Holy Grail Fish

[Steve and his Animals]

Some of the fish I really loved in books weren't as amazing when I saw them in person so my holy grail fish is very common, pretty cheap and super hardy. I got mine when I was going through treatment for cancer, basically as something to cheer me up a bit and give me something to do. I'd always liked them but never really thought of owning one but now I would be happy if it was the only fish I ever had.
So mines a marine betta, the fish I needed at that stage of my life, but I wouldn't say no to a pair of crosshatch triggerfish.

I love this also. I have keep pair of Marine Beta. I would love to get a FineSpot MB in the future. They are beautiful. They are difficult to get a picture of for sure, only come out to the open in the evening and night. Their behavior is so very interesting.

If you're lucky you can train marine bettas to be out during the day. I did it very successfully with mine, he's out constantly and follows me back and forth when I'm near the tank. Took a lot of patience and a dim, quiet QT for him to become comfortable with me. When he started eating from my fingers (and he still does) I knew it was going well.

Tried doing the same with a marine betta to be put in a display at work. I got him to eat from my fingers sparingly in my QT, but he was much larger to begin with so he still hides a decent amount. I can tell he's curious though and I see him multiple times a day at work.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I’m pretty obsessed with captive bred fish. So far, I’ve done a good job of keeping my tank 100% CB. As such, I keep waiting for the captive bred blue tangs to make their way back to the market.
The last one I ordered died prior to shipment.

Biota is selling CB hippos now so you're in luck

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I wanted something to share a tank with my catsharks for a while but could not find anything interesting that could live at 55 degrees until I came across this pair. The female can be seen in the lower image above the shark and below the starfish. Fifty-five is a little cold for them, but they acclimated well. Probably the only pairing of ornates and chain cats world-wide, but it works.

What kind of catsharks? Izu?

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Can you explain why Wetmorella tanakai is so difficult to source? I too am looking. I figured they are seasonal - but am i missing the season lol? Had tons of nigropinnata come thru the shop. No tanakai…

At the shop I work at I've gotten tanakai by accident when we order just "possum wrasse," I've had one personally. Never stopped hiding and never ate. Really cool fish.

 

[Tamberav]

If you're lucky you can train marine bettas to be out during the day. I did it very successfully with mine, he's out constantly and follows me back and forth when I'm near the tank. Took a lot of patience and a dim, quiet QT for him to become comfortable with me. When he started eating from my fingers (and he still does) I knew it was going well.

Tried doing the same with a marine betta to be put in a display at work. I got him to eat from my fingers sparingly in my QT, but he was much larger to begin with so he still hides a decent amount. I can tell he's curious though and I see him multiple times a day at work.

I love mine! I bought a tiny captive bred one. It hid for a month mostly but now it is out often every day even when the tank is brightly lit and even though all my other fish are super active. He comes to the side I sit near and begs for food.

He seems to be pretty outgoing and doesn’t give a hoot about the 100mph tangs and wrasse and angelfish flying all over. Perhaps because he is captive bred but I am not sure. He has grown quite bit so maybe he was hiding more in the beginning since he was baby clownfish size when I purchased him and all the other fish dwarfed him.

 

[Tamberav]

This has always been my holy grail. I got it at MACNA finally. It is in my fuge eating like a champ. Too small to play with the big boys. Will set up a grow out macroalgae tank for it in a few weeks.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

This has always been my holy grail. I got it at MACNA finally. It is in my fuge eating like a champ. Too small to play with the big boys. Will set up a grow out macroalgae tank for it in a few weeks.

Same here. Finally got one that eats well after FOUR previous attempts with the CB ones. No one had any solutions for me that I hadn't tried already.

 

[Tamberav]

Same here. Finally got one that eats well after FOUR previous attempts with the CB ones. No one had any solutions for me that I hadn't tried already.

You failed with 4 captive bred ones?

 

[Steve and his Animals]

You failed with 4 captive bred ones?

