Betta Tank Care

Question
Hi, I asked a question about Bettas a couple weeks ago.  I have another.  How often do you have to totally empty and clean a 5 gallon aquarium with one Betta fish in it?  Also the room we will keep it in varies in temperature.  It is very hard to control.  It will be 66 at night and up to 80-85 in the day because it has lots of sunny windows.  The aquarium will never get direct sunlight and will have a heater.  What do you think? Oh, another question I just remembered.  What do you do when you are away for 2 weeks?  The best I can come up with is taking the whole aquarium to a nieghbor.  I am not sure how to transport the fish....in the aquarium or in the dish he comes in.  Thanks for your help!  April

Answer
April,

 You never have to completely clean a 5 gallon aquarium. Just use a gravel vacuum once a week and add new water and all will be good. As for the temp, as long as he has a heater set at 82 degrees he will be fine. If the room temp goes up the heater will shut off and when it drops below 82 degrees it will kick back on. If you have to move the aquarium then yes remove him from the tank. The cup he came in will work good for that. Just add a stress coat conditioner for the move to kind of help him out.