by water conditioner do you mean a dechlorinator? that would be a good thing.

until the fish container can build up some good bacteria, it would probably be a good idea to drain 10% or so of the water each day and replace it with either distilled or dechlorinated water.

and please save up for a five gallon tank. you can find them CHEEP on craigslist. i dont know where you live, but i could look for you if you give me the name of your city.

bettas are really cool. and if you can get a five or ten gallon tank, you can get other fish or snails and plants. not other bettas of course, but bettas do get along with lots of other fish.

im excited for you! aquaria is a hobby of mine.

__________________
I think that lifting a barbell is probably the single most important thing that women can do to improve their body image. Lifting heavy and feeling stronger and seeing how muscle mass changes your body is a phenomenal experience. - Tamara Cohen

For how long should I follow the procedure of draining 10 percent of the water?

Yes, it is a dechlorinator; the substance should additionally protect the fish from scrapes and cuts. I will definitely save for a five gallon tank.

The owner of the pet store said I could have the fish in a cup, and he would not die;

however, I want my fish to live, and be happy, and not just merely survive.

im really happy to hear you say that. fish keeping can be great fun. it gives me pride to be able to give them a home wherein theya re healthy adn happy.

well the best way to tell is to get a test that measures the amount of ammonia in the water. (fish pee in the water, which means ammonia will build up) that's the most important one to get.

there are two types of bacteria which will naturally develop in the water and are very beneficial to your aquarium. one converts ammonia into nitrites and the other converts nitrites into fairly harmless nitrates.

ideally you should test for both ammonia and nitrites, so you know that your fish "cycle" is complete. but ammonia is most important.

there are two types of tests which can measure these chemicals; the strips and the drops.

the strips are notoriously inaccurate, so please get the API brand drops, in which you put 5 mL of the aquarium water in a test tube and then put 8 drops of bottle one, and then 8 drops of bottle two in and the color will tell you how much ammonia is in the water.

the nitrite one is 5 drops of only one bottle.

i know you dont have much money, so getting the ammonia one for now, and testing until it starts coming up clear is good enough. then you can buy the one that tests for nitrites.

when the bacteria are in place and doing well, you can reduce the amount of water changes to once a week or so. and still it doesnt need to be much. for a one gallon tank it's only a few cups.

if you dont have a water filter, the bacteria will develop in the aquarium gravel.

i;m trying to start you off slow, so you dont get overwhelmed. fish keeping can become expensive, but it doesnt have to be!

10 Gallon aquarium (fish tank, fish bowl, acquarium)

this is a listing for a 10 gallon with a pump and gravel and decorations (looks like real driftwood, which is a big plus) for ten bucks! you can find deals, you just have to look.

__________________
I think that lifting a barbell is probably the single most important thing that women can do to improve their body image. Lifting heavy and feeling stronger and seeing how muscle mass changes your body is a phenomenal experience. - Tamara Cohen

and i know that the fish can "survive" without doing all of this... for a while. but that just means that the fish is slowly dying. ammonia burns. their gills become reddened and they have a harder and harder time oxygenating until the gills no longer works at all and they die of suffocation.

__________________
I think that lifting a barbell is probably the single most important thing that women can do to improve their body image. Lifting heavy and feeling stronger and seeing how muscle mass changes your body is a phenomenal experience. - Tamara Cohen

oh no, how sad.

i am sorry for my ignorance; do you think that changing the water every few days or so will help to reduce the ammonia?

i am not that poor; i can buy a larger fish tank, but unfortunately i am a busy and stressed graduate student and i bought the beta fish because i thought that keeping it happy and alive would not be that hard.