Documenting my Care of Pseudogramma Xantha (Red Podge)

[Vapor_Tsunami]

I have obtained a Pseudogramma Xantha, also possibly known as the red podge, yellow podge, or lava basslet, and I will be using this thread to document my care of it daily. This species is rare in home aquaria, and I hope to give insight on what it takes to care for these mysterious little fish.

I ordered her today from Live Aquaria, and she should arrive by Tuesday. I'll post the sale page on here to get a picture since she was part of their WYSIWYG diver's den.

LiveAquaria® - Pseudogramma xantha

I'm naming her Ripley, and I'll buy some live brine shrimp to try and get her eating before trying to get her on frozen mysis. I'll make another post when she arrives.
Happy Fishkeeping
-Vapor_Tsunami

 

[Aaron Almager]

Good luck! Post a pic once you get her settled!

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

Good luck! Post a pic once you get her settled!

I can't wait! Live Aquaria doesn't ship weekends, so I imagine it will be around Tuesday or so.

 

[Sigmund]

Interested to follow. Almost ordered a couple of times, but did not have one of my tanks available to really dedicated to a potential difficult eater. Eager to hear about your experiences.

 

[dennis romano]

I almost ordered that fish. Good luck!

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

Status Update: She is currently settling down, I acclimated her and put her in the aquarium, I would take a picture but she is hiding and the lights are still off. She is looking healthy and active, and I have high hopes. I will try feeding her frozen mysis shrimp around 7 pm.

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

I wasn't able to coax her out of the rocks today, I will try again tommorow.

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

Sorry I have not been posting many updates, I have yet to see her since I first put her in the aquarium. I've been periodically putting in frozen copepods and mysis (and target feeding my corals while im at it), but I still haven't seen her.

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

If anyone has advice to coax her out I would appreciate it, I really want to confirm that she is doing okay.

 

[HomebroodExotics]

If anyone has advice to coax her out I would appreciate it, I really want to confirm that she is doing okay.

Live baby brine?

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

Live baby brine?

I cant get babys, but I could stop by my local reefstore and pick up live brine sometime in the next few days.

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

Hoo boy today has been an exciting day for the tank. For starters, I got a new live rock, and it has oodles and oodles of hitchhikers. From the ones I identified, I saw several bristle worms and brittle stars, an anenome that I'll keep an eye on because it might be aptasia, and I'm not sure but there might be an octopus, I saw something with arms and suckers on the outside of the rock and it grabbed my glove while I was handling it. I also got brine shrimp, and I saw ripley for the first time since putting her in! I only got a peek of her face, but she was looking healthy and active. Sadly I made too much noise and scared her away b4 I could take a picture. Either way the lights are off for the night, and I will look again in the morning.

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

Here is the anemone in question

 

[Rednamalas]

Any updates? Have you seen her again?

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

Any updates? Have you seen her again?

I've seen her a couple times here and there. She tends to be bolder and come out whenever the lights are going out. She is still hiding, but from what I've seen she seems healthy. I feed her mysis and pods occasionally, and I also got some peppermint shrimp to deal with aptasia.

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

My mom managed to capture these incredible pictures of Ripley for you guys! She seems to be a lot more bold at night, personally I think she is coming out because the peppermint shrimp were getting close to her

 

[Rednamalas]

How big is she now? Keep us posted!

 

[reefinatl]

Here is the anemone in question

Light bulb anenome. Should be fine according to most sources. Knowing the scourge that is aiptasia I don't really trust any anenome outside of well documented hobby common species and I got rid of any anenomes that came in on my live rock.

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

Light bulb anenome. Should be fine according to most sources. Knowing the scourge that is aiptasia I don't really trust any anenome outside of well documented hobby common species and I got rid of any anenomes that came in on my live rock.

I'm almost certain it was aptasia, we got rid of the rock because at first there were like 3 anenomes and when we took it out there were over a dozen

 

[Vapor_Tsunami]

How big is she now? Keep us posted!

I can't really tell, I've spotted her a couple times but she only barely comes out of the rock at night, normally I only catch a glimpse of her head. When I put her in she was around 1 and a half