Policies updated as of 12/24/2023.

Fish Are Listed In Multiple Places

We list our fish in multiple places to have the best chance of selling them. Because we cannot cross link the inventory across all these sites there is a chance a fish will sell on two platforms before we can remove it from availability. We are a small business and there is some lag time between when a fish sells and we can update inventory on all other sites. If this happens the person who PAID FIRST via the time stamp of their cleared payment will be the one who gets the fish all other orders will be cancelled. It is very rare that this happens but our policy is first paid first served.

No Warranty On Live Aquatics

We do not warranty the health of live aquatics after they have been put into your tanks for any reason. If the aquatic life is not well on arrival please contact us immediately. We are happy to help with any issue you may have with aquatic life ordered from us and invite you to email or message us if you need assistance.

Quality of Care

USBetta, Inc does not house our adult (older than 3 months) Betta fish in any container less then 2.5 gallons unless we are are treating them for illness, they are being quarantined, or they are part of a spawn that had to be separated due to aggression and are too young to be in a full tank. Our fish are cared for with the upmost respect for their needs both mentally and physically. We are working hard to upgrade all of our tanks to be planted. The ambient temperature is kept between 76-82 degrees at all times. Our fish are fed healthy diets of the best foods including frozen, high end pellets, and live foods that are alternated to prevent boredom. Fish who are ill are treated whenever possible. We maintain health by practicing safe handling procedures which includes frequent hand sanitizing, not using the same net for multiple tanks, and having closed systems on every tank (aka we do not use bulk overflow filtration that shares water between tanks). All imported and wholesale fish are treated for parasites upon arrival.

Color/Pattern Names/Strain Names

USBetta’s names for colors or patterns are not based on any established show standards and many color names are made up on the fly by the person posting them. If a color is widely known as something and the fish somewhat resembles that color scheme then we will use that widely known color name. We include multiple clear photos of the fish you are buying and you are free to research the correct “show standard” color/pattern name of that color or pattern if one exists. We expect persons interested in acquiring fish for breeding or show will know or take the time to research the color and pattern standards for themselves and make selections with the knowledge.

We use our own strain names for ALL fish we bred in house which may be different then the normally used names for the same colors/patterns. You may see a list of our strain names and photos of the lines here.

USBetta Bred Fish/Baby Betta

USBetta is slowly returning to full time breeding of show quality Bettas. All of our in house bred Betta will have spawn pages with information and photos of the fish’s parents and grandparents as far back as USBetta has records for. We only include fish we have personally bred in these online pedigrees. USBetta will begin selectively selling fish from a spawn when they are at least 8 weeks old and reliably eating pellets and frozen food. Betta colors can chance, often drastically between the 2-6 months. as they mature (and continue changing their entire lives in some cases) and the colors of their parents are not always indicative of the end resulting colors of their offspring. Photos of the parents and grandparents are provided only as a reference.  Even the offspring from two perfect halfmoons are not guaranteed to be perfect halfmoons. Buyers should be aware that the end result of their baby Betta may not be as high quality or may even be higher quality than their parents. We do not in anyway guarantee the end result of colors/form of any Betta we sell and this goes especially for Baby Betta. You are purchasing the Betta based on the pedigree we provide, photos of the Betta itself, and for the ease of mind of knowing you know exactly where your fish was hatched, raised, and that they were cared for impeccably their entire lives and have only been shipped once to you.

Grading and Pricing

We grade fish based on in house standards not show standards. Those parties interested in showing or breeding fish for show should be well versed in what they are looking for in a fish. We provide many clear photos of fish we sell so that they can be clearly seen by potential buyers. A fish we consider AAA may not be worthy of showing or breeding at all. Our grading system is based in the quality of the fish in terms of their salability and pricing with fish we consider high grade being more expensive then those lower because they are flashier and will sell more quickly. This has nothing to do with if they are show worthy at all.

Shipping Time Frames

We ship aquatic life on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday only. Most live orders are shipped Monday or Tuesday, only in rare cases when we have an overload of orders will we ship on Wednesdays. The earliest shipping date is listed at the top of every page at the time of your order. Your live order will generally arrive in 1-3 days after the shipping date listed is made depending on what shipping method you chose. If you order both live items AND dry stock at the same time they will ship together. If you order non live goods we ship those 72 hours after order every day of the week except Sunday.

All Sales of Livestock are FINAL

We do not allow the return of aquatic animals or plants. All sales of plants and animals are final and absolute.

Merchandise Returns Allowed Within 14 Days

We allow the return of dry goods and merchandise within 14 days of delivery. Return shipping is at the buyers expense and there shall be a %20 restocking fee on returns.

