Oxymonacanthus longirostris - a week in review.

[SDguy]

having kept one myself I totally agree with you, Peter

The OP here lost one so very quickly I thought a helpful suggestion might save the second one: get it out of QT and into a reef aquarium ASAP.

Ah, I see. My bad, I didn't really read through the whole thread

 

[seahorsedreams]

I lost the first one in the first couple of weeks.... it's been almost 3 months with the female. She is getting fatter every day.... I see no need to pull her out ASAP, as you say. The male was exhibiting strange flashing behaviour at the very beginning that may have attributed to his death. I'm kind of wishing I had of treated him just to rule out health issues.

As said, I'm not having any problems with the second one. She is filling out quite nicely. There's another person on here that just pulled there's from their reef because it was not thriving in that environment. Why would I remove a fish that is doing well in QT? I feel it is more advantageous to train her very well on prepared foods, fatten her up to top condition, and then release her to compete with the other fish. I would never have been able to feed her the way I have, if I had her in a display tank. If I see her failing, I will change my course, that's a part of trying to "figure out" a difficult fish. But no one can say I'm failing, ATM.

The tank isn't as sterile as the pic you "quoted". That's a single coral skeleton I was using for training purposes. The LR in the tank has been set up for well over a year.

I am definitely open to suggestions, but you'll have to fill me in on the logic of pulling a thriving female due to a males death some 10 weeks ago. If the suggestion was given around that time... I could have understood it. I however fail to see how that is advantageous at this point.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Aha! So it looks like I had a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of your argument. If I may sum up, you are saying that you don't believe that these fish can survive on a diet solely provided by the aquarist--based, I assume, on the foods currently available--and must also have an opportunity to eat foods provided by live rock or a refugium or whatnot. It's not a matter of whether these guys can survive without corals but more a statement of the nutritional efficacy of today's foods. Fair 'nuff?

The truth is that these fish _are_ carnivorous-leaning omnivores in the wild. A good portion of their courtship and bonding behaviors revolve around the pairs eating algae (and associated microfauna, I assume) together. I don't know what portion of wild fish's nutritional needs are gotten this way, but the fact that those behaviors exist helps the aquarist in that it's one more hook to trying to get them onto other foods.

 

[tatuvaaj]

http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=191&t=4746
(This one is also in a reef, but has been trained to alternative foods, though there's been no recent updates and I think the blog referred to in the post no longer exists.)

I stopped posting updates because I don't feel there's anything exciting to report - my O. longirostris is a happy (although at times aggressive), normal aquarium fish. Nothing special although it is one of my favorites.

I've said it before but I really think fish that is so attached to corals and whose natural behavior revolves around corals every minute day and night should always be kept with SPS corals.

I still don't understand why some people want so badly to keep these fishes in a FO tanks. Keeping Acropora spp. is extremely easy anyway.

 

[seahorsedreams]

When I'm finished conditioning and training this guy will go to a "regular" tank. I never said anything about wanting to keep her in a FOWLR.

This is the plan for her future.... and I have to move first.

175g tank.

 

[seahorsedreams]

my O. longirostris is a happy (although at times aggressive), normal aquarium fish.

Aggressive with whom and how aggressive? This is the dirt I need to hear about.

 

[seahorsedreams]

Messed up.

 

[tatuvaaj]

Aggressive with whom and how aggressive? This is the dirt I need to hear about.

Well, mostly aggressive towards me When he wants food, he'll start to display very dark (and beautiful!) colors and makes fast, jerky dashes forward, sometimes with sound effects.

He is also somewhat aggressive with Acreichthys tomentosus although not as much as in beginning. He also didn't care much about Odonus niger I had. The strange thing is that although these other fishes are clearly much better equipped for fighting they actually were afraid of O. longirostris

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

The tank isn't as sterile as the pic you "quoted". That's a single coral skeleton I was using for training purposes. The LR in the tank has been set up for well over a year.

