Please help stop The Betta Vase

[SemiCharmedQuark]

These have been turning up all over my area lately. Even if you haven't seen the Betta Vase, I am sure you have seen Bettas in tiny cramped quaters, probably about the size of a cup. This is one of the most overt displays of animal cruelty I have ever seen. Yet, it goes largely ignored because there is a myth that goes along with it that Bettas like small spaces and dirty water.
The idea behind the Betta vase stems from this myth. It is about 1 gallon or less of water in a vase. The betta is placed in the vase and a plant (usually a lilly) is placed on top. The idea is that this display never needs cleaning because the fish eats the roots of the plant and the flower will take in the waste of the fish. This is so incredibly cruel. Keeping a fish in less than 1 gallon of water is bad enough, but forcing a carnivorous animal to eat the roots of the plant is beyond reproach. I don't think anyone here would advocate making a lion subsist on greens and it is the same principle. If a betta does eat the roots, it is because he is starving to death and trying anything to live.
Please please make sure to counter the myth that bettas live in mud puddles/they like small spaces any chance you have. Yes, they do live in mud puddles, but only in the dry season before the monsoon hits. They don't live their entire lives in them. Further, these puddles are connected, so the fish has a great volume of water to travel in, it is just not very deep. They CAN live in small spaces because their natural habitat calls for it. This doesn't mean that they should. People can live in all kinds of conditions that are bad for them. A Betta can live up to seven years. The pet shops sell them to people telling them the average lifespan is 1 year. THis is not true. The fish is more susceptible to death and disease if it is living in an unclean environment and starved on a regular basis.

There are many good people who fall for this lie. Please please counter it if you can. Thanks.

[RebelOne]

1. Animal rights groups have been protesting against

this for a long time. I'm surprised they are still being sold.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

2. Me too. I know this has been going on for awhile.

And that Peta has been fighting it. However, someone posted a story about their betta in the lounge, and surprisingly people were STILL saying that dirty water and a small space were what bettas liked. We need to tell people that this is a lie. Even if the betta vase itself is not used, bettas still need more space than just a tiny cup of water. At very very least, they should have 2 gallons.
Peta has been working on this for years, but there are still so many people that believe the lies about bettas. Probably because they are scared of peta and shut out what they have to say from the get go.

[LeftyMom]

3. I had one live eight or nine years

in a clean ten gallon tank with some fake plants such. He ate the usual pet store fish flakes.