New Tank Situation ASAP Advice

[momsspaghett]

Hello. I recently bought a 2-3 month old betta from ebay from a breeder and I asked for one single male. Apparently they would include a second betta in which I specifically did not ask for; now I have 2, one male, one female. I only have one tank available and that was for the male, now I have a female which has no where to go. I have a second tank which is empty and not ready for any sort of fish which I was planning on to work on in a month or so. My option is to start that tank up by the end of this week or tomorrow, highly doubt by tomorrow; Either way, the female will get a tank. Currently they are conditioning in my 10 gal tank in the bag they came in and I need to get them out quick. I am thinking of releasing the male and getting a breeder tank for the time being for the female. Tomorrow I will start working on the tank or finding a tank that my boyfriend could use if he decides to take her. Main question is, to get this tank up and ready by tomorrow or the end of this week, would my water from my fully functional and cycled tank be appropriate for the new tank along with ceramic rings which have already bacteria from that tank into a new filter help cycle the tank? I also was going to add safe start concentrated plus to the water. The new tank will be very planted as I have a lot of plants to add to it. If I take half of the water from my established tank and into a 5 gallon, will that be suitable for her for the time being along with speed up the cycle? Does anyone have advice or recommendations of what I should do with this situation? Thank you.

 

[Colin_T]

Put them both in the 10 gallon and monitor them.
Have lots of plants in that tank and they should be fine.

 

[momsspaghett]

Put them both in the 10 gallon and monitor them.
Have lots of plants in that tank and they should be fine.

He's already flaring at her, I don't want to deal with fighting tbh.

 

[EllRog]

Don't release them in the same tank. Set up a tote for the female for the time being. Put your cycled media into a filter, or make one from a bottle and an airpump (you can find many videos on how to do this on YouTube) test the water of the tote daily as the filter will not "instantly cycle" but the cycled media will kick start it. Do waterchanges any time that the ammonia and nitrite creep over 0. Theres no point adding water from a cycled tank into the tote as beneficial bacteria lives on surfaces in the tank, not in the water.

 

[Colin_T]

He's already flaring at her, I don't want to deal with fighting tbh.

Have you got a breeding net that you can put her or him in?

Have you got a spare 2 litre ice-cream container and lid?
Poke some holes in the side and put a fish in it. Put a lid on it and let it float around the tank. Put some clothes pegs around the top of the tank to stop the bucket squishing the other fish against the wall.

 

[EllRog]

Have you got a breeding net that you can put her or him in?

Have you got a spare 2 litre ice-cream container and lid?
Poke some holes in the side and put a fish in it. Put a lid on it and let it float around the tank. Put some clothes pegs around the top of the tank to stop the bucket squishing the other fish against the wall.

Can still stress them out being in the same water though..

 

[Colin_T]

Can still stress them out being in the same water though..

better than leaving the fish in a bag.

How about putting the fish in a 20 litre bucket and changing the water every couple of days?

 

[EllRog]

better than leaving the fish in a bag.

How about putting the fish in a 20 litre bucket and changing the water every couple of days?

Along the same sort of lines as my recommendation. I was just considering the hormones that will be omitted. The male will be expecting a 'good time' and will be aggressively pushing those hormones out, stressing himself in the process. The female will be expecting an attack, stressing herself out.

Keep the fish in separate water OP, there's easy ways of setting up a temporary, holding tank for the female

 

[mrsjoannh13]

I just wanted to say that sucks (what the seller did) and props to you for taking such good care of these 2 fish. I am not sure what options you have in the UK but I recently saw a 3 1/2 gallon tank (about 13 liters) at PetSmart for about $20USD. It came with a filter that was pretty low flow - good enough for a betta. I hope you can figure something out that will work. Post pics of the bettas once you get everything settled. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[momsspaghett]

Don't release them in the same tank. Set up a tote for the female for the time being. Put your cycled media into a filter, or make one from a bottle and an airpump (you can find many videos on how to do this on YouTube) test the water of the tote daily as the filter will not "instantly cycle" but the cycled media will kick start it. Do waterchanges any time that the ammonia and nitrite creep over 0. Theres no point adding water from a cycled tank into the tote as beneficial bacteria lives on surfaces in the tank, not in the water.

I have a tank that I'm going to start working on today and I have a filter ready. Would you recommend adding the safe start to the water as well? When exactly would be safe to put the betta in the water when the tank is fully planted, has the filter, heater, along with how long the cycle might take? I never have really put a fish in a tank that hasn't been fully cycled so I am a bit hesitant. Luckily I can check frequently since I have the master kit.

 

[momsspaghett]

I just wanted to say that sucks (what the seller did) and props to you for taking such good care of these 2 fish. I am not sure what options you have in the UK but I recently saw a 3 1/2 gallon tank (about 13 liters) at PetSmart for about $20USD. It came with a filter that was pretty low flow - good enough for a betta. I hope you can figure something out that will work. Post pics of the bettas once you get everything settled. Good luck and keep us posted!

Thank you, I appreciate it. I currently have like a 8 gallon tank aside which I will be working on today so that will be fun I've just never really put in a new fish in a brand new tank which hasn't been fully cycled so I'm a bit hesitant, I like to know that it is fully cycled before.

 

[Essjay]

If you put some fast growing plants in, especially floating plants, it will help - plants remove ammonia and turn it into protein rather than nitrite.

 

[momsspaghett]

If you put some fast growing plants in, especially floating plants, it will help - plants remove ammonia and turn it into protein rather than nitrite.

Yeah I have floating and planted. I am going to start the tank up right now, I can take pictures once finished. Would you recommend using safe start in the tank?

 

[Essjay]

Tetra Safe Start won't do any harm and may well help.

I quarantined 12 kuhli loaches in a 6.5 gallon tank using 2 large water sprite plants and 2 bunches of anacharis. No mature media and no bottled bacteria. One betta will produce less ammonia than 12 kuhli loaches and your tank is bigger as well. I was amazed at just how much ammonia plants can remove.

 

[momsspaghett]

Tetra Safe Start won't do any harm and may well help.

I quarantined 12 kuhli loaches in a 6.5 gallon tank using 2 large water sprite plants and 2 bunches of anacharis. No mature media and no bottled bacteria. One betta will produce less ammonia than 12 kuhli loaches and your tank is bigger as well. I was amazed at just how much ammonia plants can remove.

Did the plants take the ammonia out in like a day or so? I'm going to test my tap water to see.