Betta acclimitization

I'm getting a betta, but they come in a cup. And my tank is only going to be 2.5 gallons (long), so if, I put the cup in to equalize the water, the water will spill over. How do I aclimatise my betta to its new tank

 

I float the cup for 20 minutes with the lid on..Then I open it and slowly add water from my tank..After about 30 minutes he should be ready to introduce into his new home...

 

I attached the cup to the side of the tank with a clothes pin. I could
take off the lid without any cup water going into the tank.

 

but if I had water in my tank, the water would spill over because its so small, how do I prevent this?

 

Take some of the water out and keep it in a cup while you are floating...You'll need this water to slowly drip into his cup anyway...

 

awesome! all I need now is a name. he's this little cute blue standard. I'll call him Azul

 

Did you bring him home already? Please share pictures when he gets all settled in...Azul is a cute name!

 

no not yet, I only need a lttle more cash and I can make my first PetSmart Rescue!

 

I neverthought to use a clothes pin - I just adjust the lid so's right close to the cup to prevent it from moving away and helping to keep the cup high enough out of the water to prevent the water moving from the cup to the tank.

Pre-congraulations on the little guy. Azul is a beautiful name.

 

Oh my goodness oh my goodness another Azul!!!! I had an Azul. He was my first and most lovely Veiltail betta. He is the betta who really launched the betta board in a way. He was the one who brought me to Fishlore.com and made me into the betta lover I am today. I love it that there will be another fish named Azul. Thank you for even considering the name.

Here is my little guy and his first home.

 

awwwww, adorable! *gasp* do I spot puppyeyes??

 

Yes he had big beautiful eyes and they looked right through me. That is why I bought him. Unfortunately he was already quite older when I got him and I was clueless about everything. The poor fellow had to teach me everything about fish.

Rose

 

Congrats on bringing home Azul!

Rose - your little Azul had the eyes for sure. ;D

 

good luck on your new baby!!
can't wait to see him!!

 

The best of luck to you and your soon to be new addition,love the name by the way!!

 

How would one go about properly acclimating a betta fish from one of their horrible cups? Just out of curiosity. My boyfriend keeps telling me you can just dump him in, but that's a little shocking to the poor guy, isn't it?

Reason being is I want to rescue a beautiful guy and nurse him back to his full pre-cup potential. We need more threads like that (I adore the before and after pictures)

 

Hi, the following has guides on how to acclimate fish: https://www.fishlore.com/acclimating-tropicalfish.htm

 

Even with standard acclimatization, the transition from very poor to excellent water can be too much stress. The water quality in that cup is potentially much worse than if you'd get a fish from the store's tanks with some tank water.

So extra care and patience is best. I'd use the drip method with a very slow drip.

To detoxify any built-up ammonia, you can add one or two drops of Prime to the cup right at the beginning.

 

that's not a bad idea. (The ones I saw in cups didnt look too pained, the water was clear... enough...)

 

I have never had problems from netting them out of the cup into the tank (after floating it for a few minutes).
With my baby betta I was a little more patient, I poured some of his water out and slowly replaced it with tank water before adding him. So I guess that's a quicker method of acclimation if you are worried about just dropping him in.

 

I have had problems with one of my bettas. I acclimatized him as I've done with all my fish in the past. He seemed fine for the first few hours but started to clamp his fins amd sitting under the surface thereafter. I thought he wouldn't make it. After eight hours or so, he started to slowly improve. The only reason I can see was a shock from the too clean water. Better be safe than sorry.

You can also measure the cup water for ammonia and nitrite to make sure how bad it is, but usually there is not that much water to start with.

 

Everyone, here's my new baby! I'm thinking of naming him Zayn. Any other ideas? Also the camera and poor lighting distorts his beautiful white and pale purple colors. (when he turns he gives a flash of blue too, its amazing)




He's much whiter and paler than the camera gives him credit. I'll try again tomorrow. Silly thing is camera shy

 

He's beautiful he looks a bronze colour in your picture did you have your aquarium lights on for taking the picture

 

I did. my silly camera doesn't like working otherwise, and I don't want to blind or give the poor thing a heart attack with the flash. I tried again a bit today:

 

fantastic pictures of your Betta, I'm thinking of getting Betta for my 10gal tank, or a gourami

 

I thought gouramis needed bigger space than that? I could be wrong though

 

There are many different species of gourami. Plenty of them will be fine in a 10 gallon tank.

