Life span?

nm reef

Active Member
Not that I have found. There is information out there but its rather random and not centrally located. What fish/corals were you interested in?
 

fish sense

Member
flame angel
maroone clown
fine grape coral
hammer coral
anchor coral
torch coral
open brain
sand sift starfish
hermit crabs
snails
mushrooms
just curious about some. I know that some fish/inverts only live a few years in captivity. So, when they die, it's not necessarily something I did wrong or is wrong with the tank. Just nature taking its course. Thanks NM reef for any info you have available.
Scott
 

bang guy

Moderator
My opinions. Wild lifespan/captive lifespan
flame angel: Don't know/Don't know
maroon clown: 10 - 15 years/20 - 25 years
fine grape coral: ?? what is this?
hammer coral: Immortal/Immortal
anchor coral: Immortal/Immortal
torch coral: Immortal/Immortal
open brain: Immortal/10 - 15 years
sand sift starfish: 15 - 20 years/1 - 2 years
hermit crabs: depends on the specie
snails: depends on the specie
mushrooms: Immortal/Immortal
 

fish sense

Member
Hmmm, interesting.
Why is there some animosity towards keeping anemones then? From what I understand, anemones live around 200-300 years. If a coral will live for many, many more years, why isn't there more animosity towards reef keeping from reefkeepers, etc.? (I did happen to read last night about the longevity of reefs, fascinating. Thanks for the information!)
Is it because anemones do not reproduce as quickly, are harder to keep? Lighting? I am curious?
I believe that there are just too many LFS with poor housing habits that kill off so many of these creatures, I cringe when I see how poorly they keep the cnidarians. You would think that at least the LFS would see dollars disappearing and make a better attempt at not killing half or more of their livestock.
I think I'll go clean my tank again!
 

bigmac

Member

Originally posted by Fish Sense
Why is there some animosity towards keeping anemones then? From what I understand, anemones live around 200-300 years.

its because most newbies can keep corals alive, most experts can't keep anemones alive
 

fish sense

Member
How about pistol shrimp and mantis shrimp? How long do they live in captivity?
Also, can either of them reproduce by themself?:nervous:
 

bang guy

Moderator

Originally posted by Fish Sense
anemones live around 200-300 years. If a coral will live for many, many more years, why isn't there more animosity towards reef keeping from reefkeepers, etc.?

I should qualify my answer a bit and maybe that will make a difference.
An individual Coral Polyp won't really live that long. It's the clones of clones that cause it to be immortal. Same can be said for some anemone. The Anemone that split in captivity are also less difficult to keep.
 
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