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Adults I used the beanie boxes. I might still have a bag full of them in my shed in fact.
You're in Illinois so, no you can't use a pond. The larger ones can eat mosquito larvae, but outdoor ponds can teem with bad stuff too.
For aeration I used a single airline with a regulator(little valve, you cut the airline, then hook each end to a plastic valve, costs a buck, AWESOME things). If you set it really low, you're good. For "filtering" you have to basically remove water and replace it with fresh. Filters will suck up babies and make too much current.
I took about half the water out(siphoned it using a piece of rigid airline hooked to regular airline) vacuuming the bottom to remove poo. Then I put a bucket with the clean water up on a shelf with a airline running to the tank, started a suction and let it siphon into the tank slowly so the water doesn't change pH, temp, etc(you let the water sit to be the same temps anyway). To keep the water flowing slowly, I used a kink in the line, with it fastened into place with a rubber band. Hard to explain, but it worked a real treat and was cheap and easy.
Remember that bettas live naturally in stagnant warm rice paddy water. So cold water or currents are no good. Shallow or small containers work just fine.
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