# Petco Finds & Mistakes! Need Your Help!



## twinjupiter (Aug 20, 2011)

So went to Petco, found two girls. One was a freaking awesome find:









That's right, a green double tail girl labeled as a veiltail female! only spent *$2.89*!!!! she is lovely!









*THEN* I stumbled on this girl. She was also labeled as a veiltail female. I was shocked to have found such a lovely female in Petco that I doubted my find. I spent 40 minutes in the store examining her, searching for an egg spot and trying to get her to flare. Her fins were clamped and she was very unhappy. Got her to flare once towards another female, and no beard was apparent and I thought I spotted an egg spot. So, here is the problem. I am pretty sure she is acutally a He. 
SO: I need all of your help!!! 
Girl or Boy??
Pictures!

















And a video of her/him flaring. Please ignore the fin condition of Beltane, the mustard girl. She jumped tank yesterday and ripped herself up .


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## Indyfishy (May 31, 2010)

Definitely a male!!!! Males have the beard that comes out from under their gill covers when they flair, females do not have this =) he's gorgeous, I'd say he's a lucky find!!! but definitely don't put him in your sorority lol!!


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## twinjupiter (Aug 20, 2011)

Indyfishy said:


> Definitely a male!!!! Males have the beard that comes out from under their gill covers when they flair, females do not have this =) he's gorgeous, I'd say he's a lucky find!!! but definitely don't put him in your sorority lol!!


Oh no, he is definitely not going into the sorority. The problem is I don't have any males, nor a tank set up for a male!
One possibility is getting my friend who wants my goldfish to actually come and get them, and either turning their 10gal into his tank or getting a smaller tank just for him. OR when the goldfish are gone, get my planned 20-30 gallon up and running and move the 10gal sorority to the new tank, while keeping the plants and decor in their old tank and putting him up in there.....

This male has caused some serious thinking and extensive planning. I really don't know if i can keep him..


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

Is PetCo known for mislabeling bettas? 

My $40 elephant ear only cost me $13 because he was labeled as a half moon or something.


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## xXGalaxyXx (Oct 17, 2011)

+1 on him being male. Have to be careful with those 'VT female' cups from Petco - my doubletail boy Nightmare (who I found in such a cup cx) lived in my sorority for a month or so before I noticed his beard. x.x
On the other hand - gorgeous find! Hope it works out for you, it wouldn't be fun to have to give up such a pretty fish.


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## a123andpoof (Apr 10, 2010)

Love your male! Very pretty! And female is cute! Great finds!


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## StarBetta (Aug 5, 2011)

registereduser said:


> Is PetCo known for mislabeling bettas?
> 
> My $40 elephant ear only cost me $13 because he was labeled as a half moon or something.


^o^ Lucky! You must've nearly dropped him off the shelf when you saw him, huh?


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## twinjupiter (Aug 20, 2011)

Ugh my intuition was telling me he was a boy... Shouldn't have ignored it. There were a bunch of other HMPK males there too. Crapcrapcrap.


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## twinjupiter (Aug 20, 2011)

registereduser said:


> Is PetCo known for mislabeling bettas?
> 
> My $40 elephant ear only cost me $13 because he was labeled as a half moon or something.


Absolutely, considering these two were both called Veiltail Females! 
Darkling, my black ct girl, and Twitch, my copper ct girl was mislabeled as a vt. I've definitely found others at the store mislabeled, but none such as obviously as my new dt girl!


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

StarBetta said:


> ^o^ Lucky! You must've nearly dropped him off the shelf when you saw him, huh?


It didn't register in my brain for awhile then I remembered what I had read here 
and then I knew he was the one. I was glad since I was having a hard time choosing!


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

twinjupiter said:


> Absolutely, considering these two were both called Veiltail Females!
> Darkling, my black ct girl, and Twitch, my copper ct girl was mislabeled as a vt. I've definitely found others at the store mislabeled, but none such as obviously as my new dt girl!


I spend a lot of time at PetCo doing pet adoptions so I'll be watching for more mistakes from them ;-)


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

You said it /didn't/ have a beard though?
Males have beards.

Despite that,it does look male face wise,but i've had some pretty butch girls.><

Either way, both are goodfins. Lucky you getting a dt girl for VT price.  I'm always on the look out for a dt girly,never any luck though.


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## PitGurl (Feb 22, 2011)

Great finds! I really had to use some self control one day at Petco because they had their HM's labeled as deltas & deltas labeled as VT's. It was really hard not to get one at those prices. However I also found a cute little DT girl labeled as a VT female so I had to get her. DT females are hard to come by.


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## twinjupiter (Aug 20, 2011)

Bambi said:


> You said it /didn't/ have a beard though?
> Males have beards.
> 
> Despite that,it does look male face wise,but i've had some pretty butch girls.><
> ...


Yeah, when he flared at another betta in the store it looked like it was just his gills, and to be fair his beard is clear. I also am using the term flare here loosely, as he didnt splay his fins, or do a cute little dance. He flared his gills and swam to the other side of the cup. There is a video at the end of my post that shows him displaying to one of my girls. 

