Betta Life Span

I was just wondering how old your oldest betta is? I have heard that three years is about the life span of a betta, but have known people to have them longer than that. Also, what are some signs/symptoms that your betta is "getting old"? I love my bettas and just can't picture my house without one or two of them...or more! LOL! They are kind of like potato chips, as you just can't seemed to have just ONE of them!

i have one that is a yr old my pet store ones idk how old they are but i think their older. i heard 5 yrs but i dont know the life span.

The reason I asked is because I have a betta that is almost three now and he is looking kind of...shabby. His finnage is not as full and beautiful as it once was. His coloring has faded, too. There is nothing physically wrong with him; he still eats well, interacts with me, swims fine...He just seems to be turning into a little old man.

My oldest is a bit over 2 years

My oldest is 2 year old female well at least I've had her for 2 years she's huge 2.5 to 3" and black. She use to be deep red.

With excellent care a Betta can live to be 5-6 yrs. and of course we all take excellent care of our Bettas LOL. What you're describing about your Betta is the natural posses of there aging. They will fade in color and there finnage will get excessively heavy for them to carry around .

whisper wrote:

With excellent care a Betta can live to be 5-6 yrs. and of course we all take excellent care of our Bettas LOL. What you're describing about your Betta is the natural posses of there aging. They will fade in color and there finnage will get excessively heavy for them to carry around .

But my betta seems to be losing his finnage now. His tail used to be long and full and now he just looks sort of scrappy. I guess maybe it is just him aging. Other than that, he seems fine.

Sea can you post a picture of him. It may be fin rot but I would have to see it to be sure.

Thanks, Whisper, but it isn't fin rot. He may be tail-biting, but I have never seen him do it. The water is good in his tank, I feed him Hikari betta food and blood worms. I fast my bettas once a week and my bettas will even eat a small amount of pea. I just don't know what it could be.

My 2 year olds tail is a bit ragged but its from a filter mishap several months back..... seems to take a long time to grow back......

Are his fins dragging/snagging on anything?
Do you have a filter on the tank? If so do you have a sponge over the intake?
Tank mates?

I have sponge filters in the tank. It is a 10g that is divided with him on one side and a female on the other. They rarely even look at each other, so I know it isn't caused by stress or anything. His fins were looking like this before I moved them into the 10g, when he was by himself. There are only rounded-edged things in the tank and a very soft, real plant.
One question: Can bettas get things like skin flukes? Should they be Prazied? I don't see him flashing or anything, but that is about all I can think of that may be wrong with him, other than his age.

Is his tail just roughed up like the boy in my signature?

I don't pretend to know a lot about bettas, I only have my 2 boys......

No. His tail used to be round-shaped (HM shape) and very full. Now, alot of it is just gone. I will try to take a picture tomorrow and I will also post one of what he looked like when I first got him, so (hopefully) you can see the difference.

Sometimes they do get board and will nip on there own fins. Try taping a little mirror to the side of the tank so he can see himself. it gives them something to do by flaring at themselves and it doesn't hurt them.

OKay, I will try that. Thanks, Whisper!

Mine each have a few deformed corys to keep them amused.....

I was always told that you couldn't put any other fish with male bettas, but the more I learn about them from people who have them, that is not the case. I have a 10g set up for my two bettas and it is divided in half. One side has my male and the other, my female. Would it be possible for me to put a few fish in with them on either side?

Mine each have their own planted 10g with a dinky little filter, one has 3 visually challenged corys. The other has 4 stubby corys.
The corys are ones that I bred and should have culled, the visually challenged guys- 2 have just one eye and one has no eyes at all, but somehow they do just fine.
The stubby guys are super short, again they did fine. I wasn't about to sell defective corys and they did so well that I had to keep them so in the betta tanks they went!

You would need to give them each their own 10g if you want other fish with them, I recommend some smaller corys, the panda size is good, a group of 4 is best.
Corys are goofballs and keep the bettas amused with their antics, the bettas will pick on them some from time to time but if the tank is well planted they can get away easily.

my females are in my community and i have a male thats in my 55 with my discus and they are fine with each other. my discus are the pansies in that situation lol. other than that i never have any problems with my bettas, my males are all in small tanks bc of them being aggressive towards each other but thats it.

I may do that eventually, Fern. I have always wanted a planted tank. I just don't have the money for any plants right now. Also, I would have to research the corys, as I never get a fish now w/out researching its needs first. Been there, done that, and got the "bad fish-keeper" T-shirt! LOL!

10 gal planted tanks are fun. I have 1 that is soil base and open top with some bog plants growing out the top and flowers(I just trimed them to nubs 2 days ago). I have endlers in it but a betta would love it.

Wait till it warms up and I can start shipping plants again, I can sell you a 10g pack of plants that bettas like

Yes a male Betta can be with other fish.

FishVixen wrote:

10 gal planted tanks are fun. I have 1 that is soil base and open top with some bog plants growing out the top and flowers(I just trimed them to nubs 2 days ago). I have endlers in it but a betta would love it.

I tried a Walstad-type tank, but something went wrong and I got alot of fungus growing in it. I think I used the wrong type of soil.

Fern wrote:

Wait till it warms up and I can start shipping plants again, I can sell you a 10g pack of plants that bettas like

That sounds great, Fern!!!! Thanks!