Betta Fish: Happy Update: Betta saved from Dumpster

Hi everyone!

Here's the update l promised on the little cutie we found in a dumpster last weekend.

I initially named him Rosie because he was pale pink and l assumed he was a pretty girl because l know absolutely nothing about fish. 😃 Now we're calling him a more manly name Pete (after Pete Rose) or sometimes Lucky (for obviously reasons).

We had a rough first few days because he was in the new tank while cycling. The tap water here is miserable, even with filtration, conditioner, and quick start. I was doing 25% daily water changes but nitrite levels were too high. He was in dire condition, hiding, laying on the tank floor, inactive, and not eating. I didn't think he would last another day so l did something drastic. I grabbed water from the stream in the back yard (healthy flowing stream with live fish in it). I filtered the water through a Big Burkey filtration unit, heated it to 78 degrees, and did a 50% water change. I went to bed worried that l might have made things worse and would wake up to him gone.

Imagine my surprise when l woke up to him active and wanting to eat! He's now swimming, exploring, eating, and even interacting with me. He's an adorable, curious, playful little fellow. Nitrites are now much lower (between 0 and .5) and nitrates are almost 0. I'm still working on his tank, it was a huge learning curve for a non-fish owner and setting up in desperation) but he now has 3 hides, 7 live plants the he loves to hide in and rest on, plus l just grabbed a cup of eleocharis grass today (though l still need to figure out how to plant it).

Anyway, thank you all so very much for you advice the day l found him. Together we've saved this little guy and hopefully his remaining days are happy and peaceful! 💖