I found no matter what I did and no matter where they came from (import/pet store/locally bred), nearly every single one of my splendens keeled over at the two year mark.

I kept my bettas in cycled tanks and uncycled tanks, and still always got the same result. It's why I don't bother with them anymore. It was too upsetting to get attached to a fish only to have it die without any explanation.

 

Thats crazy LBF.

My Rev died about a year and 8 months, but he had been really ill. Filtered, heated, divided NPT ten gal.
His former tank mate, Raph, is doing good. He's a couple of months on Rev.

 

Tell me about it. With some I think it was the poor care they received prior to me owning them (some of the ones I purchased were in really bad shape), but I found tumors seemed to be a big thing because I liked dragonscale bettas and a couple were euthanised when they started wasting away and nothing I did helped them.

I must say I am definitely not the Grim Reaper of fish. Some of my current wild bettas are at or near the two year mark (including one some I bred) and they still look fit as a fiddle.

I am just hesitant about trying splendens again because of the issues I had.

 

Yeah, I can see that.
I'm hoping my boy Raph does well for a good while longer. Hopefully another year. Me and him have already been through 3 moves and like 4 tanks, quite a few tank mates (mostly snails he ate) and I'll be sad if he just keels over.

Rev had a tumor, or something like it, develop, he stayed in pretty good spirits until just before his death though. Lived with it for almost 5 months. Stayed pretty active, and when fasting wasn't working to lower it (looked like he was bloated) i started feeding him, but a lessened amount. But, it never went away, so I knew it couldn't be bloating. I miss him. Raph misses him, they were great tank mates

 

when I was like 9 I had a betta in a unheated unfiltered vase and I never did water changes and he lived about three years but after that I got out of bettas and I'm just now getting back into them so I've only had some for about two months and they live in heated filtered five gallons so I'm hoping they live at least three years and I heard that natural plants extend their lives so I'm gonna get some soon

 

This is a really interesting thread.... all of my fish are new sooooo just posting to see what people say

 

All of my fish didn't make it past a year.

All had been in undivivide and divided tanks with appropriate care with tanks ranging from 1 to 5 gallons.

I have a baby with an approximate 1-2 month age so I'm hoping to have him for a long time

 

most of mine haven't lasted but a year or two. but, i have one female Plakat who's going on her fourth year! and, my first betta lived five years!

 

My male that I had many, many years ago lived a year or two, despite the fact that I had him in a 1 gallon tank with a massively powerful bubbler and he couldn't swim anywhere.

 

My Feng, who died this past Wednesday was 2 years and 2 months. Maui is almost 2 years old, Puddles is a year and a half. The rest I have are younger than that. Feng and Maui have/had 5 gallon tanks and Puddles has a 3 gallon. All tanks are heated and stay at a steady 80 degrees. I fed them Zoo med betta pellets and once a week feed Tetra freeze dried bloodworms and fast them one day a week. I have stuck with this feeding schedule and food, except I changed them to NLS betta pellets last month and the boys love it way better! I can also see a difference in their color. The 5 gallon and bigger tanks get once weekly water changes. The 3 gallon gets 2 water changes a week. All tanks have filters now, but the 3 gallon and one 5 gallon didn't have filters for a few months. I have a combination of silk and live plants in my tanks. Feng was a dragonscale, had a tumor and was blind in one eye. So him living as long as he did was a miracle. He was just as feisty as ever until the day he died. I am hoping the others will have long happy lives.

 

Well to sum it up for you, I have 8 splendens right now and I have had a total of 10 in my lifetime that I remember.

My first one died after about a year, but not from sickness - my cat knocked the lid off his tank. I think he may have jumped out. He had also been in the care of somebody else before I got him for whoknows how long.

The only other one I lost is a female I got from a breeder back in January - I had her for about a month before she passed away from dropsy caused by a power outage. She was only roughly 6 months old.

Of my current ones; DaBaDee, who I got from walmart in December of 2011, is still kicking. I got Bahari, my CT, from Earl May last November and he is also still alive, though he's gone blind since then.

I have two other girls still that I received from a breeder on January 11th of this year and I got my other four girls from a different breeder less than two weeks ago.

 

Taco I had for 3 months; I bought him from an LFS I used to live near; never again. His stock was terrible. Poor Taco died of dropsy within 3 months.

TianTian I had for a little over a year; he also got dropsy and passed away.

And most of the forum that remembers me should remember ol' Cinder!! I had him for nearly 3 years!

