world- an hour difference in age can be a big difference and in some spawn it can be several hours in age difference based on spawning and then you have water quality and nutrition issues that can make a difference in growth and development.......

While I know a lot of you really think negatively of the small containers a lot of the Bettas are sold in...they are not intended for long term housing (_great for QT and treatment_)...these are intended for short term temporary containers for display and the safest most practical method as well, I do agree that a water change while sitting on the self at the store is a good idea or at least don't feed them to further cause water quality issues.....that said-Bettas don't create as much ammonia as you think and a lot of water quality issues are more related to the quality of food-poor quality food can't be utilized by the Betta and will be excreted back into the water-not being much different than leaving uneaten food in the water...

Then you have chemistry changes that can happen faster in a small container of water with a Betta, their byproducts and maybe some uneaten food.....(_this can take weeks_) as these organics breakdown/decomp this creates CO2 naturally and this in turn can cause the pH to decrease-the lower pH will then change the ammonia to ammonium that is harmless to the Betta-this is when problems can occur.....add higher pH water and this will cause the harmless ammonium to change back to deadly ammonia and if this doesn't harm the Betta the sudden pH swing may cause osmotic shock....

What do you do.......since its important to properly acclimate the Betta by slowly adding small amount of clean dechlorinated water to the holding container......
By adding a drop of a product that neutralizes the ammonia like Prime will help avoid both ammonia poisoning and osmotic shock when acclimating your new Betta....this is especially problematic for Bettas that have been sitting on the shelf for a long time in neglected water...

If these Bettas are true young fry-I would recommend that you keep them in the small temporary container (_sometimes placing them in too large of space can be even more stressful in the beginning_)-properly acclimate them to the new source water-add a sprig of live plant or floating plant or a small piece of IAL or oak leaf for cover and float(_attached_) them in a heated tank to maintain 78-80F water-cover the top with plastic veggie wrap to retain heat/humidity for the labyrinth organ, every other day 25% water changes for the first week-then increase to 50% every other day for another week-then start moving to a larger container per tolerance and the all important- good nutrition...a good quality varied diet in small frequent meals...live being the best and enjoy watching your baby grow and develop.....


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

The one I got actually said CT female and not baby betta like the ones I seen yesterday but she is about the same size. Maybe she is just a midget. 
She is in my 1 gallon with one of those hideouly neon pink but incredibly cheap ceramic caves and a plastic amazon sword plant. They take up quite a bit of room and provides alot of cover since the tank is tall and kinda triangle shaped. I had her about 3 weeks now?

A few months ago I also got a tiny CT that I was sure was still a fry. She was about the same size but she was transparent. Only recently did she finally grow up..and she is YELLOW. Yellow is rare here


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## Brian10962001 (Nov 1, 2011)

I'm still kicking myself straight in the butt, I found a HUGE yellow female the other day and didn't buy her because I couldn't tell what type of tail she had :-(. They also had a giant red female, and a yellow marble regular female. Also my CT girl from Petco is quite a bit smaller than the others I bought from Petsmart. I'm hoping she comes into it when she gets put in the sorority.


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## Hisaki Yuki001 (Jul 5, 2011)

I got a little fry a few months ago from Petco. She was so tiny she couldn't even eat pellets and was hiding behind the sticker on her cup. At first I thought there wasn't a Betta in her cup. She's doing a lot better now and actually changed to a red transparent color. She looks kinda like a Cambodian Betta, I think? She's still kinda tiny, but she's still growing. her names Itty Bitty or Little Bit, as that's what my wife calls her. ^_^

This was a vid of her almost a week after I got her:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jECbNPZA1O8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

And this was a vid of her taken a month ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fHQhbYNlY4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL


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## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

I have not actually dealt with a baby betta from a petstore....
BUT, I have foud a grea setup for sick fish, that would probaby work well for baby bettas

Kept in a small cup floating in a 2.5 gallon heated tank for 1-2 weeks













In this case, I have a divider set up, Beowulf (on the other side), neither can see each other (more than one piece of mesh set up to block view)
(Beowulfs side)












Not in the pictures, but I have two cups set up, one with the btta in question (Sammy currently) and the other with his new water (floating so it has same temp)











I normally have that side of the tank covered to minimize stress, and I do 100% water changes, I have seen a LOT faster growth of fins, better weight gain, and a less stressful fish doing this


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## betta lover1507 (Aug 6, 2011)

i bought a baby betta from petco and she was pretty small, now she has dropsy =[[, my brother bought one too even smaller than mines 0-0 and at the store they had a even smaller baby female than my brothers 0.o! petco is messed up, there always will be a little kid wanting a baby betta and kills it because they need special care more than adults, not just that the adults won't find homes because every one will want a baby betta =[[ and it will leave the adults rotting in a store.


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## mhwc56 (Dec 6, 2011)

i bought 2 bettas from Petco over the weekend. i've never had bettas before .These guys aren't big, though 1 is bigger than the other( i think possibly 1 male /1 female ) the smaller one is maybe an inch,the other 1 1/2 inch.
i've been searching all over the net for info so i 'll take care of them right...nothing like putting the cart before the horse so to speak. don't know why i bought them w/o being prepared. i never do that.
they are each in their own "tank". Their water is 73 degrees. i'm feeding them betta pelleted food but have to break it some so they don't struggle to eat it.
How old do you think they are at that size? What rules should i follow to keep such tiny critters healthy?


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

mhwc56- I think you should start a thread over in the betta care section. There you can decribe what size tank you have and everything else. 73F is a little low for small fish. Betta's typically do the best in 77-78F.. However, my tank falls to 72 at night (with a low wattage heater) and rises to 75 in the day and Lakitu is fine. I think your fish are younger than Laki is so I would make efforts to get a heater..


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