Hi, everyone! At our cousin's wedding last Sunday, they had those betta bowls with peace lilies on the top, and Deirdre was the winner. It was quite a trick to drive her new guy down to NY from MA, with a hotel stop in between - but we made it! Deirdre has him on the kitchen counter for now, where Pippin used to be, and she's named him Rubeus. He ate a couple of pellets, in spite of his ordeal, and seems quite healthy. But-

Deirdre wanted to top off the water in the bowl, because some had spilled on the car trip. So she checked the PH of his water as well as that in her treated water jug. The PH in his bowl was nearly 8, from what we could see, and that of the treated water was closer to 7. *Big* difference! The bowl holds about 1/2 gallon, and I think his parameters are good otherwise - we didn't feed him at all during the trip. Obviously, it's far too small to cycle. But how can we acclimatize him to his new PH and change his water without killing him? TIA!

You can empty out some of the old water and take a piece of air line tubing and tie a knot(depending of how fast or slow you want the water to flow) on one end. Then start a suction with the new water slowing dripping into the old bowl. Ive never done this with anything smaller than a 2.5 gallon so it might not work but its worth a shot.

Do you mean slowly adding perhaps a half cup of our water at a time, watching for reactions? That would certainly be possible. Deirdre also thought of just buying spring water for him , if the pH was closer. Thanks!

No, hold on I make one really quick and take a pic.

Okay, heres the pic....

I apperciate the picture Nykole. Always wanted to see if I was imaginig how to do this was right. Now I'm graphically equiped to handle this task when I need to.

I have just done it slowly, by dipping a bit of water out of the tank, and adding a bit of the new water. Every 15 minutes or so, I would dip out say an 1/8 cup, and add 1/8 cup.

Nykole, your drip looks like a good idea

Thanks, everyone! The drip is very clever, but Deirdre is more likely to use your method, Touchofsky, if she switches him over. At the moment she has him in the library as a mascot - she bought a gallon of spring water, tested it, and found the PH to be very close to the water in his bowl. She gave him about an 80 to 90 %water change, wiped off everything, and then gave him a couple of pellets, and he has reacted very well - she says the bowl holds nearly a gallon, and it has a wide mouth, so he should be okay in it for the short term. She intends to clean him out once a week, and she doesn't mind buying the water for him temporarily. He's a very pretty fish and has attracted quite a few comments already. It is funny, though, that tiny little Pippin has the 6 gallon tank and big Rubeus has the bowl. But they both seem happy for now.

I'm glad things are working out with Rubeus. I am glad that your sister got him