After seeing my all the girl's reaction to him, I am not entirely convinced they are all girls either... I was pretty confident in my ability to distinguish sexes, but now I am not so sure...


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## twinjupiter (Aug 20, 2011)

So I may have to return him to the store. I don't have a place for him to live right now. Currently he is residing in a "dip & pour" container in my 55 community tank, spending his evening flaring at the gouramis (who, I might add, are atleast four times his size)

I don't get paid until next Wednesday, and I literally have no extra tanks, critter keepers, heaters/filters etc. All the plans I am considering won't take place until after i get paid, and even then they depend on when my friend will be able to come pick up my goldfish. 
But.. he is so pretty....


Poor baby doesn't even have a name yet... :-(


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## Indyfishy (May 31, 2010)

Poor guy!!! Don't feel too bad if you have to take him back, accidents happen. If you wanted to, you could keep him quite comfy in a gallon size tubberware bin or a bowl for just a little while until you get paid, I don't think it would hurt him unless your house is super cold. You could even put him in a tall vase inside the gourami tank or the sorority to keep the temp even. But I know this is less than ideal housing =P


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

If you're getting paid next wednesday any container larger then the cup he was sold in is fine for a couple days. At least you'll know to do water changes and such.


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## twinjupiter (Aug 20, 2011)

Bambi said:


> If you're getting paid next wednesday any container larger then the cup he was sold in is fine for a couple days. At least you'll know to do water changes and such.


True... The one thing that has been holding me back from keeping him is my boyfriend. Getting females is okay for him because they can live together, but he isnt so keen on setting up a single tank complete with filter, light, and heater if its only for one fish. (I would be getting all those things because i am thorough and want the absolute best for my fish)


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## Zappity (Oct 15, 2011)

Both are very pretty  But, yes, I must agree he is a boy. He has that same 'boy' look to him that my Mr. Bubbles' has. 
You could always put him in like, some sort of container that hasn't touched any chemicals/soap and float him in your sorority or community tank to keep him warm, or wrap him in a blanket with a ziploc bag of warm water near by (be sure to moniter his temp if you do that...we don't want betta soup! haha). 
If you got him a 2.5gal tank, there's no need for a filter, unless you absolutely want one. 
Good luck!! Hope you can keep him  (also, that dt girl is AWESOME!)


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## twinjupiter (Aug 20, 2011)

Thank you all for your awesome help. Everything worked out gorgeously. Instead of taking him back to the petstore, I contacted a friend who has betta's and recently upgraded one of her tanks to a 10 gallon, so she happened to have an empty tank. She thinks he is wonderful and we decided his name should be Calcifer after the fire god from Howl's Moving Castle. She came by and took him home today :-D


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## Leighla (Apr 30, 2012)

Petco and Petsmart totally label some of the bettas wrong. A few times this week I've been in both stores, and seen mislabeled ones. Saw 2 really pretty females I wish I had room to get. One day maybe I'll set up a sorority, I just have no more room now! 
Great finds BTW and glad you could get a home for the male.


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## Philnominal (Dec 22, 2011)

registereduser said:


> Is PetCo known for mislabeling bettas?
> 
> My $40 elephant ear only cost me $13 because he was labeled as a half moon or something.


I got 3 like that, cheapest one being 7 bucks.  Also 40 is the online price, they are supposed to 50 in store.


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## Leighla (Apr 30, 2012)

Philnominal said:


> I got 3 like that, cheapest one being 7 bucks.  Also 40 is the online price, they are supposed to 50 in store.



Do they carry many Elephant Ears in Petco or Petsmart? I don't think I've ever seen one.


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## Leighla (Apr 30, 2012)

And if I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure while in Petsmart today, they had a veiltail labeled as a halfmoon. I picked that guy up, and was like hey! your no halfmoon!


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## MachinaSoul (Mar 13, 2012)

They have labels for the elephant ears at Petco? I picked mine up at Delta price, because he _is_ a Delta Tail like he was labeled as.


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## Timberland (Jan 30, 2012)

Awesome finds! Our petcos dont have that very good bettas.


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## Sowman (Aug 19, 2011)

Just curious but what other fish do you have in that tank?


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## Twilight Storm (Apr 14, 2011)

Wow you guys are lucky  Our Petco/Petsmart actually has betta people working for them so I haven't been able to find any mistakes. (other then all the petsmart halfmoons which I really think are deltas.) The only mistakes I find are cups that were relabeled by employees to the correct type of fish mostly.


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## Sceven (May 22, 2012)

If you absolutely cannot keep him, I am sure there are plenty of loving keepers here that could take him off your hands  But he is such a pretty boy it would be a shame you shouldn't keep him.


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## Sceven (May 22, 2012)

Leighla said:


> And if I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure while in Petsmart today, they had a veiltail labeled as a halfmoon. I picked that guy up, and was like hey! your no halfmoon!


Maybe he was incognetio!:wink2:


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