Having success with your fish growing old in your tank?

[Zionas]

Cool. What fish is it?

 

[mort]

Longevity of fish is a little tricky. Some species do have long life expectancies and your list is a good higher end/optimistic estimate for life expectancy but we can't rule out earlier deaths caused by natural occurrences, bad luck or bad husbandry. Some fish just get ill, jump out or find a new imaginative way to kill themselves. I'm not sure there has been much study about how long captive bred fish live, simply because their isn't any money in it. I'd wager that most don't get anyway near their potential as we find a way to kill them off early.

 

[Zionas]

@mort Indeed. My genuine hope is that at least most of my fish will be able to live out their full potential lifespans under my care. Accidents happen and they can get ill etc just like what happens to humans, but I hope that happens as little as possible.

I’m being somewhat ambitious here, in the sense that if my fish live out their full potential in terms of lifespan it would give me lots of satisfaction. If some can make it to the time I have my own kids, that would really make me proud.

If I’m betting on the fish I’ve chosen for my stocking list living really long lives with the potential of passing the two decade mark, it would be the Marine Betta and the Clowns.

Another reason why I’ve said I’d love to get a pair of Marine Bettas is because that’s going to give me a second really long-lived fish.

 

[mort]

Consider however that some fish have reduced lifespans when they breed. I've no idea if this is true with bettas (I doubt it) but sometimes they put so much energy in to protecting eggs, mating or producing eggs, that it can reduce their lifespan by a lot. You also have to consider the problems associated with pairing them or providing enough space that they can coexist in harmony.

There is also the flip side of longevity and it's sound horrible but if you have a fish for a very long time you might grow tired of them. I've got clown loaches that a between 27-30 years old that I inherited from my dad. I'm now 33 so have lived with them nearly all my life and would desperately love to do something else with their tank (I have for well over a decade really). Now don't get me wrong, I'm still fond of them but sometimes they can be a bit of a bind and although they are here with me for their whole lives it doesn't stop your mind fantasising about what a lovely reef that tank could be.

 

[Paul B]

There is also the flip side of longevity and it's sound horrible but if you have a fish for a very long time you might grow tired of them. I've got clown loaches that a between 27-30 years old that I inherited from my dad.

This is true. I have a pair of Fireclowns about 29 years and I don't even like clownfish. I bought the first one as a baby and I thought it was a small flame hawkfish. But it turned out not to be.

At the time, I never saw a fireclown and still see very few of them. Not the best looking fish.