Rhinopias Owners ..

[Mental1]

I truly believe that mine had two issues: some kind of bacterial infection and difficulty absorbing the food. I would take a look at the variety of foods fed by Renee and Greg and try to do something like that. I did silversides which I slit open and stuffed with pellets, ghost shrimp, store bought shrimp, and live fish. I ran out of the live fish which is what did him in I think. And I was worried about infections from the live fish. The second time around that he did not eat I tried to be less worried about it and he died. I guess my worry was justified in his case. Good luck!

 

[surferboi2113]

Found this guys at the LFS for about $90. I wanted to buy it sooo bad, but im in the middle of a tank transition. Hope it will till be there when my tank is cycles.

 

[seahorsedreams]

I'm not even going to talk to you......

*sits in the corner and pouts*

 

[rduong89]

will the lfs ship?? =)

 

[surferboi2113]

Haha, good question, but probably not to texas...its here in China. Forget it, im swinging by after work and picking him up...

 

[surferboi2113]

Descided to wait till tomorrow so i could read up a bit more...BTW how large a tank do these fellas need? right now i have a 70g w a stonefish and a small emperor. He'll have to stay in there for a good month or so while the new tank is cycling ...hes about 4-5" right now. This is EXCITING!!! I love fish that are sooo ugly they're cute. ha

 

[FMarini]

Geewhiz-- I sure hope this fad of cheap inexpensive Rhinopias stop. These are pretty rare fish in the wild and honestly i cant see the population w/stand all the collection going on.
I have no hard data for this, but if you go diving you'll find 1 or 2 of these fish in specific sites, not 100s. Back when these fish were 3000.00/ea only public aquaria had them, and they just didnt collect them

 

[seahorsedreams]

This guy is in China.... he can get a the cool stuff cheap!

 

[FMarini]

and that make it alright...how
even thou China may make inexpensive products, they still pay fair market value on fish, they arent building the fish in a factory

 

[seahorsedreams]

I know nothing about their economy.... what is 90 bucks to the average person over there? Over here it's a nice dinner out... for all I know it could be a months rent to the average hobbyist over there.

 

[namxas]

i've been wondering/concerned about this issue as well. one of my fears besides the overcollection, and the price of these rare beauties becoming "inexpensive", is that they may become much more prone to being acquired as "impulse buys" by folks who have not researched their husbandry, and, altho i hate to say it, that the loss of a specimen might not mean as much if there wasn't a bigger monetary hit associated with it.

i hope you all get what i'm trying to say...i'm not going for an elitist feel to the foregoing, but i apparently am not as eloquent as i should be.

 

[Mental1]

I have to say that it is not all price stopping me. I do believe my guy had a problem from the start. But they are a really cool fish. I cannot tell you how many people have come to my house since he died and have been bummed because they really liked him. I do and I don't want to try again. I go back and forth and at the moment I don't. I am not sure if the price was low it would make a difference. But I understand what you are saying Greg -- but face it -- we rape everything no matter what the price. I am not sure it makes a difference if it is out of the ocean whether or not it lives. It is still out of the ocean.

 

[surferboi2113]

All good points i feel. $90 is about an average months rent to a local here, or a little less than a months salary to my factory workers...I feel the prices here are the right prices. My friend Derrick who owns a LFS gives me all the prices that he gets since i import yellow tangs from hawaii for him. I pay him usually double. For instance for that emperor angel fish i have in my tank for $7, he paid 4. I paid $5 for that softball sized elegance in my tank, he paid $2. Even a 160g bucket of reef crystals is about $25 here, retail...Please don't get on me cause i have low prices where i live.

 

[seahorsedreams]

All good points i feel. $90 is about an average months rent to a local here, or a little less than a months salary to my factory workers...I feel the prices here are the right prices.

So that would be about 2100 bucks here in California.....

 

[surferboi2113]

Crazy to think about, but true. Though, i'd take living in Hawaii or Cali and having no money over living here anyday. Reefcentral and my aquarium is the only thing that keeps me sane after a 16 hour work day, oh and my wife(but she's Kiwi...)haha.

 

[surferboi2113]

Back on topic, just sent someone to the market to pick it up!

I read in some article( can't remember where) that large specimens only need a 50g tank. Is this true? I was going to move mine to my new 600g in time, but keeping him in my 70g as a species tank might be a better idea. It'd be only him and maybe a dwarf lion in there.

Any opinions?

 

[seahorsedreams]

He would definitely live well in a 70g.

 

[rduong89]

70 gallon is good. just give it a lot of open space. i dont think rhinos like a lot of light either. When my 400 watts turns on, i always see my rhino under the ledge of my rocks. Then when its off, he goes everywhere.