How old are you Mr. Wild Caught Fish?

[gwand]

Up until today I only lost one fish over the past year in my African tank. The loss was due to fatal injury inflicted by other fish. But this morning I found the body of one of my wild caught Alestopetersius caudalis, yellow tail Congo tetra. The body looked fine to the eye and under low power microscopic observation. Is it possible he died of old age? When purchasing wild caught adults how do you know their age? You can’t look at their teeth like a horse and place an age on them. He was a beautiful, sleek fish. RIP.

 

[Colin_T]

It's pretty much impossible to tell how old a fish is unless you know the date it hatched. You can estimate the age of young wild caught fishes but adult fish can be any age.

 

[Innesfan]

Sorry to hear this. Did you notice signs of him physically maturing, i.e. did his fin extensions grow while you had him or were they fully elongated from the get-go?

 

[gwand]

Sorry to hear this. Did you notice signs of him physically maturing, i.e. did his fin extensions grow while you had him or were they fully elongated from the get-go?

He was fully mature when I received him from The Wet Spot almost exactly a year ago. He was in a mixed sex group of six. None of the fish, including the one that died last night, are showing prodromal symptoms that would herald imminent decline due to illness or old age.

 

[emeraldking]

In general it's hard to tell th exact age. Even the size doesn't always indicate the right age. And it also depends on how fast or slow it grew.

 

[GaryE]

I've been astonished at tetra growth rates since I've been dabbling in breeding them. It is fast. So things like cardinals that are seasonal breeders and arrive small are probably a few weeks old.
But after that - sometimes I could look at wild caughts and see signs of age (bad hair dye jobs) but if they were all hale and hearty, they could be any age. I mean, people look at me and say I'm 29, when I'm really 67...

My solution to unknown ages is not to delay in trying to breed them. Wild caughts are usually healthier, but age is a possible factor. I have also seen very long in the tooth farm raised fish arrive in lots - probably used up breeders getting unloaded on an unsuspecting customer.

I haven't had @gwand's yellow congos in many years, but I had a red congo, an Alestopetersius live for quite a long time - 3 years beyond his shoal mates at close to 7 years in my tanks. He had arrived with full finnage as an adult.

 

[fishorama]

Yeah, I agree with not being able to guess fish ages. If they have full adult color long, fin extensions, frayed fins or the start of bent backs = older fish. That's why, given a choice, I prefer juveniles. I may not get the gender ratios I'd like but that's why I get several, if I can house them & grow them out.

I don't really blame the seller especially with confusing juvenile similar species. They have see & ID them as best they can too.

I'm sorry your fish died so soon. Disappointing for sure. I did a quick search of "prodromal" & saw schizophrenia!! as a meaning. Can you give me a better idea of what that might mean in fish please, lol. I never look for psychiatric issues in my fish, although there have been some I wondered about...

 

[gwand]

Yeah, I agree with not being able to guess fish ages. If they have full adult color long, fin extensions, frayed fins or the start of bent backs = older fish. That's why, given a choice, I prefer juveniles. I may not get the gender ratios I'd like but that's why I get several, if I can house them & grow them out.

I don't really blame the seller especially with confusing juvenile similar species. They have see & ID them as best they can too.

I'm sorry your fish died so soon. Disappointing for sure. I did a quick search of "prodromal" & saw schizophrenia!! as a meaning. Can you give me a better idea of what that might mean in fish please, lol. I never look for psychiatric issues in my fish, although there have been some I wondered about...

In medicine, prodromal is the initial phase when someone starts experiencing vague, nonspecific symptoms (like fatigue, mild fever, irritability, or malaise) that signal an illness is developing but before the main, characteristic symptoms show up.

 

[fishorama]

Thank you, gwand! That makes much better sense. I just did a fast search & we know how off that be, especially with AI. I should have looked longer