Purchasing Longnose Butterfly and Orange Shoulder Tang

[ntropics]

Not sure if this is the right section, but here goes:

So if you were looking to purchase a longnose butterfly and an orange shoulder tang for your Hawaiian biotope, which of the following would you think makes the most sense, dollar wise, and quality wise?

1) A large longnose from HAWAII ($60), plus a medium orange shoulder from FIJI($60), purchased from Live Aquaria for a total with shipping of $160,

OR

2) A medium longnose from HAWAII($37), plus a medium orange shoulder from HAWAII($52), purchased from Bluezoo Aqautics for a total with shipping of $129?

I would normally prefer Live Aquaria but the Bluezoo specimens are BOTH from Hawaii. And I know they are both probably sourcing from the same wholesaler anyway. I have read that medium size longnose adapts better than large.

Any ideas?
Thanks.
Bruce

 

[suta4242]

Just to be clear, which long nose are you thinking of getting?

If its the Big Longnose, F. Longirostris I would get a small to medium individual. I made the mistake of getting a local one sight unseen as they're hard to come by here. The collector said it wasn't fully grown, but the fish arrived at a good eight inches. Fat, very healthy but over ten weeks I could not get him to eat a thing.

IMO it couldn't adapt to captivity. In the end I euthanased it, very sad.
If I were you I'd avoid a fully grown big long nose and instead either get a smaller one, or you could get the usual species instead. The latter is easy to keep unless you have bullies.

Sorry I can't help with the shipping options.


HTH
:wave:

 

[ThRoewer]

1. go with small specimen as advised above. Large ones may cause a lot of headaches. It is worth to rather wait a while for the right fish than to rush an order.

2. Blue Zoo and LiveAquaria do not use the same wholesalers. Blue Zoo is the retail outlet for Pacific Aqua Farms while LiveAquaria has its regular (non DD or ORA) fish drop shipped from Quality Marine.
If I had the choice, I would always prefer LA over BZ, simply for their better and more lenient guarantee coverage. I got a shipment from BZ with a pair of jawfish that were so malnourished that the female died within 2 days. The male hung in for 10 days, and despite these fish being shipped in such a weak condition that survival was unlikely I didn't get a refund for him, simply because he survived a few days too long.

 

[jmm]

Longnose butterfly is my favorite fish. I like to get them small and watch them grow. And, you get to have them longer before they die of old age.

They seem to be able to stand up for themselves pretty well but they can take a few hits from territorial tangs before the tangs get bored with it. Their fins and tail heal quickly.

 

[ntropics]

It will be a Forcipiger flavissimus. I preferred the longinostrus but it seems really hard to come by. My understanding is the flavissimus is easier to adapt to aquarium but a bit more apt to go for corals.

 

[suta4242]

Yeah, I've read that too, but it hasn't been my experience provided the fish is well fed. The standard long nose is easy to adapt, and probably easier to keep satiated.

You probably already know this, but I wouldn't spot feed a coral in front of any butterfly or angel, as they quickly learn to associate the coral with food. Then they're very likely to annoy coral when hungry. JME.

Hth and Good luck !

:wave:

 

[brett559]

I'd wait until the two you want come to Live Aquaria. You can set up an email alert for specific fish sizes.

You can't beat that guarantee. Not that those are really difficult fish, but I'd wait for LA if it was me.