New guys - baby Regal and Venustus

[Rea17]

Interesting info on the misbar Regal, hopefully he lives a long life and I get to see that happen.

It doesn't happen all the time, but I think it's more common than a misbar always being a misbar. Good luck on them! It sounds like they came in better than the previous batch. I wouldn't worry too much about the Venustus being on his side at the beginning of acclimation. I've had a few fish that behaved that way but were completely fine during QT.

 

[caribfan]

Good luck, I acclimated a 2 inch venustus last night. Will be my third attempt., last 2 were larger. This guy ate some lrf already so fingers crossed.

That is a great sign. I've got some PE and Hikari mysis soaking in Angelixir, so we'll see if anyone is hungry this afternoon.

 

[aquaph8]

Best of luck Caribfan, hope they both do great for you

 

[HPark]

Thank you for posting/updating this thread -- very interested to see how these fish do -- what sort of food they prefer over others, etc. What sort of QT procedures will you do? Any meds?

Thanks!

 

[bullitr]

Picture of the misbar ?

 

[SDguy]

Thanks for the update, best of luck to you.

On some small regals I've seen the misbar turn into a full bar or be absorbed by a neighboring bar as the fish grows.

I can believe this. My regal has several stripes that healed oddly after physical damage, including one with a donut hole. I wonder if they will go normal after a few years.

 

[caribfan]

Here is a quick update, my day/night kind of got away from me - my 2 year old accidentally headbutted my wife and gave her a fat lip during bath time, so there was some unexpected drama.

The Regal is really nice and is eating mysid, or at least nipping at it. He does appear to have some marks on his pec fins, and I think i'm going to give him a FW dip tomorrow to see if anything comes off.

The venustus is not eating, but kind of looking at it. He came in a little worse for wear, so i'm hopeful that he's just adjusting to life in my QT. He's not as thick as I originally thought, but he's not malnourished either.

I'm really glad that Michael was able to get these fish to me on Friday so that I have Saturday and Sunday to try to get them eating. I definitely was close to the deadline on Thursday for ordering.

I apologize for lack of pictures, the fish are still a bit skiddish and I wanted to take the photos with my Digital SLR. I'll try to get them tomorrow and possibly get a video of them eating.

 

[caribfan]

Well the Venustus is pretty much done. He just didn't look good when he came in yesterday.

The Regal is doing a lot of hiding, but it seems to have acclimated well - and I saw it eat yesterday.

Are Venustus notoriously bad shippers? This is my third one, 2 from Michael and one from another source and none of them have ever made it. I'm wondering if I would be better off trying to get this fish directly from a collector as opposed to a holding facility.

 

[pktech]

Sorry to hear about the venustus, Carib - I'd wait for one to come up on DD & try to snag it. Mine came in perfect condition & ate immediately. I think having a biological "cleaner" in there helps the delicate fish relax & adjust to captivity. Bob Fenner mentioned something about it w/ regards to Achilles tangs.

 

[sandwi54]

Are Venustus notoriously bad shippers? This is my third one, 2 from Michael and one from another source and none of them have ever made it. I'm wondering if I would be better off trying to get this fish directly from a collector as opposed to a holding facility.

I don't think they are necessarily bad shippers. I just wouldn't trust it from NYA for the reason I stated in my previous post.

 

[Mrscribbled]

Well the Venustus is pretty much done. He just didn't look good when he came in yesterday.

The Regal is doing a lot of hiding, but it seems to have acclimated well - and I saw it eat yesterday.

Are Venustus notoriously bad shippers? This is my third one, 2 from Michael and one from another source and none of them have ever made it. I'm wondering if I would be better off trying to get this fish directly from a collector as opposed to a holding facility.

They are notoriously tough fish all around. I saw your post about drip acclimating slow, I run an air line tube but instead of a drip do a steady stream. I also pour a capful of amquel in the bucket first. Too much ammonia burn if acclimation is done slow. 20 minutes all fish are tanked.

 

[caribfan]

Yeah, probably not going to source it from there again.

