First-Time Reefer. Coping With Loss.

[ThRoewer]

What happens if they spawn? I am worried I won't have the resources to take care of them. Though it's reassuring I can keep a pair of them. How did you lose yours?

There is no need to take care of the larva if you don't want to raise them. Like in the wild they will become food for others.
I lost mine in a power outage.
I still have a pair of Yasha gobies will a pair of candy cane pistol shrimp. Both pairs spawn constantly and it is quite interesting how they assist each other.

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[ThRoewer]

I battled bryopsis for 2 years.

I found urchins to be a good way to keep them in check until corals overtake the surfaces. My tank was an algae mess: GHA, the hard algae that goes for Bryopsis, and worst of them all, a small red Caulerpa like algae that spreads faster than you can remove it. After manually removing as much as I could I tossed 4 of my large longspine urchins into the tank and about a month later the algae were reduced to only those nooks and crannies the urchins, snails, and hermits couldn't reach.
At first, the fish didn't like it much to have those spines in their ways all the time but by now they got used to them and show the proper respect.

I killed 5 fish last Saturday.

Did this by not checking the tanks before going to work one morning:

Some of the most hurting losses were the Red Sea Regal, the latezonatus, and the male of my yellow assessor pair - just when I was planning to breed them.
2 jawfish and the yellow assessor male are not in the picture.
GFI had tripped during the night and the tanks were without power for 18 hours. Most fish survived but 2 tanks with a lot of algae ran out of oxygen without light. :headwally:

 

[Zionas]

What do you think of the Aiptasia Eating Filefish?

Is it hardy for beginners? How long can it live? Is it Reef safe? What does it eat and is it a jumper?

[MENTION=328903]ThRoewer[/MENTION] You give great info as always. Is it okay though to keep Grammas, Basslets and the Assessors as a pair if they’re male and of the same size but introduces ar the same time?

How big were the Geammas when you got them and what’s your oldest fish to date?

 

[Jade5051]

I find that the quarantine process is where I experience most of my loses. It is easily one of the most frustrating things in the hobby. Watching fish die from disease while trying to save them is not fun!

 

[ThRoewer]

I find that the quarantine process is where I experience most of my loses. It is easily one of the most frustrating things in the hobby. Watching fish die from disease while trying to save them is not fun!

Quarantine and stupid mistakes.
If you buy fish locally you can limit your quarantine losses by selecting fish more careful and walk away from any fish that shows even the slightest sign of infection. Key to that is to learn the telltale signs of the various infections and to spot abnormal behavior of fish. Unfortunately, that is something hard to teach over the internet so it comes mostly down to learning it while doing it.
Some of the easier behavioral signs to spot are:
- heavy breathing (can also be caused by excitement or fighting)
- clamping of fins
- apathy/lack of alertness (always bad)
- no interest in food
- reclusiveness
- sitting on the ground (though this is normal for some fish)
Usually, sick fish will display several of the above behaviors. If I spot any of those I usually remove that fish from consideration.

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[Jade5051]

Quarantine and stupid mistakes.
If you buy fish locally you can limit your quarantine losses by selecting fish more careful and walk away from any fish that shows even the slightest sign of infection. Key to that is to learn the telltale signs of the various infections and to spot abnormal behavior of fish. Unfortunately, that is something hard to teach over the internet so it comes mostly down to learning it while doing it.
Some of the easier behavioral signs to spot are:
- heavy breathing (can also be caused by excitement or fighting)
- clamping of fins
- apathy/lack of alertness (always bad)
- no interest in food
- reclusiveness
- sitting on the ground (though this is normal for some fish)
Usually, sick fish will display several of the above behaviors. If I spot any of those I usually remove that fish from consideration.

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I can't agree with you more. Those are all things I look for but even after 20+ years of looking I still select some sick fish. Last fish I lost in QT was a perfectly healthy looking Anthia eating swimming no signs of illness and came down with uronema. Thank God for QT.

 

[ThRoewer]

I can't agree with you more. Those are all things I look for but even after 20+ years of looking I still select some sick fish. Last fish I lost in QT was a perfectly healthy looking Anthia eating swimming no signs of illness and came down with uronema. Thank God for QT.

That's why Uronema (and Brooklynella) prone fish should get a formalin bath before they go into the QT.

