Leporinus fasciatus life span

[hrfd14]

what is the life span of a Banded Leporinus.

I have one that is now 17 years old. Google search shows "more than 5 years" "up to 10 years".

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

Now we know that the life span of the Banded Leporinus is at least 17 years. Lol.
Great job of fish keeping.

 

[phreeflow]

what is the life span of a Banded Leporinus.

I have one that is now 17 years old. Google search shows "more than 5 years" "up to 10 years".

Lifespan in the wild vs captivity are vastly different. Also, most websites just parrot each other. In my experience, fish mostly outlive suggested lifespans. Yours at 17 years is quite a feat

 

[Conchonius]

Google says either 5 or 10 years for all fish. The truth is they don't know and we don't know, since so few people keep the same fish for long periods of time. All we have to go by is anecdotes and "records". Speaking of which, you probably hold one for Leporinus now!

For what it's worth, Araya et al. found a maximum age of 13 in a wild population of L. obtusidens (and 9 in L. acutidens in another paper). But wild populations aren't really reliable, few fish reach their maximum lifespan because of disease, predation and general wear associated with survival in the wild. Even in humans, the lifespan of a "wild" subsistence farmer in Rome was 40-50 years (assuming he survived infancy) while the well-fed, "captive bred" aristocrats had lifespans comparable to us.

Generally I'd expect that fish to make it to at least two decades. 30-35 seems to be the end of the road for most long-lived fish, it's where a lot of records for e.g. plecos, clown loaches, synos and botias stop. But again, it might just be because few people have the luxury to run the same tank with the same fish for decades and not run into some freak accident.

 

[Deadeye]

Mine is 7 and showing no signs of slowing down. At 17, I’d agree you may have the oldest on record.
I know google says 5-10 but it doesn’t really match up with similarly sized or related fish.

 

[Midwater]

I have one that is now 17 years old.

You might have answered your own question.

My question is, has it kept growing, and if not after how many years did it reach its maximum size?

 

[Morti]

I'm going to guess it doesn't even look old. I say that as I have clown loaches, a silver dollar, two synodontis, a stripe Raphael cat and an ancistris, all nearly or just over 30 years old. I also have a botia striata that is just behind and it's the only one that shows any signs of aging really. Most of the other fish I had with them lived 20-25 years as well and I think it is possible with stability, minimal changes (like not moving the fish or adding any/many new ones) and plenty of luck.
I think my point is that lots of our fish can live for far longer than we envisage unless we come up with inventive ways to kill them off early, or they come up with their own ideas. I dont think i habe done anything special, just water changes and decent food.
When I looked into many of the species listed above I found that some seemed far longer lived than average but others potentially have a way to go. The Raphael for instance is about 20 years behind one I saw in Berlin.

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

Regular water changes are the fish keeping fountain of youth.

 

[quikv6]

I care for a Banded Leporinus that is now 12 years old. He was neglected for many years, which is why I started caring for him, a bit over 3 years ago.

I really have no idea how he survived. He is about 10 inches, and lived most of his life in a 46 gallon bowfront. He never got regular water changes, and ate long expired Tetra tropical flake food. When I first saw him, I did a water test. The nitrates were 350-400ppm. I asked to take over care for the tank, and have been ever since.

I have become very attached to him, and hearing of one at 17 years old gives me hope that I can give him a nice long ride off into the sunset. He earned it....definitely a fighter.