 

[reefgoddess808]

Sorry for your loss I hate losing fish, regardless of cost. I will say though that this is why I am not a gambler! LOL As much as I would love to be among the elite, I'm too scared to take the risk with difficult fish. Good luck to you with the replacements. Maybe the slightly bigger size will make a difference.

 

[Squared]

Sorry about the venustus

How is the regal doing?

 

[humaguy]

ugh, sorry...
they can be difficult fish to raise, regardless of vendor...
the sticky at the top of this page titled..."Sticky: Difficult and Special Care Species List (Multi-page thread 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page) Peter Eichler...should be checked out....the 4th fish listed is Venustus and the post is from 7/7/07...

"Multi-Barred Angelfish (Centropyge multifasciatus): They don't adapt to aquarium life well, rarely eat, and are very secretive, though not fatal, they also seem particularly prone to Lymphocystis

Venustus Angelfish (Centropyge venustus): See the Multi-Barred Angelfish above.."

might not be a vendor issue but rather a specie and/or husbandry issue....

 

[aandfsoccr04]

So you're just out the money now since the replacement fish didn't do well?
That's such nonsense.

 

[Ambition]

Are Venustus notoriously bad shippers? This is my third one, 2 from Michael and one from another source and none of them have ever made it. I'm wondering if I would be better off trying to get this fish directly from a collector as opposed to a holding facility.

Collector is gonna be iffy... They are from the Philippine area, though most often listed as being from Cebu (part of the Philippines). The Philippines as well as Indonesia aren't the best areas to get fish from since collecting practices aren't up to par, policing the policies that are in place is difficult, and cyanide is sometimes used in these areas since policing isn't so easily done. IMO, your best bet is to pull the trigger on one from DD when one shows up (the ones I've seen go up are usually gone very quickly).

 

[ca1ore]

Are Venustus notoriously bad shippers? This is my third one, 2 from Michael and one from another source and none of them have ever made it.

Just a tricky fish overall! An old friend of mine who was an OCD keeper of dwarfs/pygmys gave up on this one, couldn't keep it alive. He also gave up on the Argi, for different reasons. This is a fish, IMO, that should just be left on the ocean.

 

[caribfan]

Sorry about the venustus

How is the regal doing?

Sorry, had a busy Sunday and was out enjoying the weather. The Regal is doing pretty well. It eats PE mysis and is cleaning up all the film algae in the tank. I've been feeding it 4 times a day and it eats every time.

It hides immediately when I come in, but comes out to look at me after a little while. It's a twitchy fish, I'll try to post a video of it later. I've never owned a Regal before, so this could be completely normal. I'd almost describe it's swimming behavior as that of a centropyge, kind of cryptic. Either way, it's a cool little fish and I'm very happy with it.

Unless something rears it's head in the next two weeks, I'm going to just focus on getting it used to my tank and eating from me before I start the Prazi treatment and then Cupramine. I have metro and am also considering that as I heard it is better for internal parasites. If I get the time tonight, I'll try to take a video with my actual video camera instead of the iPhone.

 

[caribfan]

ugh, sorry...
they can be difficult fish to raise, regardless of vendor...
the sticky at the top of this page titled..."Sticky: Difficult and Special Care Species List (Multi-page thread 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page) Peter Eichler...should be checked out....the 4th fish listed is Venustus and the post is from 7/7/07...

"Multi-Barred Angelfish (Centropyge multifasciatus): They don't adapt to aquarium life well, rarely eat, and are very secretive, though not fatal, they also seem particularly prone to Lymphocystis

Venustus Angelfish (Centropyge venustus): See the Multi-Barred Angelfish above.."

might not be a vendor issue but rather a specie and/or husbandry issue....

I've read the sticky and knew what I was getting into...

I agree, I don't think it's a vendor issue, I hope it didn't come off that way. The other Venustus I tried a couple years ago that wasn't from NYaquatic came in worse than either of these two, and I was told that it was in excellent shape prior to shipping. That one came from a wholesaler straight to my tank and didn't last but two days. It had a decompression issue.

If I try this fish again, it will be when I see one eating well in a store.