Start with the betta your sitter will actually meet
Your sitter has never watched your betta the way you have, so the note opens with his personality in plain sight. Describe where he patrols — the front glass, a favourite corner, the gap behind the heater — and how he greets movement outside the tank, whether that is an eager wiggle at the glass or a slow drift up from the plants. Name his resting spots and what he looks like asleep: draped over a leaf, tucked into a hide, fins relaxed and colour slightly paler than his daytime best. A sitter who knows his sleeping pose will not panic at a still fish, and a sitter who knows his greeting will notice the morning he does not come up to say it.
Feeding: amounts, timing and his table manners
Write down exactly what a meal looks like for this fish: the food he gets, the small measured amount, and where in the tank you offer it. More useful than the amount is his manner of eating — whether he strikes at the surface the second food lands, hunts each piece methodically, or takes a while to notice. Note how long a finished meal takes and what an unfinished one means, because leftover food is the detail a new feeder most often misjudges. Add the one rule that protects him while you are away: if he refuses a meal, the answer is to skip the next one and watch, never to offer extra in the hope of tempting him.
The tank's normal readings and everyday sounds
A betta's normal includes his water, so record the reading his thermometer usually shows, where the waterline normally sits, and how his filter sounds when all is well — a gentle hum and a soft ripple at the surface, not a rattle or a trickle that has changed pitch. Note the light's usual on and off times, the plants' normal appearance, and whether a few snails or a light film on the glass are simply part of this tank's everyday picture. These small baselines turn a vague worry into a checkable fact: the sitter can compare what they see against what you wrote instead of guessing.
The changes that mean 'phone me today'
Finish the note with the short list of sights that should never wait until you are home. Clamped fins held tight against his body, lying on the gravel rather than resting in his usual spots, gasping at the surface, loss of colour that does not return when he warms up and wakes, white spots or a fuzzy patch that was not there before, and a second refused meal in a row — each of these earns a same-day message to you. Tell the sitter what to do first: check the thermometer reading against your note, confirm the filter is running, take a clear photo, and change nothing in the tank until you have replied or a vet has advised. KinsLe's Care Pass hands your sitter this temporary, clear picture of your betta's routine and warning signs, so the person feeding him is working from your knowledge rather than their guesswork.