betta fish and those tiny cups

I do not think that they are happy but because of economics it makes sense to sell them in those small containers. You cannot put males in together so they have to separate the males and for a short time(a week or a month or so ) they will be fine in those small containers especially if you change the water (or part of it) each day or so, after all you would not wish to live in your own feces and urine, would you?

Betta fish are natively from China. They live in rice fields and swim through the shallow water and through all the plant roots. They are territorial, the males anyway. One betta can have up to 500 offspring in one batch. People breed bettas for their beauty and colour, but maybe out of the 500 only select a few worthy ones. The rest they either sell VERY VERY cheaply to the pet stores or give them to the pet stores. This is why bettas only cost 3-6 dollars, and why each are in their own seperate cup, which is where they have lived for awhile. I don't know what stage it is but when they are little frys they can live together when they start getting bigger that is when they get seperated into the cups and only a few chosen (if any) are taken and used for shows or just kept for their beauty or sold at higher prices. You can find pictures of very beautiful bettas online, and you will see how the quality in the ones at the petstore differ. I think they are content in their small habitat. Not sure if they have short memories or not. But my betta Chelios seems pretty happy in his environment. He chills out, floats around I play with him as much as you can play with a fish. At least he isn't fish food, and has more room than the tiny cup he did have.

really really not.... most of the betta owners don't know this fact. bettas need at least a 10 gallons tank. bettas in cups and bottle make them sore and they affect their character a lot. for more info on bettas,go to www.tropicalfishes.co.cc