So how long have your fish lived?

option720

Member
Just wondering what the average lifespan is of some of our favorite marine friends. I like long term relationships. How long have some of your fish lived for?
 

k.lee

Member
I've had my king angel for 2 years. I had a clown tang for two years too, till he went missing in action :( .
 

option720

Member
The fish i've had was my maroon clown, he live just over a year and then passed on :( , now my six line is the current age champ at 6 months.
 

nm reef

Active Member
I have several coming up on a year each...yellow tang...red coris wrasse...blue & domino damsels...coral beauty...mated pair of perculas...tomato clown...and my pride--jimi the phycadelic manderian....the only one I've lost is my 6-line wrasse that went carpet surfing.....
 

wamp

Active Member
I've got a Maroon Clown that is about 4 years old in my tank.. Dont know how old he was when I got him..
 

adrian

Active Member
I think my green clown gobie is going on 3 years now. I read an article in AFM a few years back in which the author states his clownfish is over 20 yrs old <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> It depends on the individual species and the individual hobbyist, but I think most captive fish can live 10+ yrs.
 

hondo

Member
my longest living is my false perc which was the first fish I purchased when I moved here in Dec 99. Most of the others have been traded in for new fish. The ones that died passed on due to a heat build up last summer when I was out of town and the person watching my tank thought it would be a good idea to close the windows because it may rain in August. Tank got hot and I lost a tang, bicolor angle, psuedochromis, and a pennant coral fish
 

maryc137

Member
I had a sailfin tang and a blue regal tang for 8 years. We got them together, and they died within 2 weeks of each other. Must have been a broken heart.
 

k.lee

Member
Originally posted by maryc137:
<strong>I had a sailfin tang and a blue regal tang for 8 years. We got them together, and they died within 2 weeks of each other. Must have been a broken heart.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Wow, that's a long time, IMO. :( What size tank was that, and how big were your fishes?
Lee
 
1

10k

Guest
I've had a purple and yellow tang for going on eight years now. I've lost alot of others in that timespan that were puchased later though. I think the main factor in the lifespan of fish is the qaulity of the water they are housed in and the quality and diversity of foods offered in their life. Of course we really don't know how old the fish are when they are purchased so who is to really say what the average lifespan is. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />
 

k.lee

Member
Originally posted by 10k:
<strong>I've had a purple and yellow tang for going on eight years now. I've lost alot of others in that timespan that were puchased later though. I think the main factor in the lifespan of fish is the qaulity of the water they are housed in and the quality and diversity of foods offered in their life. Of course we really don't know how old the fish are when they are purchased so who is to really say what the average lifespan is. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
In the ocean, I think, size of a fish is fairly consistent, as is their growth rate in conditions we hobbyists could never keep, only try and approximate.
I doubt highly anyone will have an anemone for 100 years or a coral 20 feet wide for 5000 years.
:D
 

kartrax

New Member
Maroon Clown for 9 years and Orbic Batfish for 7 years. Coral Beauty Angel 3 years. Those are the longest.
 

twoods71

Active Member
Seabae Clown, aound 5 years now.
This is one of the first SW fish I got when I started with a 29 FOWLR.
Now he is swimming around in my 55 reef.
 

shel

Member
I have had my maroon clown for 2 years, I bought my set-up used and she came with it. She is great. She layed eggs a few weeks ago. I also have 2 green chomis that came with the tank, they are still doing great.
 

drkegel

Member
I have a most unfortunate incident to report and a HUGE mystery that as yet is still not solved. Hence, I have been hesitant and have done even more research on the marine keeping hobby.
I started a 55-gal tank in Aug 2001. I had about 70 lbs of various types of live rock, 4 inches of CC substrate, and Eheim 2230 canister filter, whose media I changed religiously every 4 weeks, a hang on Prizm skimmer, and four 4-ft flourescents (2 actinic, two daylights). I had in the tank about 30 or so turbo snails, 4 emerald crabs, 2 brittle stars, 1 sally lightfoot, 1 CBS, 5 peppermint shrimp, 1 percula (small), 1 sebae (small), 1 hippo tang, (small, he was going to be transferred to my 72 bow after that had cycled), and (1) 3 inch yellow angel. I monitored my levels daily, and buffered pH to be pegged at 8.2. I had undetectable levels of trates, trites, and ammonia. I did a 6-gal water change every week, and vacuumed the substrate weekly as well.
So it's Dec 30, 2001. I do my standard maintenance in prepartion for a new year's party to be held at my house on the 31st. I do my water change, verify salinity in tank to be at 1.025, check levels before I go to bed while lights are still on in tank. Everything appears to be fine. The fish are active, not breathing heavily. So I go to bed around 11 pm after one last look at tank when lights are out, and again everything appears normal, and levels check out fine.
I wake up around 9 am and saunter downstairs. EVERYTHING, except a few snails and hermits, is dead. The brittle stars are alive, but they don't make it past 11. I immediately check my levels, nitrite is off the charts, while ammonia and nitrate are still not detectable. PH still at 8.2, salinity still at 1.025 and water temp at 79. All pumps and filters are running, skimmer is working properly.
Here's teh big mystery, since Semptember 2001 when i began stocking the tank, I had done everything the same. Topped of tank daily with the same DI water, cleanded and maintained skimmer and pumps/powerhead the same. I was very proud of this tank, as it was my first one. I never added any medications to the tank or anything. I've spoken with several people, including people at the best LFS I have found in the Twin Cities, and no one can explain it. If anyone has any thoughts/ideas please don't hesitate to share them!
Sorry this post is so LONG!
nathan
 
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