# Opinions on Petco bettas



## SilverMagic (May 10, 2011)

Do you believe Petco bettas are adequately cared for? Their care routine is they change thei cups water 3 times per week and feed them 3 times per week. I know they can go a while without food, it is the water change schedule that concerns me. Also what happens if noone buys them?


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## TonyK (Apr 4, 2011)

Of the big box stores in my area I think Petco has the healthiest looking Bettas. Plus, they seem to have a better variety.


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## pumpkinspikepie (Feb 18, 2011)

Honestly it always depends on the specific franchise. I got my first guy from a Petco and their bettas looked pretty good, but at a different Petco closer to where I live, their care seems subpar.


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## luluo (Apr 6, 2011)

I agree that it depends on the store and in all honesty, the week. 

The petco that I've been saying takes great care of their bettas really disappointed me last weekend. Knowing retail, maybe the person in charge of the fish was on vacation or something. The big box stores just do not seem to be able to be consistent in their care of the fish and it is sad. The other fish looked good, but of course they're in larger tanks and would probably suffer less with a few days of neglect.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Tht's a good question as to what happens to the bettas who aren't sold very quickly. And I guess it would be somewhat impractical to change thirty little cups every day but still . . . I took a look at my Petco yesterday and the water hadn't been changed. Almost walked away with a cute little purple female but I have *sob* nowhere to put her. 

I've seen these nice little "betta condos" that are clear plastic divided up like little stalls. There are holes in each divider so the water flows through, meaning you could easily change the water for six or seven bettas at a time. Maybe Petco should consider a setup like that.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Google "betta condo." It should come under "images for betta condo."


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## SilverMagic (May 10, 2011)

I got my betta from Petco and he's healthy. I'm just wondering if in the future we would be wise to discourage ourselves from buying pet store bettas and look for better places to buy them such as high quality aquarium stores, places that give them optimal care, not substandard care. I mean in a tiny cup, not even big enough to drink your tea, changing the water 3 times a week is not enough. I'm just wondering if we may be unknowingly encouraging pet store abuse. Also sad is that the majority of their buyers will be children keeping them in pathetic critter keepers and not taking very good care of their "toys" which they are not. It seems a better place wouldn't sell a pathetic novelty container for a betta in the first place. I know Petco is not nearly as bad as Wallmart but their level of care does seem limited when it comes to bettas. Although they've improved somewhat. Only a few years ago a Petco employee said you can keep them in vases with roots to nibble.

So if someone could start a thread titled "Top 10 places to buy quality, well cared for betta fish" so we could take notes that would be great!


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Or we could look at it as rescuing the more unfortunate bettas. Plus, the two LFS that I've been to in my area didn't really take any better care of their bettas. On store had a few in a betta condo and a few more males in some guppy and platy tanks. The other LFS had them in the same small cups with the blue water they use at my local Petsmart. As for Walmart . . . I don't know if they ever sell the bettas they have at mine. I think the poor things just die. 

What would be better, I think, is to start a campaign for petstore employees to be better educated about bettas. Let's face it, these big-box stores will keep selling bettas no matter what. Even if we, the conscientious fish owners, don't buy them, plenty of others will scoop them up on a mistaken whim, thinking the fish can live in vases with roots to nibble. But if we encourage our petstores to train their employees to ask, "Have you ever owned a betta before?" and to teach people about them before they buy, I think we'd be doing a lot more good than boycotting the stores.

And SilverMagic, I think the best place to get quality, well-cared for bettas is from a breeder. But also remember, a breeder will most likely give great care to their bettas whether they are able to sell them or not. It's the same dilemma we face with our furry pets: get a dog or cat from someone who breeds them and will love them even if they can't sell them, or adopt a pet from a shelter where they are in tiny cages awaiting their deaths.


