File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
/an/.
Just a couple minutes ago, I recieved a fighting fish. It comes with a little card with minimal information on it, and a little vase which I htink I'm supposed to use as a fish tank. Right onw it's in a tied-off upside down bag with a tiny little bit of water and it's not moving much.. How should I take it out of the bag without hurting it, and does it need treated water or can I just use tap water?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
First things first, open the bag! Betta's breath air, so it's quite possibly suffocating. Also you will need the following very soon:
- Larger tank, you don't need a ridiculously huge one, like almost every person following in this post will tell you, but the containers they sell them in are blatantly too small
- A heater, also a likely reason your fish is sluggish, they're most active when their water temp is about 27 degrees celsius
- Water treater, yes, you will need this, but you can find it at any pet store
- Food, may I suggest frozen bloodworms, betta's can be fussy about pellets

Until you get that stuff, just pour the fish in any sort of larger container you have, honestly, it probably won't die just because it's in untreated water for a few hours, and keeping it in the bag is worse. Hope that helped, and I also present you with pics of my betta.

Also, google is your friend
>> Anonymous
It came with a bottle of 'tropical flakes'. I put it in the vase that came with it, and now it's moping around the bottom waiting for the flakes to float down. I put it in some tapwater, do you think I should heat it?
>> Anonymous
no, google is not your friend.

http://www.bettatalk.com/ is.

comprehensive site. oh, and stick with the pellets. yeah, bettas can be assholes and get fussy with food, but they won't potentially get sick like they would off of frozen bloodworms.
>> Anonymous
>>169282

take it out of the tapwater NOW. all the chemicals will kill it. get some bottled water, spring water, that kind of thing FAST and stick him in there until you can get your tank sorted out. bettas won't eat flakes either, they eat larval-looking things. pellets resemble mosquito larvae, one of their staple foods in the wild.
>> Anonymous
>>169285
Put it in some water from the water filter, which is more or less bottled water. Should I heat it?
>> Anonymous
>>169284
According to htis site, I think I may have effectively killed my fish.
>> tigerfeather !CrwtTbFNxQ
Head on out to a pet store as soon as possible to get yourself some water conditioner. Your Betta will probably be fine, as they are pretty hardy as far as fish go, but is suffering for some water change shock due to the untreated water and the probable temperature difference.

I certainly hope you didn't buy the fish from somewhere that let you go without making sure you had all the right provisions. =(
>> Anonymous
>>169293
I think most pet stores would figure the person buying the fish has equipment to sustain it at home. The day some employee has to start asking everyone buying a fish if they have a fish tank, and checklist of other crap is the day you start seeing shootings in pet stores.
>> Anonymous
Spoilers: Petstore is closed, and I got the fish from a petstore in Chinatown, Melbourne that was closing down and was free
>> Anonymous
>>169302
Is that the pet store in Victoria arcade? Corner of King and Little Bourke or thereabouts? Coz that's where I got my fish, I'm>>169280btw
>> Zanthia
>>169279

Oh jesus christ that's animal abuse. You make me sick. Please provide the fish a good sized tank, filtration, heater, light, and make sure that the air above the water is quite the same temperatured as the water, as bettas breath air with their labyrinth organ. And for heaven's sake, at least don't go and buy another male as they fight each other till death.
>> Anonymous
>>169335

Settle down, OP clearly wants to do what's best for his fish, otherwise he wouldn't be here, and it's not his fault he was given no care instructions. So when he does ask for help, you screaming "animal abuse" doesn't get us anywhere
>> Anonymous
OP Here. I don't really have any way to regulate the temperature other than a gas heather, which only has settings, which are warm, stifling and sauna.
Also, I've got nothing else to put it in, and when I got the fish I had no other tanks or shit to put it in (And when I'd gotten it all the shops were already closed)

Right now it's really sluggish and it's just moping around the bottom of it's bowl.. I think it's too cold in here. I've got no real way to measure the temperature, but suffice to say it'd be a fair bit under what it's supposed to be for the fish.

