Halichoeres often short lived in captivity

[Gary Majchrzak]

this is something that I haven't read too much about but IME (and in the experience of many other advanced reef/fishkeepers that I know) Halichoeres Wrasses are often short lived in captivity.
You'd think dietary deficiency might be a suspect cause for this, but I've never had difficulty keeping several more demanding Wrasse species (such as Macropharyngodon ) for many years and besides, juvenile Halichoeres usually grow quite rapidly IME.
Anybody else notice this?

[gasman059]

Gary IME only xmas in my tank last no longer than 6- 8 months. Altough my Halichoeres iridis and Halichoeres chrysus have been with me for over a year going on 2.

The question in my mind and perhaps u can clarify is short lived(2- 3 years) bc I've kept them for that long.
HTH

[Gary Majchrzak]

short lived = 1 or 2 years max. but they mature EXTREMELY quickly

in comparison my Leopard Wrasses grow at a much slower pace but usually live 5+ years

*my personal experience has been with H. chrysus and H. iridis*

I know of a marine fish breeder that had a spawning pair of chrysus. He's the person that first brought this observation up to me.

[Landolakes]

I will let you know in another 2 years Gary. I will agree on the maturation rate as my 2 were the smallest fish in the system and are nearly as large as the tangs now.

[Chooch1]

Gary,

I had a Halichoeres melanurus that lived with me for 4 years. I agree that they do mature rapidly. I currently have a good sized H. chrysus that was just pint sized not too many months ago.

[Myles]

Gary,
My experience is mixed. I attempted H. iridis twice and each time the fish only lived 13 months. On the other hand I kept and H. biocellatus and H. podostigma for about 5 years.
Myles

[Conesus_Kid]

Their quick rate of maturation makes me wonder if they're short-lived in the wild as well.

I doubt you'd be able to find that out too easily...

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12051692#post12051692 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Conesus_Kid
Their quick rate of maturation makes me wonder if they're short-lived in the wild as well.

I doubt you'd be able to find that out too easily...
good point, Scott.
Maybe this is an indication. From fishbase for H. chrysus:

Resilience: High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months(Preliminary K or Fecundity.)
Vulnerability: Low vulnerability (21.79), based on Lmax and K (Ref. 59153)


if someone could kindly put this info into layman's terms I'd geatly appreciate it!