Longest Fish Lifespan in reef tank

[Dmitri]

I wonder what are some of the longest lifespan fish that you have seen in a reef tank?

I heard some naso tangs could live upto 45 years.

 

[bzb]

My longest survivors were unexpected.

I had two ocellaris clowns that I got as tiny, tiny babies in my 29gal. They were in there for 4 years before I broke down all my large tanks. They then lived at my office in a 7gal for about 3 years before I gave them to a friend who had a huge tank. They lived in his tank for at least 5 more years before they finally died when he moved the tank to a new house. Crazy long for little fish.

I can’t fathom having a tank running for 45 years.

 

[brandonmason]

My chromis in the 650 have been in our position for 8 years. Jenn had an 18 year old Regal in the store

 

[Tanster2]

Pair of maroons in my LFS supposedly around 16 years old. Can't verify but apparently maroons can live very long. They'll die by human error before they will natural causes.

 

[hiimsean]

I know clowns can live to be in their 20s. I can’t imagine any fish having a lifespan much longer than that.

 

[ActiveAngel]

I think most of the responses are in line with what to expect. Most fish have lifespans of at least a couple years. 5-15 years is most common. A few more that go a bit longer up to 30-50 years.

There are fish that could conceivably be in aquariums that live to ~100 years... but generally they aren’t flashy ones that we like to keep.

And if we go beyond Reef tanks, Sleeper Sharks (such as the Greenland shark) are arguably the oldest living fish and oldest living animals on the planet, depending on the definition of ‘animal’. However, their estimated age range is uncertain and often varies between 250 - 1000 years.