AugustWest
Premium Member
Not sure what the going rate is but my LFS has one right now and he's asking $220 for it.......hth
Official Borbonius Anthias Thread
- Thread starter The Fish Finder
- Start date
Not sure what the going rate is but my LFS has one right now and he's asking $220 for it.......hth
abereefur
Unregistered Member
Well unfortunately it's not mine, but my cousin's that he got a couple weeks ago. He bought two for $125 each and they were only around 1.5"-2" big. He sold one and kept this one. It's eating pretty well and stopped hiding in the last week. I'm just the picture man.
My Borbonius is almost 6 inches long, I estimate about five and three quarter inches. It's a male I bought locally 4 years ago, when it was about 2 inches long. It was part of a group of basically identical sized Borbonius, about 6 of them. He lives in my 220 with a Spotted Drum I hand collected 2 years ago, an Atlantic Long Nose Butterfly I collected a year ago, a huge Mandarin I've had nearly 10 years, a Black Cap Basslet I collected 2 years ago, and a mated pair of Percula Clowns that I've had for more than 10 years. There are also two Lysmata cleaner shrimp that are pair bonded and which produce eggs ever few weeks, despite being different species, one Pacific and a grabhami I collected in the Caribbean.
The pretty hefty and magnificent Borbonius is #2 in the pecking order, after the 10 inch long Spotted Drum. Everyone gets along swimmingly, though the Borbonius, always cautious, keeps away from the fearless Drum at feeding time (both pellet lovers). My Borbonius has an established sleeping nook in the rockwork, a small narrow space he fits in with no room to spare. He can always be found there after dark. I think the reason these fish reach their maximum growth is the size of the aquarium and the very light biological load. The Blackcap is huge, well over 4 inches. I could easily fit more fish, but I've found fish always and invariably do better and look better when they have lots of room.
The pretty hefty and magnificent Borbonius is #2 in the pecking order, after the 10 inch long Spotted Drum. Everyone gets along swimmingly, though the Borbonius, always cautious, keeps away from the fearless Drum at feeding time (both pellet lovers). My Borbonius has an established sleeping nook in the rockwork, a small narrow space he fits in with no room to spare. He can always be found there after dark. I think the reason these fish reach their maximum growth is the size of the aquarium and the very light biological load. The Blackcap is huge, well over 4 inches. I could easily fit more fish, but I've found fish always and invariably do better and look better when they have lots of room.
aandfsoccr04
Active member
Divers Den sneeakk peeeeeeeeek:celeb3:
Well, I got mine today. What a tiny beautiful fish, totally in love.
However,
This thing is weird. I thought it was dead while I acclimated it, put it in the tank with the lights and vortech off and it slowly swam/sank to the bottom and was acting like a Hawkfish. Kind of perched on the sand with it's pectoral fins holding it upright in the same spot for HOURS. I'm thinking "oh crap, this thing doesn't look right". After a bit it layed on it's side panting, but totally responsive to movement outside the tank. I tried not to bother it, but every once in a while I would make sure he was alive by moving my finger side to side about a foot away from the glass, and his eyes followed every little movement. Sort of like a cop giving a sobriety test. Fed the tank with the moonlights on, Borbie ate a single mysis that happened to float by. Moonlights turned off, lil Borbie is MIA.
Wanted to share my 12 hours of nail biting and chain smoking. I'm thinking he'll be alright, it is a huge adjustment from where they come from. It's just hard not caring about your holy grail.
However,
This thing is weird. I thought it was dead while I acclimated it, put it in the tank with the lights and vortech off and it slowly swam/sank to the bottom and was acting like a Hawkfish. Kind of perched on the sand with it's pectoral fins holding it upright in the same spot for HOURS. I'm thinking "oh crap, this thing doesn't look right". After a bit it layed on it's side panting, but totally responsive to movement outside the tank. I tried not to bother it, but every once in a while I would make sure he was alive by moving my finger side to side about a foot away from the glass, and his eyes followed every little movement. Sort of like a cop giving a sobriety test. Fed the tank with the moonlights on, Borbie ate a single mysis that happened to float by. Moonlights turned off, lil Borbie is MIA.
Wanted to share my 12 hours of nail biting and chain smoking. I'm thinking he'll be alright, it is a huge adjustment from where they come from. It's just hard not caring about your holy grail.
beachbreak
New member
Quick question for you other owners - do they eventually get used to the bright lights of a reef tank?
mine was hiding in a cave for about 4 days, and didnt eat anything either. on the fifth day it started to hang around its cave and eat frozen mysis here and there. after a week it normally with the rest of the tank but was still shy and only hang around its cave. now at 2 weeks it came right up to the glass to greet me when im looking at the tank begging for food. it is my wife favorite fish due to its puppy like behavior and bug eye face. reef tank lightning doesn't bother it one bit once it is adjusted to my tank. good luck guys.
Tethered_Limbs
New member
so your the guy who got em *shakes fist*
Mine died 48 hours after I got it.. 
Luckily I had the 14 day guarantee, however, I'm extremely scared the new one will die when I get it as well.
I long drip acclimated the first one as per the retailers instructions. Looking at various threads I see that long acclimations can kill fish due to the ammonia, so this time I will drip at a fast rate for no longer than 30 mins to see if this one dies as well.
They say they are hardy shippers but i'm starting to think otherwise. I have other fragile fish that never went through these episodes.
