Choati and Vivien's Leopards

[Coffee Soundboard]

So I have recently placed an order for a Choati Leopard wrasse ( should be here 8/20/22.) I also found a Vivien's for sale on a different website and am thinking about ordering that as well. The thought process is to QT them simultaneously. Both vendors have told me both fish are eating frozen, so hopefully getting them to eat won't be a problem. I have never owned either one of these fish. Does anyone have any experience with either of these guys? I've read that Choati's are very temperamental, even for a leopard, but I haven't found much information about Vivien's.

 

[Eric Cohen]

So funny I found your post! I am speaking to a "Brad" right now about the same two fish and he decided yesterday to hold out for a vivien's instead of the choati.

We have been working with Choati's for the past year and have found them overall pretty sensitive to shipping stress and it takes them some time to get eating well. To be sure, the fish should be dewormed, and have gone through a long process of parasite treatments, as well as at least 2 weeks of showing solid eating habits. Otherwise, you're likely to go through a few of them before finding one that sticks around. That's mainly why we take 5-6 weeks treating our choati before shipping to make sure the customer has the best chance for success long term, and even then, we don't always see the fish eat right away with a small volume of them taking up to a week to get back on their regular eating habit program. If your fish has not been dewormed, please consider doing that as a start.

I have been trying to get vivien's wrasse, but personally have not yet worked with them so can't really comment.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,

Eric

 

[Coffee Soundboard]

So I have recently placed an order for a Choati Leopard wrasse ( should be here 8/20/22.) I also found a Vivien's for sale on a different website and am thinking about ordering that as well. The thought process is to QT them simultaneously. Both vendors have told me both fish are eating frozen, so hopefully getting them to eat won't be a problem. I have never owned either one of these fish. Does anyone have any experience with either of these guys? I've read that Choati's are very temperamental, even for a leopard, but I haven't found much information about Vivien's.

Thanks for the information Eric! The Brad you are speaking of is me. I was this close to ordering from you guys, but I ended up finding sale fish online that allowed me to get both for essentially the same price as yours. The only vastly difference is about the only guarantee is that they were eating at the store and that they arrive alive. I will end up having to QT these guys as they have gone through none of treatments you put them through. So here's to hoping they make it through QT, or I else I should have bit the bullet and purchased from you guys.

 

[coral reeftank]

So funny I found your post! I am speaking to a "Brad" right now about the same two fish and he decided yesterday to hold out for a vivien's instead of the choati.

We have been working with Choati's for the past year and have found them overall pretty sensitive to shipping stress and it takes them some time to get eating well. To be sure, the fish should be dewormed, and have gone through a long process of parasite treatments, as well as at least 2 weeks of showing solid eating habits. Otherwise, you're likely to go through a few of them before finding one that sticks around. That's mainly why we take 5-6 weeks treating our choati before shipping to make sure the customer has the best chance for success long term, and even then, we don't always see the fish eat right away with a small volume of them taking up to a week to get back on their regular eating habit program. If your fish has not been dewormed, please consider doing that as a start.

I have been trying to get vivien's wrasse, but personally have not yet worked with them so can't really comment.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,

Eric

Eric is awesome! I’ve gotten 3 choatis from him lately and they’ve done great in my tanks. They’re nice and fat now and even eat pellets and nori!
They can take a few days to perk up and begin eating again though. I’ve kept choati, moyeri, meleagris, potters, blue stars, black, and ornate leopards in the past and currently and in my experience they all behave similarly.

The most important part in my experience is to get them acclimated and dewormed which is easier said than done. Luckily, Eric already did that for me!

 

[Coffee Soundboard]

I was super tempted to buy from Eric, and I was going to until I found cheaper. I also have an empty QT and all the stuff to do it myself, so it made sense to attempt it myself. We will see if that was a mistake . So far the new Choati looks good and is eating.

 

[i cant think]

I was super tempted to buy from Eric, and I was going to until I found cheaper. I also have an empty QT and all the stuff to do it myself, so it made sense to attempt it myself. We will see if that was a mistake . So far the new Choati looks good and is eating.

M. choati can be rather temperamental and sometimes are worse with QT (Hence why it’s recommended to go for an already QTed specimen then put it into an established observation tank). As for the Vivienae, they can be very similar in hardiness to M. choati. They can be rather temperamental and not the best, if this is your first time diving into Macropharyngodon then these two species are quite possibly the worst beginner species.
If you have got a few years with long term experience with other species then you’ll already be at a head start.

 

[Eric Cohen]

Eric is awesome! I’ve gotten 3 choatis from him lately and they’ve done great in my tanks. They’re nice and fat now and even eat pellets and nori!
They can take a few days to perk up and begin eating again though. I’ve kept choati, moyeri, meleagris, potters, blue stars, black, and ornate leopards in the past and currently and in my experience they all behave similarly.

The most important part in my experience is to get them acclimated and dewormed which is easier said than done. Luckily, Eric already did that for me!

Thanks Allan......appreciate that.

 

[SaltyT]

I was super tempted to buy from Eric, and I was going to until I found cheaper. I also have an empty QT and all the stuff to do it myself, so it made sense to attempt it myself. We will see if that was a mistake . So far the new Choati looks good and is eating.

How is your choati and vivienae doing?

 

[unklez]

Choati are so beautiful I'm after one too. My way of QT'ing is 2 days to get used to tank and then I hit em with prazipro for 2 days with a airstone then they go in the DT. I use UV and ozone to manage ICH. So as long as they are fluke and intestinal worm free its good enough for me. I'll never do copper.

 

[Coffee Soundboard]

The original Choati lived only a few days in QT. He looked healthy and was eating frozen. Then I came home from work and he was 90% dead. Sad day. So I ordered one from Eric and he’s doing great, along with the Vivienes. Both are eating so I’m hoping for the best.

 

[i cant think]

The original Choati lived only a few days in QT. He looked healthy and was eating frozen. Then I came home from work and he was 90% dead. Sad day. So I ordered one from Eric and he’s doing great, along with the Vivienes. Both are eating so I’m hoping for the best.

Choats are delicate, they will often die for no reason. Or they can have an internal parasite and one day just die for what seems like no reason.