small alien
The fungus is among us.
Fantastic. When they laugh, do their bellies shake like bowls full of jellies?
Oxymonacanthus longirostris pair enters a mixed reef environment
- Thread starter small alien
- Start date
Monkeyfish
Active member
Nice pics.
D5HP
New member
Haha that is precisely what happens.
Thanks Monkeyfish.
So the female is eating great. She stopped picking at the pellets unless they've soaked in fish juice but is now eating almost every type of frozen food I throw in the tank. I believe they both prefer brine to everything else.
The male only pursues brine currently. I tried fresh salmon shaved up last night and they didn't seem to care for it much. I'm going to get some other types of fresh seafood this evening and try that.
The male will take the occasional chunk out of a passing piece of Rogger's (both types) but I am relatively concerned about him only eating brine.
I would love some advice on how to get him slowly away from the brine and over to mysis. I am currently doing the following in the effort: mixing one part brine shrimp, one part spirulina enriched brine shrimp, with one part PE mysis that I have chopped up into fine pieces with a knife when it's semi-thawed. I then add chopped up NLS pellets, Formula 1 pellets, a little selcon (not sure how this is working out though) and some cyclopeeze (freeze dried).
The female will eat the smaller bits of the pellet food this way and picks at the mysis but they both 'seek' out the brine in the water column.
Now after feedings they bob around the bottom of the sand picking up stuff for most of the day. I am honestly not sure what all they are getting.
I still add a few mL's of ova for the female each day that just settles to the sand bed and she picks at that for a while. She is keeping a nice belly on her...I think in 2-3 months she will be filled out nicely but the male will not be able to gain weight quickly enough on brine shrimp alone.
Thanks to everyone,
D5HP
New member
Argh missed the EDIT time window.
Fed the tank JUST roggers straight from the bag. Thawed it and mushed it up a lot with a spoon.
Male ate it fine but not like the brine. I may try and ONLY feed this for an entire day and see if he takes more aggressively to it. Would this food sustain him? It appears to be made of all the right stuff.
I am getting an algae clip later today and we'll see if he can eat this stuff while it's held in that.
Fed the tank JUST roggers straight from the bag. Thawed it and mushed it up a lot with a spoon.
Male ate it fine but not like the brine. I may try and ONLY feed this for an entire day and see if he takes more aggressively to it. Would this food sustain him? It appears to be made of all the right stuff.
I am getting an algae clip later today and we'll see if he can eat this stuff while it's held in that.
small alien
The fungus is among us.
Interesting. I hear great things about Roggers but I've never tried it.
Have you tried Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef Flakes. I crushed 'em up and release the little pieces under the surface of the water so they blow around in the flow. Both mine love them and it's a great, quick feed when you don't have time for thawing, cutting, etc.
Have you tried Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef Flakes. I crushed 'em up and release the little pieces under the surface of the water so they blow around in the flow. Both mine love them and it's a great, quick feed when you don't have time for thawing, cutting, etc.
D5HP
New member
Small alien,
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but after watching this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoL63_1JbLg&feature=related
I think your pair may spawn at some point. Matt reared the first OSFF offspring in captivity and that's his video. Some of the things your fish are doing in the video match exactly...like swimming backwards alongside the partner. Agree?
small alien
The fungus is among us.
I definitely thought the same thing. :spin1: That would be amazing. Do we know if Matt was ever able to raise his spawn to full maturity. For some reason, I think I recall reading that he had not been able to. I know there are some videos of his spawn at around 48 days at least.
Monkeyfish
Active member
I added a tetrasomus gibbosus to my 180 last night after lights out. When I turned the lights on this morning the OSFF saw his new neighbor and immediately went after him. The filefish was changing color, raising his "trigger" and kept smacking the cowfish with his tail. This went on for about 45 minutes and then the OSFF appeared to settle down. The file was the only fish who reacted this way. Everyone else either ignored the cowfish or checked him out, decided he wasn't food and then ignored him. I thought it was interesting that this "passive fish" would attack a newcomer that had absolutely no resemblance to it whatsoever and was not a food competitor.
small alien
The fungus is among us.
Wow. Have things settled down? Any pics?
Monkeyfish
Active member
Things were okay when I got home. The OSFF appeared to have lost interest, though the cowfish was staying on the other end of the tank. Moo has only been in the tank for 24 hours so he probably hasn't fully adjusted to his new home yet. I did see him eat so that's a good sign (he ate in QT - was in QT for 4 weeks).
No pics yet. The tank is a mess - cyano outbreak. I've been doing large water changes and changed the carbon tonight, so hopefully things will clear up soon.
No pics yet. The tank is a mess - cyano outbreak. I've been doing large water changes and changed the carbon tonight, so hopefully things will clear up soon.
D5HP
New member
Monkeyfish
Active member
He was at it again this morning! For some reason the OSFF REALLY doesn't like the cowfish. Hopefully this will settle down in a few days.
You see the white dots and the orange line going through that bottom fin, that's a male.
+1
Here's my male on the top....
Thanks for the confirmation guys, Planning to keep 1 pair in my frag tank but still considering as they are not easy fishes...
D5HP
New member
My pair is still doing well. The two clips have helped a little but the male now controls both of them. I just put a small piece of Rogger's in each one about eight times a day for the fish to nibble on. The male will only eat from the clip at this point but he is gaining weight well enough. The female was quite a bit skinnier so I am still hoping she is gaining weight continually. I feel like the male has gotten a little bit more size to his 'forward' section but still not as much as I'd like. Coloration in both fish has improved since they arrived.
The female only eats brine from the water column and will no longer even look at the pellets. Once I get some weight on them (at least another month, I'm guessing) I'll skip a day of feeding in order to try and get them onto pellets or mysis again. I am putting pellets in the clip with their Rogger's so it gets sort of mushed and fused in there. I'm not sure if they're eating it but I know that SOME of it has to be staying on there.
Anyways, I'm hoping for the best still with their continued recovery from anorexia:
Girthin'
Stomach:
The female only eats brine from the water column and will no longer even look at the pellets. Once I get some weight on them (at least another month, I'm guessing) I'll skip a day of feeding in order to try and get them onto pellets or mysis again. I am putting pellets in the clip with their Rogger's so it gets sort of mushed and fused in there. I'm not sure if they're eating it but I know that SOME of it has to be staying on there.
Anyways, I'm hoping for the best still with their continued recovery from anorexia:
Girthin'
Stomach:
Monkeyfish
Active member
Looking good.
Out of curiosity, have you tried placing each of the feeding clips at opposite ends of the tank?
Out of curiosity, have you tried placing each of the feeding clips at opposite ends of the tank?
D5HP
New member
Yes but I found that the female would still hang around the male's clip more. Not sure if that has to do with her being "his" or what....but I now have one in the dead center of the front of the tank and his is still on that same wall. Whenever he starts getting aggressive around "her" clip I just move his towards the back wall some and hers farther from the center. I then slowly bring them closer together with each feeding. I always want to be able to add distance between them and so that allows me to do that be constantly bringing them together.
I am going to try and start adding more foods to their clips. I assume that the clip feeding style most closely mimics what they are used to in the wild...although the female will still chow down on brine from the water column.
Are there any other frozen foods that have a squid like texture (other than squid...)?
How's the aggression towards the boxfish?
small alien
The fungus is among us.
Cool. Let us know how they respond to the blackworms.
My female nibbled some PE mysis for the first time yesterday. Yay!:thumbsup:
My female nibbled some PE mysis for the first time yesterday. Yay!:thumbsup:
