Blue Hamlet....no love???

[Voxboy]

At the local dealer last week and she had 2 beautiful blue hamlets. I knew nothing about these fish so I googled and found some info as far as diet, tank size, and reef compatibility. Everything checked out and the fish was only $35.
Long story short....bought the fish and drip acclimated her for 1 /12 hrs.
Hamlet has been in my tank for 5 days and only comes out from hiding a couple times a day for a few minutes. other fish don't even pay attention to him. He is not being harrassed.....but as not eaten yet. I always search this site for info first.....no info as well as any info I do get say they are rare in the hobby.

Just curious if anyone has anymore info on the blue hamlet. This pic is not of mine but the same fish.

 

[rssjsb]

The things I've read suggest that they lose some color in captivity and they may eat inverts and smaller fish. However, I think they just aren't offered that often.

Good luck with him.

 

[AlexS95]

Mine was extremely shy for the first week (I thought he died, I didn't see him once...). Then one day while I was trying to feed my eel from the stick he shot out from behind the rocks to steal a piece, and since then he comes out a lot. They have a big mouth so I wouldn't trust it with certain inverts or smaller fish. Mine gets some krill PE Mysis and NLS pellets, I haven't noticed any color change.

 

[Voxboy]

Thanks for the replies. I feel a bit better now. This has to be the most shy fish I have ever had....worrying he would not acclimate to tank life. No issue with smaller fish or shrimp. He acually has a few vertical lighter strips on her. I thought she was beautiful when I saw her. Feed Mysis, Clam , and shrimp to other fish maybe she will get hungry enough and come out.

 

[NYCBOB]

i had one in the past before jumping out of the tank. very active and hardy fish. will eat shrimps and small fish. never hide when i had it.

 

[AlexS95]

Mine comes out all the time now; it doesn't hide nearly as much as it used to, but it took some time for it to get to that stage.

 

[SecretiveFish]

I have an indigo hamlet and absolutely love him! He is a bit timid, small things can make him dash for cover, but really, he is out all of the time. However, he does have fairly chill tankmates now (we actually had to a remove a one spot foxface as he was a spaz who was freaking everyone out including the hamlet) which is one of the reasons he is out most of the time. We have had him ~1 1/2 years?

Ours was very timid at first but with time came out more and more (and after spaz tankmate was removed...). He eats torn up krill (full size krill are too big?!?), mysid shrimp, and meaty pellets.

ETA: He is still just as colorful as when I got him. Love that fish.

 

[EllieSuz]

Here's another good reason to quarantine new fish. It gives you a chance to experiment with varied foods and the fish a chance to eat undisturbed by more vigorous eaters.

 

[ag09g]

I have a hamlet as well. While in quarantine we literally NEVER saw more than the tip of a nose every couple weeks. In fact I wasnt even sure he was still alive when I went searching for him to move him to the display tank. Luckily he was alive, and had apparently been eating for the month he was in quarantine. I assumed he would be just as shy in the main tank and that id never see him again, but within days he was swimming out in the open most of the time and now (a month after being added) he is always out and about and will follow me all around the tank begging for food!

Give yours some time, hopefully hell come around like mine did!

 

[SaltWaterGuy08]

Nice blue hamlet. So u got both of them

 

[Voxboy]

Talk about timing. a few hours after my thread..I was feeding my fish and voila....he came out and was grabbing food. later on in the early evening I fed Mysis..he came out again and stayed out most of the evening. This morning he was swimming all over the tank and ate this morning with all the other fish.........go figure.

 

[jarrod13]

If yours has vertical lighter stripes its most likely an indigo hamlet opposed to a blue hamlet. Congrats on getting it to eat, and be sure to post some pics!

 

[JohnniG]

Mine was extremely shy for the first week (I thought he died, I didn't see him once...). Then one day while I was trying to feed my eel from the stick he shot out from behind the rocks to steal a piece, and since then he comes out a lot. They have a big mouth so I wouldn't trust it with certain inverts or smaller fish. Mine gets some krill PE Mysis and NLS pellets, I haven't noticed any color change.

Haha. Love this story. Im getting my eels in a week or two.

 

[syrinx]

Everyone has accurately described the habits of this fish. I think the reason it is not often offered for sale, is its location. I don`t recall for sure- but i think it is an atlantic/carib species. They are always cheap on those collectors price lists, but there are few other species collected there to make an order worthwhile. Usually dealers only order them when ordering clean up crews and such from that collection area.