How to Properly Acclimate a Betta Fish Successfully?

Acclimation is the process of letting your betta gradually get used to the Tank environment. This process is extremely essential and cannot be missed at any cost. Skipping acclimation is like signing the death note for your Betta.

Before putting Betta fish in a new aquarium or fish tank we should acclimate Betta fish. Put Betta fish in a plastic bag with water from its old tank. Tie a knot on the plastic bag. Make sure there is enough oxygen for Betta fish in the bag. Put that bag in a fish tank for 15 minutes so that the temperature of the water in the bag matches the temperature of the tank water. After 15 minutes cut the plastic bag and hold it in your hand to avoid spilling out water add 1 cup of tank water to the bag. After 15 minutes add 1 more cup of water to the bag. During this 30 minutes of acclimation. Betta fish will adjust itself slowly to the temperature, PH, and hardness of the water.

If you have questions in your mind like how to acclimate betta? What are the different methods? Which method is more suitable? Then you are at the right place as we have got you covered. In this article, we will discuss Betta fish acclimation in detail.

By the end of the article, all your queries will be resolved. We will help you become professional acclimators (I really hope that is a word!)

Don’t Just Drop Them In!

You all might have seen in movies that people bring fish from the pet shop in plastic bags and simply put the fish from the bag into the fish tank. This is the perfect way to put your fish into shock and even kill them. So you cannot just dump your betta straight into the tank for preventing such problems. I know it would have been so easy if this was the case but sadly it cannot be done.

Different Situations For Acclimatization

There can be different situations when acclimatizing your Betta to a tank. The tank could have different types of fish already present in it. It could be a brand-new tank. So we have to first figure out what are the 3 basic types of situations you may encounter while acclimation. We will discuss these situations one by one below;

You can follow this: Do Betta Fish Have Brains?

A Community Tank

A community tank is simply a tank that has other fish already present in it. Such types of tanks cannot be exposed to a new type of fish suddenly because if the new fish has some disease so it would spread to all the other fish too. So if you are going to keep your Betta in a community tank the first thing you need to do is to Quarantine the new Betta.

Quarantine is a process in which you keep your Betta away from other fish for 2 to 4 weeks. This is done to make sure that the Betta does not carry any disease. If the Betta does carry any disease it shows its symptoms within those weeks.

Quarantine is necessary before putting the Betta in the community tank for the safety of the other fish present in the tank.

A New Fish Tank

If the fish tank is empty and no other fish have been in it then your Betta acclimation will follow a different route. The steps you need to carry out, in this case, are as follows;

• Step 1: Rinse the Entire Betta tank thoroughly with hot tap water a day before the Betta arrives. You have to rinse all the things present in the tank including the filters, thermometers, air bubblers, ornaments, decorations, tubes, etc.  This must be done to ensure that no germs or debris is present in the tank which could harm the betta when it comes.
• Step 2: Start filling the Betta tank with Luke’s warm water. Leave a few inches empty from the top. Make sure to not add Distilled water. Distilled water does not have essential minerals which are essential for Betta’s health.
• Step 3: To ensure a safe environment for the Betta adds Betta dechlorination drops. Add them by following the instructions written on the bottle.
• Step 4: Add all the decorations, thermometers, filters, air bubblers, etc. back to the tank properly.

Cycled Tank

A Cycled fish tank means a tank that has an automatic filtration cycle so the water in the fish tank can remain safe for the fish. Cycling basically refers to establishing a bacteria bed in the tank’s biological filter to remove toxins from the tank. We will not go into the details of how to cycle a Betta tank. If you have a cycled tank then you are ready to acclimatize your Betta to it and do not have to do anything else.

What is the Acclimatization of Betta?

Once you are done with setting up your Betta tank and you have gone through any of the 3 methods above so now it is showtime! Yes, the moment that we all have been waiting for is finally here. Betta’s Acclimatization to the tank begins now. A little more wait till your beautiful Betta will finally be in its forever home. Now, we will discuss two methods of Acclimatization one by one. Both methods are explained as follows;

1. Standard Acclimatization Method

This is a fairly simple acclimation process. We will discuss its steps in detail so that there is no confusion. The method is stated as follows;

Acclimating Betta From Fish Bag

First, we will talk about the method of acclimation if your Betta is in a fish bag;

• Put the bag in the fish tank and let it float at the top for 15 to 30 minutes. This process is called “floating”. The purpose of floating is to make the fish bag water temperature equal to the fish tank water temperature slowly and steadily.
• With the help of scissors make a cut in the fish bag. Hold the bag properly to make sure that no water enters or exits from it.
• Add a cup of tank water to the fish bag after every 15 minutes. This is done to prevent the Betta from pH shock. Through this slow process, the Betta gradually gets adjusted to the tank’s pH level.
• Release the Betta into the fish tank. Congratulations your Betta has finally found its forever home!

Acclimating Betta from a Fish Cup

The pet shop might sell the Betta in a fish cup too. The process of acclimation if your Betta is in a fish cup is as follows.

• Put the cup in the fish tank and let it float at the top for 15. This process is called “floating”. The purpose of floating is to make the fish cup water temperature equal to the fish tank water temperature gradually.

• Add a cup of tank water to the fish cup after every 15 minutes. This is done to prevent the Betta from pH shock. Through this slow process, the Betta gradually gets adjusted to the tank’s pH level.
• Using an aquarium net gently Release the Betta into the fish tank. Make sure that while using the aquarium net you do not harm the Betta. Congratulations your Betta has finally been acclimated to the fish tank!

2. Drip Method

This is the slowest method of acclimation. The slowness of the process makes it the safest method of acclimation too. This method is a bit complicated to set up but it is definitely the safest for your Betta.

I will now try to explain the drip method step by step;

• Make sure that the fish container in which you brought the Betta is only half-filled with water.
• Position the fish tank and Betta container properly. The fish tank must be placed higher compared to the container.
• Take airline tubing which is simply a plastic water pipe and make a knot in its center. The knot will serve as a water flow controller. You can even use a readymade water flow controller and attach it to the center of the airline tubing.
• Attach one end of the airline tubing to the fish tank such that it is dipped in the water. For properly attaching you can use tape or suction cups too.
• Put the other end of the airline tubing in the container which has your Betta.
• Water starts dripping into the container. The speed of the dripping can be adjusted by moving the adjusting the knot or adding more knots. The drip rate should be 1 drip per second.
• Once your fish container has half container water and half tank water now you can stop the process and drop your Betta into the fish tank. Finally! The betta has been acclimated to their new home.

Even though this process seems like a headache but it definitely is an excellent method for acclimation. As you might have heard that slow and steady wins the race.

The Bottom Line on How to Properly Acclimate a Betta Fish Successfully?

Acclimatization is an extremely important thing to do. Without proper acclimation, your Betta can go into shock or even die. The process of acclimation is a bit time-consuming but it cannot be ignored at any cost. Through this article, we learned different methods of Acclimation.

I hope you have now decided what method you will use to acclimate your Betta. I hope this article helps you in the process. So till next time may you and your Betta always be happy and healthy!