Treat Every Betta as a Separate Briefing
A tank of bettas is really several small briefings in one, because each betta lives alone in its own tank or divided section and eats a portion sized for one fish. Label every tank or section with the betta's name and a clear photo, since colours can look similar under evening light and a feeder working quickly can mix up who has been fed. Set out one labelled pot per betta per day with the few pellets that fish actually gets, and remove the main food tub from beside the tanks so nobody is tempted to improvise a second helping.
Explain plainly why the portions look so small. A betta's stomach is tiny, uneaten pellets sink and decay fast in a small volume, and holiday problems with bettas usually begin with generous feeding rather than a missed meal. If a betta ignores its food one day, the instruction is to remove what can be netted, note it, and feed nothing extra later to compensate. That restraint protects water quality for every neighbouring section that shares the same room and routine.
Walk Through the Order and the Divider Checks
Feed the bettas together once with your feeder watching, working in the same left-to-right order the written note follows. Show how each betta comes to the surface, how long you wait for it to take the pellets, and what you do if one fish is slow or distracted. A fixed order plus a simple tick beside each name after feeding prevents the two classic holiday errors with divided betta setups: one fish fed twice and another missed entirely.
Build a divider and lid check into every visit for bettas kept in divided tanks. Your feeder should confirm each divider sits firmly, each lid or cover is fully closed, and no betta is in a section that is not its own, because a fish that slips through can fight a neighbour before the next visit. Ask them to report a loose divider at once rather than reaching in to rebuild it, unless a fish is in immediate danger, and to send a photo so you can judge the problem from the image.
Keep Heater, Filter, and Behaviour Notes Per Fish
Bettas are tropical fish in small volumes, so a holiday brief should give the normal thermometer reading for each setup and ask your feeder to glance at every heater indicator daily. Small tanks change temperature faster than large ones, and a failed heater on one betta's tank will not show up in a neighbour's reading.
Name the behaviour changes worth a same-day message for a betta: staying at the bottom, refusing food for two visits in a row, building no interest in the surface, or fins held tightly against the body. Ask your feeder not to add treatments or move a lethargic betta to another container, since a new container of untreated water is a bigger shock than the original tank. A photo and a short note give you far more to act on than an attempted rescue.
Make the Handover Foolproof for a Non-Fishkeeper
Assume your holiday feeder may never have kept bettas and write the brief in plain actions: feed pot A to the red betta, tick the list, check the lid, look at the thermometer, send one photo. Put the pots in date order, leave a small net and towel beside the tanks, and keep spare dechlorinator clearly labelled only if you have already explained exactly when it would be used. Unlabelled bottles invite guesses, and guesses are what a good betta brief exists to prevent.
Add your contact order, a backup person who can step in, and permission to contact a local aquatic shop for hands-on help if a heater or divider fails. One short update covering all the bettas each day is enough for you to follow along without turning your feeder's visit into a long report. When each betta's portion, photo, and checks sit together in the handover, KinsLe's Care Pass lets your sitter work through them fish by fish with nothing left to memory.