$5 fishy fee

I was at Petco this weekend, picking up more cute fuzzy squeaky things for my cute fuzzy squeaky dog.

I was crossing through the aquarium section when I saw this in the Betta (Siamese fighting fish) isle.

$5 Betta Water - front

$5 Betta Water - front

$5 Water specifically made for Betta fish.

I’ve had 3 Bettas in my life so far. Each was a joy to have and lived around 4-5 years each. I never, ever used anything but tap water for any of them.

Out of curiosity, I turned the bottle on its’ side. The label read… “Pure and Healthy Betta Water is environmentally friendly and makes for simpler water changes. Directions for use: For best results, Betta Water is to be used as the water for your pet. For water changes empty and wash bowl with clean water. Do one final rinse with Betta Water before refilling. Change Betta Water every 7-10 days as needed.”

Betta Water - Side

Betta Water - Side

No ingredients. And nothing else was on the other side of the label.

In the very best case, based on the description and labeling, this might be nothing but a bottle of distilled water. The same kind of distilled water they sell for $1 a gallon at just about every grocery store. But you’re not supposed to use distilled water for Bettas! Plain old tap water is the recommended environment for all Bettas.

So then no matter what this $5 bottle is, it’s criminally overpriced, bad for Bettas, and only sold at Petco.

And the really sad thing is that this was the last one left.

Rip. Off.