Taking On A Senior/neglected Betta?

[emilieg]

So I convinced my friend to give me her betta fish that she no longer feeds/cleans up after, because she wants it to die.
She's a bit immature....
Anyways, he's 4. In a 5 gallon glass tank, with gravel and a fake plant. The tank has about 1cm of a weird clear substance on the top. It's not bubbles, and it's semi-opaque... really gross. No clue what it is.

So I literally have no clue what I'm doing.

How do I get him to my house? Just carry the tank and bounce him around a bit (I'll try to be careful, but I have to drive), or bag him?
Should I tear down the tank and clean it? I feel like that would be really stressful, but I'm not sure how bad it is, cleanliness wise.
How often do I change the water? How much do I change? How do I treat it?

Should I buy a heater? What temp should I keep the tank at?

What should I feed him? How often?

Should I buy a filter? What type?

Anything else I should remember? My betta fish never live long, but I want to do a good job with this one.

 

[Mauricia]

Good for you for taking him. Keep in mind 4 years is getting old for a betta and being in poor water conditions has already shortened his lifespan so don't feel bad about yourself if he doesn't live much longer. But plenty of bettas live past 4 years so he might do just fine.
I would put the betta in a smaller container for transport, a fish bag or a little tupperware would be fine, just make sure he has access to air to breathe. Dump the rest of the water from the tank out. When you get home give the tank a good scrub with hot water (No soap!) And rinse the gravel thoroughly, you could use a strainer. There's probably lots of nasty stuff in the gravel. You don't really need it if you don't want to clean it, just throw it out.
Fill the tank up with fresh dechlorinated water. I would get a heater before you bring him home and put it in the tank with the fresh water. 25 watts is good for that tank size. I keep my bettas at 79. I would get a filter too, sponge filters are good because they have low current. Then acclimate him to the new water and the new temperature. Fist float him in the bag or cup in the new tank for 15 mins and then starting adding a tablespoon of the new water to the old water about every 10 minutes. I usually take 2-3 hours to acclimate my bettas depending on the difference between the new and old water. Try to spend at least an hour though.
The most important thing to keeping bettas is keeping the water clean, so get a filter and do frequent water changes. If you can, I would get an API master test kit. Definitely read the beginners FAQs on here about cycling and water quality.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Good for you for taking him. Keep in mind 4 years is getting old for a betta and being in poor water conditions has already shortened his lifespan so don't feel bad about yourself if he doesn't live much longer. But plenty of bettas live past 4 years so he might do just fine.
I would put the betta in a smaller container for transport, a fish bag or a little tupperware would be fine, just make sure he has access to air to breathe. Dump the rest of the water from the tank out. When you get home give the tank a good scrub with hot water (No soap!) And rinse the gravel thoroughly, you could use a strainer. There's probably lots of nasty stuff in the gravel. You don't really need it if you don't want to clean it, just throw it out.
Fill the tank up with fresh dechlorinated water. I would get a heater before you bring him home and put it in the tank with the fresh water. 25 watts is good for that tank size. I keep my bettas at 79. I would get a filter too, sponge filters are good because they have low current. Then acclimate him to the new water and the new temperature. Fist float him in the bag or cup in the new tank for 15 mins and then starting adding a tablespoon of the new water to the old water about every 10 minutes. I usually take 2-3 hours to acclimate my bettas depending on the difference between the new and old water. Try to spend at least an hour though.
The most important thing to keeping bettas is keeping the water clean, so get a filter and do frequent water changes. If you can, I would get an API master test kit. Definitely read the beginners FAQs on here about cycling and water quality.

Just to add, with a regular filter, you can buy extra foam media to keep the water flow from being too strong. Even the most delicate of filters (even one I have with only 16 gph) needs extra foam to slow down the flow. Also, wrap some around the intake valve so the betta's fins doesn't get caught in that.

Re: the gravel. Just toss it!!! For a 5-gallon tank, you can find a fresh new bag of gravel from a LFS for under $5.00. It's better to spend that rather than risk contaminating the tank with bacteria that doesn't wash out of the rock.

