Expert tips for how to increase betta lifespan
I’m sure everyone has heard that one person say that while bettas commonly live up to 3 years, they can actually go all the way up to 10. This is in fact true, but cannot be easily achieved without some special steps involved. Bringing these steps into the equation does not mean you are keeping your fish incorrectly, and that you should change how you are keeping your current bettas. These tips are more for experienced keepers who are interested in getting more bettas, and wild like to ensure that they are giving their betta friends the best lives possible.

The necessities
This should really come with a 5 gallon minimum tank, with preferably 10 gallons. This can generally insure that bettas are kept much nicer water quality, than smaller counterparts, which always attributes to healthier fish. The tank should be kept at a minimum of 78 Fahrenheit, or 25.6 Celsius, but can also be bought to higher temperatures as well. It is always important that bettas have low flow.

Diseases
Common diseases will occur in almost every fish at least once, if treated properly. This means that the tank owner should be prepared to cure all of the most common diseases that come with owning bettas. In particular, fungal based diseases like ick and fin rot. The way to commonly treat these diseases in the tank is to increase the temperature of the tank, and treat with both Erythromycin and Methylene blue. Both healing salts are also good to have on standby.

Betta diet
For bettas, I will endlessly recommend just going with a pellet product from either Hikari or omega one. So called betta “treats” like blood worms should be avoided at all costs, as they do not play a roll in a healthy diet. To insure optimum health, black worms can be fed, which is the absolute best option. They should not be fed more than once a day, and neither should they be fed a lot. In the wild, fish are accustomed to not eating every day, and neither should they be fed that way in aquaria. Overfeeding is absolutely the worst mistake that can be made, as either bettas won’t stop eating, and bloat themselves, or leave the food, and ruin the water quality.

Picking your breed
This part is easily one of the most complex aspects of guaranteeing a long life for your betta. For a good safe bet, always go with plakats, but not even all plakats are safe. To insure longevity in a type of betta, it much so depends more on the source of that betta than what tail type it is. Discussing betta strains with this amino’s resident expert Kking, there are ways to get longer finned bettas that will last long. The trick is finding breeders, such as Kking, that put the effort to find strains that have not been inbred, and that those breeders in turn won’t inbreed them. Generally, there are still a few safe bets to avoid. Veiltails, which are nearly impossible to find without inbred genes, should generally be avoided. Additionally, double tail bettas should be avoided, due to missing a few bones in their spines. Any betta that has had the Rays in its fins stretched beyond normal limits, such as in feathertail and over half moon bettas should be avoided. Lastly, any betta that is labeled a dragon scale betta is a hybrid betta, that may have scales grow over its eyes.

Tank mates
This is the step most people skip over. The important part of tank mates with bettas is that they provide constant stimulation. Bettas without tank mates can often get quite lazy, leaving them to not be as fit, and healthy. It is healthy for bettas to chance, and flare from time to time, and humans can only provide so much stimulation. Tank mates that provide the best stimulation are fast moving, shoaling fish that do not nip fins.

Breeding bettas
The most advanced step of all, that try makes the difference when it comes to lifespan. Bettas that are commonly bred live much longer than bettas that don’t. Making the comparison to live bearers, guppies are said to only life 1-2 years, but when allowed to breed, can live from 4-5 years. Breeding is ingrained within guppies, as they can even become aggressive when denied the right to breed. The same applies to bettas. They become generally aggressive when not breeding, and have a heavy drive to breed. Allowing bettas to breed is the step that pushes them to those far off ten year lifespans.