How long did your blue devil damsel live?

[AydenLincoln]

I believe my first fish sadly passed away but I was unable to find a body and probably never will thanks to the clean up crew. I had him for two and a half years. But I thought they were supposed to live longer?

 

[Garf]

I believe my first fish sadly passed away but I was unable to find a body and probably never will thanks to the clean up crew. I had him for two and a half years. But I thought they were supposed to live longer?

I had one that lived for what seemed like an eternity.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

ill let you know as soon as i can catch him!

 

[blecki]

I had one that I got as a rescue, that then lived for 4 and a half more years. At the end it developed popeye and lost an eye, held on for a few more months, and then vanished. You can usually tell when a fish is dying of old age. They start to lose color and then look ragged and honestly they just look old.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I figured out/believe that my clownfish killed my damsel. They probably just killed the one I put in they just bit him! They are ganging up on him. And bit his tail off. I’ve never seen my clownfish be aggressive. Sorry little damsel. I didn’t think it would happen. Never seen this from them and it happened so quickly.

 

[Reefering1]

These last 2? About 4 years longer than I wanted them to

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I had one that lived for what seemed like an eternity.

This. I've seen them go a decade plus. My current terror is about 4 or so.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I had one that I got as a rescue, that then lived for 4 and a half more years. At the end it developed popeye and lost an eye, held on for a few more months, and then vanished. You can usually tell when a fish is dying of old age. They start to lose color and then look ragged and honestly they just look old.

Yup. Watching a round of anthias age out currently, this is more than true. Also had a hawkfish go out due to old age, didn't lose much color in the beginning just suddenly went hunger strike for 3 weeks and got pale during the last week and poof gone.

 

[areefer01]

Fish lore says 5 years or longer. Hard to say honestly but if the hobbyist provides a healthy diet and there are no stressors then there is no reason why they can't live that long or a bit longer.

The challenge with wild caught/collected is that we don't know there age. Compare that to captive bred, raised, fish we have an estimate and better chance of knowing.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Well screw the clowns. I didn’t realize just how mean they’ve gotten. No more fish for that tank.

 

[Paul B]

When the hobby started in the US in 1971 blue devils and 2 or 3 other types of fish were the only fish available. I bought a few, I think I had 6 (not very cheap then)

One became a male and his fins turned a royal blue while the 6 others had clear fins. The oldest one lived and spawned for about 7 years.

This is that male over his nest of eggs in that barnacle shell

 

[Katrina71]

My son's blue velvet is over 9 years now. He's a big baby, but he's also been with the same pair of clowns for 8 years.