I've read conflicting information on whether fish live longer in aquariums or in the wild. It would seem to me that fish in a healthy aquarium would live longer (no predators, controlled environment, etc.) If it is the other way around (fish in the wild live longer) what do you think would account for that?
Fish Lifespans
- Thread starter tomocean
- Start date
First of all you have to define what you mean. If you take the average lifespan of all fish caught for eventual sale to hobbyists then the average would be shorter due to the number which would die before reaching the hobbyist's aquarium. If you restrict it to those which are inside and acclimated to an aquarium then I would assume a shorter lifespan would be due to aquarium conditions such as tank size, water quality, food quality, and stocking density being far inferior to what is available in the wild. In addition, you have errors and accidents in our systems such as malfunctioning heaters, electricity outages, salinity misadjustments, amonia spikes and so on. The only major advantage the captive animal has is lack of direct predation. My opinion.
[ August 06, 2001: Message edited by: 2poor2reef ]
[ August 06, 2001: Message edited by: 2poor2reef ]
In a healthy aquarium with an experienced and smart reefkeeper, many fish will live 10-20 years or more. I have heard of clownfish living for 12-18 years, tangs and angels even longer.
Public aquariums have had clowns live 20+ years and angels 28+ years also. They can replicate the fish's natural environment better than we can, since they have bigger tanks and more money of course. That's not to say that some of our tanks wouldn't make a public aquarium jealous!
In the wild, fish have extremely long lifespans (we don't really know how long) if they aren't eaten by a predator. There are reports of divers seeing the same clownfish in the same anemone year after year. The same goes for moray eels and some other species.
Public aquariums have had clowns live 20+ years and angels 28+ years also. They can replicate the fish's natural environment better than we can, since they have bigger tanks and more money of course. That's not to say that some of our tanks wouldn't make a public aquarium jealous!
In the wild, fish have extremely long lifespans (we don't really know how long) if they aren't eaten by a predator. There are reports of divers seeing the same clownfish in the same anemone year after year. The same goes for moray eels and some other species.
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