Does anyone's betta live to a ripe old age?

[Kuronue]

My last betta lived to age 5. A lovely red half moon ^^

[TwilightNite]

I had a Betta Named Lightning a Red Veil tail I got him from my friends and he survived the long trip from Virgina to Georgia (10 hours) in a cooler filled with air packs he was in a Mason Jar, he was a very good boy he lived for about 2.5 years he would have lived longer but he fought with my other male when the divider fell over in the middle of the night :( and he died of what I think was an infection because he was fine and then he just started to swim funny and have labored breathing and died I was very weird cause he did not show any signs of problems till that hour...... But he is swimming happily in heaven now! And I'm Happy for him.

[VJM]

It's nice to hear some success stories of older bettas. I have been reading the "HALP!!! SICK BETTA!!!" posts in an effort to get educated about diseases, and it made me feel like they pretty much all die around a year and a half, maximum.

Nice to know there is hope for good genetics coupled with good care.

[LittleBettaFish]

None of my splendens ever lived over two years. This included imports, locally bred and pet store purchased. Even when in an established, cycled tank and fed on the best quality food, mine all passed away around the two year mark.

It's why I don't keep splendens anymore. Too much grief for me.

I have a few wild bettas that are going on two years now and they are still going strong. They survived a very nasty brush with velvet, and the original pair gave me 30 odd fry just this December. Their oldest offspring is 20 odd months old and he is doing fine. I am hoping I get a few more years out of these fish as I hate coming down and finding a favourite dead in their tank.

[SnowySurface]

To be honest, I don't know how old my betta fish are when they die because I can't age fish. All I know is if I buy a sick fish, he'll live for about 6 months to 1 1/2 years under my care (which is part of the reason why I stopped rescuing). When I buy a healthy fish, it last about 2 to 3 years (but usually two years ^_^;).

However, for the sake of guessing, Luigi was probably 4-ish years old when he passed. I've heard of fish living for 7-10 years, but I've seen in happen in one of my tanks. XD

[Kiara1125]

I had a blue male veiltail that lived in a 1g unheated pitcher. He was at least a year old when he was bought and he lived for 9 years. It's pretty amazing.

[registereduser]

Originally Posted by Kiara1125

I had a blue male veiltail that lived in a 1g unheated pitcher. He was at least a year old when he was bought and he lived for 9 years. It's pretty amazing.

9 years is amazing, did he live the whole 9 years in the same gallon? Did you have well water or town water?

[VJM]

That is one tough fish.

[Kiara1125]

Originally Posted by registereduser

9 years is amazing, did he live the whole 9 years in the same gallon? Did you have well water or town water?

Yep, same gallon. At the time, once 100% monthly water changes were done with bottled water. He was fed regular fish flakes. I guess it's just genetics that plays a huge role. Such as guppies. The nicely bred ones might live for a year, while others like for 3.

[nel3]

Originally Posted by registereduser

someone I know had a betta that just died at about 3 years of age. The kicker is she kept him in a small bowl and just added water to it as it evaporated. She would occasionally do a 100% change and wash the bowl with SOAP.

a neighbor of my parents had one in a tiny vase for 3-4 yrs. she didnt wash the vase with soap but propmtly dumped the betta into the bathroom sink. quickly rinsed, scooped and poured betta back into vase within a minute for his water change. most of the time she remembered to plug the bathroom sink before putting the batta in the sink but she went through a few betta with this mistake.