Care of Royal Pencil Wrasse?

[imanewbies]

Anyone has any personal experience or tips on the care of the Royal Pencil Wrasse(Pseudojuloides severnsi)?

I tried searching for information in the books i had and the internet, information was limited but didn't point to a difficult fish to maintain.

With this knowledge, i bought one piece from the LFS. The fish were all eating mysis shrimp at the store(recently brought in 1 batch) and the piece i had was eating in my tank(i fed mysis shrimp that day) within 20minutes of introduction. It was eating the next day, but still rather slow. On the 3rd and 4th day, it burrowed into the sandbed and died this morning(5th day).

I really want to try this fish again, but i'm not too sure if it died due to poor handling on the supplier/collector side or i'm missing on something here(eg. difficult to maintain, very poor shipper?).

The fish was drip acclimatized for 3hrs prior to introduction into the tank, lighting was subdued on the first day, with only the actinics on.

 

[LisaD]

I haven't kept this fish, but according to wetwebmedia, which is a good site for species research, it is indeed very difficult to maintain with very poor survival in aquaria:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pseudojuloides_wrasses.htm

 

[imanewbies]

Thanks for sharing the link, so looks like i better give this fish a missed. Looks like i lost my fish due to it being a poor shipper.

 

[LisaD]

Probably so. How new are you to keeping marine fish? A great book (sorry, I always recommend it, don't mean to keep repeating myself) is New Marine Aquarium by Mike Paletta.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Marine-Aquarium-Step-Step/dp/1890087521/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

It is a quick read with great advice on FOWLR tanks. The main reason I am recommending it to you is that it has a really useful list of fish that tend to be hardy in aquaria, and a list of those that DON'T tend to live long, and that should be avoided. If I had those lists the first 10 years I was in the hobby, I would have saved hundreds of dollars (maybe more, but I don't want to think about it) by avoiding fish that have a history of poor survival. Many LFS will carry fish that *are* going to die, no matter how good the care is that you give them.

There are many other good marine fish books out there, but I think this one is a great buy, and will give you the basic background information you need to be able to get the most out of the forums or other free online information.

For species research, wetwebmedia.com is a reliable source of free information. The site is owned by Bob Fenner, and a lot of people like his book, The Conscientious Marine Aquarist". I have it, as well, and it is also worth getting, if you like to have a reference library (I do).

http://www.amazon.com/Conscientious...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225376145&sr=1-1

 

[AquaKnight]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13648755#post13648755 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LisaD
Many LFS will carry fish that *are* going to die, no matter how good the care is that you give them.

Just to be a stickler, most LFS's will carry fish that are going to die, because they are shipped to the store, in a generic 'bundle' of fish. Very few places actually order each and every fish they stock.

 

[LisaD]

that may be true, but plenty of LFS will order fish that have known poor survival because they know people will buy them. the LFS I know order from a wholesaler's list and generally get what they order...

 

[small alien]

Good point AquaNight.

 

[imanewbies]

LisaD: I've been keeping FOWLR for a few years. I'll check and see if the bookstores carry the book "New Marine Aquarium" by Mike Paletta. No harm having more books around, just more references to do research from. This way i can know the stuff i buy even better. I got the book by Bob Fenner, its a nice book.

Yup, LFS here(i'm from Singapore) also carry critters that do not do well or bound to die in the home aquaria. There's a tendency for people to buy out of impulse without any knowledge(some don't even know the name of the fish) of what they have bought.

 

[LisaD]

Even with experience, I think the Paletta book is great. Maybe because a lot of the common sense information that's in there took me many years to learn on my own.

Most fish stores will sell whatever people want, whether the customer is prepared to care for the animal or now. Mandarins are a popular item in the pet stores, but how many people know what they need to survive? Most of the LFS I see aren't even feeding mandarins or are not feeding them properly to try to train them to cyclopeez and frozen small mysis.

 

[A. Grandis]

I know this thread is old, but...
Has anyone actually having success in keeping Pseudojuloides severnsi in captivity?
Could you please share you experiences?
I would like to hear experiences with any species of Pseudojuloides.

Thanks,
Grandis.

 

[el aguila]

Out of ignorance, I got one when I was starting out in a 55G. My LFS told me that it was a different type of wrasse. Beautiful fish - one of my favorite wrasses that I have kept.

Mine ate cyclopeeze well and other food. I had a 30G cryptic fuge and about 10G of fuge with cheato seeded with copepods.

After 6 months it seemed to not be as active/healthy it disappeared never to be seen again a month later.

In talking to others, I've been told that they rarely make it past 6 months in a tank and our best tries at providing good foods usually don't work. I now have a 190, culture copepods, and would think that I'ld have better luck, but doubt that I'll ever try one again.

 

[A. Grandis]

Thanks el aguila! I really appreciate the reply!!
It is hard to find someone with the fish for a while.
Let's see if more people will reply to this.
I should decide by tomorrow if I will actually get the fish or not.
I went to the store today and I couldn't find it in the tank.
I don't know if somebody bought or if it was in the sand.
It was already night time when I got there.
The guy at the store didn't know because he was there only for the end of the day.
We'll see...

Thanks again.
Grandis.

 

[christianfow]

is this fish a seasonal species or is it available all year round?


i purchased one a year ago and unfortunately it got beat up by my sixline wrasse (hes an a$$)

 

[christianfow]

is this fish a seasonal species or is it available all year round?


i purchased one a year ago and unfortunately it got beat up by my sixline wrasse (hes an a$$)

 

[A. Grandis]

Oh, that was a mistake, christianfow.
The sixline is an aggressive one!!!

I'm not sure if that is a seasonal fish, but for sure not many people have it because it is so hard to keep.
I've got mine today and will try my best to quarantine it really well.
Got aragonite sand for the tank ordered!!
Wish me luck!!!

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Oh, that was a mistake, christianfow.
The sixline is an aggressive one!!!

I'm not sure if that is a seasonal fish, but for sure not many people have it because it is so hard to keep.
I've got mine today and will try my best to quarantine it really well.
Got aragonite sand for the tank ordered!!
Wish me luck!!!

Grandis.

 

[christianfow]

Hahaha tell me about it @grandis, it turned into the octagon in there &#55357;&#56850;

Good luck and keep is updated

 

[A. Grandis]

Sure will.
The system the fish was at the LFS is all full of parasites and probably some bacterial infection signs.
Some of the fishes were already dead in other tanks, connected to the one it was in. There are no signs of diseases on my wrasse though.
It's is in quarantine right now and I just hope it makes through it.
It's not eating flakes yet. I'll offer some mysis tomorrow.

Still open for more reports about the species.
I'm kinda busy to keep up with daily reports, so I'll let you know after quarantine is done.

Thanks for the interest! :thumbsup:
Grandis.

 

[treetopflyn]

tagging along

 

[A. Grandis]

I'll try to leave my updates here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2254840

Grandis.