We Will Not Ship Into Unsuitable Conditions

We list the date of shipping at the top of our website across all pages. Your fish will in MOST cases ship on the exact date listed. In some cases when we have heavy orders your fish may ship the day after this date. Before shipping we will check the weather for the week of shipping and if anytime during the 3 day period after the ship date the temperature will be over 90 degrees or under 40 degrees we will NOT ship your fish unless you chosen overnight shipping. If there is any sort of weather, military, national emergency, or natural disaster warning in the destination area or along the most likely route for the fish we will not ship fish to that area even if you have chosen overnight shipping.  If the temperature on the route or at the final destination will be over 100 degrees or under 35 degrees we will NOT ship your fish even if you have chosen overnight shipping. Orders that will be delayed due to unsuitable conditions will be notified via email and given the option to chose from the next 2 shipping dates. If no reply is received the order will be shipped automatically on the next shipping date provided the unsuitable conditions have resolved.

An order will only be held for a maximum of 14 days after being unable to ship due to unsuitable conditions. After 14 days past the first shipping dates if unsuitable conditions still persist we will cancel the order and provide store credits for the entire order. Alternatively the customer can elect to pay a $4 per week boarding fee to continue to hold the fish until shipping conditions in their area are suitable. This is a per fish fee, but we allow up 10 fish to be boarded for a $12 fee. Please see the boarding fish policy for more information.

Boarding Fish

If a customer orders a fish and chooses not to take immediately deliver they can arrange for us to board the fish for $4 a week per fish or $12 per week for up to ten fish whichever is less. This charge is due each Monday until the fish is shipped. The boarding fee must be received no later than 9 PM Monday of each week or the order will be cancelled and store credit issued for the order total. Boarding fees are NEVER refundable. USBetta is NOT responsible for fin damage, marble gene color shifts, illness, or death of fish while in boarding.

Canceling An Order

ALL refunds will be refunded as store credit only.  Please be sure you are ready for your fish and are sure about buying one BEFORE ORDERING.

Contact & Order Updates

Upon ordering you should receive to your email a receipt from us of your order. If you do not receive this email within1 hour of ordering please check your spam folder. It is IMPERATIVE you make sure you get this email and mark the email it is coming from as SAFE to your email provider in order for you to get updates about your order including tracking information, updates, and shipping notifications. If you do not get a receipt email it is possible your mail system may be blocking our emails or that you may have entered the wrong email. Please contact us using the contact us form so we can get the issue sorted out as soon as possible so you do not miss any updates from us on the status of your order and/or fish.

No Guarantee On Fin Damage OR Color Changes

Betta may chew on their fins or otherwise cause damage to their fins before, during, or after shipping. We do not guarantee against fin damage once soever AFTER the fish is shipped. If the damage occurs PRIOR to shipping and is significant we will contact the customer to notify them and discuss options. Significant to us means at least 15% of the tail, anal, or top fin is damaged.

Local Pickup Option

We offer local pickup in Opp Alabama several times a week. This option is only available to those that have Alabama listed as their state in their shipping and/or billing address. We only have a few time slots a week available for local pickup and will contact the buyer to give them a list of dates and times to pickup fish from us. Local pickup means you will meet us by appointment in the parking lot of Tractor Supply in Opp, AL to pickup your order. Aquatic life will be packed either in Deli Cups or Bags depending on what we have available at the time. It is our preference to send local pickup aquatic animals home in deli cups not bags but we do not always have extras available. Customers CAN elect to have aquatic life brought in bags over deli cups but CANNOT chose deli cups over bags. We will give customers a 30 minute window for pickup and if you are unable to arrive during your window we cannot guarantee we we can wait for you to arrive. We will only bring the paid for items from your order to a local pickup. You cannot browse stock or see other items during a local pickup. Local pickup CANNOT happen within 24 hours of placing your order but must be done within 7 days of placing your order. If you have not picked up by the 7th day your order will be cancelled and refunded less 25% for restocking. ANY CANCELLATION OF A LOCAL PICKUP ORDER WILL INCUR A 25% RESTOCKING FEE.

Local pickup times are: Wed/Thur/Fri between the hours of 1 PM and 8 PM or Sat/Sun between the hours of 11 PM and 7 PM. This is just an example of our availability ranges and does not mean that you will be guaranteed a pickup time or date at the time of YOUR exact order. Pickup times or dates are NOT available outside of these times/days.

Event Pickup Option

If USBetta is attending an event that you are also attending and you wish to preorder and pickup at that event we do offer this option. When we announce that we are going to be attending an event we will give a coupon code that you can use when checking out to set the shipping to free and alert us you will be picking up at this event. This code will only be open to use no more than 14 days prior to the event up to 3 days prior to the event. The order will be held for pickup at the event for the duration of the event. If you fail to pickup an order you placed for event pickup or fail to cancel it no later than 4 days before the event there will be a 40% restocking fee.

