Looking for Gold Assessor info

[ReefKnot]

So I'm kind of considering adding a gold assessor (Assessor flavissimus)to my tank, but I don't know much about them, so I was wondering if anyone who has experience with them or has any information could help me out.

I've researched what I could about them, and basically I found the well documented info of their physical characteristics, that they are "shy at first, but make good reef fish" and a couple of comments that they can be a bit difficult to get feeding. I was wondering if anyone could give me some personal experience info. Did you have any problems with feeding, and how did you solve them? Were they shy and did they get over that? Any information you might have would be really helpful.

 

[MikeandNicole]

If you can get a captive bred assesor that would take care of the feeding problem. Tank bread fish you will have much better luck with, some will debate they don't have the true gold color of a wild caught but that is really opinion. They are shy fish but if you don't have aggressive tank mates they are out an about and are fun to watch. We had ours in the 45g with very non aggressive fish and he was out all the time. Now we consolidated tanks and the mystery wrasse is just too much for him. Now he only comes out during feeding (the mystery wrasse is coming out on friday).

 

[ReefKnot]

Thanks! Yeah the fish I currently have are all very mellow. I'll have to look into the whole tank bred vs wild matter, but I live in a fairly remote area, and I dont think I've seen many wild caught fish at my LFS. Shipping them to Northern Ontario doesn't work out too well I've heard...

Any other experiences or information about owning and caring for one?

 

[Green_Reefer]

Had ours since end of January, shipped overnight UPS in Canada (temps ~ -20C). Arrived in awesome shape and eats everything (pellets, flake, cyclopeeze, arti-pods, mysis, mussels, scallops, squid, clam). He has managed to survive all my ups and downs during the first 7 months of my tank Coloring is identical if not better than the pic on LA (ours is a lil chubbier though), I am not sure if he is captive bred or not.

Swims in the shade mostly during the day, upside down or with his belly facing the rockwork or glass and is the most amusing fish to watch in our tank. He does swim in the open water at dusk/dawn periods and a few times throughout the day. He gives the rest of my fish some room and hangs in his own area of caves in the bottom 1/3 of my tank. My lyretail anthias will swim towards him aggressively from time to time, but he just swims out of the way and goes about his business. Everyone else hangs out with him or pays zero attention to him. Stocking is a Tomini Tang, lyretail pair, dispar pair, carpenter pair, firefish pair, purple firefish and a mandarin. Did have a rusty and flameback angel in there for 6 months together that got along well with the assessor, but the angels had to hit the sump for keeping the polyps closed up on a number of corals.

Definitely our favorite fish, we named ours Bob due to his swimming style. He is the stereotypical 60's hippie of the marine industry as far as behavior and attitude is concerned. We are looking for another small specimen to add in the hopes of getting a pair, Bob is just over 2" now and hasn't grown much other than filling out nicely.

From personal experience, I highly recommend this fish for it's hardiness, beauty and personality for anything other than a mostly aggressive tank. $100 is a lot of risk to take for something that may not survive long, so definitely purchase from a quality supplier, the reward is definitely worth the risk.

 

[ReefKnot]

Wow awesome! So you live in Canada too? I can see from your information you live in Halifax, I'm surprised you were willing to risk shipping a fish in January. I'm from northern Ontario, so late January is about -40 here for 2 weeks solid.... Thanks very much for all that information. I think it has helped me decide that I am going to get one. All my fish are really relaxed. I have seen them take a run at one another maybe 3 times in the last 3 months, and that was when I added my most recent fish.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you order your fish from in Canada? J&L Aquatics? And how much did you ended up spending on it? I know I'm going to be paying at least that much if I have my LFS order one for me... He's the only LFS within 150 kms...

Again, thanks for the info!

 

[Bret61081]

Ive had one for about 3 years now...I love it! I had a pair for a while but one disappeared about a year ago. Ive never had any issues with them not eating, but they are pretty passive so if you have them with more aggressive fish, they might not get enough food.

 

[nivekid]

I've had one for just over a month. Great fish. Very interesting swimming behavior. Mine is captive bred. FYI, captive bred tends to be much cheaper. Mine cost $45 instead of around $100 for wild caught.

 

[zachk]

I have had one for about a year and a half. The first 80% of that the fish was in a 75g with a pair of Tomato Clowns and a Mimic Tang. Being semi-aggresive fish, they kept the Assessor from being too active.

Now that it's been moved to a 75g with a Copperband, various Cardinalfish, a Pink-Streaked Wrasse, and some small Blennies it is out nearly all of the time. A beautiful and unique fish!!

 

[Federer]

I have mine in a 150 and it is most active during sunrise and sunset, like clockwork, and will only feed during these times. During the mid-day, it likes to spend its time diving in the rock-work, only peaking out from time to time. It has a unique personality, like it knows it's smarter than the other fish.