I have a male betta fish for almost 4 years now. Most bettas I've had have only,at most ,lived to about 9 mo

Question

What is the life expectancy of bettas? The "betta" answer will be awarded the points

Answer 1

Typically bettas live about 4-5 years with good care. Some however have made it significantly past that. Even as long as 7+ years.

MM

Answer 2

There is no way to tell how old a betta is when you purchase it at the fish store. They are always full grown. This can significantly affect how long they live. Many are sick when purchased because of the store's lack of water changes and proper food. Stress will cause the immune system to be compromised and then opportunistic bacteria and parasites will take over.

Many people don't feed them properly (bettas are carnivores) and that is a significant part of keeping them healthy. They should be fed a diet high in protein (I feed mine BettaMin by Tetra and frozen adult brine shrimp and bloodworms). You have apparently found the correct diet for yours.

The longest I have owned one is about 5 years.


Here is a site with some good info on bettas:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betta_fish

This is a paragraph from that site:

B. splendens grows to an overall length of approximately 6 cm (~ 2.3" in), and has an average life span of four years. Well kept aquarium specimens have often lived well beyond six years. There are reports of captive Bettas living ten or more years in laboratory settings.

Answer 3

I Love Bettas! They are very beautiful fish. I have a 10 Gallon PLANTED tank with a Betta, Tetra and a Pleco. Thinking about some beautiful Angelfish as well. But I believe I've heard 3 years, 3-4 years for a Betta.
Here are some cool sites:
www.liveaquaria.com
www.peteducation.com
www.drsfostersmith.com

Answer 4

I had a Betta live 5 years - they are awesome fish. Apparently, there is a way to tell how old they are by evaluating the scales on the top of their head, but I am not sure exactly how to do that...

Answer 5

We breed Bettas now for over 6 1/2 years, so I can tell you in the right conditions and right food you may have a Betta live up to 7years. As he gets older you may want to introduce freeze dried, frozen or live foods to him to keep his protien levels up, also try stress coat at water changes...

Answer 6

Commonley, if you nurture a Betta fish from a chain pet store, such as Pets mart, it will only live to be about a year, more or less. Bettas though, that are bought from higher quality pet stores, or specially ordered from their native waters can live much, much longer.

Answer 7

the life expectancy, if fed properly and kept it great condition can last as long as 7 years