Is the fish just moping around because it's too cold, or do they usually act like that at night?
>> Anonymous
>>169335
NO, THEY NEED A WHOLE POND!
A GOOD SIZED FISH TANK?! HEATER AND LIGHT?! YOU SHOULD ONLY KEEP THEM IF YOU LIVE IN THAILAND AS REPLICATION OF THEIR NATIVE HABITAT IS JUST PLAIN CRUEL. HOW ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO GET THAILAND AIR TO CIRCULATE OVER YOUR TANK? FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE DONT TELL ME YOU WERE JUST GOING TO USE THE AIR IN YOUR HOUSE?!

YOU MAKE ME SICK. YOU SHOULD BE BEATEN TO WITHIN AN INCH OF YOUR LIFE, YOUR WOUNDS SALTED. wHAT KIND OF PERSON GIVES SUCH CRUEL ADVICE?
>> Anonymous
the vase you have is fine. you don't need a big-ass tank since they're not very active fish to begin with. as long as the water in the bowl stays between 60 and 75 degrees F, then you don't need a heater. You want to use treated water and you can buy water conditioner that treats tap. betas are pretty fuckin' hearty fish. Tropical flakes are shitty for betas. They primarily eat bloodworms (frozen, fresh, freeze dried, or pelleted). Tetra brand makes a large selection of prepared food and you can always buy fresh or frozen bloodworms.

if you're not going to use a water filter, than you'd want to change the water once every other week or take out half every week. too many water changes can be bad, too few can be worse.

enjoy your beta.
>> Puddin
Oh my god.. People here are utterly retarded sometimes. I've had several bettas, all have lived long happy lives (Save for the one that jumped out of the tank while I was away). I use tap water for mine, and they're fine. You don't need a light or a huge tank, I just keep mine in a goldfish bowl and he's pretty content with that. I feed mine freeze dried bloodworms, all my bettas have ate those no problem. I do prefer the Nutrafin brand, although it can be a little more expensive.

You also DO NOT need a filtration system, just change the water in the tank every other week. Put him in a cup while you clean it out, and make sure to let the water settle before you put him back in.

Also, you SHOULD NOT take him immediately out of the bag they sold him in.. They do that so you can place the bag in the tank and let the betta get gradually used to the temp of the water. As long as there's a small air bubble at the top he should be okay.

Have fun with your betta!
>> Anonymous
Don't panic when/if it changes color. Mine has gone from blue to red and back to blue again.
>> Anonymous
>>169417
What Puddin isn't saying is that tap water varies in quality greatly depending on where you live.

We live on a farm out in the country, out tap is drawn from a well, which gets tested every few years for any pesticides or whatever. It doesn't compare to water in the city.
>> Anonymous
>>169420
In the good or bad way? o_o
>> Anonymous
>>169442

Probably both. Any amount of toxic minerals may be dissolved in the water, and it will be teeming with microbes. On the other hand, they don't have to worry about the chlorination and flouridation of city water.
>> Puddin
>>169420

Whoops, my bad. For some reason I thought I'd mentioned that, because yeah, I live on a farm too and we have well water. Not city water.

I can't drink water from the city, and I wouldn't want to put a fish in it either.
>> Anonymous
>>169417

whether you live on a farm or not, a water conditioner couldn't hurt. There are several brands that are meant to sustain the condition of the water and overall health of the fish aside from removing the harsh chemicals and minerals found in tap.
>> Anonymous
Distill the water by boiling it then cooling it down to room temprature, or get a bowl of water and let it sit over night. That will distill it. You can also just get beta water conditioner. As for removing it from the bag, go ahead, untie it and just gentaly let it go into the tank with the water from the bag, just empty it in. beta's do not breath under water but they go up every so often for air, their gills are not the same as fish that breath oxygen from under the water.
Good luck and if you don't know what to do check google, lol.
>> Anonymous
>>169677
letting water sit overnite will not distill it. there are all sorts of impurities in tap water that are fine for humans but bad for fish and let algae grow and other stuff like that. buy distilled water it is cheap. or get a RO/DI filter. google will show u where to buy
>> Anonymous
well you already fucked up but what I always did with my fish was just put the fish while still in the bag inside of a tank of filtered water for a half hour or so, then let it out. My betas always ate pellets fine and were fairly happy in a 1 gallon tank. Most likely any filtered tank you provide at that size or more will be better than their natural environment.
>> Anonymous
>>169298

I worked at a pet store for two years and you can't assume ANYTHING when dealing with customers who want to buy an animal. We learned pet care inside and out to help people, and would even deny sales to people who would obviously not care for the animals they wanted to buy (e.g., a woman who wanted to buy a green anole for her son and was only going to get a bare critter keeper and some shitty dried food.. she wasn't happy with me when I started listing off all the stuff she'd need to keep it alive and well).

