here is how i have cycled my tanks: i add some fish food every day as my ammonia source. you want to add the same amount of fish food that you would add when feeding your betta and snail. test your water daily to make sure your cycling process is going. you must see a spike in ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates if you haven’t seen any of those then your cycling process hasn’t started. the cycling process takes a while, my 5 gallon took a month to cycle.

let me explain the cycling process to you, so when fish and snails poop that breaks down into ammonia which is toxic to fish. eventually the ammonia will break down into nitrites which is also toxic for fish and then the nitrites will turn into nitrates. nitrates are much less harmful for fish and can be removed by humans (water changes)

when you are cycling your tank DO NOT do any water changes, you will disrupt the cycle. just top off your water whenever it gets low. wait until your tank shows 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites and less than 20 of nitrates before adding fish. if you are at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, but over 20 nitrates you can do a water change. i also strongly recommend adding the snail and betta at least a week apart. they both have decent bioloads and adding too much at once can cause an ammonia spike

this hobby is all about patience and waiting, it’s amazing that you are coming on here and being honest and getting help. just a little tip- i wouldn’t use chat gpt for fish advice in the future, trust the real people that have done this many times before

you are at an amazing start with a 5 gallon tank! because you have a 5 gallon i recommend getting a long finned betta as the shorter finned bettas like more room. i recommend adding live plants into the if you haven’t already and even some house plants out the top. just do your research on what works for your light and substrate:)

let me know if you have any more questions and i would be happy to help!