430gal., L-shaped display
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sphelps
Premium Member
Hey there, not sure I can really help you out too much but I did keep this fish for a few months. Unfortunately it recently perished as a result of one of my tunze powerheads.<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14519336#post14519336 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by "Umm, fish?"
Thanks, Catherine! Send him over here.I would love to hear what he's found out.
What I can say is they definitely have a ferocious appetite and my 130gal fully stocked SPS tank was border line for one. In addition they do somewhat spread out their feeding but mine eventually decided to stick mostly to a large millepora which did eventually show signs of damage.
That's about all I can say, I will try one again but not until my tank is at least double in size with a few large milles.
Cheers!
MatthewLaw
New member
magnificent picutres!
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Hey! Nice to see you back, Catherine! Nice to meet you, sphelps! I agree with Matthew (EDIT: and dtech), nice photos! That first one is fantastic. That's pretty much the male aggression/courtship dress, with the yellow on the dorsal and anal fins (I haven't been able to capture it on film yet) and with the intense color.
The second photo was when you first got the male? He's looking pretty starved there. My female got that look along her dorsal (loss of all fat reserves) before I got her onto frozen foods, but her abdomen was also far more sunken than your male there. She looked bad. Unfortunately most of the fish look like that when they get to the LFS, mostly starved.
Sorry to hear about your loss with this guy. He was a pretty one. My two have been living in a tank without any coral at all for roughly three weeks now. So, I guess my advice for next time is try to get them onto frozen foods before you introduce the fish to your SPS tank. Maybe that way the fish won't even look at your corals. I'm planning on introducing corals to their tank eventually. My bet is that they won't touch them.
I should take some more photos. The female has made a bunch of breakthroughs lately. She finally took a (frozen enriched) brine shrimp out of the water column the other day. That's the biggest thing I've ever seen her eat. The next day she chewed a small piece of food off of a larger piece. I'd never even seen her open that tube of a mouth before. And ... the last two days she's been taking Spectrum Grow (the little ones) pellets out of the water column!
The second photo was when you first got the male? He's looking pretty starved there. My female got that look along her dorsal (loss of all fat reserves) before I got her onto frozen foods, but her abdomen was also far more sunken than your male there. She looked bad. Unfortunately most of the fish look like that when they get to the LFS, mostly starved.
Sorry to hear about your loss with this guy. He was a pretty one. My two have been living in a tank without any coral at all for roughly three weeks now. So, I guess my advice for next time is try to get them onto frozen foods before you introduce the fish to your SPS tank. Maybe that way the fish won't even look at your corals. I'm planning on introducing corals to their tank eventually. My bet is that they won't touch them.
I should take some more photos. The female has made a bunch of breakthroughs lately. She finally took a (frozen enriched) brine shrimp out of the water column the other day. That's the biggest thing I've ever seen her eat. The next day she chewed a small piece of food off of a larger piece. I'd never even seen her open that tube of a mouth before. And ... the last two days she's been taking Spectrum Grow (the little ones) pellets out of the water column!
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EnglishRebel
Retired Rebel Reefer
Andy
Great to see that they are eating. Hopefully they will take a liking to it and leave the corals alone.
Great to see that they are eating. Hopefully they will take a liking to it and leave the corals alone.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Well, you know, they had frags to play with at the LFS that were still alive when I took the fish home. Despite the female nearly starving I only ever saw her pick here and there at them. I really do think that if they know about a better option they will take it. But, we'll see....
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Not a whole lot to update. I moved the purple tangs up to the display tank to help with the algae problem. Despite my clear directive they choose to mostly chase each other around instead of eating. The chasing hasn't resulted in much 'til last night. This morning the small one had some scratches. We'll see. It might be off to separate tanks for them.
Given the lack of cooperation I've had from the tangs, I took it upon myself today to become an herbivore. I filled one of my planters outside with plucked algae. Good compost!
In other news, and most incredibly, the barrel downstairs continues to hold water. The six lines in there continue to get along without much problem. I got a couple of pretty bad photos, but they're fast.
The large wrasse:
The smaller wrasse (much more skittish):
The files continue to do really well. Day 80 for these guys.
Again, for comparison, the top file (male), day 1:
And the bottom fish (female), day 1:
Given the lack of cooperation I've had from the tangs, I took it upon myself today to become an herbivore. I filled one of my planters outside with plucked algae. Good compost!
In other news, and most incredibly, the barrel downstairs continues to hold water. The six lines in there continue to get along without much problem. I got a couple of pretty bad photos, but they're fast.
The large wrasse:
The smaller wrasse (much more skittish):
The files continue to do really well. Day 80 for these guys.
Again, for comparison, the top file (male), day 1:
And the bottom fish (female), day 1:
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Thank you moderators! I've been trying to post that update for about 18 hours now.
EnglishRebel
Retired Rebel Reefer
Looking good Andy. You should have put those two Tangs through school. :lol: :lol:
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
No doubt, eh? You can send all the memos you like, but you just can't make the tangs read them.
Looks like the orchid dottybacks might have spawned!!!
It was a long process of shaky-shaky dances and "Follow me! No? Follow me now?" games. But now the male's very territorial over his cave and the female's only getting to hang out close by.
And the female:
Looks like the orchid dottybacks might have spawned!!!
It was a long process of shaky-shaky dances and "Follow me! No? Follow me now?" games. But now the male's very territorial over his cave and the female's only getting to hang out close by.
And the female:
EnglishRebel
Retired Rebel Reefer
What hair algae? :lol: :lol:
BTW Tom, is that opening an entrance to the open area under your "rocks"? If so that's one big cave -- no it's a cavern.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Well, of course I'm concerned about the hair algae. But, it's just one more thing. The concrete offers no space competitors, so the HA spreads like crazy. But--given time and water changes and lots of herbivory--this, too, shall pass.
The hole the dotty is living in is actually a short section of capped PVC that's been embedded into the concrete. So, just a small cave.
The hole the dotty is living in is actually a short section of capped PVC that's been embedded into the concrete. So, just a small cave.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Thanks! Wishing is what I did for a long, long time.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Thanks, DVNO!
Still fighting heat issues in the display. Ran most of the evening with only one light, the canopy doors open, and a Vornado blowing on the tank. Maybe the algae will die. I've set up a meeting with the company that came up with the exhaust fan idea to find something that moves more air.
In the meantime, the dottys seem to still be playing the spawning game, but I've seen no egg masses yet.
Downstairs, there a load of spawning going on. I've counted 49 of these egg packets, possibly from RSF (formally DIBS) nassarius.
And a new egg mass tonight, maybe cerith:
Along with a whole bunch of ciliates(?):
That last photo at around 200%:
As you can see, the eggs have started dividing, but haven't hit blastula (roughly 128 cells) stage yet.
Still fighting heat issues in the display. Ran most of the evening with only one light, the canopy doors open, and a Vornado blowing on the tank. Maybe the algae will die. I've set up a meeting with the company that came up with the exhaust fan idea to find something that moves more air.
In the meantime, the dottys seem to still be playing the spawning game, but I've seen no egg masses yet.
Downstairs, there a load of spawning going on. I've counted 49 of these egg packets, possibly from RSF (formally DIBS) nassarius.
And a new egg mass tonight, maybe cerith:
Along with a whole bunch of ciliates(?):
That last photo at around 200%:
As you can see, the eggs have started dividing, but haven't hit blastula (roughly 128 cells) stage yet.
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