Timfish Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 I had to decide to euthanize one of my fish today. She was a white band Marroon Clown bought as a female of a pair of wild collected in 1997. She had stopped eating over a week ago and then couldn't maintain her balance or float. I would like to say she left behind her mate but she had killed several over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgautrea Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 I'm sorry for your loss Tim. [emoji20]Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sissy36 Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 I'm sorry for your loss as well [emoji17]Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexMorsePremium Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 That's a very impressive run she had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christyef Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 [emoji22]Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Sounds like she had a good long life of pampering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Sorry to hear that, but as far as a fish life goes, it's one of the greatest success stories. Well done keeping her alive for so long! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Sorry for your loss Tim. Wow, she was huge! 20 yrs for a captive fish is an incredible success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 Thank you all! It was really sad to see her just lying next to a big brown finger Sinularia sp. she's been hosting the last four years. I counted it up and she's lived through 8 moves and two crashes. 4 of the moves were for redecorating the room she was in, 2 were change of residence and 2 were when her acrylic tank started leaking and she and her tankmates were in a holding tank for a couple weeks while it was repaired. The first crash was in 2002 when a UV failed during an ick outbreak (I say crash as we lost most of the fish but the corals were fine). The second crash was 4 years ago when a house sitter somehow accidentally set the heat in the house at 90, only survivors were her, a yellow tang, a green brittle star and some hermit crabs. How she and the tang made it in an 80 gallon tank when all the leathers, euphilia, zoas and mushrooms and half a dozen other fish were just blobs of goo is beyond me but she was clearly a survivor. Life expectancy in the wild is around 28 years. I'm pretty sure she wasn't more than a year or two old when I got her and her mate. They were in a tank together in Partner's when it was still owned by Tim Weaver and were displaying typical paired behaviour but she was only about 3 1/2" or 4" long or about 2/3rds adult female size. She really was a black widow though. Her first mate was found dead a few months after the first move in 2000 and every introduction after wards never survived more than a few weeks even when I tried 3 at one time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 54 minutes ago, mFrame said: Sorry for your loss Tim. Wow, she was huge! 20 yrs for a captive fish is an incredible success. dont tell PETA that. havnt you heard, we are torturers thats sucks tim, im sorry. good job though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_ATX Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 48 minutes ago, Timfish said: Thank you all! It was really sad to see her just lying next to a big brown finger Sinularia sp. she's been hosting the last four years. I counted it up and she's lived through 8 moves and two crashes. 4 of the moves were for redecorating the room she was in, 2 were change of residence and 2 were when her acrylic tank started leaking and she and her tankmates were in a holding tank for a couple weeks while it was repaired. The first crash was in 2002 when a UV failed during an ick outbreak (I say crash as we lost most of the fish but the corals were fine). The second crash was 4 years ago when a house sitter somehow accidentally set the heat in the house at 90, only survivors were her, a yellow tang, a green brittle star and some hermit crabs. How she and the tang made it in an 80 gallon tank when all the leathers, euphilia, zoas and mushrooms and half a dozen other fish were just blobs of goo is beyond me but she was clearly a survivor. Life expectancy in the wild is around 28 years. I'm pretty sure she wasn't more than a year or two old when I got her and her mate. They were in a tank together in Partner's when it was still owned by Tim Weaver and were displaying typical paired behaviour but she was only about 3 1/2" or 4" long or about 2/3rds adult female size. She really was a black widow though. Her first mate was found dead a few months after the first move in 2000 and every introduction after wards never survived more than a few weeks even when I tried 3 at one time. Wow that's amazing. Sorry for your loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeeperKeeper Posted September 23, 2017 Share Posted September 23, 2017 Wow you got her the same year my daughter was born, and she’s now a sophomore in college!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted September 26, 2017 Author Share Posted September 26, 2017 When I started looking for how long fish live it surprised me they have such long lives, in some species much, much longer than our pet cats or dogs. Isn't your reef older than her also? And what opened my eyes to how long our systems should live was when I had systems I'd been maintaining for over a decade inherited by family members when my clients died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 Sorry to hear about the loss. Pets, they are great and under proper care ( prob spoiled rotten) they live very happy full lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted September 27, 2017 Author Share Posted September 27, 2017 Thank you! And like many other animals kept in captivity they will live longer than their wild counterparts. I've had several dwarf angels now live longer than their documented life expectancy (1-10 years). I know Caribbean Bluehead wrasse supermales live many times longer than they do in the wild and I would not be surprised if that holds true for other species that have supermales as part of their reproductive process. Some of our other animals live very long times also like this hermit crab. When the green brittle star in my skimmerless thread was added 20 years ago it was roughly half the size if is now (I'm going by diameter of the body, not the length of the legs) and judging from the growth rate I've seen with small specimens I'm pretty comfortable it was already 10 years old or older giving it an estimated age of 30+. I have a long spine Diadem urchin over 15 years and it initlually had a 2" diameter body so it could easily be over 20 years. We do get attached to them even if they are spineless and brainless you miss them and you can't help but wonder if there might have been something you could have done better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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