Fish Sizes and Age in Captivity

[mling]

There are many sources of information for max size of marine fishes. I believe sizes mentioned usually refers to growth in the wild. I have a 2 year old Sailfin Tang that is about 5 inches. I really don

[Jan]

Great questions!

I had a parrot fish over 20 years ago in my 55 gallon tank that was about 3" when purchased. 2 years later in the same 55 gallon tank it grew to about 8-10". Same thing happened with a marine catfish. The catfish started at about 1" and grew to 8" in 2 years in the same tank. I was told by the LFS that they would not get very big because of the size of my tank. I think it depends on the fish and in some cases the size of the tank.

 

I think that the best place for accurate scientific evidence to your questions would probably be from a Marine biologist that works and has studied fish in captivity at an Aquarium or some other facility where marine fish are kept, observed and studied. I would imagine that the information seen on sites like liveaquaria come from similar reliable resources and that's why in their description of the livestock they sell they suggest what size tank would be suitable for their fish along with how big they can get, etc.

 

There are many sources of information for max size of marine fishes. I believe sizes mentioned usually refers to growth in the wild. I have a 2 year old Sailfin Tang that is about 5 inches. I really don't expect it to grow to 15" in my 156 !

 

Does any know of a reliable source for the size of fishes in captivity ?

 

Do large fishes have a accelerated growth the first few month, then slow down the next few years ?

 

Also curious how old captive fishes get. May be we can poll the oldest fish WAMAS folks have had.

Edited August 17, 2011 by Jan

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Larry who used to work at Roozen's said he had a couple 20+ year old hippo tangs at his house.

 

I can't recall how big he said they were, but I think it was something like a dinner plate.

 

Um hum, yep.

[steveoutlaw]

Larry who used to work at Roozen's said he had a couple 20+ year old hippo tangs at his house.

 

I can't recall how big he said they were, but I think it was something like a dinner plate.

 

Um hum, yep.

 

 

I wouldn't doubt it. When Aquatic world out in Leesburg was open they guy there had a 12-14" Hippo tang in his front display.

[Chad]

I had a few 7 year old seahorses die last year (although I only had them for four years before I gave them to a friend of mine when I moved to DC).

 

 

[SkiCurtis]

I have a 22 year old clown fish.

[bravanc]

I just loss my female maroon clown on monday she was 4" 10 years old. No idea what happened. Her mate is still around and so is the yellow tang in the same tank FOWLR. So they are also 10 years old.

[davelin315]

Here, I've got a 3 stripe damsel that is 8+ years old.

[amos]

I recently lost my goldrim tang which had been with me for 7 years :(.

 

Jon

[mling]

I have a Black Ocellaris Clown and a Red Spotted Cardinal that have been with me for 7 years, so a guess they are about 8 years old since they were about 1.5 inches when I got them.

[CaptainRon]

My Dad, Ron, has a couple tangs in his tank that have been in there since sometime in 1997 or so - a yellow and a purple tang. The yellow tang is certainly looking a little ragged but overall they seem to be doing pretty well.

 

 

Here a

from a week or two ago. I was trying to capture the Coral Beauty picking on the female clown. Edited October 1, 2011 by CaptainRon

[treesprite]

The tomato clownfish now living with Coral Hind are something in their teens now. The male only grew a little, but the female is huge. Once clownfish turn female they grow fast, but if they stay male, they will not usually grow to full size potential for the species. In other words, you can't judge growth rate by way of clownfish as the subject.

 

I don't think any individual animals stop growing due to container size. I would like to see scientific documents on that subject.