Belonepterygion fasciolatum or "Red Banded Hi-fin Dottyback"

I never saw mine swim in the open and think it perished after week three of a severve case of nervousness or starvation.

Good luck with yours, Peter. They are a gorgeous fish...
 
Scott Michael has an personal account about keeping these guys, basically saying that they disappear after being put in the tank, and are extremely reclusive and shy. He doesn't reccomend them.
 
But I highly doubt this statement :

"It will tend to swim in the open after it has become acclimated to its new environment. "
Click to expand...

I know this is a pretty old thread, but here is my $0.02. I got one of these fish from liveaquaria a little less than a year ago. It is in a 44 gallon pentagon tank. It has only recently been cruising around out in the open. It took it almost a year, with mellow tankmates, to get comfortable. It is now one of my favorite fish, has lots of personality and an interesting, undulating style of swimming.

It is with:

pair yellow watchman gobies
pair juvenile engineer gobies
small razor wrasse
cleaner shrimp

It will go to the cleaner shrimp's prominent station for a thorough cleaning.

Really, a very nice fish, if kept with peaceful, smaller tankmates and if you are patient!
 
Don't give up on them. These fish are invisible. I have had one in my tank that I have not seen since I put it in there about 12 months ago.

A LFS near us put one in their morph tank at the same time. With all of their staff looking at that tank many times per day, nobody had ever seen it in a 3X2X18. Naturally they thought it had died.

When they pulled the tank down recently, there it was. It is for this reason I believe mine is still alive :-)

I also read in several places that they eat bristleworms. I don't know if you find this interesting or even if it is true, but I have heard it mentioned as a feature several times.

In short, I think for all practical purposes pretending to own one is the same as actually owning one :-)

I have a Brotula in the same tank that similarly may or may not exist.


Cheers,
FW
 
Bumping this to see if there any other keepers of this beautiful fish? I picked up a very nice one in early July of last year, and while I rarely see it during the day, it does make seldom appearances both early morning and at night, right after the lights go out. My tank is is pretty active, with tons of open water swimmers, so its to be expected that he's a bit shy during the day. I have never witnessed eat anything I've fed the tank, so I can only assume he's been surviving off of natural fauna that he hunts at night and early morning. My tank has/had an abundant amphipod problem, as well as a thriving bristle worm population, and now that I think of it both have subsided since adding him.

Like many reported earlier in this thread, there was a time where I too thought mine had passed on, but every once in awhile that doubt is erased when I see him staring back at me while doing his thing haha.

Pics from when I first put him in QT

IMAG0468.jpg


IMAG0469.jpg


IMAG0471.jpg
 
I added one to my tank and never saw it again. I thought with my more minimal pillar type rockwork, I'd see it. But nope :(
 
Well what are the odds?? There he was, in my sump this morning. I suspect the recent additions of a couple royal grammas may be to blame for him ending up there, since he's been in my tank since 04/2010.
 
Correct... I have not seen him since the day I put him in the tank. And believe me, I have done some major flashlight searches in that tank for various reasons. Never once even a hint that he was still alive in there.
 
Great story and good news Peter.

I was in a local LFS the other day and noticed a Sunburst Anthias in their DT. When I commented on the "new fish", he laughed and said that it's been in there for 15 years. I've been going to this LFS weekly for 3 years and had never seen the fish. The owner said that it only comes out once or twice a year.
 
My LFS has this fish for sale as well but has been tucking itself in the same corner for about a month now. Such a cool guy though.
 
Mine is still alive and kicking! I see him maybe once a month lol. It's usually during the early morning or soon after the lights come out he comes out and cruises around. His swimming pattern is amazing; really graceful almost as if hes "floating" and just lets the current take him about the tank. No idea what he has been eating, though. And he obv doesnt mind the Springeri that has been in the tank for around a year as well. Cool fish, I just wish he wasnt a hermit lol.
 
Kept them before, They are invisible even in a 1ft cube tank... Tore down the nano and it is still alive, dont know what it is eating thou... But I guess mysis as it is the only thing i throw inside..
 
Well, mine made another appearance in my sump. I took advantage to move him to a smaller tank. He's currently in my QT, and will eventually go into my 20g solana. Very reclusive fish, and does more perching, like a hawkfish, than swimming, like I would have expected. Since the shape is similar to a dottyback, I thought the behavior would be the same. Nope.
 
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