catersun

For christmas, I put together a cute 5 gal kid friendly tank for my daughter to have in her room. I went ahead and set the tank up and cycled it, and it's ready to go. Since it is only a 5 gal, I've decided that she can have a betta in it. She gets to pick which betta, but she is limited to one fish. (this will be our first betta, We have a cichlid tank and the messy tank (trop community)that we just recently were given. I've been reading up on bettas and was wondering, how long should I acclimate the betta to our water which is significantly higher in pH then the LFS. LFS is 7.2 and ours is 8.4. I know 8.4 is way out of normal for these guys, but I also know fish can adapt pretty readily.

Betta's like airstones don't they? I added one to increase some surface movement and because I've seen some people say their likes to play in the bubbles.

Barbrella

You can float the betta in his bag in the new tank. Add a little of the tank water to his bag every 15 or 20 minutes. Since there is such a big difference in the pH, take it very slowly.

As for air stones...I don't use them with my veiltail male bettas, since it interferes with their bubblenest building and they do live in totally still water in nature. Some bettas don't like them so I guess you can just watch and see if he's hiding or being blown around.

COBettaCouple

In nature, the water of the rice fields the bettas live in does have a gentle current usually, but pet store bettas are far removed from their wild ancestors anyway.

Every betta tank has 1 kind of air device in it. What we find the Bettas like the most is flexible bubble wands or at petsmart they have little decorations that are like a section of wall with a small bubble hose behind it. The one with brown stones is smooth and betta-safe and so popular with our little female Betta that got the first one, that we're going to buy more of them.

Something that I'd recommend for a betta tank would be a gang valve on the air line. This will let you control the flow of air so that you can have the bubble 'just right' for what your daughter's betta is happy with, since they each have their own preferences.

If you're getting the fish near your home, the water should have similiar pH and the main thing is to keep it stable. We've had ours in 7.8pH since we got them. Your LFS is VERY different - is it a long way from your home? Or do you live in a community where they do some sort of treatment to the water? That is a really big difference and you'd want to acclimate him VERY slowly to the higher pH. I think the Betta would be ok, especially if your other fish have adjusted to 8.4pH.

Tazmiche

In all of my GOOD lfstores they have different ph levels in each tank depending on the fish in it. However i can only maintain a ph of around 7:8 max.

Good choice for your daughter, bettas are adorable. One of mine loved bubbles a few months ago but not anymore. One HATES a strong current. They have their own minds so they will let you know what suits them!!! BTW female bettas are very funny and intelligent!!

Barbrella

Yes, they are different than the wild variety and the long, flowing fins make them such poor swimmers that my males can't tolerate anything but the most gentle flow. I even had to elastic band floss across the filter outflow for my males even though it was turned down to the lowest level. They just get pushed around too much.

I"d like to find the little wall you mention. That sounds like something that would work.

How true. I just adore my girlies!!

COBettaCouple

Yea, i think the more finnage that they have the harder it is to swim around, it seems. It's not exactly a natural design and puts a lot of drag in for them. I like adjustable filters for Bettas.. they can be conditioned slowly to stronger currents by gradually increasing the flow. We'll often see ours swimming right into the current, probably their idea of exercise, and our oldest Betta Aslan loves swimming into the current near the filter and letting it carry him along. Even Teddy Bear, with his bad swim bladder, has slowly built up his swimming strength since we got him at the Betta show.

The wall is so much fun, more than we expected. We had a problem late one night with pressure in her tank that LED to Angel's flexible air wand breaking so I just got that as a replacement but she loves swimming around it, especially in the bubbles side. She's a lot happier with it than the flexible wand and it's become one of her favorite toys. I wish i could get a picture of her peaking around the corner of it, but she just doesn't cooperate with that effort.

catersun

Thanks Guys!

THe LFS store is a petsmart, but alas it seems to be the lesser of the evils around here as far as bettas are concerned. It is in a different town, much closer to the coast, and it is on city water... I am out in the country and on well water.. the city water is pulled off the intercoastal waterway, and mine is from the local water table. That would be why the big difference in PH.

I think I read a thread on here.. (I think it was dino) who posted about a drip acclimator... would this idea work over the course of a 8 hours or so to acclimate the betta?


Life has been hectic.. we haven't been able to get to the store to let the poor kid pick out her new fish yet.

susitna-flower

Three days and it is cycled? What are your water tests reading for
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:

Did you use something to help speed the cycle?

Not trying to grill you, just concerned, because if the nitrogen cycle isn't finished, the betta will be really stressed. They don't do so well in an un-cycled tank.

COBettaCouple

We'll usually use the "turkey baster method" of floating their cup in the tank and every 5-10 minutes, we'll add a squirt of tank water to the cup using a turkey baster until the water temps inside & outside the cup are really close. (We clean out debris/poo in the cup first with the turkey baster and dispose of that).

Did you just set the tank up on Christmas or has it been running a few weeks?

catersun

umm.. I put the tank up in mid november and I used a flilter from my established tank to cycle it.

As I said, the tank is cycled.

catersun

yeah... that is what I usually do... I do it over about an hour and a half or two hours. ok.. i guess I"ll stick with what works then.

susitna-flower

Great! Just checking as you said "for Christmas you put together a 5 gallon tank". That just didn't jive with it being cycled. Sorry.