New Fishy

[Bluebubbles]

Hi Guys,
My lil Alien arrived today. His name is Archer
He is pretty stressed after his travels and the post wasn't very kind to the box he was in even though it said "live animal this way up" all over it
Any tips on making him feel more at home would be greatly appreciated.
Here are some pics of how he looked before and after travelling.

 

[connorlindeman]

Hi Guys,
My lil Alien arrived today. His name is Archer
He is pretty stressed after his travels and the post wasn't very kind to the box he was in even though it said "live animal this way up" all over it
Any tips on making him feel more at home would be greatly appreciated.
Here are some pics of how he looked before and after travelling.
View attachment 308721View attachment 308722

That glass bowl isn't his home is it?

 

[Rocky998]

That glass bowl isn't his home is it?

No, if you look, I think the top photo is him in his new home... The bottom one is when he had just arrived.

Beautiful fish

 

[Slaphppy7]

No, if you look, I think the top photo is him in his new home... The bottom one is when he had just arrived.

Beautiful fish

??
I only see 2 pics, side-by-side...left pic, a colorful betta....right pic, pale betta in a bowl

"Here are some pics of how he looked before and after travelling."

 

[Rocky998]

??
I only see 2 pics, side-by-side...left pic, a colorful betta....right pic, pale betta in a bowl

Oh, on the mobile device it's top and bottom instead of side by side...
The colorful one is where he is in his new home... The bottom one is him just arriving I would guess

 

[Slaphppy7]

Oh, on the mobile device it's top and bottom instead of side by side...
The colorful one is where he is in his new home... The bottom one is him just arriving I would guess

"...before and after travelling"

I have a feeling the OP bought the fish based on the "colorful" pic, before the fish shipped....could be wrong, though

I DO hope the fish is in a proper tank now

 

[Rocky998]

"...before and after travelling"

Yeah, sometimes when you enter a photo they don't go in the order you want... I know I've had issues with it in the past

 

[Essjay]

On my laptop it says the photo of the really colourful fish is a screenshot while the pale fish in the bowl is IMGxxxxx.jpeg. That suggests the colourful one is a screenshot from the site it was bought from and the pale fish is a photo taken by the OP.

 

[connorlindeman]

Yeah, and who would buy a fish based on that picture of it in a bowl?

 

[Essjay]

To go back to the first post -

Any tips on making him feel more at home would be greatly appreciated.

Put him in a cycled tank of at least 5 gallons/20 litres. Preferably a tank with live plants.
Keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels, especially if the tank was not cycled.
Put the tank somewhere where it is quiet with few people walking past, or if that's not possible shield the tank with even a sheet of paper so he isn't startled every time anyone walks past until he gets used to his tank.
Feed him with a good quality betta food, but not too much to begin with. Be prepared for him to refuse to eat it if the seller fed fed him something different. If this does happen, remove any uneaten food and offer him the same food next day until he realises what you are putting in the tank is actually food.
Make sure the water is around 26 deg C/79 deg F. Make sure the filter flow is not too strong for him.

 

[Back in the fold]

You know what those special directions on the box mean to shippers ? Nothing. Nothing at all. UPS , FedEx and the Post Office ship millions of packages daily. Yes , literally millions , and your package is just another dollar being churned through the big machine. Be glad he’s alive.

 

[JonasN515]

You know what those special directions on the box mean to shippers ? Nothing. Nothing at all. UPS , FedEx and the Post Office ship millions of packages daily. Yes , literally millions , and your package is just another dollar being churned through the big machine. Be glad he’s alive.

I work @ UPS and unfortunately, this is true. I am a pre-delivery guy that puts the boxes on the trucks. Thankfully, I am not guilty of this but have seen my co-workers do this and DO get yelled at by supervisors.

 

[Back in the fold]

I work @ UPS and unfortunately, this is true. I am a pre-delivery guy that puts the boxes on the trucks. Thankfully, I am not guilty of this but have seen my co-workers do this and DO get yelled at by supervisors.

You know then.

 

[biofish]

You know what those special directions on the box mean to shippers ? Nothing. Nothing at all. UPS , FedEx and the Post Office ship millions of packages daily. Yes , literally millions , and your package is just another dollar being churned through the big machine. Be glad he’s alive.

Yeah man. I ordered a couple fish from koi companion I believe it was, but they told me point blank in an email during correspondence: “After we took off the LIVE FISH label, suddenly customers were reporting much higher survival rates.”

So basically: the boxes were handled rougher when the boxes were marked which is really effed up.

 

[Bluebubbles]

Archer is in a cycled and planted 5-gallon.

The first image is before travel (at the warehouse) the second image is once I got him home.
In my photo, he is in a measuring jug. I put him in there so I could slowly introduce his tank water before putting him in his tank. I took the photo while he was in there so he was easy to see. He understandably went straight into hiding once put in the tank.

I've gotten many aquatics from this place before. The fish have always been really good quality and I've always gotten the individual I've paid for. I don't doubt that he was in great shape when posted.

Australia Post is usually pretty good with taking care of the boxes whether it's living or not. It's only been in the last few weeks that they've slipped and I've gotten a few damaged boxes (I blame Christmas and new years. Makes people act stupid).

This morning he came out a few times but he's still looking really stressed out. His filter is very soft, the tank is in a low-traffic area and I've kept the tank light off for now. The room still gets bright enough for the plants to be happy and for Archer to have a night-day cycle. I offered some brine shrimp this morning, he ate the few that fell in front of him. The tank heater is set at 24C but it sits around 25-26C due to the hot weather. The heater doesn't usually kick in during summer but it's there just in case. I ordered some almond leaves for him last night.

Any tips on making him feel more at home would be greatly appreciated.