What is this BETTA cult about? How to take care of your Betta fish

[Tuffy!]

Does anybody know what this Betta fish hype is about? Why are these fish so popular right now and who is behind the push in social media? For example you can check Reddit (which I don't want to endorse at all) but it's flooded with posts about Betta fish, there are plenty of subreddits...

[GUIDE] Don't buy fish to please your own ego by watching them rot away in captivity [/GUIDE]

[RANT]
What really freaks me out: Many of the redditors are showcasing their awful fishtanks. Not only are many of those tanks way to small (2 gallon, 5 gallon, 10 gallon tanks yeah some even keep their fish in fish bowls). A lot of those people don't seem to make use of organic material at all, to at least try to create some sort of a natural environment oriented habitat. Instead a lot of those people put 3D printed objects in their tanks making them look cute or futuristic to suit the style of their homes. They sometimes add artificial plants made out of plastic. Use marbles as bedding and such silly things. It's freaking me out. What freaks me out even more: There are plenty of people posting pictures about their sick fishes in subreddits like "BettaClinic" asking why their Bettas are ill. Well because you don't have created an environment worthy of living in? One of the redditors wrote "An update on Ronron: He's looking more like lettuce every day". What the fuck is wrong with those people?

As a form of public protest I hacked together my Rotting Fishtank site. You can help the fish in this tank by scooping out the rotting water and after that (or if someone else has cleared it already, it's kind of a multiplayer game | thank Melooon for the script BTW) see sample images of those poor creatures and the poor health conditions they are forced to live in. (I intentionally didn't choose the most disturbing pictures so imagine, there are worse out there).

I made this to make people more aware of the situation and I didn't know what to do after my threads/posts in the main betta subreddits won't get shown to the public anymore. There are some people criticising the conditions others are keeping their fish in but its the absolute minority. The majority seems to just love to please their ego by keeping a living creature as their hostage, making them suffer because of the poor conditions these animals are forced to live within.

But I don't want to blame the uneducated. I truly believe a lot of those fish keepers don't have bad intentions. They just don't know any better. There is a lof of misinformation being spread across the internet. For example a very prominent website tells people that a 2.5 gallon (thats less than 10l) tank is enough to keep their Betta fish in. I can't tell the url. *cough*bettafish+org*cough* They endorse people to buy small tanks in a "guide" that is named:

"Betta Fish Care - How to take care of a Betta" 

[/RANT]

Do you have any ideas what we could do for those poor fishes? They are air breathers BTW

I love animals. All sorts of. And it is freaking me out how bad some people treat "their" animals. I won't go into how much I despise factory farming or the fact that humans are destroying eco systems all over the world just because of their greed and their consistent hunger for new stuff that they don't really need (probably 90% of the time). I could rant about this for hours I guess. That's why I stop here.

Who am I to tell others. Who is perfect? I'm not and in the past I have bought many stupid things myself when I had more money to spend. I'm unsure if we ever could change the majority of people living in the societies of our world to stop their hunt for money, might and fame.

But at least we should make them more aware of what their actions do to our planet.

The Betta situation is most likely not the most important task humans have to resolve, but I think everyone of us is supposed to speak up whenever it seems like there is something wrong going on and a lot of people seem to be unaware of how much fish torturing is going on. Thats why I'm posting this and I'm looking forward to read about your opinions.

[Tuffy!]

There is so much more going on in my mind right now but I'm unsure if I'm able to find the right words for it and I don't have the time to continue writing for another hour now. I thought about creating another webring / guild for people who care about Betta fish. A Betta Fish Memorial Ring or something like that, maybe a guild for people that care about animals in general. I didn't come to a conclusion yet.

