Your New Betta Has Arrived

Your New Betta Has Arrived

Before you open the bag and introduce them to their new home, please take a few minutes to read this guide.

Travelling is stressful for any fish. Your Betta has been fasted before leaving us, carefully packed and transported in a dark box before suddenly arriving in a completely new environment.

The best thing you can give them now is time, warmth and peace.

BEFORE YOU OPEN THE BAG

Make sure the aquarium is completely ready before removing your Betta from their transport bag.

Your aquarium should be:

- Fully set up and appropriately cycled

- Heated to approximately 25–27°C

- Treated with a suitable water conditioner

- Free from detectable ammonia and nitrite

- Gently filtered with minimal current

- Securely covered with a lid (optional)

- Equipped with plants, hides or other areas where your Betta can retreat and rest

Bettas are tropical fish and should not be kept long-term in unheated bowls or small unfiltered containers.

STEP 1 — OPEN THE SHIPPING BOX

Open the outer packaging carefully and remove the transport bag.

Your Betta may look completely different from the fish you saw online.

Don't panic.

After travelling, it is perfectly normal for a Betta to temporarily:

- Lose colour

- Develop stress stripes

- Clamp their fins

- Sit at the bottom of the bag

- Become very still

- Breathe more rapidly

- Appear disorientated

- Look pale or washed out

- Hide once introduced to the aquarium

Some fish recover almost immediately. Others can take several hours or even a few days to completely settle.

STEP 2 — DIM THE LIGHTS

Turn the aquarium lights off before acclimation.

If possible, keep the room relatively quiet and avoid bright lighting.

Your Betta has spent their journey in darkness. Going immediately from a dark shipping box into bright aquarium lighting can add unnecessary stress.

We recommend leaving the aquarium lights off for the remainder of their first day.

STEP 3 — TEMPERATURE ACCLIMATION

Float the sealed transport bag in the aquarium for approximately:

15–20 minutes

This allows the temperature inside the bag to gradually move towards the temperature of the aquarium.

Do not leave the bag floating unnecessarily for a prolonged period.

STEP 4 — TRANSFER YOUR BETTA

Once the temperatures have equalised, your Betta can be transferred.

We recommend avoiding prolonged drip acclimation after shipping.

Once a transport bag is opened, changes in the chemistry of the shipping water can occur. Getting your Betta into clean, warm aquarium water promptly is preferable to keeping them sitting in opened transport water for an extended period.

Our preferred method:

Carefully open the bag and gently transfer your Betta into the aquarium using a clean fish net or suitable container.

Do not pour the shipping water into your aquarium.

Never handle your Betta with dry hands.

STEP 5 — LEAVE THEM ALONE

This is one of the most important parts.

Once your Betta is in the aquarium:

Give them peace.

It is incredibly tempting to immediately watch them closely, photograph them, encourage them to flare or keep checking whether they're okay.

Try not to.

Allow them to explore and recover at their own pace.

Keep lighting low and minimise activity around the aquarium.

A Betta hiding behind a plant or sitting quietly after travelling does not necessarily mean something is wrong.

SHOULD I FEED THEM STRAIGHT AWAY?

We recommend allowing your Betta some time to settle before offering food.

Remember that your Betta has been deliberately fasted before shipping. This helps keep the transport water cleaner during their journey.

Once they appear settled and alert, you can offer a very small meal.

A couple of appropriately sized pellets or a small amount of frozen/live food is enough.

If they aren't interested:

Remove the food and try again later or the following morning.

Do not repeatedly add food trying to encourage them to eat.

It is very common for a newly arrived Betta to refuse their first meal

THE FIRST NIGHT

Keep things simple.

Warm water.

Clean water.

Low light.

Minimal disturbance.

Your Betta does not need to be entertained or encouraged to explore.

Let them decide when they're ready.

THE FIRST 24 HOURS

During the first day you may notice behaviours that you haven't seen in our photographs or videos.

These can include:

- Hiding

- Resting on leaves

- Resting near the bottom

- Staying close to the heater

- Remaining near the surface

- Reduced appetite

- Clamped fins

- Temporary colour loss

- Occasional rapid breathing

- Cautious swimming

- Short periods of increased activity

The important thing is to watch for gradual improvement rather than expecting immediate perfection.

As your Betta settles, you should normally begin to see more exploration, stronger colouration, relaxed fins and increasing interest in food.

DON'T CHASE THE PERFECT WATER NUMBER

Consistency matters.

Bettas can adapt to a reasonable range of water conditions, but sudden changes can be stressful.

