if money wasnt an issue, what is the one fish you would get?
- Thread starter geaux xman
- Start date
copps
Premium Member
Hey Chris, I came THIIIIIIIIS close to seeing Ballina Angels in the wild earlier this year.
If you are a big fan of this fish like I am I'm sure you've heard Copps describe how it has only been seen alive at rec scuba depths out at Ball's Pyramid, a small islet near Lord Howe Island. It is found at LHI, but only if you go very very deep. At BP you can see it at 70 feet or so. In January I was on LHI for a week and did plenty of diving and snorkeling. This one tiny rock in the middle of the ocean is the only place on the planet you can see this fish alive, and I was only about 10 miles away from it...exciting stuff.
I had a dive voucher all booked and reserved to go to BP, but the ocean did not cooperate with us. There were a couple guys I spoke with on the island who had been there for 6 weeks and still had not gotten an opportunity to go to BP because of weather. Conditions have to be just right to allow a trip. There are only 2 dive boats on the island, and both are tiny, hold about 8-10 divers max, so any waves and wind make the journey out there impossible.
Anyway, I really wanted to come back with a story that would make Copps jealous, but no such luck. This time.
Here is Ball's Pyramid, and that's Lord Howe Island in the background.
Matt, how was the trip? You must have seen Genicanthus semicinctus no? I'm jealous of your trip already... C. ballinae has still not been seen at Lord Howe unless you've heard otherwise... and a juvenile has still never been seen! I'd be down for a small semicinctus or ballinae... or a ballinae/ conspicillatus hybrid which I know exists...
And for those looking for a personatus, one is available... small... and it is staying stateside!
geaux xman
New member
aquaph8
Love The Fish
Me too. Great list.
reefsic
New member
Jordani
New member
matt randazzo
New member
A white, black, yellow tangs... just cuz they're all different colors and they are all same spicies...
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ENTMogul
New member
+1.. Where is this Personatus now???
Charley Diesing
New member
JuliusJames
ReefB4H**s
One blue green chromis.. maybe two
n0rk
More is better-er!
Oooooh, does this mean you know something we don't, John?
you mean this has been swimming around near my front door and I've been oblivious all this time?!
Digiman09
New member
House of Fins.
copps
Premium Member
Not a video, but a shot of my juvie conspic a while back... now not so juvie...
This is just the third personatus caught on the island of Oahu in 15 years... and most notably, it was caught relatively shallow when the diver/ collector Matt Ross was targeting Potter's at standard SCUBA depths. The fish was a teenager of about three inches... if you remember the first specimen caught was in 2007 when I was driving the boat for Rufus Kimura and crew on Oahu... that almost full blown male was caught deep on a rebreather, as was the second one caught a few years later (the tiny juvie), also caught by Rufus. Here's a couple of shots of that fish... the old thread I made does not show the photos as my photo hosting site went down...
I tracked it down in Kyoto Japan nearly two years later and the fish was alive and well, but reverted a bit more back to female... Both of the first two went to Japan, but I wanted this one to stay in the US, so I called up Rob Bray of House of Fins, one of the few heavy hitters that could drop the cash on this fish (it's a five figure fish)... he did and it's now at House of Fins. The fish was presold. This specimen is reminiscent of the first specimens of the species caught in 1973 in shallow water on Oahu... it is most likely though just a fluke... but an amazing find! Congrats Matt!
Oooooh, does this mean you know something we don't, John?
They've never found a ballinae/ conspicillatus hybrid, but they must exist... conspics hybridize with meredithi and ballinae appears to be more closely related... we can all dream...
Copps
copps
Premium Member
This pair was collected on the island of Kauai... what a site!
Here's a shot of my first personatus... also collected shallow on Oahu... I collected this from the shelf of Karen Brittain's house! This was one of the four captive raised personatus... she's a bit dry now though... I'm going to put the test tube into some sort of case and tell the story of these amazing fish and Karen's amazing story...
Copps
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