Marine Fish Survival

J

J_Vee

AC Members
Jan 12, 2005
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This is sort of an informal poll. What percentage of marine fish survive in an aquarium ? 50%,75% etc. It seems, not matter where I buy my fish I have a percentage that don't survive. All of my H20 parameters are normal. Even some fish in my quarantine tank die. Just wanted to get opinions and see what other marine hobbyist experience. :duh:



Joe
 
Of my 3 fish so far none have died or even seemed stressed. However each I watched for at least 20 minutes each in the store,a dn checked neighboring tanks for disease as well. I also didn't pick "sensitive" fish. I cycled my tank with a shrimp and got a small royal gramma. Later I set up my iso tank and got a small spotted hawk. Even later I sold the hawk who had decided it didn't like the gramma, and picked up a tank bred ocellaris clown. The clown is still in iso, but I don't forsee any problems. I've decided if I can help it nothing that hasn't lived in a tank for at least one generation, corals included, is going in my tank. No more wild caught animals.

As to long term lifespan, it relies on a lot of factors. I expect my clown to live a long time, same with the gramma. The gramma has doubled in size since I got it. I'm not planning on picking up a mandarin or other very hard to feed fish, or something that most people can't keep. I'm not an expert, so why spend the money if I'm almost certain it will not live a full lifespan in my tank.

My tank is a 30 Softie reef tank. A 20 long fuge sits under it. I'm keeping zoos, some mushrooms, a ric, and some xenia. Most have been trades or frebies from other tanks. The only thing I don't have great luck with is some of the xenia. I'm lucky in that I am near a lot of other reefers and can trade or buy frags that haev been aquacultured for several years already.


So currently I'm running at 100 % survival rate when it hits my tank. Though I did lose a peppermint shrimp, but you only asked about fish :o

--Mia
 
Hey, read the sticky at the top of the page,"in the new to s.w. section," it's quite possibly the way the fish were captured, It may have been 100% out of your controle. Fwiw after useing q.t. and being picky about the source of my fish survival rate is about 90% , had a couple go carpet surfing and one was an entre for my anemone. Prior to being picky it was about 60-40.
 
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From fish stores, including one not so good one-100%(I had a butterfly die like 2 months out but I think that was MY issue)

From online sources, 20% tops
 
Well, they ALL die eventually, they are after all living animals.
I think you are questioning how long can they be expected to live in captivity. It really depends on the species, if you could break it down per species then you could expect a more specific answer.
I have kept hardy species, i.e. clowns, morays, wrasses and angels for years and years. There are certain species of batfish that are extremely hardy, and others like Platax pinnatus that have an almost 100 percent mortality rate. Similarly, some marine angels will live for years under the right conditions, while Regals and Rock Beauties are almost always doomed from the start and should not be purchased or sold IMO. The key is learning which fish to avoid; I am so concerned about this as it relates to the future of wild caught species in our hobby, that I wrote a brief article about it on another forum to help folks over there... this was actually inspired by a wonderful post on this forum as I recall, here's the link if you're interested:
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_marine_fish.php
 
To clarify my initial post: I am asking, what percentage of fish survive after being placed in an aquarium, after buying them. Your sucess rate, and where you have the most success buying your fish, ie. LFS, Online etc.


Joe

P.S. Thanks for the article Florida Boy !!!
 
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The lfs that way I see what I get and they see me if there are issues!
 
I think it largely depends on what species you are trying. Some like damsels, clowns, lg Thalassoma wrasses you couldn't kill even if you wanted to (a guy at work always joked about running them over with a semi and still surviving :)). While me, on the other hand loves playing with hard to keep fish. I have been farely successful considering the fish I've attempted. I kept Seahorses back in the day before they were all CB, were all WC and needed predominantly live foods at least 3 times a day to keep alive. I've played with difficult tangs such as the Powder Blue, Achilles, and Clown all with good success. I've done EXTREMELY well with Ribbon Eels, have a 95% success rate with getting them to settle into captivity and eat frozen foods (one didn't want to play :( ). Several years ago I also tried the difficult Pinnatus Batfish (had 1 month success, was eating but died due to the common batfish downfall of fin damage/fin rot). I would be willing to try them again but their price is quite the drawback, a lot to spend on a fish that has a good chance of not survivng. I now have a Teira Batfish that eats everything and gets fed 3x a day.
There are pro's and cons to each type of place to order from. Pros of lfs is you get to see it, see the other fish to ensure health,etc. Con is no guarentee. Pro of online, cheaper price (same when include shipping), 14 day guarentee, con don't get to see what you get. I prefer online whenever possible due to I'm generally needing a bunch of fish and fish here in the landlocked CO can be pretty pricey so it is generally cheaper to go online (there are a lot of cheap places but they are predominantly in Denver which is 1.5hrs away and with gas these day.......) Anyway, enough rambling! Hope this helps!
 
Welcome to Aquaria Central! You will find wealths of info here? What kind are you interested in? Some of the "easier" ones are the Teardrop, Raccoon, Saddleback, Copperbands can be tricky along with Longnoses, etc. Is there a specific butterfly you want info on success with? Anyway hope this helps and good luck!
 
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