TianTian: heated.
Taco: not heated.
Cinder: heated (though he 'froze' a few times; dig up my old posts and there's some fun stories about him!).

Cinder also made the move from Texas to Utah that took two whole days. So out of the bunch, I was blessed with a tough little fighter.

And now? I have Choi Oppa, who I've had since last September.. but he was in an unheated ten gallon with a super strong filter and a fat goldfish (it was the family tank... but he's moved in with me in my apartment and he has a 2.5 all to himself! Hope he makes a good recovery.) So this September will be a year with him. If he manages to heal from all of his unfortunate injuries.

 

My first little Betta Link lived in a 3 gallon bowl with no filter or heater,just a lamp,and I had him for 3 years.My 3 little boys now are in heated,filtered 7-8 gallon tanks,they are all still bubs. :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

My two oldest ones are from October and December 2011. Both from a walmart in Fairbanks, Alaska. We now live in New York. They are the only 2 that survived the trip The others froze, literally, in the backseat. I had to hold these guying in the front seat under layers of blankets for almost 2 weeks.

Heated? Yes for both
Filtered? only 1 is
How long did he/she live? still alive

Sluggles and Mr Magic Mushrooms :-D

 

My best friend had a betta when she was young, it lived in an unheated bowl that was probably less than a gallon, but she didn't know better. But the little guy who was named Betta, lived 5 years, it was quite impressive. He swam around a lot and even made bubble nests. I never saw the bowl dirty though. They cleaned it often. If she had heating and a tank the guy might have lived forever!

 

I can't count how many bettas we had growing up... but we always had 1 at a time, and I'd guestimate maybe 6 or 7? We called them family pets, but I was a kid and basically they were my mother's responsibility. She was as ignorant about bettas as most of the betta owner population. I think 1 lived to be 1 year old, the rest lived to be about 2 (take into consideration that bettas are 4-6 months old already when you buy them at the pet store... you could say lived to be about 2 and a half each)

Those bettas were in a 1.5? gallon hexagonal tank, and there were always 2 african dwarf frogs in there (talk about a heavy bioload!)

Heaters- no
Filtration- no
and water changes were 100% maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks? Basically, mom changed the water 100% whenever it started to look dirty.

I have 2 bettas right now, and will have 4 within the next several months.
Saki is about 1 year old now and still going strong. He has 1 female african dwarf frog as a tank mate.

5 gallon tank
heated
filtered
and with all the usual silk/plastic plants, decoration, and gravel substrate

My husband's first betta, unfortunately, died recently of unknown causes. He was just under 1 year old. His tank was set up exactly the same. He got a new betta, but we've only had him for a few weeks, so he's not more than half a year old, and he has 1 male glass shrimp for a tank mate.

I am going to get another tank and betta at some point within the next few weeks, and getting one for my daughter within the next few months... so here's hoping they all live long and healthy lives!

 

I just saw this thread and thought it was interesting because I have been wondering about the same things.

I have a male VT named Anguel. Unfortunately I didn't take care of him well at all for the first year and a half I had him. He was in a vase- maybe half a gallon, with nothing in it. I changed the water occasionally. Then I moved him to a one gallon and started to add things like heater and filter. He got ammonia poisoning during this time. Too much food, not enough water changes. Plus the filter was too stressful. Taking the advice of people on this site I took care of him and he recovered. Since then he's been doing well in a 3 gallon heated, unfiltered tank. I've had him for about 2 years 9 months now.

I also recently got a really small VT female, but unfortunately she didn't last a whole week. She hadn't been doing well in the store, and I thought she could get better. Poor thing. She came from Petco. Anguel came from Petsmart.

 

The longest one of 'my' bettas lived was about 2 years. I think it was just old age that got him but it could have been the tank he was in. I did take real good care of him though especially towards the end...

We did have a betta when I was little that I swear lived forever...But I was only 5 or so at the time so I can't really say how long he actually lived.

I had a blackskirt tetra that lived to been over 10 =)

 

I got my betta from a school project, but I have no idea how old he was when I got him. So far I've had him for 5 months though so I think he was slightly young...

Tough little fellow, he was in his little container to a 2 lt. bottle then to a 2 1/2 gallon, to now a 10 gal after his past tank had a leak in it over past weekend.

 

My first betta lived 3 1/2 years from the time I got him, in an unheated tank. Since then about 2- 2 1/2 years.