Is this a good idea

[dragondancer2004]

so yesterday was the first day that my fish didnt see each other i wanted to keep my male from getting hurt and my little female is in a 12oz plastic cup do to low budget and it only being for a few more days but they both seemed utterly lost without each other also her being in a smaller container and now receiving 4-6 live blood worms a day plus a pellet in the morning and a pellet everyother night im noticing her bowl movements have increased and the water will need to be changed daily thats fine but i was thinking if maybe i could put the divider in the tank again while i clean the cup and add freash water if they could see each other???? any comments as to y this could be bad it would only be 5-10 min and it could cheer them both up i think

[gm72]

Your signature states that "Animals are people too". Fish are animals. Why aren't you considering how you are keeping them? I'm not being harsh here but rather brutally honest.

Please do some (read: a lot) of research on the keeping of bettas, both males and females.

[dragondancer2004]

bcuz payday isnt till tomarrow when i can get her her own tank thats y shes in that cup. plus shes only been in it since last night which is nothing compared to the ill treatment at the pet stores thank u very freakin much jerk!!!!!! i was asking so i would know if i knew wat to do i wouldnt need help would i?????

[xoolooxunny]

wow . . .:help:

[Fishalicious]

There is no need to reprimand someone here with bad language and call them names for showing honesty.

You yourself as you state know it is wrong to put a betta in a cup (like they do in stores) even if it is for just one night! I wouldn't lock you up in a 2 feet cupboard with the thought it is only for a night...

The best thing to do as you know now is to get 2 seperate tanks - one for the male and one for the female or get a darkened divider so the male and female cannot constantly see each other... if they see each other once or twice a day for 10-15 minutes it is no biggie - it is in the longterm that it can stress.

I don't know how big the tank is with the divider...

Remember if you are planning on breeding you will need LOT's of tanks as the baby males will start to kill each other at a young age.

I hope this helped a little but it is hard to be nice to someone when they are not so nice themself... think about that in the future....

[xoolooxunny]

not to mention that talking to a mod like that is no way to get help around here.

[Nick_Pavlovski]

The immediate risk that I can think of is that fish usually need anywhere from one hour to three hours to acclimatise to different water.

To put the female into the big tank would normally be a 30-60 minute process where you put her in a bag with the cup water, float it on the big tank's surface. Then over 30 minutes to an hour, slowly add water from the big tank into the bag, so that she becomes used to the water conditions of the big tank. Then after an hour, you could let her free into the big tank.

Then, to re-introduce her back to the cup after it's been cleaned is another hour of about the same. This will really stress the poor female a lot.

I think moving a fish from one container to another should only be done once one-way weekly at most, otherwise the stress is too much.

Now, when I was a kid, I never followed the above advice, becuase I didn't know it. I would put my two small goldfish into a bucket of freshly-poured tapwater, clean their tank for an hour (removing all bacteria), refill the tank with more fresh tapwater and just chuck the two goldfish back in.
I would nowadays never do this with tropical fish which are far more sensitive. I would also never do anything like it unless there was a damned urgent reason to.

If you want to follow your plan through, then that is a choice for you. I personally wouldn't recommend it as you are about to put her into a new tank anyway, which is another shock for her (but a necessary one).
Put the cup up against the tank, that is a good enough substitute action. They should be able to see eachother.

PS - Some others here have commented about your reaction to gm72.
If you have a look at all the little green squares under his date of joining & location, that shows that many people have given him positive status for good suggestions. To get even one extra green square, you have to receive multiple approvals from people about your advice/post. So, this means gm72 is held in really high regard. I myself have given him approvals a number of times for all the good advice and help he's given me.

We are all trying to be friends here. You are welcome to disagree with him, but please do so politely.

[cocoa_pleco]

Nick nailed it with awesome info

[gm72]

Thank you all for the support. The post is out of line but I am keeping it in tact to serve as an example of what NOT to do.

My post stands as well. Poor planning and lack of research while trying to maintain healthy animals of any kind is irresponsible. Period.

[Mvjnz]

I don't understand the point of putting the female in the cup 2 days before you can afford the new bigger tank. Why not just wait 2 days and then put her in a proper tank. Just because pet stores keep their bettas in tiny cups doesn't make it ok. There is no fish on the planet that will be happy in a tiny cup where it can hardly move.

[RainMan]

Wow... don't come asking opinions and questions if you don't want to hear the answers.

Cudos to Nick, Fishalicious, and gm for being so tolerant!!

[MelonMan]

how good is it to see "Banned" underneath his name lol