Beta fish lifespan

How long will my betta live in a 3 gal with adequate food with variety, filteration, hiding places, and a live plant with no heating? There's only no heating because my step dad took it because he thinks I don't need it even though I've explained and everything and he won't let me have it back even though I bought it myself.

That's a good tank size and keeping up on water changes will help, but depending on what temp the room is at, if its too cold the fish will be less active and could get sick easily. I'd try to convince him again. The normal lifespan is 3-4yrs but I've seen some live to be 8. Hope this helps :)

Without heating you'll be lucky with 8 months, really. They need heated waters, especially with only 3g. I wouldn't house one in anything less than 5g, filtered, and heated to 76-80F. Even if your daytime water temp is in that range, the drops and rises from daytime to nighttime are a risk for your betta as it can stress it out and cause it to get sick. Even heated and filtered, because bettas are really finnicky and have been bred for their fins and not their health, you are maybe looking at 2 years. 3-4 is very optimistic and more what you'd see in the wild. The type of betta you have also factors into this - anything with larger and longer fins will likely die sooner because their fins are more likely to get damaged, thus they are more likely to die from infection. Plakats are the closest you'll get to wild type at your regular pet shops. To get a true wild type betta, you would probably be looking at aquabid. They tend to live longer because they haven't been bred for their fins, but in captivity they won't live as long as in the wild (provided they don't get eaten or die in the wild). Likewise, you can't just take a Petco betta and put it in the wild - it will die. The info they give you at Petco and Petsmart is in part from wild types (the 'puddle jumping' crap - they live in miles long rice paddies and can jump the levels, they aren't living in your regular little rain puddles, and certainly not anything less than 10g of water) and in part just made up crap. They make their money from sick fish because their medicine is priced ridiculously high and if your fish dies, you'll by another. Even if you don't buy another, you already spent upwards of $40 for the supplies for the fish anyways, so they are making bank at the fishes expense. Any info you get from them is suspect and you'll do much better researching online and in betta fish forums.

I've had betas go 3 years, unheated. Admittedly, where I am my house never gets below 68 degrees, but yeah.

I've only had one and he made it almost four years. 5 gallon tank with heater, filter, some plants and regular water changes. My sister kills about one a year in an unheated one gallon tank with an airstone so proper care does make a difference.

I found betta's do very well in a planted community tank with slow filtration or rings of floating airline for them to build bubble nests in.
I had a male for 5 years until I rather stupidly added a Paradise Gourami.... Fish are not bright at all and they thought they were rival males of the same species.

Edit: The community should not include "fin nippers" obviously. Tiger Barbs etc are a very bad mix in a community tank with Betta's.

I eventually got them to let me upgrade and he is now living in a heated, planted, filtered, ten gallon, with a couple of African dwarf frogs. I got them all from a family owned local shop. I refuse to buy anything but flea shampoo from PetCo/PetSmart, and that's only because that's the only place nearby that sells that particular kind. Everything else I buy online or at local stores but I use the flea shampoo so rarely I just figured I may as well just buy it there, since shipping will just make it cost more it get a smaller order.

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You Now have a super spoiled Betta, unfortunatly they are addictive!!!!!


See below for the proof (I am owned by nine of the little goobs!)

Cool

Mine lived about 4 years in a 40 gallon planted tank with other peaceful fish.

I was very into fish in college and had 4 bettas at one time. I had the most success keeping a lone male in a 2gl planted tank with a mini filter and a light (which also functioned as a heater). I usually got mine to live 2-3 years. I attempted to have an all female betta 10gl planted tank, but had very bad luck with the females becoming egg bound (even without being exposed to a male), so I gave up keeping females.

If you want to see some really nice bettas, go to aquabid.com it is a fish auction site. People sell bettas from the US and from asia on there and there are some amazing looking ones.

I, too, would avoid keeping a betta in a community tank with any cichlid or gourami species.. I had the best luck when keeping them with small schooling fish (rasboras, etc.).

They are great little fish and have a lot of personality. I'd like to keep one again sometime in the future.