Luckily I had the 14 day guarantee, however, I'm extremely scared the new one will die when I get it as well.
I long drip acclimated the first one as per the retailers instructions. Looking at various threads I see that long acclimations can kill fish due to the ammonia, so this time I will drip at a fast rate for no longer than 30 mins to see if this one dies as well.
They say they are hardy shippers but i'm starting to think otherwise. I have other fragile fish that never went through these episodes.
Were they fine at the LFS? I'm thinking about getting one too but I don't really like the fact that they grow up to 6".
Anyone got a picture of their large Borbonius?
TaNuki
New member
Cliff notes: Borbonius anthias is dead and being eaten by some kind of pods.
Story: Thursday morning I saw my borbonius anthias in the morning for his breakfast. He was out and full of color. He was eating like normal, no issues. He has almost doubled in size since I got him at the end of November. I would definitely say he was the most active healthy fish in the tank. There are no fish that pick on him, though he and the flame angel will chase each other off on occasion.
Thursday night, no sign of the anthias. He is normally the last fish to bed, and first fish up in the am. Always healthy, and always out. I am a bit worried about him not being there. Friday, still hasn't shown up. Tonight I finally find his body down being dragged into the pistol shrimp's cave under the rock. I had looked at the mouth of the cave for him before and the body wasn't there, so I know the pistol shrimp just got it under there tonight. I highly doubt the pistol shrimp is the culprit, but just scavenging. At this point I am not understanding how a fish with no signs of stress or disease just dies in an afternoon, but then I see them, two small Pod animals going in and out of the flesh. I did notice that they had long antennae though, so I am not sure if they are Copepod, Isopod, or amphipodes? As far as I know any of the three would likely eat a carcass as they are all omnivores.
So I have a few concerns. I am wondering if these guys are possibly isopods, because that is the only thing I can think of that would have brought that healthy fish down in less than a day. They are the size of the isopod I pulled off the sailfin months ago, but I don't know where they would have come from because I would assume that they would have killed other fish between the time I pulled the one off the sailfin and now if they were infact still in the system.
Here is a shot of the one I pulled off the Sailfin months ago:
These look almost just like that, but I cant get pictures or pull them from the system because of where they are at. The only reason I think these may be different, is that I see long antennae on these where the above photo I do not see the antennae.
Any ideas? If these are Isopods, I need to start getting the fish out of the tank before they kill others.
It really sucks that they picked my favorite/ way most expensive fish to kill (assuming they killed him), but I would like to help the others out before they fall victims as well. Thanks
Story: Thursday morning I saw my borbonius anthias in the morning for his breakfast. He was out and full of color. He was eating like normal, no issues. He has almost doubled in size since I got him at the end of November. I would definitely say he was the most active healthy fish in the tank. There are no fish that pick on him, though he and the flame angel will chase each other off on occasion.
Thursday night, no sign of the anthias. He is normally the last fish to bed, and first fish up in the am. Always healthy, and always out. I am a bit worried about him not being there. Friday, still hasn't shown up. Tonight I finally find his body down being dragged into the pistol shrimp's cave under the rock. I had looked at the mouth of the cave for him before and the body wasn't there, so I know the pistol shrimp just got it under there tonight. I highly doubt the pistol shrimp is the culprit, but just scavenging. At this point I am not understanding how a fish with no signs of stress or disease just dies in an afternoon, but then I see them, two small Pod animals going in and out of the flesh. I did notice that they had long antennae though, so I am not sure if they are Copepod, Isopod, or amphipodes? As far as I know any of the three would likely eat a carcass as they are all omnivores.
So I have a few concerns. I am wondering if these guys are possibly isopods, because that is the only thing I can think of that would have brought that healthy fish down in less than a day. They are the size of the isopod I pulled off the sailfin months ago, but I don't know where they would have come from because I would assume that they would have killed other fish between the time I pulled the one off the sailfin and now if they were infact still in the system.
Here is a shot of the one I pulled off the Sailfin months ago:
These look almost just like that, but I cant get pictures or pull them from the system because of where they are at. The only reason I think these may be different, is that I see long antennae on these where the above photo I do not see the antennae.
Any ideas? If these are Isopods, I need to start getting the fish out of the tank before they kill others.
It really sucks that they picked my favorite/ way most expensive fish to kill (assuming they killed him), but I would like to help the others out before they fall victims as well. Thanks
Tethered_Limbs
New member
thats a chiton dude
Hormigaquatica
Active member
No, it isn't. That is an isopod.
TaNuki, sorry to hear about the borb. While I can't offer any good ideas about what killed him, I can say that it is very unlikely that the isopods did it. They don't normally take out fish that quickly, and as you mentioned, would have been spotted on other fish in the last few months after the Sailfin died. Maybe something startled him and he smacked into a rock/glass. I've never seen a borb do that before, but I've seen it happen with other anthias and high strung fish. He could have injured himself that way, which would take him from perfectly healthy looking to dead in a very short time.
Tethered_Limbs
New member
i see the legs, def no chiton
TaNuki
New member
Thanks guys. I am buying an RSM system tonight and once it gets going I am going to buy another borb to put in that tank. I am nervous to lose another. I would be perfectly fine with this had he gotten sick and slowly died, but he was an amazingly healthy fish and died so suddenly I am still kind of nervous that I have some kind of predator.
