what's an average success rate?

[kmc]

I'm probably going to start something here but what is your success rate at keeping fish in your tank. How many fish are alive in your tank today? Divide that number by the total number of fish you have put in your tank since you started. I have three fish today. Since we started we have put a total of 9 fish in the tank ( not at once ). Some died, some were killed, one was returned and one disappeared. So I am looking at a 30% success rate. Doesn't sound to good does it. How does that compare with the rest of you?
The weird thing is I'm 100% for corals. Have not lost one yet.

 

[anthropo]

i've been in the saltwater hobby for 4 years now and have gone through many different phases and tank sizes. when i first started i didn't know that much about it but managed to keep the fish alive. i started adding more and more fish to the tank until the system crashed. the first 6 months i had 2 major crashes which i felt bad about and i lost about 600 bucks worth of fish. i then started doing more and more research until i would read every book and article i could get my hands on. since then i have had fish survival to be nearly 90%. there are a few mishaps here and there such as a fish not getting along with another fish. i have had 1 fish die in the last 2 years. some fish i have had for 3 years. i started a small 29 reef and have had no corals die as a result in the way i take care of them. in fact they are growing too fast for the tank to the point where i've had to frag them already.

 

[jon321]

An average success rate seems very unfair. Things like quality of specimens when aquired, affordable equipment, jumpers, 'food', etc all come into play. Heck, in my 11 years Ive had more than 9 fish die within a week of buying them for reasons out of my control.
Jon

 

[travis89]

Overall I have purchased 12 and have 4 remaining, that makes a 33% success rate. This includes a damsel I took back, 2 chromis that got killed by the 1 I still have, and one jumped. I have also never lost a coral to anything except joe's juice(my own stupidity).

 

[kmc]

Well that's kind of the whole point. I'm not trying to judge or score anybody. Although I wouldn't be surprised to get "flamed" as being to stupid to keep fish. I just thought it would be interesting for everyone to see that even when you are diligent and try to be the conscientious aquarist things still do not always go as planned. It's not a contest but an attempt to point out that from what I have experienced so far this can be a very unfair hobby.

 

[psusocr1]

i have every single fish i put in my 300 gallon tank from when i bought them until now.. so i guess that makes me 100%
and now they are ALOT bigger as well

 

[fedukeford]

Ive put 10 fish i think in my 125, 9 are still living. Im just haveing bad luck with coral (lost a brain, and 2 SPS)
Feduke

 

[kmc]

PSU
300 Gallons? Does the Game Warden come over and check your fishing license when you clean the tank? How much time per week do you spend maintaining that Lake?
Got any pics?

 

[xdave]

I had a volitan executed by a Humu, I lost a male tomato clown when the electricty was out for 2 weeks and my tank was over 90 degrees, and I lost the female Tomato when my new apartment wasn't ready and had to leave her in a cooler and someone got paint in it. She was at least 12 at the time.
I have kept many fish for less than 6 months though. I would rescue ones that I felt were unsuitable for home aquariums from the warehouse I worked at. If injured or sick i'd nurse them back to health and take them back. If they were unsuitable species IMO, like Morish Idols, Ranfordi or Trifaciatus butterflies that came in with the assorteds, etc, I'd keep them happy until a zoo could take them, or a store owner I trusted wanted them for a dt.

 

[xdave]

I'd hate to compare the overall marine aquarium hobby pre and post "Finding Nemo" success rates.

 

[geridoc]

Success rate, as defined on this thread, is beyond meaningless - I have had marine fish for 31 years, but have 4 in my tank right now. Is my success rate only a fraction of a percentage point? More meaningful would be survival time for fish that survived for at least one month. For my tank(s)in the past 11 years the average survival has been 49.3 months for all fish that are now dead. The maximum was 108 months (a powder brown tang).

 

[gmidd]

Originally Posted by xDave
I'd hate to compare the overall marine aquarium hobby pre and post "Finding Nemo" success rates.
LOL... I'm sure you Vets had major headaces when that movie came out and all the people that just jumped head first into the hobby as a result of that movie. I watched that movie recently after my studying up on SWF and there are SO many NO NOs with the Dentists tank setup.

 

[kmc]

Good point on the Nemo movie. I happen to be post Nemo but wasn't inspired to get into aquariums as a result of it. I agree the movie probably didn't help the overall survival rate of the fish but I'll bet it helped the industry. Which makes things easier for all of us?

 

[yerboy]

im at 35% with fish "rushed in at first and lost a few, some i got from LFS that didn't last 2 days"
close to 100% with corals
22% with Anemones " same as fish, didn't know what i was doing, since i been on SWF.com i haven't lost 1 anemone"
74% with inverts " i killed a shrimp moving rock.. dropped it right on top of him, had some snails die here and there"

 

[payton 350]

100 % on fish survival
1 for 1 on a shrimp
about 95% on corals....a few mishaps when started
but only 1 of about 15 turbo snails lasted more than a week.....i still have the one that's last for about 3 months now..
i don't know if any of this is considered success yet for the tank is only a year old

 

[psusocr1]

kmc PSU 300 Gallons? Does the Game Warden come over and check your fishing license when you clean the tank? How much time per week do you spend maintaining that Lake?
Got any pics?
there are tons of pics of my tanks if you just search under my name..
between my 300 gallon(400 total gallons witht he sump/refugium) and my new 125 reef tank i spend about 2 hours a day give or take in maintenance , top-off, cleaning etc. etc.. some days i spend 4-5 hours doing things and other days i only spend 10 minutes...

 

[xdave]

When I ever wanted to know how long a fish would live in captivity I'd ask the guy from the zoo. Everything dies eventually.