Hello: My first post and its a lengthy one:
Yesterday I "adopted" a betta fish (Gilbert) from someone who had kept him in a bowl (no heater, no filter - just a few large rocks and a plastic plant) for the past 1.5 years (she rescued him after his previous owner moved and abandoned him).
My goal is to move him to a 20long that is currently one week into cyling - it will be a few weeks before this will be ready.
I have an established 10gallon that currently houses my two assassin snails. It housed my previous betta who passed away a few months ago. It has a heater, an HOB filter, a few baby java ferns, decorations, etc. It also has cyanobacteria (yuck) that I remove with the weekly water change, and the odd wriggly planaria, scud, detritus worm.
My concerns:
• If I transition him to my current 10gallon, he will need to be transitioned again to the 20long when it is ready in a few weeks or so.
• Gilbert has spent his whole life in this small, unfiltered bowl. I am concerned that if I put him into the 10gallon, he will not have the swimming ability to get to the top of the tank or to deal with a current. Is this something I should be concerned about?
Should I first transition him into a 5 gallon? If so, I would need to buy a one - would I also need to acclimate that or could I just buy Betta water and fill it up with that, or use the municipal water (conditioned, of course) that he currently lives in?
• I have used our well water in the 10gallon and the newly set up 20gallon Long. It has a pH of 7.6 but is very hard GHd 286 ppm (16Dh?), Kh 120. Right now he is in municipal water. I can acclimate him using the drip method - is that sufficient?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Yesterday I "adopted" a betta fish (Gilbert) from someone who had kept him in a bowl (no heater, no filter - just a few large rocks and a plastic plant) for the past 1.5 years (she rescued him after his previous owner moved and abandoned him).
My goal is to move him to a 20long that is currently one week into cyling - it will be a few weeks before this will be ready.
I have an established 10gallon that currently houses my two assassin snails. It housed my previous betta who passed away a few months ago. It has a heater, an HOB filter, a few baby java ferns, decorations, etc. It also has cyanobacteria (yuck) that I remove with the weekly water change, and the odd wriggly planaria, scud, detritus worm.
My concerns:
• If I transition him to my current 10gallon, he will need to be transitioned again to the 20long when it is ready in a few weeks or so.
• Gilbert has spent his whole life in this small, unfiltered bowl. I am concerned that if I put him into the 10gallon, he will not have the swimming ability to get to the top of the tank or to deal with a current. Is this something I should be concerned about?
Should I first transition him into a 5 gallon? If so, I would need to buy a one - would I also need to acclimate that or could I just buy Betta water and fill it up with that, or use the municipal water (conditioned, of course) that he currently lives in?
• I have used our well water in the 10gallon and the newly set up 20gallon Long. It has a pH of 7.6 but is very hard GHd 286 ppm (16Dh?), Kh 120. Right now he is in municipal water. I can acclimate him using the drip method - is that sufficient?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
