Average Life Span

[threebuoys]

Does anyone have document with average life span by species for typical saltwater fish?

#fishmedic

 

[lapin]

I have only seen general write ups
“”

Common Saltwater Fish Lifespans​

1. Clownfish: Clownfish typically live 6 to 10 years. With proper care, you might even see them reach up to 15 years.
2. Tangs: Tangs usually have a lifespan of 8 to 15 years. Species like the Blue Tang can thrive for over a decade in well-maintained tanks.
3. Angelfish: Angelfish can live 10 to 15 years and sometimes even longer if their needs are met.
4. Wrasses: Depending on the species, wrasses range from 5 to 10 years, with some living longer under optimal conditions.
5. Butterflyfish: Butterflyfish can reach lifespans of 5 to 12 years, based on species and tank maintenance.

 

[afboundguy]

My clowns are coming up on their 15th birthday with me and I've had them since I grabbed them from a local club member who was breeding them. They're still laying eggs and are the bosses of the tank!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Does anyone have document with average life span by species for typical saltwater fish?

#fishmedic

Before I retired a few months ago, I was part of a task force of public aquariums looking at fish longevity as a metric for proper care. There are many details that make this difficult to track; how old the fish were when acquired, do you include mortality during shipping? During quarantine? Water temperature, etc.

We decided that average life span in captivity wasn’t really what we wanted to know, but rather, what the normal lifespan should be. By the same token, record longevity, while interesting, doesn’t really tell us much.

Here is some test data I extracted for this project on Banggai cardinals:

Usable data included 100 individual Banggai cardinalfish that were acquired from 1996 to 2021.

The longevity ranged from 2 days to 8.9 years.

Average lifespan was 1.8 years, with a median of 1.2 years.

If quarantine losses were removed, average lifespan was 2.4 years with a median of 2.1 years

25% of the fish died less than one month after acquisition

50% died less than a year after acquisition.

10% lived longer than five years.
***************

Here is an article I wrote on fish mortality rates:
https://reefs.com/magazine/aquarium-fish-mortality-rates-of-fishes-in-captivity/

 

[afboundguy]

Mandarins can live 10-15 years in the wild and typically 2-4 years in captivity due to them typically starving to death. I believe captive bred ones generally are in the 5-10 year range for reef tanks.

Dottybacks live about 5-7 years in captivity and cardinal fish are 2-10+ years depending on species.

Those are the species I have on my tank and that's what I found through my research...

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would say at least a decade for most fish, but many fish will live longer. I met a 26 year old clownfish once last year

 

[shawnycool319]

I have only seen general write ups
“”

Common Saltwater Fish Lifespans​

1. Clownfish: Clownfish typically live 6 to 10 years. With proper care, you might even see them reach up to 15 years.
2. Tangs: Tangs usually have a lifespan of 8 to 15 years. Species like the Blue Tang can thrive for over a decade in well-maintained tanks.
3. Angelfish: Angelfish can live 10 to 15 years and sometimes even longer if their needs are met.
4. Wrasses: Depending on the species, wrasses range from 5 to 10 years, with some living longer under optimal conditions.
5. Butterflyfish: Butterflyfish can reach lifespans of 5 to 12 years, based on species and tank maintenance.

• clowns: ~6–15+ years
• Tangs : ~8–30 years with good care.
• Angelfish (larger species): ~10–20+ years.
• Wrasses: ~5–10+ years.
• Butterflyfish: ~5–12 years.
• Royal Gramma: ~4–5 years.
• Surgeonfish/other surgeonfish: ~5–10+ years.

Smaller, delicate species (some gobies, blennies) often have more of a shorter lifespan(~2–8 yrs).
Larger and well-cared-for fish (tangs, angelfish, clownfish) can become long term 10–30+ years