Goldenstriped Soapfish (Grammistes sexlineatus)

Salt Addiction

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Hey all,

Was wondering if anyone knew why these are marked 'Expert' on all sites? I have kept them in the past and aside from ensuring they are not stressed out I never really had an issue with feeding or care, in fact I recall the ones I kept being near bullet proof like most groupers and hams. Has something changed or are they being marked expert due to their ability to create toxin?

Aside from discarding the shipping water is there any other issues? I was going to order one through my LFS and would discarding the bag water anyways but figured I would check first. Setting up a large pred reef and would like to have one of these again.

Thanks!
 

lion king

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While you may have had an easy time in feeding, this is usually not the case. Many times initially these fish have to be offered live food to get them settled in. True they are near bulletpoof once settled in, but there's the rub, these guys also come in with internal parasites frequently which adds to the difficulty in initial feeding. Add this to the possible toxin release nuking a tank, makes this a fish that needs to be researched and understood before making it an addition. The toxin may not csuse a huge problem in very large tanks heavily filtrsted, but in smaller tanks may.
 
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Salt Addiction

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While you may have had an easy time in feeding, this is usually not the case. Many times initially these fish have to be offered live food to get them settled in. True they are near bulletpoof once settled in, but there's the rub, these guys also come in with internal parasites frequently which adds to the difficulty in initial feeding. Add this to the possible toxin release nuking a tank, makes this a fish that needs to be researched and understood before making it an addition. The toxin may not csuse a huge problem in very large tanks heavily filtrsted, but in smaller tanks may.

Good info, thanks! The ones I have had in the past were all ones the LFS had for awhile. I typically try to avoid buying anything that's been at a store less than 2 weeks, but with covid messing up the supply in my area I've been considering bending this rule. Any suggestions for a similar appearance? I like the deep bodied heavy golden/white striping they get on the dark background as when they get bigger its one of those centerpiece fish. Toxin wise I am not too worried as this particular tank has shrugged off large cucumbers that got into a powerhead in the past when it was a full reef due to my paranoia and tendency to go for overfiltration. ;)

The plan was to start him in a 125, then move him to the main display tank once large enough. I had thought to do ghost shrimp until big enough and settled in at which point I could move it to frozen and eventually store bought. Probably going to pass though as the more I think on it, the more I don't trust this particular LFS to handle it correctly.

Edit: Thinking about maybe one of these instead:
Or
 
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lion king

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Check out my thread "miniatus grouper", As far feeding live, it really is a temporary thing, even if necessary. They will accept chunky bits of seafood once they recognize it as food. I find all of these groupers difficult at first, then bulletproof.
 
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