tootsmcgee
New member
I'm looking at getting one from liveaquaria. Does anyone have experience? Are they easy to get to eat? Prone to disease?
Chaetodon Mertensii-How hardy are they?
- Thread starter tootsmcgee
- Start date
Hardy, IME.
On a side note: Anyone know why most of the pictures on fishbase show the posterior color as orange (not yellow), and why some have crowns and some don't?
http://www.fishbase.tw/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=5567
On a side note: Anyone know why most of the pictures on fishbase show the posterior color as orange (not yellow), and why some have crowns and some don't?
http://www.fishbase.tw/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=5567
tootsmcgee
New member
I don't have Scott Michaels book with me right now but I remember reading that there are two color forms. I think One is from the Pacific and the other is from the indian ocean. Hopefully I remembered that right. I can post what it actually says soon if nobody nobody backs me up.
LemonLemon
New member
you got it right on the nail.
pacific and indian colour forms of the same fish.
this fish is also synonymous to Chaetodon madagascarensis.
AuroraDrvr
New member
They are differentiated. Similar to Lyretail Anthias.
C. mertensii is pacific (yellow & no crown), whereas C. madagaskariensis is Indian (orange w/ crown).
Look at the locales of the pictures of the crowned fish on the Fishbase page. They are all IO specimens, thus C. madagaskariensis. The eye stripe is also not continuous on these specimens, confirming even further that they are the IO counterpart and not actually C. mertensii specimens.
I am not sure why they're on there. One of Fishbase's many errors.
LemonLemon
New member
from scott michael's book.
madagaskariensis was once considered distinct but is now recognised as a synonym for mertensii. IO variants have eye bars that do not connect to each other and have a crown. PO variants have complete eye bar that connects on both sides and hav a darker smudge where the nape is.
both same species.
just diff variants.
madagaskariensis was once considered distinct but is now recognised as a synonym for mertensii. IO variants have eye bars that do not connect to each other and have a crown. PO variants have complete eye bar that connects on both sides and hav a darker smudge where the nape is.
both same species.
just diff variants.
LemonLemon
New member
yah the IO ones look abit like xanthurus but are much yellower.
my fav from the complex is paucifasciatus but in the recent years they've seemed to have became extinct!
my fav from the complex is paucifasciatus but in the recent years they've seemed to have became extinct!
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
anybody reading this have either in a reef aquarium?
I have a very VERY old little marine tank handbook I have from Tetra (ie so old it says to start your tank cycle with a small handful of potting soil :lol: ). There is a picture of a pair of pearlscales that I always loved... one had orange, and one yellow. To this day I could never figure it out...I always figured it was a camera trick. Now I know!!
Oh and tell me about it!! I've been looking for a Red Sea specimen for years now. Nuthin'!!
Sorry to the OP for the hijack.
AfricaOffroad
New member
Easy to feed butterflies, I'd imagine they would have a feast in a reef tank.
I've had a few madagascarensis, but only in a FOWLR system.
They were hardy flies that were easy to care for.
(I caught mine with a tiny fishing hook off our local harbour entrance, they like pink prawn bait:dance
