How long do your bettas live?

[verucaproduce]

Maybe that is my problem. Bought him at PetCo and he looked full-sized. Problem is that around here there isn't much selection.

I just purchased a honey flame gourami. Asked for the smallest one in the tank. I think he is 'locally grown' so I am hoping everything will be ok. I am going to quarantine him for a few weeks too.

 

[Guest]

Back when i was in high school, i bought a betta from a lfs, a big vase (it held at least a gallon of water) had some glass stones in the bottom of it with a peace lilly suspended over the water with the roots going down into the vase. I did water changes aoubt every 6 months and adding water when it would evaporate. I fed him once a day. He lived for 4 healthy years and a few months. I think he died of old age because i kept feeding him as normal and he just kept getting skinnier and skinnier. Then towards the back of his body started to bend a little bit after a month or so, and it just go to the point where he was this normal sized betta head with a very very slender almost immoble body. He eventually died. Since then, this past year I decided i wanted another one since it has been a few years since I had a betta. I went to wal mart and saw one that i just couldn't pass up due to the coloring of it. (yeah, i know, bad choice) well needless to say, no matter what i did with the bettas i got from walmart, but about $15.00 later and 5 dead bettas later, i will no longer buy a betta from walmart. I bought one at a time, put it in clean water, etc, just like you are supposed to do, and all died within a week of when i got them. So stay away from the walmart fish.

 

[firestar]

I read somewhere that 50% of lps bettas die. Now, this was a random internet statistic so I don't trust it completely (and we all know that 42% of all statistics are made up ), but my point is, whenever you buy a betta from the lps, you must realize that it might not make it. All my bettas are pet store rescues, some have died quickly, others have gone on to live long and healthy lives.

Most lps bettas are sold when they're about a year old. At that point their fins have grown out fully and they look the best. Some are a little younger, and some are a little older, and sometimes you can tell by the size of the fish. Of course, some fish are big and some are small, even when they reach maturity. (Totally off topic, but I just tried to measure my silver female for the first time, and I discovered she's terrified of the ruler! :? I put it next to the wall of her tank, and she freaked out. I've never seen her act this way, not to a mirror, or a picture of another betta, or even when I put her next to another live betta. Hmmm... odd.)

If you buy a lps betta, from what I've read, they tend to live 1 - 3 years, if they're healthy and free of disease. I know some people's live longer, and they often don't live that long if they get sick, but 1 - 3 years seems to be the average. I did, however, read (again unreliable internet factoid, but still interesting) that a betta in perfect laboratory conditions can live to be 9 years old.

 

[scottd34]

my betta i got from a local lfs about a year ago and hes doing great. he is in a tank with some mollies and cory cats. Surprisingly enough the silver molly is more of a bully then the betta!