# Do bettas ever die naturally?



## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

Reason why i am asking is because it "seems" like from the many, many threads on here that i have read even when someone has the proper setup it ALWAYS seems to be human error as the cause. Like seriously? haha Does ANYONE on here actually know the EXACT age of a full grown betta when it is purchased from a pet store? I mean come on, can't a reason for a betta passing away when a person has the proper setup be a natural death and not ALWAYS the owners fault? Just saying. Now my recent death was not really my fault. How was i suppose to know that my betta would eat and swallow a piece of gravel that almost did not fit into his mouth? I mean virtually EVERYONE uses gravel of some sort. So in my case, that was the fishes fault not mine.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I had one that died of natural causes I believe. I had him for 3.5 years and I'm estimating that he was around 4 years of age when he died. He was perfectly fine then for one whole day he didn't eat and stayed on the bottom until he died.


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## Herbicide (Mar 7, 2010)

Same here, I had a betta (his name was Sidney Flame) in my community tank as a kid. He lived about 3 years also, and died for no apparent reason, except he was old. Then again, this was probably at least 14 years ago, and we bought him from the local fish store where he was kept in a regular community tank, not a small bowl or cup.


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## Starbright (Apr 26, 2009)

One betta I had a few years ago lived 3 years and he slowly started fading away and just would be listless. He was such a good fish  I can't believe he stayed alive that long! I didn't even know what I was doing ._. He was in a 1 gallon and I did a 100% every... 3 months when the algae and stuff would go crazy. The thought makes me cringe > <

But most of the times, it seems as though bettas die from water conditions :[


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

More to it than the right set-up, it is proper care, exercise and diet, I would say 95% of my betta died from natural causes related to old age.
Most fish in box stores are about 4-6 months old, the big breeders can't make a profit if they keep the fish longer than that, with the right diet and water changes the male should be finned out by 4 months of age...not fully grown but fins developed nicely for re-sale.
Average life span of about 2-3 years with some living as long as 5 years but that is rare in the home set-up but it can be done.
The oldest I have had is going into the 4th year, many things factor in with the aging process too, like overall health, care, water, breeding/spawning, genes, food, exercise....etc.......


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

my 1st 2 i ever had lived to be nearly 3 yrs old and then died one day after i upgraded both of their habitats from critter keepers to 1 gal tanks =[ i guess that would be human error, and a huge bummer


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## CataclysmKitten (Mar 20, 2010)

My one betta lived until he was 5 years old. He didn't have a heater setup or anything, this was when i was a complete noob to fish care. I believe he died of natural causes, because I always kept him under a lamp. He was very resilient also. He went through some pretty harsh conditions when he was living with my mom. I'm glad he lived a full life too, he was from a pet store. He exceeded everything he was faced with. I called him Nemo.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

Oldfishlady said:


> More to it than the right set-up, it is proper care, exercise and diet,


that is what i meant by proper setup


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## CodeRed (Jun 11, 2009)

I had a red veiltail named Handsome (hey, I was young ) who lived to be about 4 or five years old. That fish hung on through some painful times, and I still miss him.


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