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## luluo (Apr 6, 2011)

Sakura8 said:


> Or we could look at it as rescuing the more unfortunate bettas. Plus, the two LFS that I've been to in my area didn't really take any better care of their bettas. On store had a few in a betta condo and a few more males in some guppy and platy tanks. The other LFS had them in the same small cups with the blue water they use at my local Petsmart. As for Walmart . . . I don't know if they ever sell the bettas they have at mine. I think the poor things just die.
> 
> What would be better, I think, is to start a campaign for petstore employees to be better educated about bettas. Let's face it, these big-box stores will keep selling bettas no matter what. Even if we, the conscientious fish owners, don't buy them, plenty of others will scoop them up on a mistaken whim, thinking the fish can live in vases with roots to nibble. But if we encourage our petstores to train their employees to ask, "Have you ever owned a betta before?" and to teach people about them before they buy, I think we'd be doing a lot more good than boycotting the stores.
> 
> And SilverMagic, I think the best place to get quality, well-cared for bettas is from a breeder. But also remember, a breeder will most likely give great care to their bettas whether they are able to sell them or not. It's the same dilemma we face with our furry pets: get a dog or cat from someone who breeds them and will love them even if they can't sell them, or adopt a pet from a shelter where they are in tiny cages awaiting their deaths.


Before I say anything, I did buy D'Argo from a Petco and I agree that education and petitioning the stores for better conditions is the way to go because conditions vary so much. But your comparison of the dogs/cats is a bit off the mark. Shelters take in unwanted animals and adopting from them saves lives. Adopting from a shelter does not perpetuate cruelty. Buying a dog from a "breeder" (term used loosely) can often mean buying from a puppy mill in which case the purchase of that dog or cat is perpetuating the cruelty for many more generations of dogs and cats. So while that one dog or cat is "rescued", the cruelty goes on.

I understand what people mean when they "rescue" bettas from places like petsmart/walmart/petco but I don't agree with using that term because in buying from there we are not giving the stores any incentive to change. They are making their money. Getting an unwanted betta from a craigslist ad or a true rescue group is a rescue.

I shopped around for D'Argo. I was pleased with what I saw in the Petco where I purchased him. I was very disappointed in the condition of their bettas last weekend. There should be consistency. My own purchase of D'Argo has perpetuated the cruelty and for that I feel terrible.

I agree that buying from a fish breeder may be a better choice, but it may not be. You'd have to ask to see the conditions the fish are living in. Not all breeders love the animals they breed and treat them with great care.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Luluo, you raise valid points. There are plenty of "breeders" of furry animals who are uncaring and cruel and just churn out their puppies and kittens by the dozens. But I think and hope those are in the minority so let's say for the sake of the argument that we mean only the good breeders. Furthermore, I'll say I was unspecific in my comparison. I suppose what I'm really looking at most are the similar conditions that shelter animals and petstore bettas must live in: cramped and dirty.

Again, you raise a valid point in saying that our purchases don't offer the stores any incentive to change. But again, I also say that, sadly, we the conscientious fish owners are in the minority. I can't tell you how many times I've been in my local Petco or Petsmart and heard people passing by exclaiming, "Oh, I want a betta!" And off they go with their little bowls, no heater or filter and their betta who may or may not be better off than he was before, depending on how you look at his situation. On the other hand, the number of times I've been there and seen someone buy a betta with a heater and a nice tank are . . . zero. The number of times an employee has spoken about the care of a betta to a prospective buyer are . . . zero. And let me tell you, I've spent an abnormal amount of time at my local petstores lately getting supplies for my betta and eight cats. My point being, again, that unless we start picketing or something, petstores will continue to buy and sell betta regardless of whether or not we buy them. So is it not better (for lack of a better term) if, for every ten bettas sold by these places, at least one of them can go to a home where the person knows how to properly take care if it? 

In the end, though, it's up to each one of us to make that individual call when faced with bringing home a new betta. 

By the way, I'm just joking about the picketing thing. I think.