 

[Assaye]

Anyways, he's 4. In a 5 gallon glass tank, with gravel and a fake plant. The tank has about 1cm of a weird clear substance on the top. It's not bubbles, and it's semi-opaque... really gross. No clue what it is.

Probably dust and such that has accumulated.

How do I get him to my house? Just carry the tank and bounce him around a bit (I'll try to be careful, but I have to drive), or bag him?

Tough one. Try to keep as much water as possible (maybe use a bucket) and put him in a sealed bag. Clean and dry the tank and pad it with a sheet or blanket. Drive to your house and set up again with his old water and decorations.

Should I tear down the tank and clean it? I feel like that would be really stressful, but I'm not sure how bad it is, cleanliness wise.

Yes and no . . . he needs new water and his tank needs a proper clean, but if you do it all at once he'll just get a massive shock from all the fresh water. Get him set up at your house in his old water and then start doing daily 25% water changes. Over time this'll add fresh new water to his tank and will give him time to get used to it. If you don't do this, then you'll need to spend about 2 hours getting in used to the new water - put him in a tub with some old water and add tiny bits of new water every few minutes. This will take a long, long time and is still riskier than doing daily water changes with new water.

How often do I change the water? How much do I change? How do I treat it?

Once he's all settled in and you have a mature filter (will do on to that in a second), you'll only need to do about 25% water change a week. Make sure all equipment is turned of before you do so and make sure that heater has been given 20 minutes or so to cool down. However, when you first get him you want to do small daily water changes to carefully refresh his water. Keep this going for about a week and then do a large water change of about 75%. This should give him a real boost.

Should I buy a heater? What temp should I keep the tank at?

Yes. He needs his water at about 81F / 27C. Make sure you slowly warm his water up though - do about 1/2 a degree a day. Get a thermometre as some heaters are quite inaccurate and make sure you test the heater in a bucket for a day or so. Some heaters will over or underheat - you wouldn't want to set it to 23 C (say, room temp) and find that it heats to 30 C! This isn't a problem, you just need to adjust the settings, but you need to know about it.

What should I feed him? How often?

Get some good quality betta pellets - Hikari Betta Bio Gold or Atison's Betta Food are great. Feed a couple of pellets a day to start with. One morning and one evening if you can.

Should I buy a filter? What type?

Yes. A 5 gallon is much easier to keep if filtered. If not filtered he'll need several water changes a week. It takes time for the filter to start working properly (they work by attracting beneficial bacterial to live inside them and these bacterial keep your water clean at a chemical level - this takes about a month and is called cycling). So for the first month you'll want to be doing daily water changes of about 25% as a minimum. It's best if you can get liquid test kits for ammonia and nitrite - testing the water and responding directly to elevated levels of these chemicals is the best way of maintaining a tank that doesn't have a a big enough bacterial population. Ammonia and nitrite should always be zero in a tank.

The filter should be a gentle as possible. A waterfall style filter (such as a hang-on-back filter) is a good option but the best option for bettas is a small box filter or spnge filter as these produce very little current. They are usually very cheap but do need an air-pump to run them.

Some extra stuff - bettas need smooth gravel (as they like to sleep on the floor), lots of soft plants (plastic are bad because they rip their fins but live and silk are great) and a place to hide such as a pot or cave. Keep reading topics in the betta section and you'll learn loads about how we keep bettas =)

Read this article on setting up a new tank and cycling your tank - LINK

 

[emilieg]

Thanks for all the awesome information! I'm bringing him home tomorrow, I'll use this page as my guide

 

[woodstock]

Oh, you haven't taken him home yet?? Hopefully he hasn't been through anything worse. Good luck

 

[emilieg]

Got him all set up, and he's doing really well.
He's gone from a sickly grey color to a pale purple, and is actually moving around his tank a week later.
Makes me happy

 

[Night61]

good for you taking in the old boy.

 

[nosoup4you]

Congrats! Would love to see pics if you can get them.

 

[woodstock]

I'd lurve some pictures too Good job on the rescue!

 

[emilieg]

Pictures
Sorry they're not that clear. He's actually swimming now instead of just laying on the bottom, so I'll call that a good sign.

At the moment his name is Mr. Fishy.