Just Got My Cave Basslet Pair

P

pndxpress99

New member
These suckers are awesome. I just love their look & personality. They look like underwater birds with the streak of yellow across their snout like a beak. I just received my pair this morning and aside from the initial shock of finding one stuck in a taped flap of his/her bag they seem to be in great shape. Here's a few picture of my pair acclimating in their quarantine tank:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23489741@N08/5152491496/" title="PB061610 by polycottonploy, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1237/5152491496_1295481a9d.jpg"

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23489741@N08/5152491442/" title="PB061603 by polycottonploy, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/5152491442_4d4c6ae116.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="PB061603" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23489741@N08/5151897319/" title="PB061622 by polycottonploy, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1345/5151897319_7e3af08b4e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="PB061622" /></a>

If anyone has some long term experience with these could you chime in and give your thoughts and possibly share some pictures as well. Also, does anyone know how to tell the difference between the sexes in Cave Basslets (Liopropoma mowbrayi)?
 
Sure. I made an acrylic cover for a 2 gallon glass cube vase I found at Marshalls. I got the lexan acrylic sheet from Home depot & some acrylic j tubing (to grip onto the rim of the vase) from Tap plastics and drilled several holes across the sheet as well as carving out some space for the AquaClear. The AquaClear 20 hanging off the back of the vase has a 50 watt stealth pro heater, and titanium grounding probe. I put some clear mesh in case the fish so happens to slide upwards on the aquaclear lip. Can't take any chances of these guys going carpet surfing. I also have two Oceanic salinity meters, one on the acclimation/quarantine tank and one on the main tank to know when I can stop acclimating. After the acclimation (drip) stops I'll run this quarantine for some time using a sponge from my main tank, some filter floss and carbon all shoved into the AquaClear 20. Here's a shot of the drip line from my main nano tank to the acclimation/quarantine cube.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23489741@N08/5151902313/" title="PB061631 by polycottonploy, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1358/5151902313_59151868f1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="PB061631" /></a>

*Disregard the mess on the table behind and the overall mess of the place :)
 
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Thanks Enyo. I've been trying to get these guys to eat for past couple of nites and they just don't seem to commit to eating mysis or formula 1 pelletes. I tried mysis feast and that seemed to just cloud up the water aside from the fact that these guys seemed to ignore it. The Formula one faired a tad better...at least the pellet count after feeding was lower so I assumed that they ate it. Unless, my filter did, but I didn't find any when cleaning up the mysis feast. Anyone have any suggestions for food, feeding style, or feeding time?
 
pndxpress99 said:
Thanks Enyo. I've been trying to get these guys to eat for past couple of nites and they just don't seem to commit to eating mysis or formula 1 pelletes. I tried mysis feast and that seemed to just cloud up the water aside from the fact that these guys seemed to ignore it. The Formula one faired a tad better...at least the pellet count after feeding was lower so I assumed that they ate it. Unless, my filter did, but I didn't find any when cleaning up the mysis feast. Anyone have any suggestions for food, feeding style, or feeding time?
Click to expand...

If you're in SF, there is a place to collect live mysis by the pound. How close are you to Lake Merced? :D
 
The surface of the water, at night. There's a boat dock near the parking lot. Just take a suitably sized net on a pole, and a bucket. The mysids are about the same size as PE mysis.

Legally, it's a grey area. I have a scientific collection permit that allows it, but am not sure what permissions hobbyists need to do it. Having said that, no one is likely to bother someone scooping a few bugs out of the water.
 
I had one of these guys for quite a while...they're very cool fish! Pretty shy most of the time, but it seemed like mine could distinguish between me and the other people walking by the tank. He'd poke his head out of his cave and gawk at me, giving me the "what do you want?! Have any food?" look, and if I didn't give him food he'd sulk back into his cave. Congrats on getting a pair...I'd love to end up with a pair someday.
 
Ha. Thanks for the intel Matt. It seems some proper preparation with a few accomplices acting as lookout, get away driver and muscle is needed in this late night heist. Know anyone interested in being paid in Mysis? This may take some time.

Hey Chelsey- what do you typically feed your little guy? Will he eat in front of you? What times are best for feeding? Any recommendations as to what commercially ready food products should I try out to entice my new couple to feed? Sorry for bombarding you with all these questions. I just assumed since you have had yours for some time you may have some insights to share. Thanks.
 
HAD was the key word there unfortunately :(

He ate mysis, brine, and some NLS pellets, though he wouldn't eat those in front of me. I always fed in the evening, but every fish is different.

If you get tired of these fish let me know, I'd be happy to have them ;)
 
photo

photo

Hi pndxpress99:
I have two carmabi.Unfortunitly,they fight everyday so I have to individ them to different tanks.What I want to tell you is that if your Liopropoma Mowbrayi are not one pair, they will fight until death.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/54509158@N06/5045902405/" title="Flickr 上 lirenwang 的 复制 IMG_9504"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/5045902405_7dd2f1146a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="复制 IMG_9504" /></a>
 
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Sorry to hear about your basslet chelsey. Hey lirenwang. Thanks for sharing. Its funny you mention about your pair fighting...I'm starting to wonder about my pair that I purchased from DiversDen. For the majority of time they seem to tolerate each other but one does seem like the dominant one. They were hanging around diversden for over a month and I would assume that after that amount of time the crew at live aquaria would have figured out if the pairing was true or not. Can fish pairs fall out of a relationship and split? One gets the cave and the other gets the boot? That's how my pair seems to be, but on occassions I find them in the cave together (mostly late nite...reconcilliation?).
 
Stopped at a local LFS and picked up some New Life Spectrum Marine Fish 1mm pellets and that seems to be working. They both are eating and pooping like clockwork. What's the big difference in the mixture of Formula 1 and NLS? Fish crack? Seems live very similar ingredients...
 
Fish stressed out?

Fish stressed out?

Hmm. I take that back. Seems like a hit or miss with the pellets (tried feeding twice a day...once during the morning and another time in the night). Ended cleaning up the food Wednesday morning and night. Seems like they are interested in food every other night if that makes any sense. Well they ate quit a bit Tuesday Night. One tends to hang around the cave for the majority of the time and the other is more actively swimming outside. I saw the one in the cave flash/scratch on the PVC tubing once. The coloration on their bodies on very close inspection (6 inches away under dim lighting) seem to have some "more" transparent patches with other section having stronger coloration, but overall they are somewhat transparent in general...viewing from 2 feet away you wouldn't really notice. Am I just being too critical or is the color transparency & eating habit just due to stress? :sad2:
 
Cave Basslet Re-Pairing?

Cave Basslet Re-Pairing?

Update:

So the pair has been eating regularly (twice a day) as I'm fattening them up in prep for the coming thanksgiving holiday. I wasn't sure if it was just me or not, but my fiancee who has been gone for 3-1/2 days came back and quickly commented on how my fish got bigger. The one that hides in the cave is definitely larger than the one outside the cave at this point. The cave dweller seems to have become much more aggressive towards the slightly smaller one. At first it was a quick chase, but more recently this morning it seemed much more targeted and prolonged. I can hear the pursuer's mouth snapping/hitting the glass, which made me fear for the smaller guy's life. I also did notice that the more submissive one swimming in a repetitive pattern on front of the cave entrance and in front of the larger one last night and this morning... Are they going through the pairing ritual again or is this something else? I even contacted LiveAquaria concerning the aggression and if they were truly a pair (caught together as a pair in the wild as opposed to paired up in their facility) and they insisted that they had been acquired as a pair in the wild. What do you guys think is going on?
 
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