If you're keeping a betta in a bowl, it's quite similar to discus. You change so much of the water that the fish doesn't even experience the nitrogen cycle. The ideal situation in a fish bowl is to change the water before the fish waste causes and ammonia bloom...so about every 2-3 days with aged aerated water with a little salt in it.
I was at the local petland and the manager was telling me he sells about 20 discus a week. It ails me to wonder who's buying these and if they're actually being cared for.
Hamsters are another abused animal, I think. (a hamster, how lame, I know) but many people don't know a friggen thing and don't even TRY to learn about how to care for them. They're absolutely shocked when I tell them my hamsters avg a 5 year lifespan.
I believe this "regulation" is up to petstores to do, although with all these massive retail chain "petstores" it's difficult to do because the person you're buying from is usually unknowledgable about what they're selling. ie) buying a snake from a 16 year old that knows "when they're mad they hiss"
I used to work in a chain retail "petstore" and my favorite irrate customer is the one that goes "I BOUGHT A FISH FROM HERE AND IT KILLED ALL OF MINE! IT HAD SOME DISEASE OR SOMETHING!!!" my response: "did you quarantine it before you introduced it to your tank?" 1% of the time the answer is no, and the 99% of the time the answer is "what's that?!"
|