When many people think of rescuing a pet, they think of animal shelters with dogs and cats. What many people don’t realize is you can also rescue a betta fish!
People often think of a pet store as their only option for a betta fish, but there are plenty of other places to consider when adopting a betta. A betta sanctuary, for example, will rescue fish, rehabilitate them, and then rehome them to give the betta another chance at a healthy life.
Ready to rescue a betta fish and save its life? Keep reading for our list of best betta fish rescues!
8 places to find a rescue betta fish
1. Betta Fish Rescue
Betta Fish Rescue is an organization out of Illinois that helps rescue and re-home betta fish. They rescue bettas from people who are surrendering their bettas or pet stores that have too many.
Even better, Betta Fish Rescue works hard to rehabilitate bettas if they are unwell. After rehabilitating sick bettas, they will either give the fish to their new homes or keep the fish in their betta fish sanctuary to live for the remainder of their lives.
Betta Fish Rescue works with individuals in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, but will ship to other states under certain conditions.
2. Moonshadow Betta Fish Rescue
Moonshadow Betta Fish Rescue is located in New York. They not only rescue and rehabilitate betta fish, but they also educate individuals on proper betta care to ensure their bettas receive optimal living conditions after being adopted.
This organization finds their bettas from many different places, such as pet stores, or surrenders from people who can no longer care for their bettas. They take in many kinds of ill bettas, including those with diseases such as fin rot or ammonia poisoning.
Once the betta is nursed back to health, it is ready to go to its forever home. Moonshadow interviews potential adopters to ensure proper living conditions and tank requirements will be met for the betta fish.
Moonshadow delivers to close proximities. They’ll also ship betta fish to all fifty states for a small fee.
3. Adopt a Pet
Although pet owners think this website is only for cats and dogs, Adopt a Pet sometimes has betta fish that need rescuing.
Adopt a Pet is a third-party website that advertises for shelters and connects people wanting to rescue animals, including betta fish.
They work with shelters and private owners who need to surrender their pets and find new forever homes for the fish.
4. Facebook Marketplace
Occasionally, people will put their betta fish up for sale on Facebook marketplace. You can set an alert for different terms like, “betta fish” and “siamese fighting fish” so you get alerts whenever a betta fish becomes available in your area.
5. Reddit
Two subreddits where you may find betta fish to adopt is r/bettafish and r/aquaswap. Keep in mind that r/bettafish doesn’t allow posts for selling fish, but you may still find someone who knows of a betta in need of a home through there.
For direct adoptions, your best bet is r/aquaswap.
6. Craigslist
Craigslist is another option to help you find betta fish to adopt. Using Craigslist, you can filter through different areas to see if there are any betta fish to rescue nearby.
7. Kijiji
Similar to Craigslist, Kijiji is a Canadian marketplace where people buy and sell just about anything. If you search for terms like “betta fish” and “siamese fighting fish” you’ll be sure to find something near you.
There are a few other places to check when considering rescuing a betta.
8. Local betta fish breeders
It’s also worth calling around to local betta fish breeders in your area to see if they know of any betta fish in need of homes or if they would like to give away some of their own betta fish to make room for new ones.
Conclusion
As you can see, you don’t need to buy a betta fish from a pet store. There are plenty of different places to rescue a betta fish from. Rescuing a betta fish is a rewarding experience and gives a betta a chance at a comfortable life!
