Betta water temp,feeding and water change

I've been told by a pet store, read a book and the side of a betta pellet container different opinions on how much and how often to feed betta.
And also the temp. the tank should be kept at and how often to change the water.
I have a 2.5 gallon under gravel filter...one male betta.

Anyone have better knowledge to help me?

In the past I was feeding 3 pellets in the AM and 3 in the PM.
Tank is kept at 78 with complete water change once a month to a month and a half.
BTW Betta died so i am wonder what i did wrong.
Because I have a new one and don't want to repeat mistakes...

THNX..

Was the aquarium cycled before you introduced the Betta? Quite a few other postings on this website have details about the nitrogen cycle. If the aquarium was not cycled, fish and food wastes will turn into toxic ammonia, so please read about it. As I said in the answer to your other posting, you should do partial water changes about once a week. This website also has detailed information about raising Bettas; just read through some of the previous postings and ask all the questions you want.

If your not sure if your tank is 100 % completley cycled and your really anxious to put fish in there try fish that aren't live bearers. such as tetras. if that betta dies put one or two black skirt tetras in there those are really pretty too. almost like an angle fish.

It's always better to complete the cycle before adding fish. The following excerpt from another post may be helpful.

Yesterday, I read a very good explanation of the nitrogen cycle in the April, 2009 issue of Aquarium Fish International, which is usually for sale in pet stores. Very briefly, the article says that the nitrogen cycle starts when fish and food wastes make ammonia. An aerobic bacteria then converts the ammonia to nitrite, and another aerobic bacteria converts the nitrite to nitrate. Anaerobic bacteria finally convert the nitrate into nitrogen and oxygen. The result in a new aquarium is an initial ammonia spike followed by a nitrite spike followed by equilibrium. Since your aquarium still has ammonia, the cycling process is probably not complete. Both ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish.

You mentioned Cycling of the water before adding the betta.
After the other betta died I did a complete cleaning of the tank,decoration and plants.
Then did a new set up and let it run alost 2 days before putting the new betta in.
Is that Cycling? And if so long enough?

I'm thinking the first betta died because i was over feeding and not doing the water changes often enough.

Being new to taking care of a fish tank i was doing full tank cleans every time and it seemed over welming so I only did it once a month....and no partial water changes.
With the death of the first betta I relize my mistakes. And now learning so I don't repeat.

I think the cleaning tips you guys have given will make things easier for me.
And I'll be a better betta mom now..

OK you NEED to clean it more than just every month no wonder he died for that small of a tank it needs to be cleaned AT LEAST every week! sorry if i sound mean but its kinda obvious why yours where dying....and if you are like me and dont like doing water changes a lot get at least a 5-10 gallon tank and im sure the betta would be a lot happyer too. i think you feed yours fine so i dont think overfeeding was a problem
sorry again if i sound mean but yoour the perfect example of what most people with bettas do and why most bettas die right after someone gets them....