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## naturegirl243 (Aug 1, 2010)

I love our petco I'm a regular there and I'm friends with some of the employes there, alot of the guys that work there have bettas and know about them they always have clean cups and if there is a dead one(which happens) they get the cup out of there ASAP and they put some of there VT's in comunity tanks with neons and platys and probably other fish I just can't think if them right now.I will say since there are so many petcos they can't all possibly be as good as mine I'm sure there are bad ones out there.But all and all I have seen alot more petcos take way better care of there bettas on average compared to petsmart.


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## inkrealm (May 15, 2011)

if no-one buys them I highly suspect they just die :/ Petco sounds like it takes better care of them than most places... most of Pet Smart's are getting ill, some are pretty bad, most of the time not, but definitely beginning, and Wal-Mart's..... well :/ </3 
other than a small chain store we have here owned by a guy who makes a point to keep every species as a pet first before selling it so that he knows how to actually take care of them, I think Petco is probably the best, though it's not great either.
I'm hoping once I get through the basics learning how to care for my first buddy I'll be able to slowly get some less-expensive but still nice critter holders, the larger ones, ( as I can't afford a bunch of full glass setups right now ) and modify them to standards ofcourse, and adopt a few more and nurse them back to health. but I'd love to get involved in petitions and educating for better treatment of them.... there are so many better ways to keep them, and they really don't need to keep them in-bulk as if they're an item... choices are nice so you can find the personality that clicks with you, but I wouldn't compromise their health for this. :/ and they could use condos or keep fewer and divide some large AQ tanks, at least SOMETHING. 
I can't agree with boy-cotting because then the fish already there would sit and rot, literally D: most of them won't be humane enough to send them back or find safe homes. they could make laws though the way they do for dogs and cats and such, the same way you can report them for the death of puppies in pet stores and such you could report them for fish. they're small but they're living too and they deserve to be treated like an intelligent creature with personality and memory and feeling of pain and everything else. :/ 
they are a living creature and it is abuse and neglect no matter how tiny the receiver of it is. <3


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## TonyK (Apr 4, 2011)

I would love to purchase from a breeder but, how does someone like me (very little knowledge of Betta breeders) go about finding a good breeder.


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## BeccaBoo (Sep 8, 2010)

I'll admit, I bought 2 of my 3 bettas from my local Petco and I've been very happy with them. They're beautiful and healthy boys! 

I can't speak for all Petcos but the one I shop at seems to take very good care of their bettas. The cups they're stored in are bigger than the ones at Petsmart and Wal-Mart and they keep them on shelves that have the cups divided so the bettas can't see each other and stress out, and it also prevents people form stacking the cups on top of each other. They even have a neat set up where they have a betta or two in their own tank with an ADF or ghost shrimp and live plants. 

I have seen bettas that have been there for 2 or 3 weeks but their water always seems fresh when I come back and the betta still looks healthy. Of course there have been a few times that I have seen sick bettas but I think that's something that can't be helped, some fish are just going to get sick.

Of course I don't want to support a store that doesn't properly take care of their fish (that's why I refuse to buy fish form Wal-Mart no matter how much I want to save those little fish) but as another poster stated, it isn't easy for some of us to find a reputable breeder in our area. And as beautiful and healthy as some of the fish are on Aquabid, it just seems too hard sometimes to justify spending 50+ dollars on a fish (especially in these economic times).

So I can't say that I support Petco in general, but I do support the one in my area because they seem to really try to take care of their fish.

Here are a couple of pics of the "Petco boys", my DeT Rambo and my HM Dutch.:-D

Rambo









Dutch


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## MelissaD (May 17, 2011)

Walking through most pet stores can be a very stressful experience for betta lovers as they are very rarely adequately taken care of, the lack of space and the quality of the water being the biggest problems. Try to only support pet stores that promote good and humane care of betta fish. As for Petco, depends on the franchisee.