I am definitely open to suggestions, but you'll have to fill me in on the logic of pulling a thriving female due to a males death some 10 weeks ago.

please forgive me as the aquarium as seen in your pics appears quite sterile- like one of those FO systems of the '80's. I apologize.
I still don't understand something, though:
what is the fish being trained for?

 

["Umm fish?"]

I've never had any objections to anyone keeping them in SPS tanks. I just think it's a really good idea to get them on other foods first. Keeping them in an SPS tank is just not my focus. My aim is to breed them.

 

[seahorsedreams]

Training to take to all sorts of frozen foods..... she didn't come that way. I'm pretty sure that's covered somewhere in the thread what my goal/plan was.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

So why did we buy them? We saw promise. We asked the staff to coat an SPS skeleton in some frozen gel food. They looked interested. They peaked at it and spit it out, but I saw something in their eyes... LOL. I saw promise.

I would love input from anyone on how to increase my odds of succeeding.

 

[seahorsedreams]

I don't get it.... but then I haven't had my coffee.

 

[seahorsedreams]

Maybe you think I'm not open to suggestions? Still don't get the first quote, though. I actually asked a question about your suggested course of action. I like to understand recommendations before I entertain them. But I would indeed like to hear your reasons to the previously asked question.

I am definitely open to suggestions, but you'll have to fill me in on the logic of pulling a thriving female due to a males death some 10 weeks ago.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Renee--Regarding aggressiveness. To me, they remind me a lot of the Banggais, who _are_ really aggressive in a low-key sort of way, but especially to conspecific consexuals. Also, the males and females will bully each other at various stages of their courtship and social bonding. If the male displays at himself too much in the aquarium glass, the female will give him a shot in the abdomen with her snout in a "I'm the one you should be paying attention to," sort of way. Similarly, if the female is taking too long deciding on a spawning spot the male will make aggressive moves.

 

[seahorsedreams]

I was planning on putting her in a tank with super passive fish. Will she be too much for them?

 

["Umm fish?"]

I doubt it, as long as the fish you are talking about are not overly territorial and as long as there's enough room that everyone can get out of everyone else's way. I've had them with juvenile Banggais (about as passive as you can find) and everyone was fine. The filefish need a lot of swimming room when courting (I assume you'll be looking for a new male eventually) and the Banggais just got out of the way as needed. The gobies staked a claim on half the tank and that turned into battles. So, you're looking for fish that aren't going to be fussy about another fish swimming through their home.

 

[seahorsedreams]

Potential tankmates.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Well, I think they'd probably be fine with most of them. Any ambush predator that sits still for long periods of time that mimics algae is fairly likely to get picked on as they do courtship stuff. I don't know if that describes the ghoul or not as I've never kept one. I don't know whether I think the anthias or basslet will be too aggressive, but you say that they are both pretty passive.... Truthfully, you'll be charting new waters so I'm interested to hear your findings.

 

[seahorsedreams]

Ya, just where I want to be.... charting new waters with those fish. I'm going to have a blasted heart attack. My 60g Scorp/Waspfish/Anthias tank is already killing me with anxiety.

We changed our mind on the ghoul. I'm afraid of "loosing" him in the tank.

I was wondering about the basslet. I haven't done all my research on that one yet. He's not until my 40th Birthday. The sunburst and red saddled anthias will be fine because they are probably the most timid of all of them. I think about looking at them and they are "outta sight". The ventralis I'm worried about.

She's definitely getting braver. Was hunting for food right next to me as I was cleaning her tank.

Right now right now she is eating:

• Shaved fish flesh.
• Rinsed Rod's Food.
• Hikari mysis.
• PE mysis.
• Frozen Brine Shrimp.
• Flake Food.
• Some pellet.

Still working on:

• Different varieties of pellet food.
• BBS.

Gonna try:

• Live Adult Brine (so I can get some Beta Glucan in her)

Hates krill and squid.