As a general guide:

Temperature: 25–27°C

Ammonia: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 0 ppm

Nitrate: ideally kept low

pH: stability is more important than trying to force a particular number

Avoid using chemicals simply to chase a specific pH.

Stable, conditioned and appropriately maintained water is far more important.

YOUR BETTA MAY LOOK DIFFERENT

This is especially important with highly coloured and iridescent Bettas.

Colour can change significantly depending on:

- Stress

- Lighting

- Background colour

- Aquarium environment

- Camera exposure

- Age

- Natural development

Some Bettas also carry marbling genetics, meaning their colour and pattern can naturally change throughout their life.

That is part of keeping these remarkable fish.

FIN NIPPING DURING TRAVEL

Occasionally a Betta may arrive with damage to their fins that was not present when they were packed.

Long-finned Bettas in particular can sometimes nip their own fins during periods of stress.

It can look dramatic, but fresh fin damage usually heals extremely well when the fish is kept in excellent conditions.

If you notice new fin damage:

- Prioritise exceptionally clean water

- Keep the temperature stable

- Minimise stress

- Avoid unnecessary medication

- Monitor the fin for signs of healing

Healthy new fin growth often appears clear or translucent at first.

DON'T MEDICATE A HEALTHY FISH "JUST IN CASE"

After shipping, stress can sometimes look like illness.

We don't recommend immediately adding multiple medications simply because your Betta is quiet, pale or clamped after travelling.

Medication itself can place additional stress on a fish.

Unless there is a clear reason to treat, give your Betta clean, warm and stable water and allow them time to recover.

AVOID TOO MUCH ATTENTION

For the first few days, avoid repeatedly:

- Tapping the aquarium

- Moving decorations

- Catching the fish

- Making large unnecessary water changes

- Encouraging prolonged flaring

- Holding mirrors against the aquarium

- Constantly switching the lighting on and off

One of the easiest mistakes with a new Betta is simply doing too much.

THE FIRST WEEK

Over the following days, gradually establish a normal routine.

Feed a good-quality Betta diet in sensible portions and monitor how much your individual fish actually eats.

Remove uneaten food.

Maintain the aquarium normally and monitor your water parameters, particularly in newly established aquariums.

You should gradually begin to see your Betta's individual personality emerge.

Some own the aquarium within five minutes.

Others take a few days.

Both are completely normal.

KEEP THE LID ON (Optional)

Bettas can jump. Experience tells me this is more precelant in PK amd smaller finned HMPK.

And they can jump considerably higher than many new owners expect.

Your aquarium should always have a secure lid, particularly while your Betta is adjusting to their new surroundings.

Check for gaps around cables, filters and pipework.

KEEP THE FLOW GENTLE

Bettas aren't built for battling powerful aquarium currents all day.

This is particularly important for large-finned Halfmoons and other long-finned varieties.

If your Betta is constantly being pushed around the aquarium or struggling to remain stationary, reduce or diffuse the filter flow.

GIVE THEM SOMEWHERE TO REST

Bettas frequently rest.

They may sleep on:

- Broad plant leaves

- Floating plants

- Decorations

- Betta hammocks

- Wood

- Areas close to the surface

This can occasionally frighten new owners because a sleeping Betta can look remarkably lifeless.

If they wake and behave normally when disturbed naturally, they were probably just having a nap.

WHEN SHOULD I BE CONCERNED?

Shipping stress should generally begin improving rather than becoming progressively worse.

Please contact us if your Betta appears to be deteriorating or you notice something you are genuinely concerned about.

Things worth paying particular attention to include:

- Persistent severe difficulty breathing

- Inability to remain upright

- Significant swelling

- Unusual lesions or growths

- Progressive deterioration rather than improvement

- Persistent refusal to eat accompanied by other symptoms

- Rapidly worsening fin or body damage

If you're unsure — send us a video.

A short, clear video of the fish swimming is often considerably more useful than trying to describe what you're seeing.

If possible, also provide your:

Temperature • Ammonia • Nitrite • Nitrate • pH

That gives us much more information to work with.

MOST IMPORTANTLY...

You've just received a fish that has experienced a very unusual day.

They have been fasted, bagged, boxed, transported, moved through completely different surroundings and introduced to a home they've never seen before.

They don't know yet that they're safe.

Give them time to work that out.

Don't judge your new Betta by their first five minutes in your aquarium.

Give them warmth.

Give them clean water.

Give them somewhere to hide.

And then give them a little peace.

Before long, the fish you chose will start appearing again.

And then the personality comes out.

That's when the fun really starts.

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- [ ] Aquarium ready before opening the bag