Time will tell 

[fairyrune]

have you ever considered making a zine, digital or physical? i think it's a wonderful way to get thoughts out about something you really like, and distribute it in a format people can enjoy. it offers a starting point for people to learn, as well, and the idea of a zine is pretty novel to some people, so they're more likely to poke around at it for a bit than they would be to read a loooong article at first.

i'm not a fishkeeper myself, but i've done a fair bit of research into it, and my family keeps a tank (i don't have anything to do with it, but i have tangential knowledge). the reason bettas are so popular in my opinion is because of two things - beauty, and bending the truth.

bettas do live in comparatively small habitats in the wild, it's true, but they still deserve space. what usually happens is that the small pond habitat fact is shared around - it's interesting, so people latch onto that, and it's stretched so that people with poor understanding of fish think it's more normal to keep a betta in a small space it's not untrue that bettas can survive in conditions other fish cannot. but it is untrue that bettas can live in very tiny tanks like 2.5gals, and because people don't usually have prior fishkeeping knowledge, they think that it's more acceptable for a betta.

the other reason is how pretty they are. they come in a variety of colours and shapes unlike a lot of other fish, who tend to have pretty limited colour morphs (this also applies to goldfish). in combination with the above, people really want one and think they can care for one very easily!

[swamptrogg]

have you ever considered making a zine, digital or physical? i think it's a wonderful way to get thoughts out about something you really like, and distribute it in a format people can enjoy. it offers a starting point for people to learn, as well, and the idea of a zine is pretty novel to some people, so they're more likely to poke around at it for a bit than they would be to read a loooong article at first.

I agree, I think a zine would be a great idea!

I think part of the problem is that bettas are sold alongside goldfish as "starter pets," being the next step up from goldfish and being more visually striking, and people are told to keep males by themselves, so they assume one small fish can survive in the smallest amount of space. They don't consider fish animals, they're just living objects like plants, so they don't want to shell out a ton of money for the sake of keeping it healthy. Honestly, for the sake of animal welfare I think we need to ban the sale of small animals at these huge chains like petsmart and petco, because they keep their fish in awful conditions to begin with, and don't properly educate people on how to care for specific fish.

[Tuffy!]

I think part of the problem is that bettas are sold alongside goldfish as "starter pets,"

Good point. I haven't been to a zoo shop in years, I will check out if it is the same here in my region.

Honestly, for the sake of animal welfare I think we need to ban the sale of small animals at these huge chains like petsmart and petco, because they keep their fish in awful conditions to begin with, and don't properly educate people on how to care for specific fish.

I second this. While I really can understand why people would like to have pets themselves, I don't think that it is in the interest of most of these animals. If you have to "keep" your animal, it is not right in my opinion. If an animal sticks with you, that is a whole 'nother story. I feel great having animals visiting my place and being around me because they choose to.

I don't judge anyone who has a pet. If you do, I think you should take care of it and make it's life faboulous. It is already in a situation it might not have chosen to be in so it is up to you to the owner to ensure it has a good time. But I encourage everyone to not buy a new pet. Especially not from a pet shop or a commercial breeder. The commercial sale of most pet races has been getting out of hand and commercial breeding of a lot of pet races or worse, the capturing of wild animals, has to stop.

have you ever considered making a zine, digital or physical? i think it's a wonderful way to get thoughts out about something you really like

The idea is a great one and I can see the benefits such a zine would have. Unfortunately I don't have the time to do so at the moment. But I have put "sharing a zine about pets and animals" on my to do list.

What you wrote about the reasons for the popularity of Bettas makes sense. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

the other reason is how pretty they are.

Bettas really are pretty.  What kind of fish do your relatives keep in their tank?

[fairyrune]

Bettas really are pretty.  What kind of fish do your relatives keep in their tank?

we have albino cherry barbs (I think?), Siamese algae-eaters, and a rescued gold barb from a family friend. it's a pretty big tank but doesn't have much in it at the moment! i've been bugging them about getting more gold barbs since they need some friends.

if i get some stable income, i would love to have a tank of my own. probably shrimp, they're a lot of fun to watch. and maybe i'd add a betta to it as well.