My Fishs Age

Question
My tank has been set up for almost 10 years<br>
<br> I have a 10 gal community tank, with a typical whisper filter that hangs on the tank (not canister)
<br> I own a Coolie Loach, Leo. Catfish, Neon school, "strawberry" fish, red eye tetra, Betta Fish
<br> So, 10 total fish..but none of this even applies.
<br>
I bough my Betta Fish early April of last year (2007)from a local Petco. He is healthy, I'm sure pretty much full grown and has some age spots at the top of his head. I love my Betta dearly, I've bonded with him on the account of his incredible intelligence for a fish. The age spots have made me question whether I can estimate the age of my fish and how much longer I may have with him, and I believe this is possible if I could find out certain things. What average age do age spots show up in bettas? And what is the typical age of bettas when they are sent to commercial pet store? I now I won't get it exact, but I'd like to have a general idea of his age. I know this can be a pretty difficult question, but I figured you may know by seeing your experience in the pet store field (I don't nearly quite as much). <br>
Thanks!

Answer
Hi Gabi;

Bettas are typically 8 months to a year old when they are shipped to fish stores. It takes a while for them to mature at the farm and for breeders to see their potential. Betta farms want the best for their own breeding and showing. This means that many of our "pet store bettas" are simply rejected by the show fish breeders. However, some commercial breeders or "home breeders" just want to sell them to stores regardless of their quality. It's basically a business for profit through volume or just a hobby for them.

Sometimes there will be a few male bettas in stores that are retired breeders so they are very much senior citizens. They can look very nice, just in the sunset of their lives and past breeding age. It may be a mistake or perhaps even on purpose by an unscrupulous wholesaler. If your fish grew only a little but developed longer fins and more intense color after you bought him, he was probably about a year old. If he didn't grow at all, he may have been older. If he grew considerably after you got him, he was a young little fella of probably 8 months or so.

I never actually noticed "age spots" in my older bettas so I really don't know how to judge age by that.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins