How long do tetras live?

July 1, 2005 3:06 PM

FishFilter: Earlier this week, the last of my original fish died. It was a black skirt tetra, which is a fairly common aquarium fish. I have not, however, been able to find out how long they usually live, either on the Intarweb, Innes book, etc.

This fish looked much like the one in that picture, except it had cataracts, the silver with black stripes had degraded into a staticky pattern over the past couple years, and had started wasting away badly for a couple of weeks before the end (so it was not unexpected). The thing is, I purchased this fish, full grown, in May of 1999, so it was at least six or seven years old. Is this more common than it seems, or was this fish about 250 in fish years? Note: I'm aware that plenty of aquarium fish can live much longer than six years, like oscars, pacus, arowanas, etc, but I've never found anything about tetra or other small characoid lifespans.

posted by Captain_Tenille to Pets & Animals (2 answers total)

My mother wound up caretaking for my old fishtank, and the last ones to pass into that fishbowl in the sky were two black skirts. She just quoted me a figure of eight or nine years for those two. She may be exaggerating, but come to think of it, no. I think she's right.

Didn't they always strike you as nice fish? Kind of flighty, but all in all really dependable. Agreeable. Easily anthropomorphized.
posted by redsparkler at 3:45 PM on July 1, 2005

4-6 years on average, but they can live for much longer with proper care.
posted by TimeFactor at 5:10 PM on July 1, 2005