Captive Bred Regal and Multibar Angel

Making this thread in case anyone is curious about how the captive bred angels of late hold up. I purchased a captive bred regal angel a little over a month ago. She was about the size of a quarter when I got her. She spent the first couple days/week or two being very picky about what she...

www.reef2reef.com

Yeah, I've been updating infrequently in the thread I started. Failed with a CB regal too. They just didn't eat like you'd expect CB fish to. Most of them even turned up their nose at live baby brine, which is insane.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

That's it! I'm setting up a 1000g display.
D

 

[Tamberav]

Captive Bred Regal and Multibar Angel

Making this thread in case anyone is curious about how the captive bred angels of late hold up. I purchased a captive bred regal angel a little over a month ago. She was about the size of a quarter when I got her. She spent the first couple days/week or two being very picky about what she...

www.reef2reef.com

Yeah, I've been updating infrequently in the thread I started. Failed with a CB regal too. They just didn't eat like you'd expect CB fish to. Most of them even turned up their nose at live baby brine, which is insane.

crazy, I am glad I didn’t know you failed with 4. This one was trying to eat my floor while on the bowl. It ate immediately after released. Biota gave me a bottle of the pellets they feed and ya.. it eats those the best. It would not touch live and picks at frozen but slams the pellets. I figure it will come around to other foods eventually.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

4x my current tank display
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I'm gonna go 96"x96"x26"

 

[Steve and his Animals]

crazy, I am glad I didn’t know you failed with 4. This one was trying to eat my floor while on the bowl. It ate immediately after released. Biota gave me a bottle of the pellets they feed and ya.. it eats those the best. It would not touch live and picks at frozen but slams the pellets. I figure it will come around to other foods eventually.

I lost the ones I got from Biota too, granted I wasn't using their EXACT pellet food, I was using pellet foods of small enough size. It just seems very odd to me that these fish are not taking anything live/frozen even on instinct. Makes me wonder what Bali Aquarich feeds to get them to this size in the first place.

 

[Tamberav]

I lost the ones I got from Biota too, granted I wasn't using their EXACT pellet food, I was using pellet foods of small enough size. It just seems very odd to me that these fish are not taking anything live/frozen even on instinct. Makes me wonder what Bali Aquarich feeds to get them to this size in the first place.

Worth noting is they asked if I wanted a bigger or smaller one and I said bigger. They said they had gotten some larger ones with the last batch. Mine is more like a 50 cent piece but they and other ones quarter sized.

They had one very big (for captive) regal that I saw too. I know they posted some bigger mandarins they grew out.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Worth noting is they asked if I wanted a bigger or smaller one and I said bigger. They said they had gotten some larger ones with the last batch. Mine is more like a 50 cent piece but they and other ones quarter sized.

They had one very big (for captive) regal that I saw too. I know they posted some bigger mandarins they grew out.

I mean I usually asked for larger, but that doesn't mean they'll do it. Guess you got lucky.

 

[Tamberav]

I mean I usually asked for larger, but that doesn't mean they'll do it. Guess you got lucky.

Well I picked it up in person at MACNA so I got to pick which one from the tank/bucket. So I just asked for the biggest. No shipping needed, I live like 15 min from where MACNA was. Bought it and went straight home and put it in the tank.

I have terrible luck with shipped fish, even captive ones so I was hesitant to buy any online.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Well I picked it up in person at MACNA so I got to pick which one from the tank/bucket. So I just asked for the biggest. No shipping needed, I live like 15 min from where MACNA was. Bought it and went straight home and put it in the tank.

I have terrible luck with shipped fish, even captive ones so I was hesitant to buy any online.

That's interesting, I have fairly good luck with shipped fish. Plenty of not-so-easy to keep stuff too. Delicate wrasses and such.

 

[i cant think]

What are these??

They’re the Australian Flathead Perch

 

[Tamberav]

That's interesting, I have fairly good luck with shipped fish. Plenty of not-so-easy to keep stuff too. Delicate wrasses and such.

Ya, it is strange. I get a lot of DOA or near dead fish, even hardy stuff. Tried various venders but if I buy it local then success goes up greatly.