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

I think they can have a great selection, and generally look healthy. but like other people said it definitely depends on which petco, as well as who the employs are


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## Genin (May 17, 2011)

The Petco by me fluctuates. Both of my bettas were bought from them (Petco in Buckhorn, PA). They carry some nice bettas and many of them. For the most part they take decent care and the bettas seem to be doing well, but once in a while you will go in and see 4 dead ones, some with almost no water, or water full of poo etc. My last betta I bought from them was on the bottom shelf, most likely forgotten about and had like a quarter cup full of water in there and it was filled with his own slime coat and poo. I was able to use that he was in such yucky condition to get him half off (try it, you'll be suprised at how easy it is to haggle big chain stores). FYI, he's doing great in my office now . I'd say buy from Petco with confidence they tend to be the best around for betta care as far as large chain stores go.


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## SilverMagic (May 10, 2011)

Genin said:


> The Petco by me fluctuates. Both of my bettas were bought from them (Petco in Buckhorn, PA). They carry some nice bettas and many of them. For the most part they take decent care and the bettas seem to be doing well, but once in a while you will go in and see 4 dead ones, some with almost no water, or water full of poo etc. My last betta I bought from them was on the bottom shelf, most likely forgotten about and had like a quarter cup full of water in there and it was filled with his own slime coat and poo. I was able to use that he was in such yucky condition to get him half off (try it, you'll be suprised at how easy it is to haggle big chain stores). FYI, he's doing great in my office now . I'd say buy from Petco with confidence they tend to be the best around for betta care as far as large chain stores go.


Do you have a picture of the betta you rescued?


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## scootshoot (Oct 11, 2010)

All comes down to individual Petco's. Does the manager at each store advise the employees on required maintenance? If so, does he periodically check and enforce routine care is being performed........

By my place of residence there is a Petco, Petsmart and a private owned Fish dealer, out of the 3, Petco is by far the best place to go for betta's both in terms of variety and healthy looking specimens.


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## ectangelo (May 17, 2011)

I bought my red veiltail from PetCo, and although I've only had him 3 days, he seems to be doing well. My local PetCo I'd say is in between good and bad. It's not like PetSmart and Walmart, where most of the bettas are dead or dying. There were several nice bettas there, including many red VTs (one of which I bought) and a really pretty blue HM (I almost bought him but the red one had more SPUNK!). The rest either weren't swimming much, had fin rot, were dead, etc. One had swim bladder disease. It makes me sad, because they had probably about 60 bettas! But for chain stores, definately go here. They had nicer bettas than many of my LFS.


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## TheCrysCat (Mar 14, 2011)

Yeah, I'd say it depends on the individual petco. I've gotten all of my bettas from there, and they seem to take fairly good care of them. And, at the risk of sounding like a pessimist, I doubt they're going to stop selling them no matter how many people boycott. For every one person who "gets it" and cares, there's going to be at least twenty who are going to continue buying them and/or simply not care. For me, it's pretty much the only place I can go to to get bettas, other than a petsmart who takes even worse care of them. AB isn't an option for me.


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## ollief9 (Mar 16, 2011)

I've never seen particularly diabolically cared-for Bettas for sale, mainly because they're somewhat hard to find in the UK.


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## Wyvern (May 19, 2011)

I have to agree, here in South Africa we dont have petco's nor walmart (altho they might be coming here!)

Its something I miss tho, because the prices we pay for tanks and so forth makes it an expensive hobby, that is why 
I only have 2 betta's for now. 

Luckily I have 2 very good LPS near me. The one keeps his betta's in big tanks with a few tank mates. And they look beautiful. The other one keeps their betta's in little dividers in the big tanks - It seems a bit cruel to me so I havent bought any betta's from them altho I got my goldies from them because their other fish stock is amazing.

I prefer going to the one guy close to me, he chats for ages and has taught me a lot as well as me teaching him a lot. He is also willing to help me find a local betta breeder that does have more varieties than just the veiltails that we normally get here. He loved the pics that i took of my betta tank and is now telling everyone to do it my way. He also told me he wont sell the 1gallon tanks anymore to prevent people from getting the wrong tank for their betta! How awesome is that!


