Betta average life span?

Ive had conflicting info. about this, anywhere from 2-8 yrs, and am just curious how long they would live on average. Mine has been alive for 4 yrs.

 

I think 4 years is kinda old for a normal betta. The longest I had one was for 2.5 years, but he was big when I bought him. I have never heard of a betta living 8 years, but I guess it is possible.

 

Under ideal laboratory conditions Bettas have lived 10 or more years but on average, 2-5 years. If yours is 4 years old that is very good! How is his health and activity level now?

 

My betta is the same as he's always been. He never was very active unless there's food around.

 

Your betta is doing very well to live to 4. We'd love to see a pic of him. Phloxface is right on the age range on Bettas and you may have one that will go past the 5 years as some do.

 

cool , all my lived up to 3 or 3 and a half years.

 

Is there any way to tell how old a betta is? After the fry-3 month stage, and before the 'definately old' stage?

Just wondering because of course when you buy pet store bettas they don't bother to write their birthday on the cups! ;D .... and any other pet you buy they will generally give an estimate; but not with fish :-X

 

I can usually tell by the length of finage....Most the fish on Aquabid are NOT 3 months old like they claim they are more like 6.....

Bettas at pet stores are usually between 9-12 months old if not older......Good example is the CT's you see at pet co.....Here is a 4-5 month old CT....As you can see his rays are just now starting to grow out...

 

Wow... they are older then I thought at the lfs'

Thanks MM! I kind of got to wondering because my one betta just seems to have an 'older' personality then the other, and he is a bit bigger. But from what you just said the 'younger' of the two is probably at least 9mths to a year old himself. But then what do I know? LOL--the one I think is older could very well be the same age or younger

 

The halfmoons at Petco seem so small, is this just because they are from lower quality breeding lines? Or is it possible they are still young? They are about 2 inches long, including fins.

 

Hey guys!

I've attached some photos of my crowntail and my veiltail. The veiltail is about 3 inches~ and the crowntail is significantly smaller, maybe about 2 inches~ I'm wondering if my crowntail would get bigger overtime and how would I help his growth if he's still a youngling?

Thank you!

 

More frequent water changes and a high protein diet should help with growth.

 

The crowntail does look young. To get the best growth is the same as it would be for any fish - large and frequent water changes with quality feedings (but don't overfeed).

EDIT: Ninja'ed

 

How frequent would you say I change the water? He's currently in a 5 gallon tank by himself and how much of the water would I change?

 

Daily helps most. Every other day works too.

 

Daily helps most. Every other day works too.

What percentage of the water should I change?

 

When I got my youngest, he was in a cycled 2.5 tank and did 50% water changes twice a week and he grew very quickly.

I change my twins' 5 gallon once a week and they grew like weeds.

If the tank is cycled and he's healthy, I'm actually not sure why you would need to do more than that. If it isn't cycled, then you'll need to do twice weekly changes, but with a cycled 5 gallon, I'm actually not sure what the benefits of daily water changes are.

But don't do 100% water changes. Do 50% twice a week if the tank isn't cycled, and 25% once a week if it is. 100% changes will kill the beneficial bacteria and stress out the fish.

The food makes a big difference, too. They're carnivores and predators so they need a high protein brand, and not all betta fish food is created equal.

Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets are the best on the market. But look at the first four ingredients. You want at least 3 of them to be fish.

*Edit for typos*

Whole fish is best, followed by the fish name.

If we're using salmon as an example, when you look at the ingredient list, Whole Salmon is the best, followed by Salmon, followed by Salmon Meal, followed by Fish Meal.

So you want Whole Salmon or Salmon (or Whole Halibut or Halibut, or whatever fish) as the first ingredient, and high-quality fish protein in the other ingredients.

Blood worms are a good idea once or twice a week too. And it's always a good idea to fast them one day a week to help their digestive systems. It keeps them healthy and regular, which will help them better absorb nutrients.

 

100% changes won't kill the beneficial bacteria as long as the media is kept wet. It is stressful for the fish, though.

I would do 50% water changes every other day or so to help with growth.

Fish meal is fine for fish. It's just the other parts of the fish, which fish in the wild eat anyway.

