Hephalump
New member
Well, I made a classic blunder. I bought this fish knowing very little about it, and have discovered after the fact that he is not suitable for my tank. In my defense, I thought he had been living at my LFS for several years not getting any bigger because every time I went in there for the past 5 years I saw this little grey goatfish busily sifting through the sand. Come to find out it wasn't always the same one, and they grow to 14 inches. My bad.
The good news is that he is healthy, and eating prepared foods like a champ (rod's food and frozen mysis).
I've identified him as Parupeneus multifasciatus. As of right now he is only about 2 inches long. So he's just a baby. I'm not sure what my long term plans are for him, and he may wind up going back to the LFS.
While researching this fish I've noticed that there is a distinct lack of anecdotal information about them. lot of folks have said that they will eat snails, crabs, shrimp, and small fish, but these reports all seem to be based on the same article by Anthony Calfo (not that I doubt his expertise). I intend to find out to what degree this is true. So far, he has checked out my hermit crabs with his barbels but has shown nothing but a passing interest in them. It will be hard to tell if he eats my shrimps because they always hide. He appears to be getting along well with my clowns and starry blenny, but this is only day one, and he's still warming up to his new home.
I will be posting updates on his progress periodically, and hope to at least shed some light on just how "reef safe" these fish are.
Here's a picture of him:
The good news is that he is healthy, and eating prepared foods like a champ (rod's food and frozen mysis).
I've identified him as Parupeneus multifasciatus. As of right now he is only about 2 inches long. So he's just a baby. I'm not sure what my long term plans are for him, and he may wind up going back to the LFS.
While researching this fish I've noticed that there is a distinct lack of anecdotal information about them. lot of folks have said that they will eat snails, crabs, shrimp, and small fish, but these reports all seem to be based on the same article by Anthony Calfo (not that I doubt his expertise). I intend to find out to what degree this is true. So far, he has checked out my hermit crabs with his barbels but has shown nothing but a passing interest in them. It will be hard to tell if he eats my shrimps because they always hide. He appears to be getting along well with my clowns and starry blenny, but this is only day one, and he's still warming up to his new home.
I will be posting updates on his progress periodically, and hope to at least shed some light on just how "reef safe" these fish are.
Here's a picture of him:
