# how young is too young?



## betta fish crazy (Jul 9, 2010)

How young is too young to care for a betta? I mean, without too much help, like remembering to feed it as opposed to ignoring it or having someone else always feed it.

My little sis is nine. She's getting a betta after Christmas. Of course I will help her a little, but I won't do everything for her.


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## AngelicScars (May 5, 2009)

I don't think age is the biggest factor, it would be level on knowledge and maturity. If I have a young child, but they know the ins and outs of caring for a fish, and is mature enough to follow through, then I wouldn't have a problem with them having one.
There are plenty of teens/adults out there today that I wouldn't trust animals or fish with because they just wouldn't put enough education/time/effort behind it.
I hope that helps!


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## betta fish crazy (Jul 9, 2010)

Good point, AngelicScars! I know mature 8 years olds as well as immature 13 year olds.


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

I know age isnt everything as well, but I dont think someone younger than 12 could do water changes alone.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

It depends on maturity, and how much your sister is going to love that betta. If she's not into fish, getting wet during water changes, having to remember to feed him, etc, she's not going to want to do so. Also, sometimes, as much as I hate to say so, once/if the novelty of having a pet fish wears off, kids in general start to 'forget' about their pets


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I got my first betta when I was 4 or 5 and I sterted breeding them when I was 11....it dosen't matter on age it's knowledge, and commitment.


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## xswornxoffxjello (Mar 18, 2010)

I don't think it's that simple. Age really is just a frame of mind, though I agree about water changes being difficult for a young child. It's kind of like saying "You shouldn't date or marry until such-and-such an age". While with that one I agree that there are some definate lines, maturity is way different from person to person.


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## betta fish crazy (Jul 9, 2010)

All these comments about age vs. maturity are awesome. I wasn't really thinking about that when I made this post. ;-) So here is a new question. To own a betta fish, does someone have to be super mature, pretty mature, or just relatively mature?


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## Ethan (Dec 3, 2010)

And to answer your question mature is mature there is no middle to maturity if your pretty,relatively,super then your not mature! :lol:That's the whole point just being responsible:thumbsup:. I'm sorry not trying to be mean or anything;-)


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

I agree that it has more to do with maturity. I'm in college and I know 20 year olds not mature enough to own a fish XD

But in general, I wouldn't get a child a pet of their own before age 8, but I would encourage a child from age 2 to help take care of the family pets. This way they would be responsible and mature enough to take care of their own pet when the time comes.

Once again, in general (there are exceptions!), I don't think most kids under 8 poses the maturity to take care of a pet by themselves. And all kids should be supervised by their parents anyways to make sure that they are taking proper care of their animals, for the animal's sake.

And uh, I would say a child would need to be pretty mature so that they don't skimp on water changes, which is very important but can be a pain in the butt to do!


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Ethan said:


> And to answer your question mature is mature there is no middle to maturity if your pretty,relatively,super then your not mature! :lol:That's the whole point just being responsible:thumbsup:. I'm sorry not trying to be mean or anything;-)


hehe, not mean, I do agree with you on that!


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## Ethan (Dec 3, 2010)

TaylorW said:


> I agree that it has more to do with maturity. I'm in college and I know 20 year olds not mature enough to own a fish XD
> 
> But in general, I wouldn't get a child a pet of their own before age 8, but I would encourage a child from age 2 to help take care of the family pets. This way they would be responsible and mature enough to take care of their own pet when the time comes.
> 
> ...


+1


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## Ethan (Dec 3, 2010)

TaylorW said:


> hehe, not mean, I do agree with you on that!


thank you I do agree your post is a good answer too


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I would say maturity is more important than age. I think how much time a person has to devote to a pet is important, too.


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## Dragonlady (Nov 29, 2010)

I did not vote on this. I feel it is more complicated than just a number for age if someone is mature enough to care for bettas. People, just like bettas, mature at different ages. It is up to parents to use their best judgement for if a child is mature enough to care for a pet betta(s), and supervision is always a good idea.


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## Lamia (Sep 11, 2010)

I totally agree that maturity and knowledge are more important than age. I think 11+ would be a good age to take care of a betta without help from the rents/siblings. I know personally I should not have been in charge of my childhood bettas because, yeah, at 8 I had no idea what I was doing. Unfortunately, neither did my parents. :-(


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

I got my first betta when I was 7-8 ish. That poor fish didn't get the best care...

Than when I got my next one when I was 11-12 ish that was when I actually got into them and took really good care of them.


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## xswornxoffxjello (Mar 18, 2010)

doggyhog said:


> I got my first betta when I was 7-8 ish. That poor fish didn't get the best care...
> 
> Than when I got my next one when I was 11-12 ish that was when I actually got into them and took really good care of them.


 Yeah, that was me too, if you adjust the ages a bit...I think that a person would have to be very mature to take care of ANY animal by themselves.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Ethan said:


> And to answer your question mature is mature there is no middle to maturity if your pretty,relatively,super then your not mature! :lol:That's the whole point just being responsible:thumbsup:. I'm sorry not trying to be mean or anything;-)


I have to disagree. There are stages in maturity, seeing as it is a frame of mind, and as the mind grows, it's very likely maturity will too. Take someone your age for example. Eleven. Yes, mature more so than a four year old(hopefully) but when you compare that kid to say a fifteen year old, there's a difference. Take a fifteen year old (like myself) yeah, mature -er than say an eleven year old, but still rather childish at times compared to an adult of say twenty-thirty years. What seems perfectly acceptable to some person one age may mortify a person of another age, who would then view the offending person as immature. Of course this isn't always the case, and some children are born practically adults and some adults never seem to grow up, but typically, as one grows, one's maturity develops.

