my new baby... AKA The Café

tbrown · May 2, 2024

LadyMac said:
Mornin.

Long time no see!!!

LadyMac · May 2, 2024

tbrown said:
Long time no see!!!

Yeh depression and busy plus the bonus of a chopped up finger. Sorry for that.

fishguy242 · May 2, 2024

PPP...Pink pee on these...

MrsBugmaster · May 2, 2024

LadyMac · May 2, 2024

Mhamilton0911 · May 2, 2024

Hey Cafe need help with wrasse, specifically leopard wrasse.

Been wanting one but afraid to buy online and getting a doa or soon after. Read all about the shipping stress because of lack of sand.

Was at lfs today while they were unboxing and low and behold, a purty leopard baby, about 2 inches still in bag temp floating. I observed for a few minutes while owner looked at the papers to see what she was gonna cost. Colors looked vibrant, just like online photos, all fins looked good and intact, but after swimming around looking to hide, she'd find the lowest corner and kind of float awkward and tilt for a few seconds. Then she's swim off to look for cover and repeat.

This just normal shipping stress? I know after netting some of my fish play dead, and some act weird in the bucket and list sideways similarly. Talked with owner, mentioned my concern, he says he hasn't ordered one in years, so he's not super experienced. He did say he'll mark it as "sold", and for me to come check back in a few days and decide if I want to buy.

I have gotten 99% of my fish here. And I've been really lucky. How long should I wait to see how it's doing?

JoJosReef · May 2, 2024

Mhamilton0911 said:
Hey Cafe need help with wrasse, specifically leopard wrasse.

Been wanting one but afraid to buy online and getting a doa or soon after. Read all about the shipping stress because of lack of sand.

Was at lfs today while they were unboxing and low and behold, a purty leopard baby, about 2 inches still in bag temp floating. I observed for a few minutes while owner looked at the papers to see what she was gonna cost. Colors looked vibrant, just like online photos, all fins looked good and intact, but after swimming around looking to hide, she'd find the lowest corner and kind of float awkward and tilt for a few seconds. Then she's swim off to look for cover and repeat.

This just normal shipping stress? I know after netting some of my fish play dead, and some act weird in the bucket and list sideways similarly. Talked with owner, mentioned my concern, he says he hasn't ordered one in years, so he's not super experienced. He did say he'll mark it as "sold", and for me to come check back in a few days and decide if I want to buy.

I have gotten 99% of my fish here. And I've been really lucky. How long should I wait to see how it's doing?

- Is the leopard wrasse in a holding tank with sand in it? If no, then I don't think waiting more days will help, as they destress in the sand.

- Inspect the mouth. Does the mouth "beak" hang open? Is it crooked? One of the major problems with leopard wrasse shipping is that they freak out and dart down in the bag as if there were sand to bury into and end up smashing their head/beak. When they break their mouth, they won't be able to eat and will likely die.

- Sometimes they can break their spine too, but weird swimming when they first arrive isn't necessarily diagnostic of that. They may be overly stressed and just doing weird stuff. Mine did that for a few hours after I put her into a landing pad tank:

New video by Joseph Campo

photos.app.goo.gl

She was just being a weirdo for a while. She's fine now.

- If you see her eating, that's a great sign.

- Acclimation needs to be really slow. I raised salinity over a week in a "landing pad" tank. Once matched to the DT, I scooped her up in the sand, then picked her up with my hand and delivered her into the DT right to the sand, let her go and she went right into the sand. Came out the next day exploring and eating.

2/4 leopard have arrived to me DOA. 1/2 non-DOAs did not survive acclimation and had clear mouth injuries. Only the leopard that was shipped with sand in the bag survived and lives in my DT.

Mhamilton0911 · May 2, 2024

Reading about all the shipping stress is what's causing my hesitation. I was able to get really close and I didn't know to inspect the mouth specifically, but I checked over the whole fish to look for any obvious sign of damage or disease. I did not see anything that looked odd other than the still leaning positioning.

Yes going straight into sand. That was the only fish he had floating in that one tank, others were snails and hermits. So shouldn't be stressed from tankmates.

He will offer food to fish if I want to check that they're eating. And it was still in bag when I saw, but uses buckets and drips when needed. I've talked with him before about this fish, possibly why he ordered it, he knows I'm a frequent buyer, I was in last week asking about a Melanurus wrasse.

JoJosReef · May 2, 2024

Mhamilton0911 said:
Reading about all the shipping stress is what's causing my hesitation. I was able to get really close and I didn't know to inspect the mouth specifically, but I checked over the whole fish to look for any obvious sign of damage or disease. I did not see anything that looked odd other than the still leaning positioning.

Yes going straight into sand. That was the only fish he had floating in that one tank, others were snails and hermits. So shouldn't be stressed from tankmates.

He will offer food to fish if I want to check that they're eating. And it was still in bag when I saw, but uses buckets and drips when needed. I've talked with him before about this fish, possibly why he ordered it, he knows I'm a frequent buyer, I was in last week asking about a Melanurus wrasse.

Leopards are simply the best. I'd take a good look at her if she makes it through the night and ask about seeing her eat. Then take her home!

Mhamilton0911 · May 2, 2024

JoJosReef said:
Leopards are simply the best. I'd take a good look at her if she makes it through the night and ask about seeing her eat. Then take her home!

Planning on checking Saturday, owner takes Friday off and although they can still sell fish, I'd prefer to deal with him.