My 3 brand new Rhizotrochus! (First-Time Owner)

[galvintjime]

Hey All!

So, I've been super excited since I just got 3 (THREE!!!) Rhizotrochus from my LFS (Rivers to Reefs if anyone is familiar with Columbus, OH fish stores) last night and they ate their fist meal of tasty, tasty mysis (well, to them tasty, to me, not so much). I needed to share this with you, my fellow NPS reefers as when I was nerding out, trying to show them to the other store pets (there's 3 of us that basically have rooms rented out there), I just kept getting "oh, that's nice..."

Here they are as I was putting them into my tank:

The White one:

The Red one:

The Peach/Orange one:

The group out right before feeding time:

For any of you that have or have had them before, what was your feeding schedule like? I assume that they'll be like my Dendros and Tubastreas, however I want to make sure.

Also, I'm hoping to post pictures of my tank once I get it aquascaped, so I look forward to sharing the entire tank with you all then! (As a spoiler, it's a 93 Gallon "Cube".)

 

[mark54321]

Nice score ! Can't wait to see another NPS tank, especially that size, waiting for your post. I am also looking to get a rhizo coral to add to my collection of NPS , unfortunately can't find them in my area.

 

[galvintjime]

Nice score ! Can't wait to see another NPS tank, especially that size, waiting for your post. I am also looking to get a rhizo coral to add to my collection of NPS , unfortunately can't find them in my area.

Good luck with your hunt! I learned about a few that entered the country a couple of months ago from Todd at Cherry Corals at a frag swap which set me on the hunt for them. Luckily my findings were able to tip-off my LFS owner as to a wholesaler to get them from and he just had great timing in noticing them at the right time.

I know at least 6 have entered the country this year, so with enough hunting you might be able to find one. The only wholesaler that I found to have any visible to the public was Route 66 Marine, and they had 2 this week. The wholesaler my LFS got mine from had 4 (this may have been Route 66 Marine, but I'm not sure--he won't say ), of which he got the 3, and then I know that 2 more went to BioReef in Florida around Late August but sold very quickly. Apparently, the Chicago wholesalers are a hot bed (relatively, anyways) for Rhizo's this year, so you might have luck with your LFS checking them out.

 

[Moort82]

Nice collection. I've only ever seen the one for sale and had to get it from Germany. I treat it slightly different to other nps in that I feed more, less often. It seems to enjoy a decent chunk of food but hasn't grown a huge amount in the 4-5 years I've had it.
can I be cheeky and ask what you paid for one (pm if you'd rather) as I can only find prices listed from years ago and wondered how much I might need to fork out if I were to find another.

 

[Cliving1]

Those look sweet!

 

[muttley000]

Man, Aaron came through for you big time! Those are awesome! How often are you feeding? Planning on anything besides mysis for food?

 

[galvintjime]

Nice collection. I've only ever seen the one for sale and had to get it from Germany. I treat it slightly different to other nps in that I feed more, less often. It seems to enjoy a decent chunk of food but hasn't grown a huge amount in the 4-5 years I've had it.
can I be cheeky and ask what you paid for one (pm if you'd rather) as I can only find prices listed from years ago and wondered how much I might need to fork out if I were to find another.

Mine have all finally adapted to my tank and come out fully, however my feeding experience is too new to say I'm doing anything right, so I'm not sure on that. I've found that I like to feed them maybe 1/4 of a silverside each every 3-4 days, and then target feed them with mysis/brine every other day between silverside feedings.

I don't mind telling you what I think fair market value would be for them via PM, I just don't want to share it on the forums as I don't want to lock my LFS into one price. I don't know how his prices compare to what others are asking, and I deeply love my LFS and want to make sure that he stays in business for a long time, so I hope that you understand. Also, I have to wait to PM you as I haven't hit the 10 post minimum to PM someone. :sad2:

 

[galvintjime]

Man, Aaron came through for you big time! Those are awesome! How often are you feeding? Planning on anything besides mysis for food?

Yeah, he sure did!! Then again, he's the reason I'm an NPS reefer, so perhaps he's been conditioning me up to this point, just so he can sell some... (I wouldn't put it past him. )

I feed them every night, though dependent upon what I fed the night before determines what and how much I feed that night, or whether I just let them catch stuff from the water column. At the moment, I feed maybe 1/4 of a silverside (I learned the hard way that 1/3 was too much when they all spat them out), then the next day I lightly feed with brine/mysis, followed by a day where I feed a large amount of brine/mysis, followed by another light day, then back to 1/4 of a silverside. I do this to make sure that there's enough time for them to digest the large bits of silverside before I feed more to them.

They seem to be pretty happy right now, though I've only had them for nearly a month, so it doesn't quite seem right for me to say that this is working well. (Though I think it is.)