introducing Hector

I've never posted about the third betta that lives in our house, Hector, even though we've had him the longest. He's my daughter's fish, but of course as mom I am very involved in his care, and feel pleased to see him finally in a proper home. So here's some notes about that.

Hector had been living in a one-gallon bowl like our other bettas, until I bought my daughter a small tank for christmas. It was a three-gallon but I didn't realize needed to cycle like the bigger fishtank, so we had some problems when first put him in. He was getting sick from high Nitrites so we moved him back into the bowl, I switched the small tank for a slightly larger one, and seeded it with media, gravel and cuttings of live plants from the established tank to help jump-start the cycle. It didn't take long for that to become relatively stable, and now he's moved into the five-gallon and seems happy so far.

He's got a heater, about an inch of gravel, a few items of decor, some Java Moss, a bit of Java Fern and an Anubias plant tied onto his log. He can rest on the large, broad leaves. We plan to add a snail to his tank, and my daughter would like to put in a few other fish as well, but I'm not sure about that yet. He might not like sharing his new spacious home! So for now he lives in solitary splendor.