How long should I wait?

[MondoBongo]

any update on her?

 

[dburt520]

About the same as of now.

I'm beginning to think that my other couple of fish are intimidate her. I managed to keep them busy chasing my finger around the glass and dropping a pellet every couple of mins to keep them interested for about 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes she came out more than I've ever seen her.

Now, I am unsure what to do because my other fish don't peck or chase, so I'm unsure how to make her less timid. She is still eating, so time is my friend I guess.

Just waiting it out either way as there is not much I can do either way so I'll just let it play out and hope for the best.

 

[MondoBongo]

well that's encouraging at least. maybe she just needs to settle in. good luck!

 

[dburt520]

Well.. came home from work today only to find a mandarin that looks to have JUST died. The crabs were just getting to it. I pulled it out right away and examined it a bit. Looked extremely healthy, super fat belly, not a single mark anywhere in its color. Pretty bummed on the whole thing because I have been in the hobby for year and this is my first casualty of any livestock (coral and inverts included).

Because this single fish is what made me enter the hobby, and I spent the better part of a year ensuring my rock/fuge/tank had a pod population that would sustain one, I am determined to try again.

Moving forward...

What do I look for in a goby at the store before I purchase it? What are the signs of a cyanide poisoned fish? Looking back, this fish was extremely easy to catch by the LFS employee when I finally pulled the trigger, but did eat and move before I purchased it (I watched it for 2 days, and it ate pods from a sample of reefstew in a turkey baster as well as frozen Mysis).

 

[snorvich]

Well, first of all, while Aquatouch says they "quarantine", they do not publish their protocol on their website so you should not assume any of their fish are quarantined. If I do not understand what an individual or business does, I can not judge if what they are doing is effective or not.

When buying a mandarin, you want a fish that is being kept with copepods, probably with chaeto in the holding tank. A healthy one will roam around, pecking at a copepod about every 8 seconds. See post above.

Some fish are not compatible with mandarins.

 

[dburt520]

I have visited the "lab", so was confident in that quarantine process after seeing it and talking to the "lab" staff about their QT protocol several times... perhaps I gave them to much credit, but that's done and over with. I will do my own QT'ing on the next one (although it seems QT'ing a mandarin is sometimes tough to do, but ill read up on it and give it a shot)

When you say some fish are not compatible... I have checked this, but doesn't hurt to double check or triple check.

My tank has:
Pair of Oce Clowns
Yellow Eye Kole Tang

Is there a compatibility issue here that I am missing?

Thanks

 

[snorvich]

I have visited the "lab", so was confident in that quarantine process after seeing it and talking to the "lab" staff about their QT protocol several times... perhaps I gave them to much credit, but that's done and over with. I will do my own QT'ing on the next one (although it seems QT'ing a mandarin is sometimes tough to do, but ill read up on it and give it a shot)

If they publish it, the protocol will be either adequate or not. Generally, having an LFS properly quarantine any fish is going to be prohibitively expensive.

When you say some fish are not compatible... I have checked this, but doesn't hurt to double check or triple check.

My tank has:
Pair of Oce Clowns
Yellow Eye Kole Tang

Is there a compatibility issue here that I am missing? No issues there.

Thanks