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What to do with 5-gallon cycled tank after betta is moved to a hospital tank?

2K views 21 replies 7 participants last post by  TigerRegalia 
#1 ·
Hi all,
I am very disappointed, as although Tommy has always been a tail biter since I got him about a year ago, he has gotten MUCH worse ever since I moved him to his fully cycled 5-gallon tank a few months ago. I worked so hard on this tank, and now I feel like he hates it :-(

Anyway.. the point of my post is: I have now moved Tommy back to his 1-gallon as a hospital tank until his fins heal. My question is, is there anything I need to do with his cycled 5-gallon tank for the time being until he moves back into it (IF he does)? For example, do I need to keep dosing it with ammonia every now and then until he moves back into it since there isn't a fish in it now? Or is it fine to just leave it alone? Should I even leave the heater and filter going?
 
#3 ·
You'll need to feed the tank some form of ammonia to keep the bacteria alive - you could either dose liquid ammonia or add a bit of fish food daily. I don't know if you need to keep the heater going, but you need the filter on to keep the bacteria that lives there fed and damp.

Hope Tommy starts to feel better!
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#4 ·
Thanks everyone! I will definitely do this. I hope Tommy gets better soon, too! Now my next questions is~ I am currently in graduate school and will be going home for Winter Break next week. I will be gone for about 3.5 weeks, so what do I do about feeding the BB then? :/ Can they go that long without being redosed?
 
#5 ·
I'm honestly not sure... But this may be a case that you could use one of those vacation feeder blocks. It's usually advised to avoid them because they foul up the water pretty bad, but it would supply a constant source of waste that the bacteria could feed off of. Only thing is that I don't know if there are any that last that long.
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#6 ·
My two cents: Leave Tommy in his gallon. I have two that refuse point blank to live in anything large... I gave up trying and planted them some nice 2-ish gallons, and they're both happy. The male hasn't done the fin biting thing since, and the female has left off with the stripes and hiding.
So, my advice for your five gallon: Get another betta! :)
 
#7 ·
My fish freaked out when I first moved him as well. He was seeing his reflection in the mirrored sides and split a bunch of fins before I finally got him settled down. I got a bunch of not shiny cardstock type paper and colored all shorts of shades on it and affixed it to the sides on the tank. It would have helped if I did the back too.. but point being he stopped freaking out as much. It took some time, but he has adjusted. Make sure you have lots of thick foliage (either real or silk) and places for him to hide.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the tips, everyone! Chuckee, I very well might get another betta! Either that or put other types of fish in the 5-gallon until I think I have enough time on my hands to care for another betta. And Callistra, that's such a great idea about the non-shiny cardstock paper-- I think I am going to try that! I do need to get some more silk plants.. I just don't have a lot of time or money right now. That's on my to-do list, though!

I am going to look into buying something that will distribute food into the 5-gallon over the course of my Winter Break. Actually, I have an idea.. why don't I just use the 5-gallon tank's filter in Tommy's 1-gallon tank since I will be taking Tommy with me over my break (i.e., Tommy will be traveling with me and I'll be taking his 1-gallon with me)? The filter I use is the Hagen Elite Mini, so it will work with a 1-gallon tank. After all, it's the filter that you cycle; not the tank water.

Thoughts??
 
#9 ·
Another thing... sorry if this is skewing too far from my original topic (please alert me if it is and I will stop)-- if Tommy's tail biting has been so much worse in his 5-gallon, then why was he building weekly bubble nests in it when he doesn't tail bite as much in his 1-gallon, but doesn't build bubble nests in it??
 
#11 ·
Actually, that's a different problem. I have a male like that. He was fine, until I moved a lady into his POV. Now he's a frantic bubbler (He'd made exactly one puny, half-assd one previously) and darts around and shredded his tail and most of his plants. :|
He remains in the same place, but the female got moved, and he appears to have calmed down. I think he was horny.
 
#13 ·
Honestly, the bacteria should be fine for months between feedings, I don't think anything is needed for it.
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Thanks for the tip, Olympia! I will take this into consideration into my final decision for what I'm going to do over Winter Break. I'm going to do some more research, but hopefully I won't end up needing to feed the BB over those 3.5 weeks!!
 
#17 ·
Olympia's right that the bacteria will last a month or more without dying. It will reach a kind of comatose state or suspended animation which will take several days to recover from (mine took several days).

Feed the tank up to high ammonia carrying capacity before you leave.
 
#18 ·
This is fabulous news, Hallyx! :-D I was starting to plan to just bring the filter with me to keep it running in Tommy's 1-gallon tank that he'll be staying in over the break (which I didn't entirely want to do since his fins are healing right now).

So, what is "high ammonia carrying capacity"? Does that just mean to dose the tank to a high level of ammonia readings?

My other questions: Should I leave my filter running while I'm gone? Also, once I return from Break, how will I get the BB to recover from their comatose state?
 
#22 ·
Sure thing- I'll keep you all posted! I am interested in how it works out too since the filter has been in the 5-gallon tank up until now.

Btw, I'm so glad I have this community to turn to because the love I have for Tommy isn't understood by others outside of this forum as far as I've found! And I'm just in a fabulous mood right now because I managed to get an A on the final exam I just took, and tomorrow is my last day of the semester :))))) Anyways, yes I'll keep you posted! Thanks for all the help!

Happy Holidays from Tommy and me!
 
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