Candy Basslet: is it worth the price?

[Warthur]

Hey all,
While I do not have the resources to spend $700 on a fish at the moment, I am considering getting one in the future if the opportunity arises. Does anyone know how long these guys live? I've heard they only can live up to 5. If so I would be spending around $150 a year on it. While they are beautiful is that truly an accurate approximation?

 

[lion king]

I've seen these guys come in very vibrant and for some reason fade a bit pretty quickly within a few months. My theory is they are deep water fish and not used to lighting we keep in our reef tanks. I had a swales swissguard basslet that was just as vibrant as any of these I've seen, but I've also seen some not so impressive. Since seeing a few examples of both, I'd never spend the money on one. But some people like telling others how much they spend on a fish.

 

[Warthur]

I'm not looking to tell people how expensive the fish is, simply live how they look. I have never heard of them losing color as they age but the reasoning makes some sense. My main concern looking into it would be how long they live as I wouldn't want to buy something that expensive that won't live past 5 years of perfectly taken care of

 

[andrew james]

I have a couple of basslets and while I love my pets they usually only come out at night or stick to the caves during the day. So if you're looking for a fish that swims around the front of the tank and puts on a good show the candy basslet is not that type of fish.

 

[ciscomania]

My candy basslet is out all day swimming. literally 24/7 can't miss him. My fish hasn't lost color and those pink stripes glow like neon lights with lights on. Probably my favoite fish in the tank with blue spot jawfish coming in second. So yea if you have the means to buy $700 fish, I say go for it without hesitation.

 

[Warthur]

My candy basslet is out all day swimming. literally 24/7 can't miss him. My fish hasn't lost color and those pink stripes glow like neon lights with lights on. Probably my favoite fish in the tank with blue spot jawfish coming in second. So yea if you have the means to buy $700 fish, I say go for it without hesitation.

Great to hear. Yours looks fantastic! Do you know how long they live approximately? While I wouldn't be getting one now I might consider it in a couple months but won't do it if they can exceed 10 years

 

[babyjess210]

My candy basslet is out all day swimming. literally 24/7 can't miss him. My fish hasn't lost color and those pink stripes glow like neon lights with lights on. Probably my favoite fish in the tank with blue spot jawfish coming in second. So yea if you have the means to buy $700 fish, I say go for it without hesitation.

Very nice fish. Can you tell us a little about your setup? What other fish you have in the tank?

 

[Warthur]

My candy basslet is out all day swimming. literally 24/7 can't miss him. My fish hasn't lost color and those pink stripes glow like neon lights with lights on. Probably my favoite fish in the tank with blue spot jawfish coming in second. So yea if you have the means to buy $700 fish, I say go for it without hesitation.

Where did you get yours from?

 

[ciscomania]

I got mine from divers den. I don't know how long they live sorry. My set up is ELOS 70 and keep my temp at 76 degrees. Stock list consist of
-candy basslet
-blue spot jawfish
-tanaka pygmy wrasse
-royal gramma
-yashe goby
-2 clowns
-yellow wrasse
-chalk bass
-red fin waspfish
-fire shrimp
-skunk shrimp
-tiger pistol shrimp
-yesterday I trade my blotchy anthias for credit to my lfs and bought dwarf moray eel from one of the sponsored vendors on r2r.

All my fish get along and they swim out in the open 24/7.
My rockwork has way more places to hide than any of my buddies rockwork. I basically hammered giant pukani rock into pieces and epoxied about 60 little rocks to build my aquascape so there are so many gaps and holes from interconnecting rocks instead of few solid rocks stacked together. My aquascape took over 2 weeks to build. After seeing how all my fishes are out most of time, all my friends are trying to commission me to build them new aquascape.

It sounds counter productive but if fishes have more places to hide and feel safe, they are out and swimming most of times out in the open.
I know that candy basslet and pygmy wrasse are notoriously skittish and rare to see them swimming out in the open but both of them just swim all day going in and out through out the aquascape. In fact the most illusive fish in my tank is probably the 2 clowns.

