what sort of age do BN's reach?

What sort of age do BN' s reach please?

Here's my story.... (condensed!)

I inherited a 60 litre tank last December from a day care centre. It was purchased 16 years ago by the clients as therapeutic aid, unfortunately over the years the main people who looked after the tank had passed away and the tank was in a sorry state of affairs.
Anyways the tank was listed to have guppys and a plec when I collected the tank (unseen) it had the weirdest guppys I had seen and what transpired to be a bristlenose plec. Now this BN has the biggest antlers/bristles I have seen! He's a fully grown male, and I think he's a common type. Now to my knowledge plus the receipts/invoices I received with the tank suggests this BN is at least 16 years old! I have pics on the old boy and once I work out how to put up pics I will let you peruse him in all his glory!

Ohhh ye.... the guppys turned out to be black bar endlers... possibly from an original strain brought back by Mr endler himself! I have had some verification that it could be potentially one of the oldest colonies of said!

G

Wow! If they indeed are then you may have just locked yourself in a massive win!

Normally they live for about 10 years if treated well. But that said there are tales of them living a lot longer than that. My longest was about 13 years before he died of bloat. He had never bred and was always kept in a medium tank with a few guppies, endlers and platys.

Hi Doug,

Ye the endlers are proving to be be prolific little breeders! I just enjoy watching them for hours!

But back to the BN, he has never breed either if the documentation is correct. The day centre had to keep the receipts which lists the purchase of endlers guppys (as they we're originally called) and a plec plus plants tank filter etc. The reason for the documentation being so extensive is due to the clients purchasing the tank etc through the clients fund. Anyways they kept a diary also, unfortunately a lot of it had stuck together as it was kept under the tank. But it showed the set up and cycling then the fish being added etc and other than the original fish being introduced I couldn't find any evidence that additional fish, either in the diary or by receipts, have been added!
So if the data I have is correct the the old boy is 16/17 years old! He's quite a shy old fella as well. The good lady reckons he looks like a Tele-tubby!

G

I know for a fact that some of my white seam starlights are 10 years old and the rest at least 8 years old. I bought them all as fairly small juveniles and have not added to them since. What I assume to be the oldest are starting to appear grey and the white seams on fins and tail are quite faded.