Rhinopias Owners ..

[namxas]

VERY NICE!!!!

Sherri's thread is turning out to be a Rhinopias extravaganza...i'm SO loving it! it's nice to see other peep's ideas, fish, and setups. i like the look of the chromises as dither fish. have the scorps and angler kinda gotten to ignoring them?

i hope your fish's lower jaw heals up OK...it doesn't look too bad.

here's what our leafy looked like when we acquired it (it changed when i had to remove the macro). this is the same fish that's in Renee's post:

 

[strendo]

Love the yellow color!
Those pics are a little old, the jaw healed up nicely. I put about 20 chromies in the tank, but they didn't last long. I have 1 survivor left who's been alone for the past 2 weeks.

 

[seahorsedreams]

Dang. To bad. The chromis up high like that is a sweet picture.

 

[namxas]

did the Rhinos perch up high and snag them or did they just get "careless"?

this thread is definitely a "must see" regardless of whether one keeps Rhinos or not...

 

[Mental1]

Greg-- the website looks cool -- I will definitely be ordering! Thanks for the link! I like the Botryocladia. Oh -- I did not see him doing anything differently before he shed but I was gone Wednesday night and all day Thursday so he could have been doing something. Oh and yea -- I would want a bigger tank but let me keep this going for a year and see what happens. That is the long term plan anyway.

Frank -- his eye started to clear up before he shed. He looks awesome.

Renee -- that is a killer list! I don't think I want to hear the stories. Nurses have a high tolerance for gross things!

Strendo -- I love your tank -- it almost looks like the solaras that everyone is putting up. The fish look wonderful. I too was contemplating an angler or frogfish in the tank. But you only feed one fish twice a week? They look great. And you have a 175 and a 150 -- you must have a big place in Queens!

 

[seahorsedreams]

Yours looks older than ours. Ours looks to be the same size but yours just has that aged appearance.

This is fun. Where's that other guy with the yellow fronnie?

 

[namxas]

I did not see him doing anything differently before he shed but I was gone

i was just alerting you "in case" you see it, as it DOES look strange, like the fish is in distress.

just out of curiosity, did you (and strendo as well) just happen to find your fish, or did you order them? believe it or not, both of ours came from one of the LFS near us...they were just "there" calling out to us!

 

[Mental1]

I did not order mine -- I saw his picture posted by a LFS -- 2 hours away --- and contacted them immediately and said I was interested. Then I had to set up a tank for him and talk my husband into helping me -- which he did -- he hates plumbing. I had everything I needed -- almost -- but it just took time to figure out the details so I could add it to the main system. I did just write the guy and ask him to find me an eschmeyer though! So she (?) will be ordered. Stay tuned.

 

[Mental1]

So he danced for me yesterday and I fed him 2 sliversides -- one stuffed with pellets. Then this morning he danced again. He wanted more food. Do they ask for food as habit? Should i feed him whenever he dances? Just curious ... I did not feed him. He was disappointed. (-;

 

[seahorsedreams]

Don't feed him every time he begs. Would he have gone for a third silverside yesterday?

 

[Mental1]

I did not try yesterday but when I fed him the time before I tried three and he did not go for the 3rd one -- but I was rushing him. Maybe tomorrow if I have time I will try three again and see what happens. Begging fish .... who would have thought?

 

[seahorsedreams]

There are different size silversides as well... so yours could be larger. I hack off a little bit of the tail to make them just a little shorter.

 

[Mental1]

Well, a helper at the house saw him begging and fed him -- well she tried to and he spit it out. I tried feeding him today and he was not interested. He keeps opening his mouth really wide -- like in a yawn. Do fish yawn?? Anyway -- could he have something stuck? I have something going on at work so could not hang around ... just concerned ... a little anyway. I also left her instructions not feed without my asking her to.

 

[seahorsedreams]

Could he be shedding his skin/cuticle? Look for "peeled sunburned skin" coming off him or around the tank. Remove it if you see it. One function of the process is to rid them of parasites and algae and what not that they are prone to because of the sedentary behavior. Might as well remove it from the tank all together. I sure hope that's what it is :-(

And check your nitrates. Our frondosa is very sensitive to nitrates.

 

[Mental1]

He actually just finished shedding so I don't think he is shedding again. I will test the water when I get home but I doubt the nitrates are high -- there's a lot of water there and I do a weekly 15% water change. What else would opening the mouth really wide be an indicator of? To be fair I saw him do it twice two nights ago and once this morning. So it is not constant but I am not at home observing either.

 

[namxas]

is the fish breathing heavily as well, or is it just "yawning"? also, it didn't bash its nose against the tank or rockwork trying to feed, did it? does its jaw seem properly aligned?

 

[Mental1]

His breathing is fine and his jaw looks fine. I may have just been trying to feed him too early this morning. I have an event at work which gets me out the door quickly so was trying to feed him within a half hour of the tank lights turning on which can be a bit quick. But I got worried when my daughter explained that Melissa tried to feed him yesterday and he spit it out. I may just be being paranoid.... sigh. These wonderful creatures .. I just want him to be okay.

 

[seahorsedreams]

When our nitrates went up ours spit out his food and then refused. After we tested and changed the water, he ate again.

I'm sending good vibes your way....

 

[Mental1]

When I test the water in the basement the nitrates are zero. The 65g is connected into that system so I do not think it is nitrates. Perhaps he is going on hunger strike for live food like your eschy did?

 

[seahorsedreams]

It was different for th eEschy. He had a "stick incident", we call it. He grabbed too far up on the kabob stick and would not let go. He then proceeded to thrash back and forth on the stick. The very next feeding he wouldn't even look at the stick or any frozen foods. This has happened with 3 of my fish. That's when I made my own stick that has a zero percent chance of injury.