[The Hammiest]

Just recieved a new Betta from Thailand http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/closed.cgi?view_closed_item&fwbettashm1396005003
After his 3 day journey he is finally here and as expected very stressed. Most of his color is gone as expected.
After laying on the bottom of my tank for a few minutes he started exploring his new home.
I feel really bad I put the poor guy through this is there anything I can do besides wait to help him get back to strength

 

[Briz]

If he's already moving around, he's doing pretty well. As long as the water is warm (76-82F) and clean, he should be fine. He might not eat right away, which is normal.

You could put an IAL in for some mild immune help, but you might not want the tank to have brown water. If you have a strong flow in the tank, you might consider reducing it today so he can rest.

 

[The Hammiest]

Thanks! yeah I might turn the filter down a notch while he was floating along the top he almost got blown over by the output

 

[terrapedes]

I always turn off the lights when I'm acclimating new fish.

 

[AquaAurora]

I always turn off the lights when I'm acclimating new fish.

+1 light's off.
As hard as it is not to stare at new fish getting use to their tank, I try to leave them in partial dark (room like but no tank light) and don't hang around the tank for the first day. So they can just explore instead of going "OH [censored] THAT CRAZY GIANT(human) IS COMING BACK! IT MIGHT NET ME INTO SOME OTHER WIERDNESS! AAAAHHH!"*hide*
Though I do watch from a distance and none seem that freaked out, but rather let them get use to knew home then get use to me.

 

[The Hammiest]

Lol enjoyed your in depth fish POV. Deff will just turn the light off and watch from my computer chair all day

 

[Duck5003]

Though I do watch from a distance and none seem that freaked out, but rather let them get use to knew home then get use to me.

LOL i know exactly what you mean but sorry, i couldnt help but paint a picture in my head of you across the room camo'd in behind some houseplants with some low mag optics, face paint, "spying" on your new comers :hihi:

But seriously, all good advice :thumbsup: be sure to post some pics once he colors up!

 

[JustJen]

This may not help much at this point as I'd think catching and moving him would be worse than letting him get used to where he is, but I'll share in case it comes up again in the future I used to import bettas fairly regularly, and one of the things I learned through trial and error is that the acclimation seemed to be a lot less stressful if they spent their first couple weeks in a smaller tank (3g or less) with no other inhabitants. I also made sure those tanks had low flow filters on them, and typically even left that turned off for the first couple of days. Going this route, my fish were typically active and colored back up within a couple days. It took a lot longer when they went in the larger (5-10g) tanks or into tanks with other fish from day one. When you think about the containers that bettas are raised in, making that kind of trip and then being dumped into a large (relatively) tank with other fish can add a lot of stress on the end of an already stressful trip. As the others said, also leave the lights off for the first day or two. Good luck!

 

[The Hammiest]

This may not help much at this point as I'd think catching and moving him would be worse than letting him get used to where he is, but I'll share in case it comes up again in the future I used to import bettas fairly regularly, and one of the things I learned through trial and error is that the acclimation seemed to be a lot less stressful if they spent their first couple weeks in a smaller tank (3g or less) with no other inhabitants. I also made sure those tanks had low flow filters on them, and typically even left that turned off for the first couple of days. Going this route, my fish were typically active and colored back up within a couple days. It took a lot longer when they went in the larger (5-10g) tanks or into tanks with other fish from day one. When you think about the containers that bettas are raised in, making that kind of trip and then being dumped into a large (relatively) tank with other fish can add a lot of stress on the end of an already stressful trip. As the others said, also leave the lights off for the first day or two. Good luck!

I'm rather new to the planted tank scene so my resources are kinda meh. I'm definitely looking into getting more tanks at some point in the future so the miniature acclimation tank is something I will for sure look into

 

[AquaAurora]

*falls out from behind the large palm 'bush' and immediately assume the posture of a lazyboy/recliner*

(^10 seconds in^)
​

Actually I sit in the office and look at them, the tank is in the next room on the wall where i can see it easily from my desk and its about 20' away so not too close to them.

added:

I'm rather new to the planted tank scene so my resources are kinda meh. I'm definitely looking into getting more tanks at some point in the future so the miniature acclimation tank is something I will for sure look into

M.T.S. ftw! There's no such thing as too many tanks! Not enough money/time to maintain them all.. that's another story >.>

 

[The Hammiest]

Just went lights off about an hour ago and its made a big difference hes been roaming much more.