Mixing assesor Basslets

[MikeandNicole]

I currently have two ORA gold assesor basslets in my 57g tank. My LFS is getting in some randalli assesor basslets next week and I will be picking one up (maybe two) depending on how they look. My question is will they coexist together or will they fight? I have two other viable tanks they can go into but would rather put them in the 57g.

 

[Reeferhead]

Bump, I'm interested as well. Still waiting on a reply to this question from ORA.

 

[MikeandNicole]

Almost two years later, I can answer this question to a degree. We now have 8 gd assessors in our 205g display and just added a pair of the Ora tank bred randinalli to the mix. So far so good with zero aggression. This is good considering how small the randinallis are. I think Ora mentioned somewhere that the golds and randinallis do well in groups together but the macnellis do not. Don't quote me on that, but my nicole mentioned that to me the other day.

 

[Reeferhead]

Thanks for the info. I have a well established 60 with zero fish at the moment. I was considering adding 3 yellows, 3 randall's and perhaps one or two other small fish. In your experience, do you think this would work? I also have room in my 150 if I need to break them up but I thought it would make for a unique tank mixing the two.

I can get the randalls now. I may have to wait a while for the yellows

 

[MikeandNicole]

You should be fine. If you have an lfs with an ora connection, ask them to get the golds in. Ora does not always have them on their list, but that does not mean they don't have them for sale in smaller numbers. That is the tip we got from Ora at Macna and how we got our 6 in recently to add to our other two.

 

[MikeandNicole]

This is the nicole half of Mike & Nicole.
We had the pair of gold assessors in our 57g for about a year, then in our 205g for about a year, then in october we added another 6 ORA gold assessors.
Some of the fish act like "pairs"- we have one "pair" in our back left corner, another in our back right corner, and a group that swims together in the front right corner. The randinallis are swimming with the main group at present. We have only had them for about 2 weeks.

ORA says that the gold assessors and the randallis make good community fish, but recommends keeping the Macneill's alone.

These fish do occasionally chase each other, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well they do in what I would consider a large group.

If you are looking for other small fish they will do well with for your 60, I'ld look at helfrichi firefish, barnicle blennies, and maybe a sunburst anthia. I've kept our original assessor (purchased in 2009) with all of these fish with no problems. My guys shared our 57g with a pair of helfrichis, a group of 5 barnicle blennies, and the sunburst among others. All of them currently inhabit the 205. The only thing I will say is that if you end up with a mated pair, one of the two fish will spend a fair amount of time in the rock work, out of sight.

 

[Reeferhead]

Excellent. Thanks for all the info :thumbsup: