It's so cruel!!

Today me and my hubby went to a different aquatics store that was recommended to me by one of my friends (needed some bloodworm), been their briefly before and was disgusted by the living environments for the bettas then...they had them in clear plastic cups that you would use at a childs party!
Today when i went in they must have thought they'd improved the bettas living spaces by putting them in slightly larger clear plastic tubs, but they had only filled them a quarter of the way up with what looked like frogbit floating on the top. The bettas could hardly swim around, most of them their tail fins where non-exsisant and some where even sitting on the bottom of the tub looking dead!! These bettas where described as show bettas but where no way in the slightest looked like show bettas.
These living conditions are disgraceful and as you can probably tell i get upset about this
Is there anything i could do like report them to the RSPCA or anyone that deals with the cruelty to animals/fish??

That's terrible! The lfs here do that, too. Although there is one that uses tiny little cups. The poor bettas can barely turn themselves around in them. And forget about swimming!

Thats the worse place iv seen a betta kept...all the other places kept them in small boxes at least they had room to move! Id never buy a fish from there!

You can report them to the local council. Its the council that deal with pet shop licences. The council have the authority to enter pet shops in order to confirm complaints, where as the RSPCA do not.

Vandraco aka Bronzecat wrote:You can report them to the local council. Its the council that deal with pet shop licences. The council have the authority to enter pet shops in order to confirm complaints, where as the RSPCA do not.

Thanks im going to try that then as there is no need for their poor living spaces!

You can give the council the web address of our website for reference about care if you like. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

i'd also add the link to basic general care/responsibility under the animal welfare act incase you get a total non fish keeper at council who doesn't have a clue...

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Thanks Van and incognito il let you know how i get on...hopefully somewhere!

Hope you get somewhere with that complaint, I hate seeing how bettas are kept, just fuels the belief that they can live in stupidly bad conditions

The Maidenhead aquatics at the place I work has just installed purpose built Betta barracks. Each section is about 2 gallons, all fully filtered

Thats really good Van, i find that all the Maidenhead aquatics iv been to have proper living spaces for the bettas.
The fish store im talking about is only located in Wigan its not a wide spread company...to be honest id say most of the fish there are kept in small confined tanks with lots of fish crammed into them. I only really go there as they have a very big variety of food and other things for my fish.

I hope your complaint helps! I hate hearing about poor animal living conditions, abuse,ect... and if I see it omg-that's worse....It just breaks my heart!!

OceanMaria wrote:I hope your complaint helps! I hate hearing about poor animal living conditions, abuse,ect... and if I see it omg-that's worse....It just breaks my heart!!

I know what you mean as im sure there's no need!

Sounds pretty nasty =(

I've contacted the local council about bettas before and it was a total flop. They did an inspection and the guy that owned the shop just gave them the usual "they live in small puddles" speech and they phoned me back to say that everything was in order and they would not be looking into it further.

If you want a shot at saving these fish, take some photos and send the council an e-mail detailing how the bettas are treated AND with loads of links and other information about bettas, such as their natural environment, temperature range, feeding requirements, stuff about ammonia build up, etc. If you can get a sample of the water to test, do it. Maybe take a little syringe and steal some water when you are next there. You'll only need enough for an ammonia test.

Also complain to the store about it - phone them, send an e-mail, etc. Don't let them fob you off!

Vandraco aka Bronzecat wrote:The Maidenhead aquatics at the place I work has just installed purpose built Betta barracks. Each section is about 2 gallons, all fully filtered

Sounds fantastic Van. I'm impressed!

That's really helpful Assaye, going to try that if I see neglect. I'm lucky in that my local MA keeps them in filtered tanks and my 2 best LFS's keep them either in frequently water changed boxes (been in there 2 days in a row and changes were going on both mornings), or in a filtered betta specific system.