life span of corals and who has the oldest

[Runfrumu]

I was just curious as to how long they can last, under perfect conditions in our aquariums. I don't recall seeing any threads about this and was interested in finding out.

[reefergeorge]

Longer than you..

[IslandCrow]

Theoretically, corals can live forever. There are coral colonies in the wild that have been confirmed at many hundreds of years (or maybe it was thousands). In other words, a coral will never die because it's just its time. Corals die because we do something wrong.

[Runfrumu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13392715#post13392715 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefergeorge
Longer than you..

wow! how insightful!! thanks for taking the time to give a serious response!

[jdieck]

I think the limitation will be the space in the tank, I have had corals that ougrew the tank (24 inches wide) and have had frags of those that have been with me since the tank started 7 years ago.

[Toddrtrex]

Assuming no outside factor, I really don't think there would be an age limit.

I still have my first SPS ( a tri-color ) and it has to be at least 10 years old now, has been fragged many times and would be a lot bigger if I would stop breaking pieces off while doing tank work.

[reefergeorge]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13392991#post13392991 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Runfrumu
wow! how insightful!! thanks for taking the time to give a serious response!
Is this better? A simple google search would have been much simpler than starting a thread.
How long does stony coral live?
Coral has a life span like all organisms. The question of coral life span is really two questions: 1) How long does the whole coral colony live? 2) How long does an individual coral animal (polyp) live?

1) How long does the whole coral colony live? The answer depends on the species. One of the small stony corals named Favia fragum, which never grows larger than a golf ball, has a life span of about five to ten years. The star coral Montastraea annularis may live for several centuries and grow to the size of an automobile. Its growth rate ranges from about 5 to 15 mm (1/4 to 3/4 of an inch) of yearly, outward expansion. Among shallow water coral, boulder-shaped colonies grow more slowly, and live longer than branching coral colonies.

2) How long does an individual coral animal (polyp) live? Once again, the answer depends on what the species. In general, polyps on a bumpy colony have a short life span, and polyps on a smooth colony have a long life span. A polyp grows outward in a basically straight line. You can see this on corals that are broken in half. The polyp skeleton (corallite) looks like a straw, and the polyp was living on the very top of the straw. The whole colony is like a bundle of straws. On bumpy colonies some of these polyps are “aimed toward” other polyps. They get closer and closer as the polyps grow, and eventually they meet. One will live the other will die. This is what determines the life span of individual polyps on a bumpy colony. The life span of an individual polyp on Porites (a common bumpy coral) is about 2-3 years. A good source for polyp life span is W.M. Darke and D.J. Barnes' "Growth Trajectories of Corallites and Ages of Polyps in Massive Colonies of Reef-building Corals of the Genus Porites," Mar. Biol. 117:321-326, 1993.

OK, what about smooth colonies? Well the corallites are essentially the same. On smooth colonies none of the polyps are “aimed toward” each other, they are all “aimed” outward. Polyps on a smooth colony do not have to die as the colony grows. The best example in the Caribbean is a brain coral named Colpophyllia natans. Presumably, the very first polyp on a colony of this brain coral is living somewhere on a 400 year old colony

[scapes]

well, there ya' go. sounds good to me!!

[greenbean36191]

The answer depends on what you're really asking. How long are they capable of lasting under ideal conditions, or how long do the actually last in the real world. The latter has already been answered very well. While it's true that in practice, many corals will only live a few decades, that doesn't really answer how long they could last. For example, Fungia will only last about 10 years on average in the wild. However, a good percentage of individuals will last beyond 20 years and a few live beyond 30. As it turns out, most corals don't show signs of aging (though some do), so in theory they could live forever. However, reefs are a pretty hostile place, so actual survival becomes more of a numbers game. How long can you beat the odds of something killing you in a given year?

In a theoretically ideal aquarium with no predators or disease, perfect parameters, flow, lighting, and food, most corals could last forever. However, this ideal tank doesn't exist, so in practice corals will last as long as nothing kills them. Many reefers have corals that are a decade or more old. Some of the anemones (which are close relatives of corals) we use in the lab were collected about 20 years ago and were likely already many years old at the time.

[FishNFun]

Maybe PaulB will chime in with the age of some his stuff.

[Runfrumu]

reeferjerk, I'm sure many of the questions in the forum could be answered by doing google search, but then there would be no need for a forum.

Keeping your fingers away from your keyboard would have been alot simpler than coming in and being a tool.

[scaryperson27]

^ Dude cut the crap... We don't need people flamming at each other...

I didn't even take note of the content of what you said because of how you said it...

reefergeorge , I assume you share the same respect for this forum as do the rest of the community on this forum. Therefore i would be surprised if you even dignify that with a response...

[Toddrtrex]

Some people should take a look at the [ua]

[Paul B]

I can't seem to get a coral last more than ten years. It seems that about every ten years I have some sort of accident or experiment gone wrong. I am fairly sure they would live longer than most of the members on here.

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13414558#post13414558 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Paul B
I can't seem to get a coral last more than ten years. It seems that about every ten years I have some sort of accident or experiment gone wrong. I am fairly sure they would live longer than most of the members on here.
Paul:

When I saw this thread I was thinking that if anyone have had corals for long it would have been you.