Adding Additional Fish to Order

We allow additional fish to be added to your order up the 6 PM the day before the shipping date listed at the top of the page during your order. To add additional items to your order please contact us via email at orders@usbetta.com or via Facebook Messenger and we can give you a discount code to reduce shipping to the addon shipping fee. PLEASE NOTE: Sales are first paid first get and our email and messenger is not manned 24/7. We are a small business there may be a delay before we get to your email or message and this could mean someone else buys the fish before we can get back to you. You can always buy the fish and we can refund any excess shipping when we process out the order the day before the shipping date less a small transaction charge if you want to be sure you get the item before anyone else does.

Live Arrival Guarantee

USBetta packages every fish with the same care and equipment regardless of which shipping option you chose. We ship fish out Monday through Wednesday. We will NOT ship out on Thursday or Friday because UPS does not deliver on weekends without a large up charge.  All items needed to safely ship the fish are included in the standard price including, as needed, heat packs and cool packs. The safe temperature range fish is between 40 F and 90 F for doorstep delivery, outside of these ranges it is much safer to chose hold for pickup.

Shipping anything always involves risk and that is more true with live shipments as we cannot dictate how boxes are handled once the leave our care and custody. In most cases your fish will arrive perfectly fine. But with shipping there is always the chance of rough handling, delays, and weather. We maintain a high live arrival rate of 98.7%. But customers asking for their fish to be shipped must be willing to understand that we are shipping living breathing animals that may not react well to shipping even if everything is perfect and may arrive stressed or dead. We strongly advise against doing live videos of opening live packages or opening in front of children. We cannot be blamed if you ignore this advice.

We ship MOST shipments with UPS.

Standard shipping is available February – November which uses either UPS 2/3 Day/Ground depending on your location.

For shipments to Hawaii/Alaska/Protectorates there will be a surcharge. USPS is a shipping choice for these locations.

Buyers in HI must have a license to import fish BEFORE YOU ORDER.

Live Arrival Guarantee Terms

We warranty fish to arrive alive when the following conditions are met:

• The fish must arrive within the 72 hour period following the acceptance scan at the carrier. Currently UPS does not have a guarantee on any service outside of overnight shipments.
  • Customer must notify of DOA within 2 hours of the fish’s arrival..
    • Notification of DOA should be done either through our Facebook page or email admin@usbetta.com
    • Customer MUST include either a video showing the fish is not moving and both sides of the unopened bag or at least two photos of form different sides of the bag clearly showing the bag markings of the unopened bag and the dead fish within it.
• If customer has upgraded to Next Day the 72 hour time limit is suspended.
• All refunds will be done via store credit only.
• Shipping fees cannot be refunded unless UPS returns the shipping fee due to late arrival. At this moment UPS only has delivery time guarantees on Next Day shipments.

Wrong Fish Policy

Please note that your fish will likely be stressed on arrival and their color will likely appear different than when you purchased them. Please allow 48 hours for your fish to acclimate and calm down before making any claims that we sent the wrong fish. We will not consider any such claims until the fish has had 48 hours in their new home. Fish that are stressed will drop color and patterns, a black fish might even appear white, a koi pattern might appear to be lighter or even plain colored. Give them 48 hours and if they are still not looking like the fish you ordered please contact us with photos so we can figure out if there was a mistake. If it is determined by us we sent the wrong fish to a customer a full refund on the price of the fish will be granted as a store credit.

Marble Gene Warning

Betta fish carry a gene that allows sudden drastic changes in color and markings. If this occurs prior to shipping we will contact the customer to ensure they still wish to go forward with the purchase. The customer MUST respond prior to 8 AM on the shipping date or the fish WILL ship and there will be no refund due. We cannot control marbling in anyway and are not responsible for any changes in color or markings after the fish has been shipped.

Shipping To HI, AK, & Protectorates

We do ship to HI, AK, and the US protectorates. Buyers in HI must have a license to import fish BEFORE YOU ORDER. If you do not your fish will likely be rejected or delayed in HI and you will void any live arrival guarantee. Shipping to all of these locations is suspended in November thru March for the safety of the fish.

Missing Packages

USBetta nor its carriers are responsible for packages after they have been delivered. We cannot be held responsible if your package goes missing after it has been scanned as delivered. If you packages has gone missing after it was delivered you will need to contact your local law enforcement. There is no insurance provided for packages that go missing after they are delivered. We are unable to issue refunds for stolen packages. If you package goes missing prior to delivery while in the care and custody of the carrier the carrier may have insurance on the package as most methods of shipping we use carry an automatic $100 insurance. We will assist customers in filing for the insurance on their package with the carrier in these instances any refund or payout would be from the carrier to the customer.