well, i have heard through the fishy grapevine that in america any new petsmart stores being built will house their bettas in barracks instead of the tiny cups,and they will slowly get the old shops into housing the bettas in barracks in the future.

good news!

Not exactly sure what you mean by Barracks Sandy. We have PetSmart's now,that have these long acrylic container's now that sit up above the fish tanks on the wall.There are little divider's every couple inches that house betta's.Only trouble is that everyonce in a while the betta's end up below in the regular fish tanks. I guess to a cup,that may sound better,but if youve seen these,there isnt much room in these either.The only good thing may be that the water's filtered,& stays cleaner.

i have seen the barracks and yes they are as you describe, but at least they are clean and filtered. hope other big stores at least get to this stage for them.
here in britain all the bettas are kept in the main tanks but even then its not ideal as they can be kept with fish that arent suitable.
just thought it was preferable to being in a cup thats all

Yeah,it definately is.My heart just goes out to these beautiful little fish when they have no room to swim,that's all. I see mine swimming around enjoying their tanks,and I guess I want them all to be able to do that! I recently lost a few to old age,and have been very tempted to look for another.So far I've been resisting the urge! I have ten Betta's now,and keep telling myself that it's quite enough!!!! I almost looked on Aquabid last night......

Petsmart seems to be the better over Petco, but I like neither. A Petsmart in Tennessee had those barracks, though most like Devs said, end up in the bottom tanks or with their neighbors. It's a great start in helping maintain the quality (and dignity) of betta owning. This is wonderful news!

Devs - Ah, Aquabid is a killer...

You don't have to tell me that...Aquabid seems to be my middle name! Nah seriously,At one time,I had 20 something betta's,and I really don't want to go there again.I have twenty two tanks of all sizes,and it's really too hard to add on to that. My hands are permanately wrinkled from being in the water now!

Oh Devs...I feel you there. With 12 at the moment it's hard enough keeping a constant culture of tubifex alive let alone the water changes. Here I am 16 with all those fish plus my goldies, it get's really challenging fabricating to the parentals why I absolutely NEED another one. They support my aquarist career but you never know if they'll snap with the next tank or not.

It's us pruney fingered (even armed) people that love what we do and won't turn it down. I mean, they just capture you! Woom, like that and you've got another 5 gal. in your arm and bettas on the brain. Eventualy all this maddness will turn to ourselves building barracks ( much nicer than those in Petsmart of course) just to house the 40, 50+ we'll end up with. It's a vicious cycle.

I know what you mean about those cups. Every time I stop to look, I wish I could bring them home! Does anyone know the reason why they have the water blue in some stores? It makes it very hard to see the colors on the bettas and I have just wondered about it.

I believe th blue stuff is stress zyme, but i could be wrong.

The petsmart around here remodeled right before two new petcos came in, and they still put their bettas in the cups. I feel bad for them. Im not sure which I think is better. one of the petcos here decided to put thei bettas in with other community fish, and even goldfish! But still, most where in the cups.

The blue water is Methylane Blue, yes BigRed you nailed it, it's a stress reducer and is perfectly safe for them in the right quantities.

Sandy - A new Pestmart opened last month here too without the barracks, but they hardly have bettas anyway. I'm hoping they'll build one, Petco and Petsmart both equally have the same conditions for the most part.

Commercial business does not have the best interest in pet care, but money talks and the public media demands. Alas, we can and are making leaps of improvements, but slowly.

I think the barracks would be a bit of an improvement, at least they would have filtered water.

A lot of the time I don't even have the heart to look at all of those poor bettas in cups. It just makes me so sad. I currently have my hands full with all of the tanks I am caring for, and I just know that if I look, I will end up with another poor, ragged betta coming home with me

I hate to burst any bubbles but the new Petsmart near me just essentially abandoned it's betta barracks. (Their tanks are surprisingly clean & free of disease - I like shopping there). They were apparently difficult to clean ('cause they looked terrible despite the "filtration" ) & the bettas had a tendency to get stuck under the partitions.

I'm not sure what their plans are for the future, but the last few batches I've seen there have been in cups.

I know the filtration sounds great but when it's in an area full of waste - it still looks terrible (trust me). I think it's because from what I can see, the fresh water comes in, but the solid waste builds up on the bottom. Maybe other stores have a better set up. These were essentially along the wall above a row of tanks.

Poor babies! Hopefully though this will be a step in the right direction! (At least they're trying to realize they need fresh water!)

I do agree that its a step in the right direction, but i still think they are trying to cut many many corners because of cost. But it is a small step in the right direction!

Im glad them petco bettas are getting a better home. You see, barracks are these box like containers that you can float in the back of fishtaks, they have little gaps at the bottom to allow filtered water to pass through them. In my LFS, they also keep em in barracks. But barracks are still a bit small......... Well, its better than being in a cup less than half your own size XD