I bought a large crosshatch a little over 2 years ago. He began eating after about a week then would eat any and all prepared foods. I fed krill, silversides, mysis, LRS, and an assortment of pellets. After about 1.5 years I got up one morning for work and he was swimming upside down. When I came home he was dead. He was never aggressive with other fish to the point where my lawnmower blenny pushed him around at times. Great fish but he would smash into my coral at times breaking it so I will never get another fish that size again. My tank is a 220g.
Bandit angel and crosshatch trigger experiences
- Thread starter Dmorty217
- Start date
jnc914
Active member
I have received all of my current Bandits from Matthew Ross, and have had them for several years now. I have kept trios with some aggression. Pairs seem to do better for me though. I started keeping Bandits back in 2007, I used to get them from the late Rob Lower. He used to send larger specimens, 4-5". I went through 3 of those not eating or getting swim bladder infections, or other bacterial issues. He then sent me 3" specimens, which ate after a week. Matt Ross sent me 2.5-3" that ate right out of the bag. I believe LargeAngels has one of my Bandits from the 2008 stock I received from Matt. It is all about how these fish are caught, and handled afterwards. I keep my Bandits in a 72-73 degree tank. Back when I first started keeping Bandits, they were $400-$500 a piece---any size for that matter. Now the prices are ridiculous because less people are collecting them and they can dictate the price point as high as they want.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
I know they were caught with extreme care since Rufus is the one who caught them. I would love a smaller one but for 1" of fish 400$ more seems extreme to me and if I want one under 3" we are talking 1100$ more which is very difficult for me to justify
LargeAngels
Premium Member
Yup. I still have jnc914's bandit and it is doing great.
jnc914
Active member
Yeah, unfortunately it seems like the thriving Japanese market has made it pricier for customers here in the US to acquire some of the rarer fish. I talked with Rufus about getting some Juvi Bandits last October/November and that was the same price quote. I was shocked and even reached out to Ted to see if that is the new standard price point on them, and he assured me it was. The Bandits I have now were 2.5" subadult specimens that I believe I paid $700-$800 a piece. I was going to reach out to Matt Ross again ut he can be difficult to get a hold of. Plus he used to utilizie Kevin at PIA to ship the fish he was collecting. Since PIA closed up shop, I don't know if he is still willing to ship his livesotck himself.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
Yes Ted told me the same thing. I'm getting these fish from SaltyAquaria which is owned by Adrian who is very knowledgable and I have spoke with him a few times about these fish. Ted was kind enough to call Karen and Rufus to get some info on Salty (thought it might be RT using a shell name) Adrian checks out and works with Rufus at the fire department. Plus free shipping and 14 day guarantee so next week we will see how it all turns out. For those who have lost bandits do you think it had anything to do with tank temp (not being 70-72 if this was your case) or bright lighting causing poor acclimation or prolonging it? There aren't any lights on the 125g I'm setting up for them. I'm more worried about the Bandit than the crosshatch
jmm
New member
I had a 500 gallon salt water tank in 1973. There was no way I could find enough fish at local stores to satisfy me. I went to Hawaii and hired divers to go out and catch fish for me, the local fish store would pack them and ship them to DFW the next day. A friend of mine in Dallas would take the fish to a store in Fort Worth and they would sell them. They got two or three boxes of fish from my divers for three days in a row.
My hope was that I could pick out the fish I wanted and split the profit with the fish store on the sale of the rest and pay for my trip.
The divers were especially proud of a pair of Bandit angels that were bonded. One was a little bit bigger than the other. To be honest, I was ignorant to the value of this pair. The divers charged me $5 for each fish they caught, regardless of species.
Back in Fort Worth I (like an idiot) chose the bigger of the two for my 500. It didn't eat and eventually died. I brought the smaller one home and it also succumbed. Why oh why did I split them up? The way they swam together in the fish store's tank was beautiful to see.
I don't know if they would have had a better chance as a pair, but the thought is always there that I stupidly did the wrong thing.
My hope was that I could pick out the fish I wanted and split the profit with the fish store on the sale of the rest and pay for my trip.
The divers were especially proud of a pair of Bandit angels that were bonded. One was a little bit bigger than the other. To be honest, I was ignorant to the value of this pair. The divers charged me $5 for each fish they caught, regardless of species.
Back in Fort Worth I (like an idiot) chose the bigger of the two for my 500. It didn't eat and eventually died. I brought the smaller one home and it also succumbed. Why oh why did I split them up? The way they swam together in the fish store's tank was beautiful to see.
I don't know if they would have had a better chance as a pair, but the thought is always there that I stupidly did the wrong thing.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
Wow now thats a story... 5$ pack 10 boxes full of fish at that price! I was hoping you were going to say you still had the Bandit... If the fish isn't eating when I get her for some reason I will force feed her since I now have everything I need to do it but I don't want my first fish that I'm FF outside of a goldfish to be my first Bandit... The fish will have been held for a total of almost 5 weeks before I get her next week so she should be eating with gusto. Well 5 weeks since is started talking to Adrian about her
jmm
New member
Even though I have kept some "difficult" fish for a long time, I doubt anyone, even public aquariums, could keep a Bandit 43 years. That would be something to be proud of, not like my story, which I'm ashamed of.
LargeAngels
Premium Member
Two surprising foods that have worked on some fish is cyclopeeze and Omega One Marine flake food. If they are really small freshly hatched brine shrimp. I got a dime sized Cortez angel from an LFS a month back and the brine worked until I could get it on prepared foods. Now it prefers Omega flake.
I did have a pair of crosshatch triggers that I got from Les, but the male was a little too aggressive to smaller Angels so I sold the pair.
I did have a pair of crosshatch triggers that I got from Les, but the male was a little too aggressive to smaller Angels so I sold the pair.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
I have baby brine and fish Roe but at 4" I'm not sure how much the Bandit will be interested in that
stunreefer
Reef Hugger
With picky fishes your best bet is to have a wide variety of options, not necessarily one specific food. Something as simple as the shape, color or texture can determine what they will go after. I certainly recommend some type of worm (black, blood, etc.) as many picky fishes go nuts over them, although important to move them onto something more nutritious over time. LRS FF is my go-to frozen food 
:thumbsup:
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
With picky fishes your best bet is to have a wide variety of options, not necessarily one specific food. Something as simple as the shape, color or texture can determine what they will go after. I certainly recommend some type of worm (black, blood, etc.) as many picky fishes go nuts over them, although important to move them onto something more nutritious over time. LRS FF is my go-to frozen food
:thumbsup:
Thanks for the info, I have a large variety of food so thats not a problem. The Bandit is currently eating PE Mysis so Im going to pick that up along with some black worms and possibly white worms today. Anyone feed white worms? From what I have gathered they live much longer in saltwater than blackworms do. Not sure that really matters though since if the fish is going to eat them it would probably be within the first minute or two
LargeAngels
Premium Member
Let us know how it does.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
That's the going price for 1-2.5" Bandits. Goes down 500$ then basically every inch after that until they hit about 5" I've never been to old town but they always seem to have rarer fish. Better market for higher prices fish than where I live... I will update when I get her and the crosshatch on Wednesday.
