This article is for those who are new to fish keeping.

Before you have your first betta, you need to prepare for it's arrival. The most important things you should have are:-

1. A Jar or a small aquarium
2. Prepared water
3. Food


Jar/Aquarium
The size of the Jar matters. It must be big enough to hold enough water so you don't have to change it everyday, and it must be small enough so you can carry it easily to the next Betta Sunday. 

The most ideal Jar is SU825! Super clear plastic, extremely durable and big viewing area. 



Available at Jalan Pasar at the cost of RM1.50 per unit. </end of advertisement>

On a serious note, any size will do. the bigger, the better but be practical. The magic number we're looking at is 1/2 gallon, which is equivelant to around 2 litres of water. 1/2 gallon of water fits into a 4"x6"x8" aquarium and it should last you between 1/2 a week to a week without water change depending on the type of betta kept. You should be able to keep CTs and 1/2moons in Jars that size as well. Did you know that SU825 can store around 1/2 gallon of water as well?


Water
Not any water will do. I have a sister-in-law who's idea of changing water for her betta involves putting the bowl under running tap water and have the cheek to say "I thought that the fish likes it! He's swimming around and around during water change" and there's when i said to myself "you'd be swiming around and around too if you were in a whirlpool..." it's really a dot-dot-dot moment... Don't do that to your betta else i'll call the SPCA on you.

Water from tap has to be treated because it contains chlorine(Cl2) and in worst case scenario, chloramine. 'Worst case' because you have to spend money to get rid of it.

From Wikipedia (I LOVE THE SITE! the wealth of information in it is priceless..) 
"Chlorine is an important chemical for water purification(Such as water treatment plants), in disinfectants, and in bleach. Chlorine is usually used (in the form of hypochlorous acid) to kill bacteria and other microbes in drinking water supplies and public swimming pools. 

Chloramine (NH2Cl) is commonly used in low concentrations as a disinfectant in municipal water systems as an alternative to chlorination. Chloramine in tap water gives a greenish cast to the water in bulk, versus the normally bluish cast to pure water or water containing only chlorine disinfectant.

Chlorine in regular tap water can be lethal to fish. There are two ways to dechlorinate water. The first is to age the tap water by letting it sit in an open container for at least 24 hours, chlorine in the water will escape into the air. The other method involves using anti-chlorine to your tap water. It is available in most local fish shop (LFS). Just ask for anti-chlorine and they will know what to give you.

Chloramine on the other hand does not escape into the air, you must use water conditioners that specifically say they remove chloramine and its usually more expensive. A recommended product would be Seachem's Prime.

Once you get your water treated, fill up your jar with it and wait for your fish to arrive.


Food
Get a small bottle of fish food for betta from your LFS. The small bottle of food should lasts you months. Don't panic if the betta doesn't eat it at first, it will learn to eat it soon. Some people like to feed their betta with mosquito larvae as treats. Don't do that unless your betta has been conditioned to eat pallets, else you'll have to train it to eat pallets again.

The number 1 rule of feeding is DON'T OVERFEED. Feed your fish once a day as much food as they will consume in 3 minutes. Too much food left in the aquarium will foul the water and in return, require more frequent water change.

Betta will live even if not fed for a week. So, if you're going on a holiday, don't compensate by feeding more. Just make sure to change water before you leave.


What to do when the fish arrive. 
Float the unopened bag in the Jar filled with treated water for about 15 minutes to equalize the temperature. When temperatures are equal, open the bag and put in some water from jar into the bag containing the betta to acclimitaze the betta to the new water. Pour in more water from the jar into the bag after a few minutes, then finally transfer the betta from the bag into the Jar.

Failure to perform these steps might put your betta in PH or temperature shock and it might die from it.
So there you have it. Feed twice a day, change water twice a week. If i missed out something, let me know.

The discussion to this article is available here.