You're definately mature, I can tell by your post you're trying hard to make sure you sound the way you are (I'm doing so too), but chances are you do stuff that's immature, so your level of maturity might be less than mine. That doesn't mean you aren't mature though. In my eyes, if I knew you, I might view you as childish (maybe not), but by doing so, an older person might view me as immature for looking 'down' on a kid only about 4 years younger than me. See, maturity is also opinion based, so a person can be mature on levels. Life isn't black and white. It's grayscale, and as such, areas fuzz inbetween,


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## baylee767 (Nov 5, 2010)

Maturaty and responsibility. Sometimes people are mature about everything except what you need them to be. For example, my 9 year old sister is super mature about lots of things for someone her age. She works extra hard in all things, she researches before acting, and she is always careful to do things the right way and think it through.

Knowlage isn't necessarily the same as responsibility, though. A few months ago I got my first Betta (Before I learned proper Betta care, R.I.P. unnamed Betta) She decided to get one too. Now, a few months later, I'm nuturing him back to health. The point is, she is mature about everything. Except for pet keeping.

I was also much more unknowlagable and immature about Bettas a few months ago, too. I didn't bother to do the research (immature!) skimped on water changes, even though I was doing too few because of instructions (immature!) And I failed to even noticed all the problems that occured on my Betta (IMMATURE!!!)

If I had researched in the first place, he would have lived. Not if I just read do this many water changes, but if I read that Bettas almost instantly get problems with their fins when they have bad water conditions and can die easily (IMO!) I would have realized that being more mature meant the difference beween life and death in a Betta.

I personally know that I'm probably the only person in my family mature enough for Betta care. Sorry if it sounds snobby, but my mom hates fish, my dad gets SUPER impatiant easily (He has a salt water tank and gets stressed just testing the water...) My brother is also impatiant, and my sister isn't responsible enough.

So, go ahead and get your sister a Betta. In fact, don't get her a Betta but tell her for Christmas when ever you next go to the pet store she can choose a Betta so she find one she really wants and tries really hard to take good care of it. Sure, do that. IF she bothers to do research, is patient, has shown responsibility before with pets, and commits to the things she gets. If she does none of these, don't even bother because it'll end in disaster.


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## fleetfish (Jun 29, 2010)

We older people have to set examples for the young, but sometimes the young have to set examples for the older ones. If we can do that, it's better to learn together than to separate ages into categories.

I'm almost 26 and even I can act immature if I feel like it, lol.


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## Ethan (Dec 3, 2010)

JKfish said:


> I have to disagree. There are stages in maturity, seeing as it is a frame of mind, and as the mind grows, it's very likely maturity will too. Take someone your age for example. Eleven. Yes, mature more so than a four year old(hopefully) but when you compare that kid to say a fifteen year old, there's a difference. Take a fifteen year old (like myself) yeah, mature -er than say an eleven year old, but still rather childish at times compared to an adult of say twenty-thirty years. What seems perfectly acceptable to some person one age may mortify a person of another age, who would then view the offending person as immature. Of course this isn't always the case, and some children are born practically adults and some adults never seem to grow up, but typically, as one grows, one's maturity develops.
> 
> You're definately mature, I can tell by your post you're trying hard to make sure you sound the way you are (I'm doing so too), but chances are you do stuff that's immature, so your level of maturity might be less than mine. That doesn't mean you aren't mature though. In my eyes, if I knew you, I might view you as childish (maybe not), but by doing so, an older person might view me as immature for looking 'down' on a kid only about 4 years younger than me. See, maturity is also opinion based, so a person can be mature on levels. Life isn't black and white. It's grayscale, and as such, areas fuzz inbetween,


thankyou :-D I try to be although I have to remind myself I'm not smarter then those older then me. I like to take info from older ones. Because they're more experienced I have applied that to most of my live ecspecialy when I see someone my age but they aren't as mature I still have to respect them they are my age so I like to learn from others and give pointers for others. And I agree I might be more mature in some things than others younger and older than me. But there are people who are younger and older than me who know more. What really matters is how your brain was built to think and eviroment greatly counts on your maturity too. And if we were all the same it wouldn't be fun we would be like clones with no personality :roll:

Like sometimes it's hard to listen to mom and dad but I still have to respect them because they know a lot more than me and I'm not ashamed to say so. I get into arguments with kids 2 1/2 years younger than me. I know though sometimes my mom tells me I know more about bettas than her and it would be hard for her to write a detailed story like I do.

The thing is we have to have a level of respect to all beings And we can't let pride get in the way of that.

p.s. It's ok I might do some childy stuff you don't do and you might do some I don't do. We are all differnent :-D It's cool though that me and you and all ages are into this hobby though.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

That's what I love about this forum. I have friends of all ages on here.


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