 

[Zionas]

I’ve got a big problem. My apartment space simply does not allow room for a QT tank. The DR is already taking up all the space. I asked the online dealers in China how long they quarantine their fish (mostly wild caught), they said 3-4 days to a week.

 

[ThRoewer]

I've got a big problem. My apartment space simply does not allow room for a QT tank. The DR is already taking up all the space. I asked the online dealers in China how long they quarantine their fish (mostly wild caught), they said 3-4 days to a week.

Is this going to be a reef tank with corals and inverts or a fish only system?

 

[Zionas]

Is this going to be a reef tank with corals and inverts or a fish only system?

A reef tank with soft corals only and possibly inverts too.

 

[ThRoewer]

What do you think of the Aiptasia Eating Filefish?

Is it hardy for beginners? How long can it live? Is it Reef safe? What does it eat and is it a jumper?

[MENTION=328903]ThRoewer[/MENTION] You give great info as always. Is it okay though to keep Grammas, Basslets and the Assessors as a pair if they're male and of the same size but introduces ar the same time?

How big were the Geammas when you got them and what's your oldest fish to date?

I never kept those filefish, but I would guess that the captive-bred are fairly hardy.
I also doubt the filefish are great jumpers. They are neither torpedo-shaped (all those fish are notorious jumpers for certain) nor particularly fast swimmers.

I would advise getting Assessors as small/young as possible. So far all I put together became pairs, even an older ORA Yellow Assessor and a wild Randal's Assessor (both died in the power outage) I put together out of necessity. The ORA Yellow Assessor seemed to have been the female. This kind of suggests that they may be able to change sex both ways. So I would not worry too much.

I got my Grammas at a length of about 1.5" in January of 2015. So far none of them shows any sign of old age so I think they will have a few more years in them.

The oldest fish I ever had was a pair of ocellaris. They died after 20 years in my care when a stuck heater cooked their tank.

 

[albano]

...I asked the online dealers in China how long they quarantine their fish (mostly wild caught), they said 3-4 days to a week.

Holding the fish for a few days before it sells, is not QTing !

There is an easy way to know which fish jump... if it's alive, it could jump!
Your tank should have a cover/net top.

 

[Zionas]

Holding the fish for a few days before it sells, is not QTing !

There is an easy way to know which fish jump... if it's alive, it could jump!
Your tank should have a cover/net top.

I will very much get a top / net cover. Do you have any suggestions as to what kind to get? Can I get one that completely seals the tank, with no gaps whatsoever?

I'll have to ask the dealers where they use any medication on the fish.


Worst of worse I won't have space / can't afford the extra money for a quarantine tank.



To everyone, BTW. I'm looking into keeping a butterfly fish because I'd love to have one. Are there any ones you'd recommend for a beginner with a new tank?

 

[Jade5051]

I will very much get a top / net cover. Do you have any suggestions as to what kind to get? Can I get one that completely seals the tank, with no gaps whatsoever?

I'll have to ask the dealers where they use any medication on the fish.


Worst of worse I won't have space / can't afford the extra money for a quarantine tank.



To everyone, BTW. I'm looking into keeping a butterfly fish because I'd love to have one. Are there any ones you'd recommend for a beginner with a new tank?

$20 for a 20 long, $12 for sponge filters, $15 for an air pump, $15 for a viewing light and a couple pieces of PVC will be the best money you ever spent in this hobby. You probably already have some of the equipment. Any spare hob filter will do fine.

If you are absolutely dead set on not QTing then I'd suggest finding someone that will do it for you, like MarineCollectors. Their QT process is respectable, they charge a premium for it and I would still QT them. I've learned to be super paranoid when it comes to disease and hitchhikers. The cost and time invested versus not QTing is not worth the risk.

 

[ThRoewer]

Every fish suitable for your tank can be quarantined in a 10 gallon tank! Not that I would recommend doing it, but I once quarantined a (young) pair of Marine Bettas, a pair of percula clowns, and my trio of Gramma together in a 10 gallon tank without any issues.
It should never be an issue to find a place for a 10 gallon tank. If push comes to shove it can fit on the kitchen or living room table.
If all that not works I would rather reduce the size of the sump to make space for a quarantine tank than going without.

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