 

*shrugs* I'm not an expert on 'em I don't plan on getting any so I haven't done any research, but that's good to know.

Hey! Zayn's fins aren't clamped anymore! That's a good sign right?

 

Yes, it is a good sign!

 

Glad your Betta is looking good
Have a lovely Christmas and new year

 

thank you everyone! here have a quick update on my boy, his stripes really came out! (sorry for poor picture, taken with my phone)

 

These horizontal stripes on his body are stress stripes, and you don't want to see them on your betta.

Something's not right for him in his environment. Try to find out what it is and to fix it.

But he is beautiful, that's for sure!

 

well I'm at a loss this is the first ive ever heard of it, and if that's so then how come none of the store's bettas had them? (those cups without heat or filtration next to a million other bettas should be stressful) I'm sorry but I'm very very skeptic of that.

his water peramaters are good, temperature is good, hes got lots of hiding places and plants and such. the only thing I can think of that may stress him out is the arse ton of snails (it is my designated breeding tank; I have loaches) or the current of the water (which doesn't disturb the surface as much as id like it to, I was planning on getting a bubbler when I got the money, all it does is stir the surface, next to no bubbles)

 

I suppose I could blame the camera too. He gets a little spooked when it comes out but I don't see why he would be so stressed as to show stripes.

 

Bettas are not striped as part of their coloration. They can have bands on their fins such as the butterfly type, but no stripes running all along their body. The only two exceptions (and you can google this, so you know I'm not making this up):

- Females gets vertical stripes when they're ready to mate.
- Females and males get horizontal stripes when they're stressed.

Maybe your little guy is hyper-sensitive, who knows. But these are stress stripes, no doubt. And if the sight of a camera spooks him... But it is possible that the presence of too many snails is putting him into a permanently somewhat stressed state, and when you then pull out the camera he gets really stressed. Could you try to keep him on his own for a while to test it?

I had eight baby mystery snails with one of my bettas for a while, and although he generally enjoyed watching snails, I got the impression that he was getting a bit stressed by the fact that wherever he turned, there was another snail. He never got stripes, but I could see a slightly changed behavior for a while.

As for the pet store cups: One day at Petco I was extremely surprised to see that more than half of the males had actually made bubble nests in their cups. Maybe it's all relative and they had just relaxed after being shipped and had still clean water. No idea.

 

hes not always stripped so its not a permanent state of stress ill tell you that. and no I couldnt keep him on his own without putting him back in his cup. (there are a million snails in there already) His fins aren't clamped in the slightest. Ive noticed usually when he gets them is when I turn the light on (understandable, my other fish get spooked too, nothing I can do about it without getting a dimmer in my house with my landlord's permission.) and when I get my camera.

I thought the bubble nest making (when in very very poor conditions) was something they did as a last resort survival instinct?

 

Bettas are not striped as part of their coloration. They can have bands on their fins such as the butterfly type, but no stripes running all along their body. The only two exceptions (and you can google this, so you know I'm not making this up):

- Females gets vertical stripes when they're ready to mate.
- Females and males get horizontal stripes when they're stressed.

Maybe your little guy is hyper-sensitive, who knows. But these are stress stripes, no doubt. And if the sight of a camera spooks him... But it is possible that the presence of too many snails is putting him into a permanently somewhat stressed state, and when you then pull out the camera he gets really stressed. Could you try to keep him on his own for a while to test it?

I had eight baby mystery snails with one of my bettas for a while, and although he generally enjoyed watching snails, I got the impression that he was getting a bit stressed by the fact that wherever he turned, there was another snail. He never got stripes, but I could see a slightly changed behavior for a while.

As for the pet store cups: One day at Petco I was extremely surprised to see that more than half of the males had actually made bubble nests in their cups. Maybe it's all relative and they had just relaxed after being shipped and had still clean water. No idea.

Absolutely right about the stripes,

Also about the bubblenests, male bettas when they are within site of other males they feel they need to compete for females regardless if there are or aren't any and will produce bubblenests incase a female comes into that area

Also, your betta is really beautiful. Wow

 

Thank you very much! He is quite handsome.

I'm planning on getting him a lot more hiding places, seeing as that's what may be wrong. Maybe the filter current is too strong or isn't oxygenating the water enough? (At this very moment though es calmly floating about, no stripes.)

 

Heres an update on my handsome boy. God hes gorgeous~