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## kumi (Apr 23, 2011)

Wyvern said:


> I have to agree, here in South Africa we dont have petco's nor walmart (altho they might be coming here!)
> ....
> 
> I prefer going to the one guy close to me, he chats for ages and has taught me a lot as well as me teaching him a lot. He is also willing to help me find a local betta breeder that does have more varieties than just the veiltails that we normally get here. He loved the pics that i took of my betta tank and is now telling everyone to do it my way. He also told me he wont sell the 1gallon tanks anymore to prevent people from getting the wrong tank for their betta! How awesome is that!


That's fantastic! 

I do think that one of the major culprits is the manufacturers that are selling the products. Even the reasonable setups have unreasonable photos on the boxes of the kits--way too many fish pictured in a five gallon "starter" set, for example. We are all (well, almost all) buying equipment from companies that also selling sub-standard Betta bowls or encouraging poor setups. One employee I talked to at a Petsmart said that it can be extremely difficult to talk new fish owners into good practices when there are all of those splashy photos on the boxes! She was SO happy I was buying a heater for the Betta I got!

Kumi


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## tuxthebetta (Apr 14, 2015)

I know this is old; I'm sorry, I just had to chime in --

We don't have a LFS nearby (within 50 miles), so only option is Petco.

I abhor the conditions these fish are kept in. Tux was in a small cup full of dirty, floaty water that looked like it hadn't been changed in a week, on the shelf next to a cup with a DEAD betta in it. The fish all look tiny, dull, and weary. It's like they're put on a shelf and forgotten about! 

(It's a shame, too, because the resident "Fish Expert" I've talked to many times is very passionate, knowledgeable, helpful, honest, and clearly interested in fish-keeping, I just think he's working for a crappy company.)

I brought Tux home from here because he was gorgeous and appeared healthy despite his awful living conditions. Nobody could speak to how long he'd been on the shelf or where the fish came from (the cup says "Distributed from California").

P.S. They kept their bettas in two places -- 1 shelf was kept by the door/check-out at the end of an aisle.... these bettas all looked pretty plain/miserable. The 2nd stock was kept in the fish area, under more favorable light/temperature conditions -- these ones were different varieties and colors.


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

I refuse to buy a betta at full price from my local Petco. I do rescue from the store, but I always demand a drastically reduced price (and I always get even this money back one way or another). I don't want to perpetuate their cruelty, and no, I do NOT think their care is adequate at all. I prefer rescuing over buying, but if I wanted to buy a betta, I'd look around for a caring, responsible breeder and buy from them. 

I think the situation is different from dogs/cats. I'd never buy a dog/cat from a breeder because the shelters around here are already inundated with unwanted pets. However, even rescuing a betta from a store is not the same as rescuing a dog/cat from the shelter because the store will continue to stock more bettas regardless of how many are bought vs die. The situation never really improves in the grand scheme of things because consumers don't view fish with the same compassion as mammals and will continue to spend their money at these stores and keep them open. However, if you adopt an animal from a shelter, the shelter has one less mouth to feed or one more spot to save another animal. And if everyone adopted their cats/dogs from the shelter rather than buying from breeders, fewer animals would likely be bred (due to decreased demand), and we might finally have a slight chance at getting the pet population under control. With fish, we would basically have to mass educate the population (get rid of the disposable pet theory) and shut down all chain pet stores to improve the situation.


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## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

SilverMagic said:


> Their care routine is they change thei cups water 3 times per week and feed them 3 times per week.


This is actually a lot better than my petco. They only feed/change water once every 2-3 weeks. 

I don't think they're treated properly at petco, but most of my boys are from petco (all but Misha and Blaine) and I love them even though Dean is driving me crazy with his fin biting... -_-

I wouldn't go as far as to say boycott them completely, though I don't necessarily condone the treatment of bettas or other fish. I can't afford Aquabid, and won't be able to go to the Betta Shop every time I'm in the market for a new boy I'm guessing. (Though that'd be ideal, I love their fish)


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Please note, this is a four-year-old post. It is asked that posts this old not be resurrected. It is better to start your own.


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