 

Fish meal is fine for fish. It's just the other parts of the fish, which fish in the wild eat anyway.

I never said it wasn't. I said whole (which includes all parts of the fish) is better.

 

I never said it wasn't. I said whole (which includes all parts of the fish) is better.

Sorry, that's how it came across when you said "...(and not fish meal)", when in fact it's fine as one of the main ingredients. I just didn't want people to think it was bad.

 

Sorry, that's how it came across when you said "...(and not fish meal)", when in fact it's fine as one of the main ingredients. I just didn't want people to think it was bad.

Ah, rereading through that, yeah I can see how it came across that way. I'll edit it for tone.

That tone mostly comes from the old brand I used, the Hariko Bio-Gold, which used to be one of the best. Then they changed their formula, and the first ingredient is fish meal, and it's almost the only source of protein in the entire ingredient list.

I was super annoyed, and switched to Omega One, which has like 5 or six different sources of protein. So any flippant or annoyed or dismissive tone just came from my annoyance that I thought I was buying something I wasn't. It's not bad, it's still super popular, it just wasn't what I wanted, and wasn't what I thought I was getting.

 

I do 25-40 percent water changes daily or 50-60 percent water changes every other day on my betta fry tanks.

 

I'll have my Betta two years in September. He didn't seem like a baby when I brought him home. How long would you think he is?

 

Probably 2 years and 3 monthsish. Maybe longer. THey usually have about 3 year life spans, right?

 

I meant to say how old do you think he is?

Probably 2 years and 3 monthsish. Maybe longer. THey usually have about 3 year life spans, right?

I have heard 3 to 5 years. Just wondering how long it took to have him shipped to the store and how long before I found him and picked him up...an average amount of time

 

I have heard 3 to 5 years. Just wondering how long it took to have him shipped to the store and how long before I found him and picked him up...an average amount of time

If you mean his age, I'd agree with about 2.4 years. If you mean how long he went from most likely a wholesaler to the store then to you, I'd say maybe a month. At a store I work at, if certain bettas aren't sold within a month, we rotate who's in front and the ones who have been there longer either move to the back or if peaceful enough go into certain tanks. So it could be longer based on if where you got him does that sort of rotation or not.

 

I'd say 2.5 years old, they normally are between 3-4 months old when they get to the store, on average some "less pretty" bettas can sit there for several months before they are picked (I watched a veiltail male of Vanda coloring sit for 2-3 months before I was able to show him off to someone who immediately fell in love with him and his color, he was a peachy red with darker red spots in his fins).

 

yes 2.5 months old because males are sold from 4-5months old and females are sold from 3-4months old!

yes 2.5 months old because males are sold from 4-5months old and females are sold from 3-4months old!

Oops! 2.5 YEARS old. *Mornings....*

 

Oops! 2.5 YEARS old. *Mornings....*

Lol I know what you meant

 

Hi all!
I was wondering if there is some way to tell how old your betta fish is?
Thanks!

 

Hi all!
I was wondering if there is some way to tell how old your betta fish is?
Thanks!

As in tell the age of a mature fish? Not at all that I'm aware of.

 

I'm guessing you can sort of tell by their color and tail size.

 

As in tell the age of a mature fish? Not at all that I'm aware of.

I meant tell how old he is like when he was born. I am gonna guess and say he was about 6 months old when I got him, so that puts his birthday sometime in November/December.

I'm guessing you can sort of tell by their color and tail size.

Yeah. Maybe...

 

Bettas get paler/ less brightly colored as they get older, and a lot of times you see broken rays accumulate and they tear their fins more easily. So you can tell if your betta is old but unfortunately, not how old...

 

Color, size, activity level, and the older a betta gets the more curved their back tends to become (or so I've read).

 

I think that the honest answer is no, you can't accurately discern its actual age. In my experience, older bettas lose coloration on their faces, turning dull grey up to the gills. However, I can't say that's a rule. My elderly fish have certainly never experienced fin deterioration (they won't unless something is damaging them), and fin size is not a reliable indicator either.

If it was small with growing to do when you bought it, you can guesstimate the age at purchase to be about the age juvenile bettas go up for sale. Beyond that, you're only going to be able to tell if it's juvenile, mature, or rather old and haggard.