How to Properly Acclimate Your New Betta Fish

OPENING: There's a simple reason why you need to acclimate your new betta to his new tank.  The water parameters are different.  The pH may be different. The nitrates level may be as well.  Plus the temperature he's at in the bag is quite unlikely to be the same as your tank. Not to mention what he was used to in his previous digs.

Which is why saying "Off you go!" and just dumping him in is NEVER a good idea. 

You want to slowly let him get used to things at least a little bit before freeing him to explore.  This is called acclimating.  Failure to do this can be very stressful.  It can shock your fish.  Worst case it can die.  Not a good start.  So always, always. always, make an effort to acclimate your striking male betta fish to his new surroundings. 

Okay so much for the why.  You need the how.  And even though this video doesn't feature betta fish, you can still start to get a sense of how to do this by watching it.


Let's quickly hit the highlights of how to acclimate your new betta to his new home.

Sometimes turning off the light to the tank can be calming for the new fish.  Good idea. 

Usually your fish will come in a bag.  You'll want to float the bag for at least 10-15 minutes to let the temperature in the bag come up to the temp in the tank. 

Next you want to gradually add tank water to the bag.  You can either spoon this in, use a cup, or lower a side of the bag to allow some to sneak in.  You want to add new tank water every 10 to 15 minutes for about an hour.  This way you are gradually increasing the amount of tank water in the bag.  Helping your fish to slowly adjust over time. 

Best practice would be to catch and release rather than dumping the contents fish and all.  If you can use your hand rather than a net.  Again this is a less stressful.  The trick is to do this as quick as you possibly can.  Nothing worse than chasing your fish around the bag.  You can also injure your fighting fish sometimes during the chase. 

Drip acclimation is another way to go.  But not a method I would use with bettas.  Seems to me to be a bit more stressful.  Bag.  To bucket.  To tank?  Not to mention all the water it takes to make that happen.

And since you're releasing your betta into a tank by himself I tend not to feed until the next day.  Don't worry.  He won't starve.  But he will have time to settle in and then can start to adjust to the grub you feed. 

CONCLUSION:  So that's acclimating in a nutshell. Not that tricky but certainly essential.