Betta And Going On Vacation!

[dani2win]

Also, to keep the betta warm on the journey ( if more than around half an hour ) a small heat pack will be needed . In which case the best way to transport your betta is much the same way as they are posted when you buy one online.

Get a cardboard box that will fit your bag/tub with a little space all round to spare, line the sides and bottom with bubble wrap, break out your heat pack and put it on the bottom. Place a sheet of bubble wrap on top of the pack ( so it doesn't get too hot for him ) and then put him in his bag/tub of tank water ,and put It in the box. It should fit snugly and not roll or slide about in there.

Also if indeed using a bag to transport the fish, remember to tape the corners of the bag up against the sides, so he can't wedge himself into a corner and get stuck ( I have seen fish do this before when panicking ), and leave a good sized pocket of airspace between the water surface and the top of the bag where you tie it .

Honeythore - This all sounds great, especially the cardboard box thing. I was worried about that. One quick question though - what's the difference between a cycled and.. not cycled filter? And what were you saying about disturbing a bacterial colony?

Mauricia - I think I'll be able to take as much of the tank water as I want. I'll be taking a bus home, about a 7 hour drive, so that's fine. I'll just keep it on my lap or someplace else close.

Thank you, EVERYONE, for the wonderful advice. I love this forum and will definitely be back with more questions when I start to build my community tank (here's to hoping) in April.

 

[Honeythorn]

Honeythore - This all sounds great, especially the cardboard box thing. I was worried about that. One quick question though - what's the difference between a cycled and.. not cycled filter? And what were you saying about disturbing a bacterial colony?

Oh gods... ok, here's a link to the cycling threads, read them carefully.

READ ME

READ ME

READ ME

READ ME



As a quick short, 2 sorts of bacteria grow on all the sponges and other stuff you put inside a filter. What looks like a load of brown gunk on the sponges when you open a filter up is basically your bacteria ( plus solid matter they are feeding on )

These bacteria are GOOD. What happens is the first set of bacteria eat your fishes waste ( ammonia...pee in other words ) and break it down into a less harmful form ( nitrites ). The second lot of bacteria eat that and break it down again into an even less harmful form ( nitrates ) YOU then do weekly water changes to remove the last of the waste.

But you need to grow these bacteria in the first place and to do that you need a source of ammonia. Either live fish peeing and making waste ( fish IN cycling ) or pure bottled ammonia ( fishLESS cycling, where no fish are added until the bacteria are all grown and ready )

If you wash the sponges under a tap , the chlorine will kill your bacteria, and if you let the sponges dry out, or sit in still water for more than a couple of hours with no oxygen flowing over them (which it would as the water was sucked through the sponges when the filter is switched on ) your bacteria will start to die. Putting you right back to square one >.<

Since your tank has only been set up a week you don't really need to worry about that, as your cycle and bacteria won't have really taken off yet.

A full cycle takes just over a month approximately.



. The links will explain in more detail.

 

[Honeythorn]

I have a quick question, not meaning to take over or anything but -
When some people have to resort to transporting in much smaller "tanks" - like cups and the like, I've seen people say "Go with the cup, don't use a bag, they get more/less stressed." Why is this?

I very much doubt it has anything to do with stress. A cup is simply very easy to carry.

I would say a bag is far better as the volume of water is greater, which will be good for diluting waste on a long journey ( since you obviously cannot filter anything while walking or driving about )

The best way to reduce stress regardless of what you carry the fish in, is of course don't slosh the container about if you can help it at all, or drop it!

And keeping it covered up so the fish is in darkness often helps to keep them calm. Many LFS place bagged fish into a paper bag for that reason.

 

[woodstock]

Honeythorn, that's exactly what I thought. A lot of people were saying how a bag would stress them out, but I just didn't see it. Thanks.