lifespans

mylady

mylady

Member
I know whenever I have researched an animal before adding one to my family, one of the first things I look at is lifespan. I'm having difficulty finding that info for the fish we are researching. I was wondering if that information is available anywhere we can look? Some sites have said things like "can live a long time" but don't get more specific than that. I do know that the care of the tank and fish can greatly affect how long a fish lives, but I would say that impacts the lifespan of any animal, the care it receives. Appreciate any info you can pass along.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
my wife makes a good point. when researching all other animals to have as pets, one of the main things that is listed first is the average life span. We are aware that the conditions of the tank effect this, however, we are looking for average life span of these fish assuming perfect tank conditions and never having any disease, power failures, ect...
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
There's not enough people with consistent longterm `"perfect" tank conditions to collect data from. The best thing one can do, IMO, is to do forum searches and inquire on forums how long they have have "X" fish.
 
S

smartorl

Guest
Also, another variable that makes this difficult is that many of our sw fish are wild caught. In that scenario, determining their ages would be more of a guess.
 
While a fish may only stay alive a year or so in your tank, how long was it in the ocean before it's capture? It could have been ancient!
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
I bet you're not going to find a guide that will help you in that way. If you do individual searches you'll find research tidbits that can help you determine lifespan, but other than that I can't think of one. Asking around on the forums is probably the best bet, IMO.
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Well to get you started I have had a Heniochus Butterfly live 3 years and 2 months in less than perfect tank and now have a Falcula Butterfly going 3 years 5 months in a better environment.
 
levinjac

levinjac

Active Member
Any fish can live to 12 years but it doesnt normally happen it could if its fed right perstine water quality and no infections it can live long
 
S

saxman

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by levinjac http:///forum/thread/379876/lifespans#post_3303907
Any fish can live to 12 years but it doesnt normally happen it could if its fed right perstine water quality and no infections it can live long

It really depends on the fish species...for instance a lionfish can live in excess of 20 years in captivity, but a neon goby's lifespan is closer to 2, maybe 3 years in captivity tops. The neon would never live 12 years in the wild. The old "rule of thumb" used to be that one could consider themselves "successful" with a species if it lived 50% of its lifespan in captivity, altho now that we as a hobby have a better grasp on nutrition, treatment, and water chemistry, I like to think that things will only improve.
 
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by saxman http:///forum/thread/379876/lifespans#post_3304180
It really depends on the fish species...for instance a lionfish can live in excess of 20 years in captivity, but a neon goby's lifespan is closer to 2, maybe 3 years in captivity tops. The neon would never live 12 years in the wild. The old "rule of thumb" used to be that one could consider themselves "successful" with a species if it lived 50% of its lifespan in captivity, altho now that we as a hobby have a better grasp on nutrition, treatment, and water chemistry, I like to think that things will only improve.
 
+1
 
The typical Tang should be able to live over 50 years in a tank with a decent environment but a Neon Goby will never see 4 years.
 
If you want an approximation of how long a fish will live, they typically grow to 80% of their maximum size during the first 20% of their lifespan. So a fish that grows to a max of 10" will have lived about 1/5th of it's lifespan once it's 8" long. This only applies to healthy saltwater fish of course.
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bang Guy http:///forum/thread/379876/lifespans#post_3304238
+1
 
The typical Tang should be able to live over 50 years in a tank with a decent environment but a Neon Goby will never see 4 years.
 
If you want an approximation of how long a fish will live, they typically grow to 80% of their maximum size during the first 20% of their lifespan. So a fish that grows to a max of 10" will have lived about 1/5th of it's lifespan once it's 8" long. This only applies to healthy saltwater fish of course.
Does that mean fish should be incorporated into wills like parrots?
 
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