I never planned on buying one and really never thought anything about them. After all I know they have a horrible survival rate. I walked into a Petco out of all places and they had a 2-3" beautiful Rock Beauty. This is also not your typical run of the mill Petco, this is by far the best Petco I have ever been to. They don't even use nets, but use the collection containers, anyways the fish had bright colors was alert and looked very healthy. I asked the guy how long it was there and he said 3 days. I then asked if it was eating he said yea, it eats everything but flakes and pellets. Well I watched it devour mysis, so I decided I would take it. I have had it for three days now and it eats anything and everything I put into the QT tank with it, it wouldn't take pellets this morning but this afternoon it was eating every pellet it could find. So right now I'm a little optimistic this guy will survive. It will be going into a mix reef and yes I k ow that's a gamble, but I'm going for it. Also that Petco has two female swallowtail angels that have been there for 6 months and they are listed for 35 bucks apiece, those would make a great addition but I'm all Angeled out now.
Trying a Rock Beauty
- Thread starter jaa1456
- Start date
Sounds like a nice find. I got mine off the Dr.'s DD site a couple of years back and it's my favorite fish in my tank. Mine eats just about everything. I mostly feed it P.E mysis, enriched brine, Nori and occasionally flakes and pellets. I know I've read sponge is a main staple in their diet and I do have plenty in my established reef. Can't say I've ever seen him/her pick at any though. All I know is that when I got it I was very nervous about its long term survival. Over 2 years now. So far so good (knocking on wood).
It sounds like you have a healthy one there. Good luck with it. Beautiful fish!!
It sounds like you have a healthy one there. Good luck with it. Beautiful fish!!
Attachments
Last edited:
They are really nice looking fish, I have sponge in my tank, but who knows if it will touch it. I'm pretty sure when they say it needs sponge I think they mean the other types that grow more like corals and not the stuff in the rocks. Not 100% sure on that but that would be my guess. This guy is eating enriched brine, frozen spurlina brine, mysis, angel formula, clam, squid and pellets so far. Nori is going in today.
orangegoby
New member
hmm.. got me thinking about one now.
I ended up with my rock beauty through similar circumstances. Never thought about owning, but came across a spunky little gal at the LFS. She was very small, around 1.5-2", and the black area was more of a spot still. The more I thought about her, the more I thought she'd be a good fit for my tank... a Holacanthus that doesn't get gargantuan!! She was active, bold, and most importantly, ate anything they threw in the tank, so I brought her home. She's grown maybe 1" since then, and as you can see the black area has filled out nicely. Her favorite food is still Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 pellets...
Last edited:
Actually I was meaning to comment on how quickly mine acquired adult features. It's just a crappy picture 
She has a lot of orange along the dorsal and anal fins, along with a tiny electric blue line on the outer edge of each. She also has a dorsal filament! I think maybe 6 months at most.
She has a lot of orange along the dorsal and anal fins, along with a tiny electric blue line on the outer edge of each. She also has a dorsal filament! I think maybe 6 months at most.
namxas
Things With Stings R Us!
Nice find...I kept one for several years back in the days when nobody knew a whole lot about them. My experience was similar to the other successes I've read here...it ate pretty much whatever I was feeding the tank and oddly enuff, it was is a FO-no-LR setup. It became quite tame and would eat from my hand.
It was a fave of mine, for sure. Keep us posted!
It was a fave of mine, for sure. Keep us posted!
Bernie21
Active member
It is one of my all time favorite fish (along w a couple others), Just make sure you have plenty of/variety of sponges because its natural diet consist mainly of it. I had one my first 4 years in the hobby, but I lost it during a 3 day power outage. Ive always wanted to get one again, but havent felt like dealing w its specific needs. Maybe in the future. Good luck w yours.
MrTuskfish
Team RC
I don't know if RBs (and many other fish) NEED sponge, or have just been conditioned to eat it. IMO & IME, if you get sponge eating fish (including Moorish idols) at a small size, before they have had a chance to develop a rigid diet, they will often do very well. I've kept a lot of fish that ''need" sponge, according to the CW, and they thrived for years without seeing any sponge at all. (Except for some tiny bits the LR). I do feed some of the frozen angle foods that have some sponge now, but its a very small part of their diet.
Mrscribbled
Team RC
I ended up with my rock beauty through similar circumstances. Never thought about owning, but came across a spunky little gal at the LFS. She was very small, around 1.5-2", and the black area was more of a spot still. The more I thought about her, the more I thought she'd be a good fit for my tank... a Holacanthus that doesn't get gargantuan!! She was active, bold, and most importantly, ate anything they threw in the tank, so I brought her home. She's grown maybe 1" since then, and as you can see the black area has filled out nicely. Her favorite food is still Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 pellets...
Did you have any problems with yours feeding off the slime coat of other fish?
Well here is an update, the Rock Beauty is doing great still, although I had a flame angel in a 29 QT with her. I saw the Rock Beauty beating up the flame, first time i noticed this and never saw a scratch on the flame prior. I separated the two with egg crate, the flame unfortunately didn't make it. As for temp I keep the tank at 75 or at least try to, this cold spell here in the northeast is keeping my house at 65, which in return has lowered all of my tanks temps. I added a second 50 watt heater to the QT tank and the temp has stabilized.
Time for an update. Sadly I lost my Rock Beauty in QT. it was eating everything till the moment it died. I think the fish was damaged during collection, a week after my last post it developed red stripes on one side of the body, kind of like stripes on a tiger. The other side had no irregular coloring or marks. I'm not really sure what caused it or what it was. I think it might have been some type of hemorrhage.
MrTuskfish
Team RC
Sorry about the RB. I doubt if it was harmed during collection; Caribbean collectors are generally excellent. Your history with this fish is just typical. They often just don't acclimate to captivity very well. There are many fish that give us the same trouble; I doubt if anyone really knows why.
I don't think the fish showing "red stripes" would suggest simply not acclimating, especially if it was eating so well. I've seen this sort of "hemorrhaging beneath the skin" look before with a couple butterflies... I'm no fish disease expert though, so I'm not sure of diagnosis... it went away on it's own with one fish, while the other died.
