Tetra Lifespan

[TammyLiz]

Does anybody know the life expectancy for diamond tetras?

 

[Mystix212]

Most small tetras will live for 5 years. Howver neons and cardinals etc may live shorter. And big tetras like pirahnas and pacu like in decades.

 

[Lateral Line]

In the right conditions, small softwater and even blackwater species, like Neons and Cardinals will also live to 5 years or more. As with many soft water fish kept in hard water, the internal electrolyte balance becomes more difficult to maintain in water which contains a lot of disolved salts. The organ that suffers the most is the kidney which has to work extra hard to get rid of excess ions, as a result it wears out more quickly then it otherwise would, killing the fish.

Blackwater fish kept in tapwater usually only live 2-3 years, the closer the water conditions in the tank are to those the fish evolved in, the longer the life expectancy. In general, a fish kept in ideal conditions in a stress free tank will live longer then wild specimens.

It is therefore difficult to precisely answer the question, but the figures in Mystix post are fairly typical.