A Better Home for Ben

For the past 6 weeks or so I've been caring for my eldest daughter's Betta fish, Ben. That's him hanging out on the leaf near the surface in this 1 gallon vase like tank. Even if the tank's "no-clean" system worked as it was supposed to it still wasn't an ideal home for Ben. It's too small and too cold.

But the no-clean system was clearly not working as it should since even with large daily water changes there was debris building up on the very bottom of the small tank. Even though the water above remained clear looking that build up of waste could not be good for the water quality.  

Initially I only had my daughter's fish so that I could do some much needed tank maintenance for her. But after doing a lot of reading about Betta fish I couldn't shake the feeling that his little tank was too small and too cold for him. I felt bad for the little fish and decided he needed a bigger, warmer, cleaner tank.

Costly decision that!

But after much research and agonizing over various options,

I bought a Fluval Spec 5 gallon tank, a BioOrb 50 watt heater, a few artificial plants, aquarium safe rocks (not as dumb as it sounds apparently), and 10 pounds of gravel. My son will be providing some aquarium treatment and a couple of small hardy fish, possibly ones from his tank, to get the "cycling" started. Once the tank is "stable" Ben will be able to move in.

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