Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Thinking about it this week, some of my fish are getting well....old ? Our Maroon Clown and Flame Hawk are getting up there in age. And I am sure for there size they were kind of old when we got them. How long can one expect fish to live ?

I havent been in the hobby long enough to give you my experience but I know Andrew (amphiprion) has had his ocellaris for at least 10 years.

I think it depends on the fish, of course, and I think that saltwater fish have a somewhat shorter lifespan. I read somewhere it was generally 3-5 years for saltwater, dragonetts a bit shorter, maybe 3. But I think I saw a post from a guy a while ago who's clownfish had died after, like 7 years, I remember being surprised they lived that long.

I know freshwater fish tend to live 5-7 years if all goes well, we have some really old guys that are 7 and still going but some plecostomous live up to 20 years. That'll be my luck!

How old are yours?

That's it! It was an article on Amphirion Percula (blackfinned clownfish), it said they can live six to ten in captivity,with one known to have lived 18 years. I think the general rule is less. There is something nice about having fish that live longer than the "general rule".
I don't know.....I look at my "old" fish and just have to call them "grandpa", it's almost ridiculous...they look like they ought to be swimming with a cane or wheelchair. I can't imagine a clownfish that's 18 years old.

The Maroon clown was one of the first fish we purchased when we set up our old 75 so we have had her going on 5 years and the Hawk probably 4 years...

As of now, my oldest fish is six years old (my once-male clownfish). I have had a sixline wrasse for 5 years and a blue tang for 3.
I dont necessarily believe that whether a fish is salt or freshwater has much to do with lifespan. What does is the particular fish. Guppies and bettas, for example, live anywhere from 2-4 years. Plecostomus can live for 10 or more (goldfish up to 20 usually, or even 50). But some groupers are said to live just as long. On average, tangs live from 10-12 years. Seahorses, anywhere from 3-5 years or less in smaller species. Many wrasses can live up to ten years (and so can clownfish). Larger clowns can live up to 20. So, as you can see, it really depends on the fish. ( I believe Sprung or someone has(or had) the oldest clownfish in captivity).

It almost seems like in some cases the size of the fish has something to do with it. I've been thinking about it today, and the big fish tend to make it longer than the small ones. (Although different killifish live drastically different life spans) We had a betta (Darth) that lived about 5 years, but most since then haven't lived more than two. I knew a guy that had goldfish for almost 30 years.
Maybe it just depends on the particular fish, the particular situation they live in.....who knows, but it's really been fun to ponder on.

Koi live over 100 years as I remember reading.

I had a oscellaris clown for 10 years until I put an aggressive fish in with him and she ended up jumping out of the tank. When I was in college, I did some work with Dr. Shipp on determining age on fish. A fishes ear bones grow with growth rings like a tree. You can thin section the ear bones and determine the age based on these rings. Most average sized snappers were 15 to 30 years old. Dr. Shipp did one on a monster sized snapper that was over 135 years old.