Sage for off topic. :<
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>169279
>> Zanthia
>>169417
DO NOT listen what this has to say. I feel pity for his/her fish. That's just cruel, how would you like to be stuffed in a room where you can barely move for the rest of your life? It's true that tehy SURVIVE in these conditions, but they are suffering. FISH ARE ANIMALS TOO. And for OP, please don't put it in a goldfish bowl. Learn from your mistakes and offer the poor fish a good home. Geez things in the US are fucked for the animals. -____-

>>169407
Also bad troll is bad.
>> Anonymous
>>169717
>how would you like to be stuffed in a room where you can barely move for the rest of your life?

you're blatantly trolling or a faggot vegan type who insists others share his views.
>> Anonymous
>>169335
People like you is why I rarely come to /an/.
>> Anonymous
Always used tap water for my Beta and it was fine. Besides beta are used to living in small rice ponds with muddy water, and minimal living space.
>> Zanthia
>>169733

Because I'm the only reasonable one?
>> Anonymous
Get at LEAST a one-gallon tank/bowl for your fish. Preferably more. Most people I know with a betta get it one of those Minibow 2.5 tanks. Comes with water conditioner and a filter (although everyone I know takes the filter out, as Minibow filters are usually too strong for the betta) and it's not that expensive. Make sure whatever you use has plenty of surface area that reaches the air, as bettas breathe the same air as us. Technically, for that reason bettas don't ABSOLUTELY NEED a filter, but if you can find one that isn't too strong for your little guy then I recommend it. And remember, whether you decide to get a filter or not you still have to change the water and clean the tank frequently, as you should with any fish.
Buy it freeze dried bloodworms. They love those. You can find them in any pet store. You can even find them in Walmart. There are also little betta pellets you can buy, which have some vitamins in them and also bring out the bettas color.
If your tapwater has any chemicals or chlorine added, use a water conditioner, as chlorine isn't good for fishie.
If you live in an area where it gets chilly, you might also consider a heater (appropriate to your tank size). Your fish will be stressed and unhappy if he's cold all the time.

If you have no way of getting to the pet store atm, just find a big ol' bowl, fill it with spring water that isn't too chilled (there's gotta be a convenience store open, right?) though not too high as bettas can jump. Carefully put betta in. Unless he's already in really tough shape, that should be fine for until you're able to get the supplies you need.
>> Anonymous
>>169769

Dumb cunt is duuuuuuuuuuuuuumb
>> Anonymous
>>169775
tl;dr - put your fish in water
>> Anonymous
>>169739
Except that small rice ponds aren't full of chlorine asshat. Always use dechlorinated water with fish, hermit crabs, amphibians, etc. A small bottle of tap water dechlorinator costs 1.99 USD.
>> Anonymous
>>169894
Perhaps his tapwater doesn't have chlorine. Mine doesn't.
>> Anonymous
>>169298

LOL. You have no idea, my friend. The pure stupidity that some customers spew can leave you speachless. I can't even count the number of times that people have asked me "Uhh how big of a bowl do you need for one of them Nemo-fish?"

People even straight up lie to your face in order to hide the fact that they're going to do something studid with an animal. A woman once described for us the "huge cage" with timothy hay and all that she suppossedly had for a bunny she wanted to buy. We sell it to her and two days later she comes back furious: "your asshole rabbit beat up my other rabbit" ... WELL IT TURNED OUT THAT SHE WAS KEEPING TWO RABBITS IN A 10 GALLON TANK!!!!
>> Anonymous
>>169900
Ah you also work at a pet store? One lady got mad because she put two betta fish in a bowl together and surprisingly they killed one another. She had the nerve to say one of us told her that was okay. Any asshole knows you can't put two of them together.

We had a similar story, but with chinchillas. Lady took two that had never met and put them together and so they fucking freaked out on one another, killing one. Wow...just wow.
>> Anonymous
>>169903
Jeez. You'd think the fact that they're FIGHTING FISH would be a clue that it wouldn't be okay...
>> Anonymous
whatever you end up putting it in, make sure it has a cover. fuckers like to jump