This was a while back, ok I use to have betta but not for long before it die because i was still new and now i feel bad. A few days I went to LFS to look for a new shubunkin since one of them was kill by my little playful mischievious cousin when my aunt came to visit around 2 weeks ago I wasn't home at the time. So I was looking at the shubunkin and I foudn what i want, I ask the employee to help me put it in the bag. He/she is beautiful which is now still in quarantine. Anyway, the employee asked if I want a betta. I look at it.......they seem liek they are all dieing...in thier little tiny cup, look as if they are suffocating, it's pretty bad condition, I told the employee that the cups is way to small for it to live in, and guess what he told me?

"Oh no no, betta loves to live in small place, they prefer it, you see, betta doesn't move around much, they stay in one place, it's healthy for them, they will waste their energy in bigger tank and might die sooner!"

I was now had open my eyes super wild and was speechless..........that doesn't make sense at all. Because I think no one or even fish want to be living in what like they are in jail and i just think that betta would be much happier to get to have more space to swim around so they would live longer and less stress.

I told him that I think betta would live much better in larger tank with more free space to swim around.

He said he can see right away I new with keeping fish, well...I only keep fish, many types of fish manily tropical for mroe than 2 years. I just shake my head and go to the cash register, pay and get out fast...


and since I'm not very pro with betta? is it true they would live longer in small place?

BTW - I am soo so so sorry if i posted this in a wrong section

"Bettas die sooner in bigger tanks"......Shhhheeeshhh what a load of bull doo doo.

Are you gonna see that guy again? I hope you do, and if you do meet him again, dare him to go to any betta forums in the internet and repeat the thing he just told you. See if he would last 10 minutes in any of them.

I wanna smack him in the face right now GRRR!!

she's kinda right, bettas like small tanks, no bigger than 20 gallons, but also no smaller than half a gallon, so she's wrong about them being happy in tiny cups, thats too small, but dont worry about them suffocating, they come to the surface to breathe, it is pretty sad though to see all those poor bettas in those tiny cups

Er, why do you think they don't like bigger tanks than 20 gallons? In Thailand & Indonesia, some betta farms keep their bettas in concrete ponds hundreds of gallons in volume.

thats what I heard, cause in the wild when there was a drought they lived in small puddles until the next rain so thats what they're used to, some might like it but I heard that most dont since its not what they're used to.

WOW.....I can't believe how some people think. I mean...it is not the nature of ANY ANIMAL to stay in the space of a small tiny cup.....even plankton would want more space than that!!!!!!!! I can't believe someone told you such nonsense! It goes to show that most employees, and even store owners don't know much about the living creatures that they are selling.

Well, FYI, bettas don't live in small puddles. They live in blackwater streams & rivers. They're capable to survive drought in small puddles, but they certainly like it better in bigger bodies of water.

Here are some pics where wild bettas are found (pics from Aquarticles.com):

actually, in a sense, bettas (domestic-bred ones, that is) will fare better in shallower tanks - as they will have to exert more effort in reaching the surface to breathe in deep tanks or containers. It's not really a question of the gallonage that'll make a betta healthier but a combination of capacity and space. Your betta, for example will definitely be happier, or at least more comfortable in a 15-gallon long than in a 20-gallon high as the 15 will be satisfactory in the depth requirement and also provide more horizontal areas for the betta (or a pair) to roam around.

gallonage is only important in that more water capacity ensures that metabolic wastes stay diluted to an acceptable level but it isn't always accurate to say that more gallons automatically equates to a healthy betta. Hexagon and cylindrical tanks make a mockery of this cliched adage.

oh, well sorry then, thats what I read on several websites, but I defianently agree that they r not happy in cups!