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Quarantining female bettas

876 views 17 replies 3 participants last post by  DragonFish 
#1 ·
So I brought home 4 females for my sorority today. However, my tank isn't fully set up yet, and I have nowhere to put the females! You might wonder why I even bought them - I had returned a defective heater to Petco which I had a Petco dollars coupon for $10 off. They said I had to buy something else in order to use that free $10, otherwise it would be lost, so I figured I'd buy 4 of the females for the sorority, since I didn't need anything else.

I know it's a good idea to have them in quarantine and fatten them up before adding them to the tank anyway, but my question is this: would it be better for me to keep them in their tiny cups and float them in another heated tank OR put them in unheated mason jars that are a bit larger? My house temp is around 70, so a bit low, but they would only be like this for a couple weeks at max. Obviously I will be doing pretty much daily 100% water changes.

Suggestions would be appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Hmm....for a couple of days I'd say the mason jars, but for a couple of weeks I'd say go ahead and just float them in their cups in a heated tank. If you can, add a bit of some hardy live plants(a small Java fern or a bit of Java moss) to help with ammonia and give them a little bit of cover. Other then that, just preform daily 100% water changes until you get things all setup and you should be fine.
 
#3 ·
Thanks!

They are currently floating in the tank. I just put a heater in the tank, so they are going to be slowly warmed up to about 80F (they are at about 76F now) I did a 100% water change on all 4 right when I got home, and gave them all some live daphnia (which they devoured). I had one showing pretty obvious stress stripes, and those are gone already - yay! I am hoping to get all my plants in the mail tomorrow - I will try to add a little bit of something to their cups. I don't think I would have thought of that, lol, so thanks again!
 
#4 ·
Here are photos of them - I also posted them in a different thread about setting up my 29g, but I thought they belong here too. :)



This is the one ^ who had the stress stripes. She is a nice black/blue color now - no stripes!




These are cell phone pics, not the best but you get the idea :)
 
#7 ·
These all seem to be VT. Might be SDeT or DeT, but I don't really know how to differentiate between the 3. My VT came as a PK after the time, she has a rounded anal fin. Yours seem to have the sharp point at the end, mine don't. I have 2 VTs as well for my sorority.
I hate to say, I only QTd my girls for 2 days at least. xD No sickness, though. Apparently I have no patience whatsoever. lol And yeah, I agree with the cups.
 
#8 ·
Honestly, if I would have gotten the girls when I could actually put them right in the tank, I bet I would have done the same thing, lol, I'm impatient like that too. It is pretty easy to tell if they're healthy or not by their appearance and behavior (hence why I picked these 4!). I guess internal parasites aren't able to be seen, but I guess these girls will be properly quarantined after all.

The only reasons they aren't allowed in the tank is 1) not cycled and 2) I want to add all their tank-mates and get the plants established before I let them have free reign - I have heard horror stories about them attacking cories and stuff if they are the first ones in the tank and just don't want to go there. Girls go in last, unfortunately that means QT and floating for a couple weeks. :/
 
#9 ·
I have cories with my girls and I got them 1st, too. They don't seem to mind them, as the girls are top and mid dwellers. I like your last female btw, her red color is so intense like. lol
 
#10 ·
They're all very adorable little VTs. :)
Girls can indeed be really difficult to tell with tail types unless you're familiar with how the different ones look. I just look at too many pictures. xD

Good luck! I'm really hoping that I can talk my dad into letting me set up our 46 bow again for a large sorority. I'll probably end up with some corys myself, love those little guys. xD
 
#11 ·
Thanks! Yeah, I guess we'll see what happens...I ordered like $60 worth of plants, so if it's as much as I think it is, the girls might get to just go in because there should be enough hiding spots for everyone with the plants and the big tree log thing I have in there. The tank is warmed up now, and the girls definitely want to get out and explore! I've fed each one enough daphnia to make them look plump, and they want more. It's funny to see such a small betta attack a full grown daphnia - they truly are vicious little things. I actually was hesitant to give them anything but the tiny daphnia because they are so small, but they can definitely handle it - little predators!
 
#12 ·
Haha, wow! What feisty little things!! Ahh, its when I read things like that that I miss my girls and my sorority so much....they were always SO spunky! I did pick up a very feisty young male today though. Ah, hopefully within the next few months I can get the 46 out...

Oh! Out of curiosity, where did you order your plants? I've been looking to buy some things I can't get around here, like Java moss and such, and just in general maybe a few healthier specimens online.
 
#13 ·
I ordered them from plantedaquariumscentral.com. I saw someone else on this forum recommend them, and so I thought I'd give them a try. They seem to have good reviews, and I guess the lady always sends extra plants which is cool. If you use the promo code "BETTAFISH" you get a discount too, not sure if it's 5 or 10%. I'm very nervous though because it is super cold here right now and I'm hoping my plants don't freeze! I have to work tomorrow when they are supposed to come, so hopefully my mail guy comes after I get home, lol. I'm kind of expecting half of what I bought to die too, because I have pretty low light in my tank (like 0.7wpg, not sure how accurate that is). I ordered all low light/beginner plants, but we'll see.... :)
 
#14 ·
Oh, awesome! I'll have to head over there and take a look, thanks. :)
Yeah, its pretty cold around here too...but not too bad(well, if you ask me.....I did live in Montana for a while with temps regularly bellow 0, so my idea of bad is....pretty bad xD), and I'm home most of the time so I'm not too worried about plants possibly dying on me. A fish maybe....

Haha, well I'm afraid I know very little about wattages and such...I'm actually horrible with most plants, I kill just about everything, even managed to kill bamboo, so until recently I've kind of tried to avoid live plants. But so far my Java fern has survived. And I have a bit of Anacharis thats doing well....so I figure some hardy plants I can deal with. xD I'm mostly just looking for Java moss anyway, maybe some cheaper little Moss balls('cause they're cute <3.)

Good luck with yours! I look forward to seeing the pictures once its all planted. :)
 
#15 ·
My plants came today, and are currently acclimating.

I also went to a different Petco this morning and bought 3 CT females...so I now have 7 cups floating on top of my tank, lol. I'm thinking I am probably just going to add them first and hope that they are nice to any other tank-mates I add later. They will probably still float for a day or two anyway. I haven't taken pictures yet, but one is a cambodian, one is salamander I think, and one is multicolor - blue/purple/red. The salamander one started showing breeding stripes the minute I changed her water and gave her daphnia! I think she's probably the smallest female I have too...funny.
 
#17 ·
Here are a few pics of the girls, I'm not really sure what their color classifications are (not sure if the salamander was/is a salmander, lol)...





I just kind of threw all the plants in there, I think it looks pretty good and full...now hopefully they will stay alive and grow lol.
 
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