Potters Angelfish +

[KillerReef]

Amazing fish, but I talked him into a flame angel instead...

 

[philter4]

From my point of view I don't usually get offended if people don't believe me, I know what I have seen and I have heard of too many stories about abnormal behavior to not doubt someone who has experience. I also didn't take what Angle*fish said as he didn't believe me, what he doesn't mention is I live in Florida which is closer to 4500 miles away then the 3000 miles he mentioned (I've seen distances listed from 4200+ to just under 4900 miles depending on the website), although I am staying in northern California since 2007 because of an illness that resulted in a multi-organ transplant last March and that is where the storms were that killed my tanks.

I do go to Hawaii as often as I can and usually stay for extended periods for both recreational diving and I have dove with a commercial collector several days while on all of the last 4 or 5 trips.

 

[Angel*Fish]

Thank goodness, because I never doubted what you were saying. And I didn't mean for it to come off the way it did. What I meant about the distance --- I was referring to the condition of commercially collected fish by the time they reach the LFS.

Holy cow -- multiple organ transplants? How are you doing?

I'd love to hear about your dives. Hardly anyone posts about this stuff and very few hobbyists have the slightest clue how the fish are collected. If you ever do a blog about it on RC here, I would sure love to read all about it ( hint )

I lost my tanks in Hurricane Ike 3 years ago and only now am I getting back into the hobby. It's pretty hard to take, isn't it?

 

[Flippers4pups]

The last Potter's i had was for about ten years and it's tank temp was around the upper 70's. 78-80 degrees to be exact. It was around 4" and a very prolific eater. I had to tare down my tank do to a divorce and sell the house. Miss that fish.

My current Centropyge potteri I've had now for just over a year and was bought at 1" in size. It was bought at a LFS I trust and was eating everything given to it. I feed Rod's herbivore blend, nori and P.E. Mysis shrimp and eats all with gusto.

My two cents on this species is that it needs to be collected naturally, no cyanide. Taken when small, around 1" and transported quickly to avoid stress. When at the LFS, this species doesn't like very active tank mates and needs some LR with some algae to eat. This species, as with any fish bought, should be eating before purchase.

At home it needs a lot of LR (to hide in with spooked), Calm tank mates and fed a wide variety of foods with algae mixed with it. Mine hangs out with my Yellow Canary wrasse, following her everywhere. Best Buds.

Not the easiest species to keep, but if you get a healthy one and give it all it needs, they can easily be one of the most hardiest fish you can own.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Sorry, double post.

 

[BHD]

Well since we are talking about Potter angel, I might as well put down my experience with them. Not sure if it will help anyone or not. To be honest, I didn't know that Potter angel requires temperature in the low 70s to be happy until tonight while reading this thread. 3 year and 5 months ago, I saw one of guy in my fish club posted a pair of Potter angel for sale. So I bought it. Initially, I bought flame angel but it die one me after spent a whole week nipping all of my Acan. Anyway, the guy that sold me the fishes told me that he had them for 1.5 years and the guy before him had them for another year or so. So I have been keeping them for 3 years and 5 months. The Male Potter just die yesterday. It was healthy and then just stop eating and die two days later. They have always been breathing very heavily in my tank. I don't know if that's how they breath or what? Both of them breath heavily. My tank is always at 79 Degrees but will go up to 84 Degrees in the hot summer days. While they were with me, they laid eggs often. Most of the time, the male would swim around and circle the female and dart back and forth. its a funny dance.. and then she would lay some tiny orange eggs.. its very hard to see the eggs.. but all my other fishes go nut and eating them non stop.

Now I think about it, its weird that they breath so heavily. I don't know if it is because of the temp of my tank is so high that they breath so hard? I don't know.. But now I am curious. Tomorrow I will go to couple fish stores and look at how those Flame or Potter angels breathe and compare. If they breathe so hard because my of high temperature tank, then I feel very bad for them. But if what the other guy said was true, then this mated pair has been in captivity for about 6 years so far. I have to add, the male Potter that I had was big. It is much bigger than the female and all the other Potter that I see being sold at the store.

 

[philter4]

Holy cow -- multiple organ transplants? How are you doing?

I'd love to hear about your dives. Hardly anyone posts about this stuff and very few hobbyists have the slightest clue how the fish are collected. If you ever do a blog about it on RC here, I would sure love to read all about it ( hint )

I lost my tanks in Hurricane Ike 3 years ago and only now am I getting back into the hobby. It's pretty hard to take, isn't it?

This is my second set of multi-organ transplants, the first was Dec 8th 1998 and this last one was March 22 last year. I do pretty well, it takes about 3 years total to be fully back to normal but I have already been diving last month and started to repopulate my tanks. I caught an Atlantic longnose butterfly (the fish in my avatar) along with some inverts that are doing really well.

As far as diving, I post a few times here and there, and it is usually about the fish in their natural habitat so people can decide how to house them better. I have dove all over the world with commercial collectors and seen some incredible things that make me wonder how some of these fish even survive the trip to the local pet store let alone thrive and do well in our tanks. Look at the bluespot jawfish thread, prawn goby and jawfish? little advicethe last post was on 5/12 so it is a few pages back, the way some of them were collected when I was there makes me sick.

Anyway, I'm not trying to hijack the thread or change the subject so back to potters angels please!

 

[Flippers4pups]

I think the temperature of the water in our tanks can fluctuate, but only in small amounts. Trying to replicate the environment from which the Potter's comes from, as i see it, can only be good for the fish. But can anyone tell me if a small fluctuation in temperature by say 3 or 4 degrees can effect their life span? Short term, Long term?

 

[Flippers4pups]

This is my second set of multi-organ transplants, the first was Dec 8th 1998 and this last one was March 22 last year. I do pretty well, it takes about 3 years total to be fully back to normal but I have already been diving last month and started to repopulate my tanks. I caught an Atlantic longnose butterfly (the fish in my avatar) along with some inverts that are doing really well.

As far as diving, I post a few times here and there, and it is usually about the fish in their natural habitat so people can decide how to house them better. I have dove all over the world with commercial collectors and seen some incredible things that make me wonder how some of these fish even survive the trip to the local pet store let alone thrive and do well in our tanks. Look at the bluespot jawfish thread, prawn goby and jawfish? little advicethe last post was on 5/12 so it is a few pages back, the way some of them were collected when I was there makes me sick.

Anyway, I'm not trying to hijack the thread or change the subject so back to potters angels please!

No, your ok. Hope your feeling better!

 

[KillerReef]

No on the Potter's after reading the replies here, I talked my friend out of it. He went with a flame Angel in stead..