Checking in on everyone elses Venustus. My pair are doing well. One is usually out and about the other is shy. They both look good and have nice fat bellys. One of them will hang out when the Nori is on the clip. The other shows no interest.
My 2 are very independent fish. Sometimes they hang out in the same area. But no following of each other. And no chasing of each other.
3 weeks ago a friend showed up with a surprise, a tiny little 1.75" Venustus. It was in a triple bag, so I really couldn't see the fish. I knew the source of the fish, and have bought fish from the vendor plenty of times. I would normally put a small angel like this in an acclimation box to watch and feed and see how the bigger angels react.
Unfortunately going through some family drama for the past month and I didn't have time to do things correctly. So i drip acclimated the fish and put him into the display tank.
I watched for 1/2 an hour and the fish was out and about and fearless. Nobody paid any attention to him. And at one point the 3 venustus were out in front of the tank checking each other out - Lots of slow patient circling of the 3 fish, but no nipping or chasing.
The next day the tiny Venustus was gone...
I looked for the next 3 days and did not spot him. You've seen photos of my tank - it's packed with rock and corals and for a 1.5" fish to hide and not be seen is easy.
When the weekend came I got out the ladder to get some corals that had fallen, and when I got ontop of the ladder, sitting in a rock alcove on the back wall of the tank behind the rock structure they little angel was cruising in and out of a little cave.
I was excited. I put some food back there but he darted away from it.
Two days later he was gone from that spot.
For the past 2 weeks I looked all over and didn't spot him. I added all kinds of fish and nothing. Last Friday night I added a bag of live brine and no sign.
Tuesday evening I was sitting in front of the tank and HOT DAMN the little guy comes out of the rock work in front of me, does a quick spin and then shoots back into the rock work.
Tonight when I came home from work, the little one was out on the end of the tank going back and forth for several minutes. He looks good. His body is thin to the edges, but the center of his body where the organs are, and the stomach area are both filled out and very round. He was out for a few minutes. and then vanished.
A few minutes later the shy larger Venustus came out to pick at some food, and just as casually as the adult came out to hunt the little one came out of the same rock, and slowly followed the exact same path through the rocks looking for food at the same spots.
And then he vanished for the rest of the evening.
So I feel confident saying now that it has been a month, that I have a Trio of Venustus that seem to be doing nicely together.
Tony Vargas posted photos of some Colini angels this past week. Thats what I would like to get next to add to my collection.
Hope everyone else is having good luck with theirs.
Dave B