First Online Betta Purchase!

I got bit by the quarantine-impulse-online-fish-buying bug and bought this beautiful girl on eBay! I've always wanted a blue and white marble betta. I saw her and put her on my watch list, and after a few days of not being bought despite a price drop, I just couldn't resist.

First is the seller's photo, and the second is her acclimating last night. Despite the Monday to Friday journey and 1 ppm ammonia in her bag by the time she got here, she was perky and curious right as I got her out and very willing to eat during acclimation! She is already cruising around the planted 10 gallon like she owns the place, too quick to get a good picture.

 

Yay!!! She looks beautiful!

 

I got bit by the quarantine-impulse-online-fish-buying bug and bought this beautiful girl on eBay! I've always wanted a blue and white marble betta. I saw her and put her on my watch list, and after a few days of not being bought despite a price drop, I just couldn't resist.

First is the seller's photo, and the second is her acclimating last night. Despite the Monday to Friday journey and 1 ppm ammonia in her bag by the time she got here, she was perky and curious right as I got her out and very willing to eat during acclimation! She is already cruising around the planted 10 gallon like she owns the place, too quick to get a good picture.

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You are making me itch for more fish... haha

 

You are making me itch for more fish... haha

I’ve already ordered 14 new fish this quarantine... thinking of getting 3 more. A bad case of MTS combined with nothing to do....

 

Great to hear that an online buy went well! She is beautiful!

 

Congratulations, a beautiful fish indeed!

 

Her dark spots appear dark charcoal gray/black in dim lighting and reflective royal blue in direct lighting - you can see the color differentiation in her fins in this picture. Best I could get with her exploring the tank!

 

Her dark spots appear dark charcoal gray/black in dim lighting and reflective royal blue in direct lighting - you can see the color differentiation in her fins in this picture. Best I could get with her exploring the tank!

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Was she fine after 4-5 days in shipping mail? Obviously she isn't dead or hurt but is there any damage on her? Just in case for future online shipments and this happens to me as well

 

Was she fine after 4-5 days in shipping mail? Obviously she isn't dead or hurt but is there any damage on her? Just in case for future online shipments and this happens to me as well

She has no damage whatsoever, no missing scales, no torn or bent fins, and she didn't seem stressed at all when I got her bag out of the packaging. The heat pack was still warm to the touch when I opened the packaging, and her water was almost exactly the same temperature as my tank. I was worried about the longish shipping period, but she came out of it at 100%!

 

She has no damage whatsoever, no missing scales, no torn or bent fins, and she didn't seem stressed at all when I got her bag out of the packaging. The heat pack was still warm to the touch when I opened the packaging, and her water was almost exactly the same temperature as my tank. I was worried about the longish shipping period, but she came out of it at 100%!

I'm sorry but I have to ask don't want to hijack your thread but: What method did you use to acclimate? Personally for shipments that take long I float the bag to match temperature and then I add Prime to the bag, and add my water slowly... but takes under 15 minutes.

 

She's insanely cute! Has she told you her name yet?

 

I'm sorry but I have to ask don't want to hijack your thread but: What method did you use to acclimate? Personally for shipments that take long I float the bag to match temperature and then I add Prime to the bag, and add my water slowly... but takes under 15 minutes.

It's no problem at all, you're still on topic anyway! I put her bag into an old plastic betta cup which I floated in the tank, and cut the top off the bag. In my experience in general, this is easier because I can sit the cup between the tank and the lid, since the bag alone would slide down if I let it float while open. I added a few tablespoons of some of the tank water into the cup around the bag to fill the gaps. I let that sit for 5 minutes to let the temperature adjust a bit, then flipped the bag so she was in the cup with probably 90% her water and 10% tank water. I poured the top 50% of the water out of the cup into my bucket and then slowly replaced it by the tablespoon with tank water, and repeated this a few times over the course of about 10-15 minutes then released her into the tank.

Basically, I like to make things more complicated than they need to be because it makes me feel like I'm doing something better when it really doesn't matter hilarious

 

She's an absolute stunner! Congratulations on a safe and successful shipping too

 

She's insanely cute! Has she told you her name yet?

I wanted to go with another mountain-related name in memory of my old male, Denali, who died recently. I haven't looked very hard yet, but I'll decide soon!

 

HTH

List of mountains by elevation - Wikipedia

 

I figured I'd give an update on her really quick. I've only had her for four months and her appearance has totally changed! It's nearly impossible to get a photo of her sitting still. I took this last month but have yet to get a better photo. I actually really like the way her blue has taken over a bit and how she still has the white speckling.

None of the mountain names I tried suited her and I ended up choosing Zin instead. She is very interactive and such a fun fish.

 

She's so pretty! I recently lost my beloved marble, Monet (literally, I lost her - one day she was just gone. No sign of her in the tank. Second time this has happened - my guess is I left the lid pushed back, they jumped out, and my kitten ate them.) Anyway, Monet was gorgeous. She started off looking similar to yours, then lost all her blue and white to turn yellow and black, then lost all that and went primarily bluish violet. Their genetics are fascinating!