 

[Warthur]

I got mine from divers den. I don't know how long they live sorry. My set up is ELOS 70 and keep my temp at 76 degrees. Stock list consist of
-candy basslet
-blue spot jawfish
-tanaka pygmy wrasse
-royal gramma
-yashe goby
-2 clowns
-yellow wrasse
-chalk bass
-red fin waspfish
-fire shrimp
-skunk shrimp
-tiger pistol shrimp
-yesterday I trade my blotchy anthias for credit to my lfs and bought dwarf moray eel from one of the sponsored vendors on r2r.

All my fish get along and they swim out in the open 24/7.
My rockwork has way more places to hide than any of my buddies rockwork. I basically hammered giant pukani rock into pieces and epoxied about 60 little rocks to build my aquascape so there are so many gaps and holes from interconnecting rocks instead of few solid rocks stacked together. My aquascape took over 2 weeks to build. After seeing how all my fishes are out most of time, all my friends are trying to commission me to build them new aquascape.

It sounds counter productive but if fishes have more places to hide and feel safe, they are out and swimming most of times out in the open.
I know that candy basslet and pygmy wrasse are notoriously skittish and rare to see them swimming out in the open but both of them just swim all day going in and out through out the aquascape. In fact the most illusive fish in my tank is probably the 2 clowns.

I'd love to hear how the the candy and eel do together. I have a golden dwarf that I got from Colin at Zoacollector and it's great. Knowing that they can and will do well together would definitely allow me to consider looking into one even deeper

 

[ciscomania]

i bought my dwarf moray from zoacollector also!!

 

[Warthur]

Nice! Colin is fantastic. Found an eel with perfect dark coloration for me, favorite fish I have right now

 

[Warthur]

You will love their personality, just make sure the lid is secure on the tank or they will get out

 

[mort]

I believe a lot of the success with this species is in the tank conditions. The bluer light spectrums should make it feel more at home and likely to entice them out more, it might also help with keeping the bright colour assuming diet doesn't play a part in it (and I haven't seen anything to suggest it does). Keeping a pair (and yeah I know) might also stimulate better colours.
Temperature might be better on the cool side which might extend their life but they seem to live fine at normal reef temps. The most important thing imo however is tankmates. The are timid to shy and work best with quiet tankmates. If you chuck in boisterous species or energetic ones you will likely see less of them. The list above is good as they tend to be nice slow methodical species apart from the wrasse and that is probably why it does so well.

I don't have longterm experience with the species but have kept others in the family for long periods. I did look after a pair for a year and they lived in a species nano. I think they are still going which would make them 7-8 by now and it wouldn't surprised me if they could live 4-5 years longer (they were tiny when we got them in for the customer).

 

[bluedevils6653]

imo if you have the means to drop that kind of money on a fish its worth it. i have one and its beautiful. definetly a shy fish mine stays around in the rock work most of the day. I just got him recently so im hoping he becomes more bold once some more time passes. I have him with a regal angel, orange spotted filefish, lineatus wrasse and some fire and cleaner shrimp. hope that helps!

 

[Acrofiend]

-yesterday I trade my blotchy anthias for credit to my lfs and bought dwarf moray eel from one of the sponsored vendors on r2r.

Why'd you get rid of your anthias??

 

[chgoblknazn]

I have one and he is out all day and night. This is my second one. I swear he does not sleep EVER. He eats everything and is my favorite fish in the tank. I've had him for at least two years. I'd love to get another one but I hear they don't always like each other. If I were to get another, and they don't play nice, I'd have a tough time rehoming it. It's tough selling high-end fish in my local market. I'll never get rid of him.

 

[BigNick24]

Would not recommend one in a large tank, they do like to be somewhat passive. That being said I had mine for a year and a half before getting rid of my 20 gallon tank he was in so sold him back to LFS.

 

[ciscomania]

Why'd you get rid of your anthias??

blotchy was starting turn into a terrorist.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I love these fish but could never afford one.