Longevity of Marine Tropicals at The Nancy Aquarium

The Pygoliptes diacanthus, Arusetta asfur, Euxiphipops navarchus, and Chaetodontoplus mesoleucus have shown modest body growth (2-3cm)

The two Euxiphipops xanthometapon were brought together in a tank on 3/9/82. The first occupant, which was rather large, showed interest in the new arrival with a dominance display followed by some pursuit but no serious battles. The two specimens were then found from time to time displaying to each other with flared fins. The two Apolemichthys xanthurus which share the some tank and were reared together since their acquisition (about 30 mm) show similar behaviour to that of the Euxiphipops. After its introduction, the second E. xanthometapon was the subject of a sharp attack from Pomacanthops semicirculatu

Forcipiger longirostris was only at Nancy for 2 years and 9 months, but it did not appear to be any more demanding in its care than F. flavissimus.

The maximum longevity of a representative genus Chaetodon is 14 1/2 years for a C. rafflesi. C. semilavartus survived nearly 13 years and died accidently when polluted fresh water was accidently poured into its tank.

In the case of C. meyeri and C. ornatissimus, the closely related species (apparently hybrids from Palau) generally accept ground mussels. They have a more or less prolonged juvenile stage which is particularly dangerous to small specimens. Those of meyerii (50mm total length) did not survive more than 56 days, but a large individual of the same species (100mm total length) lived a little more than 6 months (9/1/76-3/12/77). On 9/18/79, a juvenile C. meyeri (60mm), received from Mombasa, was introduced into a tank containing various kinds of Madreporarians (stony corals), among which were Goniopora sp. (brain corals), Plyogyra sinuosa (bubble coral), P. sinuosa var. cultifera (bubble coral), and Trachyphyllia geoffroyi. The fish immediately began to browse on the Trachyphyllia, which was eaten in several days. This food was renewed and was consumed equally (after about 3 weeks) with the chopped mussels. The animal also browsed on a wall of small anemones and later attacked some Plerogyra sinuosa cultifera which was totally destroyed, whereas the P. sinuosa types were not touched. J.P. Chevalier wrote on this subject: "It is rather curious that the Chaetodon, more gifted in classification than the zoologists, is better able to distinguish between P. sinuosa and P. cultifera than anyone since Matthai (1928), and classifies them in the same way. The latter species differs from the first only in that the radial elements were more pronounced. Personally, I also place cultifera with sinuosa. Perhaps there are other physiological criteria more trustworthy." Between times, raw mussel was taken (at least one per day), although its attractiveness was lessened by cooking, and it made up the bulk of the food.

Our two Acanthurus leucosternon, which lived for 11 years and 3 months and 10 years and 11 months, respectively, showed towards the end a loss of weight and violent attacks of cutaneous parasites, responding little or not at all to the usual treatments. Moreover, one of them ingested quantities of quartzite before dying.One ctenochaetus hawaiiensis, acquired just as it was changing from the juevnile coloration (chevron tang) to the adult pattern (the chevrons resolve into fine longitudinal lines of metalli blue-green), died after 10 years 2 months (7/1/72-8/28/82). Its sudden death, in the night, was not preceded by any symptoms and it is possible that it was a victim of trauma.

B. undulatus was offered to us by an amateur after about 1 year in an aquarium.