cognizant

I was just wondering, on average, how old is a fish when you buy it from the LFS?

I bought my betta nearly a year ago and I was beginning to wonder how old he really is. Would he be closer to 1 1/2? Closer to 2?

It says bettas usually live 2-3 years, so I just want to know when to start preparing myself for the inevitable.

Also, are different species usually sold at different ages or do they usually sell them all around the same age? Thanks!

Dino

Most fish are 3-6 months old when they are sold to pet shops.

sirdarksol

It depends on the fish, where it comes from, etc...
Many bettas can be pretty old (a year or more) by the time they reach the fish store, especially if that store's source still ships form overseas. Then they sit at the store for goodness knows how long.

Most captive-bred fish go through a similar process, though the exact timing depends on the specific breed of fish and how long it takes for them to mature.

On the other hand, fish that are caught from the wild can be anywhere in their age range.

One local fish store has barbs that range from a few months to over a year (this is a guess based on the fish's sizes. They have little tiny gold barbs about a fourth of my barbs' size, and then they have barbs that are pretty close to my barbs' size)

Allie

Betta who are young have that young looking face. Some betta may have been 3-4 months when the stores get them...some sit around for another two if they make it that far.

sirdarksol

If the store cares for their bettas well (I know, it's far too infrequent), they can hang around for quite awhile. A nearby store sells show bettas, and I've seen the same betta in place for over six months. The thing was full adult (no baby face) and gorgeous. I almost wanted to get it simply because it was beautiful when it was being kept in a bowl, and I wanted to see what it would look like if it was in a cycled, heated tank.

Allie

The place we get our fish supplies not fish, especially not betta anymore. Have THE worst quality betta I have ever had. All my boys came from there and Holly...plus the keyhole cichlids who had the parasite who killed 1/2 of my fish. Casper, JB and Buster all came from elsewhere.

cognizant

So Hughie can be anywhere from 15 months to 2 1/2 years...

Allie

Roughly....I am sure some people betta have lasted 4-5 yrs.