Introducing the newest member to our household

This is Ronon, named after Ronon Dex in Stargate Atlantis. He's darker than the picture, a nice navy blue.

My son received him as a Christmas gift from his cousin, it was a real experience bringing him home in the car, I felt every bump and ended up with a wet lap. David couldn't understand why anyone would get someone a fish as a gift and we joked about buying him a mouse, rat or ferrett next year.

He came in a small plastic aquarium, thought it was too small, even though it was much bigger than the jars or even wine glasses you see these poor fish in. He just sat there doing nothing most of the time, poor thing looked bored. Yesterday we went out and bought a round fish bowl for him.

After setting it up, putting water ager in it and letting it set for a while we put Ronon into his new home. He is a changed fish, before the only way he would move was when someone accidentally (or most probably on purpose) knocked the tank. In the new bowl he has barely stopped moving, though he has taken to coming to side of the bowl to stare at me as I sit here typing.

I've never owned a Betta before, my sister used to have a big aquarium and had one in it, floating around in a tiny plastic container, always felt sorry for that fish. Had no idea how to look after one, so glad we didn't listen to what we told when he was given to us. The advice then was to only feed it every 5 days! When I looked it up on the net all the advice said twice a day, same advice from the pet shop. One of my Brother in laws used to keep Betta and told me that they breathe air so must be able to get to the surface, very sound advice. We change part of his water once or twice a week, have bought a filter but still need a pump. With water changes really don't need to filter but it's nice to have that option.

Update Went looking for a nice ruin to add to the bowl, found nothing suitable. There are 2 pet shops in our closest shopping centre, only one had Betta for sale, all were in tiny display tanks and as Thomas pointed out all looked so depressed. I bought some dried blood worms for Ronon and mentioned to the sales clerk there that I had put ours into a larger bowl. He told me that Betta do not like large bowls that the smaller the better for them, that his friend has kept one in a wine glass for many years. My jaw dropped, told him that ours has gone from being lethargic to happily swimming around the bowl. He's gone from being timid to being quite bold overnight. He also loves the blood worms much better than the pellets, he spits those out and gobbles down the worms.

Have been reading up on breeding Betta, it's a bit hit or miss. I'd have to get him girlfriend but then would need another tank to house them. If we breed them we could give one back to his cousin next Christmas.