This is a topic that fascinates me and concerns me when it comes to species selection. In fact I’ve dropped species from my stocking list after finding out their lifespans.
I’d be very curious to know how clowns and by extension, Damsels can live surprisingly long lives despite most of them getting to no more than 4”-5”. Do they have a particular set of genes? What is it also that makes clowns and damsels so “indestructible”?
I was quite relieved to read from a number of forum posts and from authoritative members like
@Humblefish that all Centropyge angels can manage 10 years or more. I’m definitely getting a Centropyge for my tank.
I know from reading numerous posts on here that large angels and tangs are definitely long-lived.
Most Gobies and Blennies from what I know are not long-lived, but genus Cryptocentrus among the gobies seems to be an outlier as
@Paul B and a couple others have demonstrated. I also read a study that puts the average lifespan of the Yellow Watchman Goby as far above that of the other goby species in the study. This is quite intriguing to me.
For wrasses, I know the Fairy, Flasher, Possum and Pink Streak all have fairly short lives averaging 4-6 years. The lined wrasses and the Halichoeres seem to be longer lived, 8-10 years or more is what I’ve been told.
Cardinals, Firefish, Dartfish etc. from what I’ve read have short lives averaging around 4-5 years it seems.
Anthias are also short-lived.
The only grouper I’m going to buy will be the Marine Betta, that thing can easily do 10 or more years and I assume it’s the same for other groupers.
Foxface I’d assume have a lifespan similar to that of Tangs and large angels.
Triggers, Lions I know also live fairly long. Filefish, Boxfish, and Puffers are related to triggers (correct me if I’m wrong) but I’m not sure how long they can live for. Surprisingly, Anglers and Scorpions seem to have short lives lasting only a couple of years from what I’ve read.
Hawkfish, at least the Flame, I’ve read can live pretty long lives that are 10 or more years. Not sure about the other species and genuses.
Dottybacks live 7-8 years on average, from what I’ve read. Not sure if anyone here has kept one for 10 or more year.
This leaves me with a couple of fish whose average lifespans are a mystery:
1. Butterflies
2. Basslets of the orders Grammatidae, Liopoproma, Lipogramma, Assessor, and Serranus.
3. Boxfishes, Filefishes, And Puffers.
@Paul B Keeping a Mandarin for 10 years is definitely an achievement. Heard they’re notoriously finicky eaters.
I’m starting my tank this year, and I really do hope the fish I choose can make it beyond 2030. Who knows what kinds of advances in the hobby may show up in this decade.
I’d be happy to keep my first group of fish for a long time, but losing them will definitely mean more heartbreak because they’ve been my companions for so long. Hell if everything goes well, it’s like having companions all the way from being a kid fresh out of college / uni to being a full adult and perhaps even into middle age.
Can’t wait to see the day where my kids point to my tank and I teach them the names and behaviors of those fish and I tell them “that’s a xxxx, and it’s been with papa before you were born.”
That would be too sweet.
I like to treat every fish, every piece of livestock places under my care as a work of art by nature’s design. Nothing is disposable / expendable. No fish, no coral, no invert.
