Age

[White Whale]

How can you tell when a betta is reaching 'old age'?

 

[Sapper]

it gets a walking stick, some slippers and a pipe for its birthday

 

[gadazobe]

If it's in good health, not easily. They tend to slow down a bit when they're older, resting a bit more on plants.

 

[White Whale]

Would there be any color changes/fades?

 

[gadazobe]

Possibly, but not always. Their colour does sometimes get more dull, not so much fade, but not as bright as when they're young.

 

[dixaisy930]

Can fin length tell you anything about their age? My new betta doesn't seem to have very long fins, and he's really brightly colored, but I suppose he could just have short fin genes.

 

[aernympha]

alot of the bettas sold in shops around here are quite big what is bettas full lenght i am always afriad if i bye one he might be very old.... i might die..

 

[SakuraX64]

I bought a betta recently and it turns out hes older then my other two bettas. I can tell by the lack of energy he has compared to the other two and the size of its body. But I thought it be kind of cool to have an old wise sage in the group. |{>

 

[SakuraX64]

Sorry about that weird smilie he just popped in

 

[akhtar]

LOL @ THE SMILEY ( )

 

[Sondan]

Aern,
From talking to the breeders, they say the reason that the fish are so big is because they are given growth hormones. Do I know this for a fact, no but if you look at wild bettas and the store bought bettas there is a big difference. The do not opt for the hormone treatmented fish. So when people so how big to me it really means how big "naturally".
Signed,
Sondan

 

[White Whale]

Aern,
From talking to the breeders, they say the reason that the fish are so big is because they are given growth hormones. Do I know this for a fact, no but if you look at wild bettas and the store bought bettas there is a big difference. The do not opt for the hormone treatmented fish. So when people so how big to me it really means how big "naturally".
Signed,
Sondan

Growth hormones???! Like they say in China when something is totally unbelievable: What a road of clap!

 

[Sondan]

Itty that is fine if you do not beleive this but can you explain the large size difference between the wild strain and the strains we have today? They are the same species.
Signed,
Sondan

 

[White Whale]

Are you talking about fin size or body size? Remember, bettas born in the wild are naturally small (presents a smaller target) and quick because of the wide variety of predators they need to avoid (land, sea, and air), therefore having smaller fins to reduce drag when they move through the water. Large fins are not the norm and would be a huge handicap in the wild. It increases drag and can easily get snagged/ripped in the shallows.

 

[Sondan]

Well this kind of hit a nerve with me so I did some searching but here is what I found.
http/groups.yahoo.com/group/betterbettar...ce/message/2097
Here is the site and here is one of the posts on there.

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 16:34:23 -0000
From: bettastarz
Subject: Re: Betta Categories on AquaBid.com

That doesn't truthfully label the country they're from, now does it!

Shipping is just one issue. Parasites that wipe out your entire
stock, Growth Hormones/Steroids, Bettas dying shortly after their
arrival here for inexplicable reasons, are some of other issues that
many buyers here are experiencing with Overseas Bettas. These are
some of the reasons, why the Country thing has been coming up lately.



--- In betterbettaresource@y..., "kelpie714" <kelpie714@y...> wrote:
> I like these categories best too.
>
> But for the breeder's location, do you think maybe we could
> compromise and put the breeder's who use a transshipper in the
North
> American category?

Now I have also been told this same thing from the two men that are experts in the Betta splenden field. If you need more proof I can get some but next time please be more polite. Comments like this:
Growth hormones???! Like they say in China when something is totally unbelievable: What a road of clap!
tend to really not further future posts. If you don't agree with me post why...please don't post stuff to try and just make me look bad. I am not always right and I put in that post that is was not fact but hear say. I don't know what more I could have done. Aern asked about a fishes length so I added to it.
Signed,
Sondan