How long do betta male fish live? 3 Main Factors Revealed
If you plan to buy betta fish from a pet shop, you should know about the betta fish age. Some fish sellers sell aged bettas; after a couple of months, Betta will die due to age. So before buying a betta fish, learn to find a young betta to purchase for your fish tank. Fish can live a long life by providing good and healthy nutrition.
How long do betta male fish live? Betta fish’s average lifespan is three years, and they rarely live up to 4 years in top condition. Fish life depends on the water condition and high protein nutrition-rich food. Providing extra aeration lines can help to extend their lifespan. Also, maintaining the proper pH level is necessary for betta fish life.
Table of Contents
- How old are betta fish when they are sold?
- How can you tell your Betta’s age?
- How to increase your betta fish lifespan?
How old are betta fish when they are sold?
Regularly male betta fish is ready to sell when they reach six months old. After six months, you can see their tail and full-body color patterns.
Sometimes few breeds, such as Nimo Koi and Nimo Galaxy fish, takes another two or three months to get their entire body colors. But overall, Betta fish can sell after six months old with the whole tail pattern.
How can you tell your Betta’s age?
When you buy a betta fish, keep watching its scales, you will see it has thick and bright colors. When betta fish is young, they have strong and colorful scales in their body.
But two years later, the fish scale and tail shaded slowly, especially if you are bought dragon bettas, then you will notice their body shine lose and color fade.
How to increase your betta fish lifespan?
- Fish tank size
Betta fish usually do not need a bigger tank to live, but the fish keeper keeps their betta fish in a small bottle or bowl. Betta fish cannot live in too many tiny places like glass jam bottles for an extended period.
So arrange them to enough space with slow water current fish tank. This will help them to live peacefully.
- Water condition
Water conditions play a significant role in betta fish tanks. If you provide Low or higher-pH water to your fish tank, betta fish become stressed and sick. Betta fish cannot live speed water current fish tanks and higher speed air bubble fish tanks. So if you have a higher speed air bubbler air pump, you should control it.
You can use water test kits to check water conditions regularly.
As well as you can use Catappa leaf or banana leaf to control the pH level in your tank. That is the natural method to control the sudden increase of pH and ammonia Levels.
- Provide nutrition feed
Providing high protein feed helps to increase betta fish colors and lifespan. Usually, betta fish like eating live feed like Moina, red worms, daphnia, etc. So you can provide live fish food to your betta fish twice a week. And other days, you can use pellets of fish food for them.
Usually, betta fish eat pellets food, but they like to eat more live fish food because, in the wild, they chase and hunt small insects.
This chasing and hunting of small insects habit helps them reduce their stress and stay active in the fish tank. So that is why we recommend providing live fish food twice a week, directly increasing betta fish’s life span.
- Adding a few live fish plants
As you know, betta fish live in hidden places, such as behind the plant’s roots. So you can add some long root live fish plants to your betta fish tank, which will help them live peacefully there.
Some betta fish lay on the floating fish plant leaves or use floating leaves to hide till they chase and hunt insects. Therefore, try to add a few live fish plants to your tank, such as floating and long roots, etc.
Read More About :- What are the Toxic plants for betta fish?
- Betta fish tank mates
Betta fish do not attack all fish breeds, mainly if no one attacks them. Tank mate also plays a significant role in betta fish lifespan because usually betta fish is aggressive fish, and if you place similar aggressive fish into the fish tank, both fish start fights. So always add calm and peaceful fish breed with betta fish.
Some fish keepers try to place a few female bettas with male fish. But we do not recommend that process too. When male and female fish are mating, male fish become aggressive and fight with other female bettas.
So, keep your fish calm and peaceful, which will suit its long life.
Remember that betta fish does not like to share their territory with others. As well as, if you introduce any new breed of fish type into your betta fish tank, keep monitoring every 15 minutes and monitor their behavior. If anything happens wrong, keep your new fish away.
- Set the proper temperature
Betta fish live in the warm water fish tank. You should arrange a 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit range and maintain the same value in the fish tank water. If you live in a cold country or city, buy a heater to set up your fish tank.
Suddenly up or down temperature makes your fish sick, and some fish will die.
Especially, diseases like velvet infection easily to your betta fish when they do not get sufficient warm water.
If you get sunlight daily, you can keep your fish tank under the sunlight area. Sunlight helps to stay warm in fish tank water, and at night you can use a fish tank heater to maintain the temperature in the water.
- Regular water changes
When you have betta fish, you should do regular water changes in the fish tank each week because betta fish cannot live in ammonia or dark cloudy water. They like to clean water because, in history, they lived in paddy fields. So they still need clean water with balance pH and ammonia levels.
Therefore, you should perform 50% water changes each week in your fish tank. This will help your betta fish have a long life and be healthy and happy.
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