I went to Petco today and saw they had a selection of “baby bettas” 2 boys and 2 girls. They were very cute and active and obviously babies. I suspect they need to be treated like a baby anything, more feedings, more water changes and all that but was wondering a few things. 1) Is it ethical to buy a baby fish from a chain like Petco or Petsmart because who knows where they came from. 2) Do they need special food or do you just need to feed them smaller more frequent portions of what adults eat (like half a pellet instead of a whole) and 3) Do they need less space till they grow or can you just put them in a 5 gal minimum tank and just hope for the best? 4) Does the temperature need to change? I’m just wondering out loud. I’m planning on doing some more research of my own but as I’m coming to the end of my betta girl’s life I can’t help but wonder if I should open a new chapter or let it go for a while.
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Posted by Kodarpy
2 Comments
the betta fish industry is not ethical at all imo. the more you look into and research it, you realize that all bettas are horribly inbred and specifically bred for genes that hurt them. at least 99% of them. even the ones you see from breeders online — even if they’re kept in nicer conditions, they’re still inbred and they’re still bred for desirable traits that lower their quality of life.
I got a baby girl betta for my daughter (I let her choose) and it ended up having a crooked spine after it grew bigger. There was nothing to show she may have this issue when we bought her. Because of this, I will only buy adults in hopes of not getting another with a physical abnormality like this.
Edit to add- I did feed normal food (fluval bug bites) but crushed pieces smaller and fed small amounts more often until she got bigger.