How likely are S. Gigantea to eat your fish?

[Kimberely]

My local Petco has had this beauty for about 3 weeks and I want it so badly but I've heard they tend to eat your fish. Is that common or just a rare occasion?

 

[Bob Loblaw]

That's a rough looking Haddoni, not a Gig. Tank size, carpet size, host clowns, moonlights... and other factors come into play as to whether fish will be eaten.

 

[Kimberely]

That's a rough looking Haddoni, not a Gig. Tank size, carpet size, host clowns, moonlights... and other factors come into play as to whether fish will be eaten.

Thank you. They have it labeled as a gig and honestly I don't know how to tell the difference. My tank is a 125 gallon. I have a pair of ocellaris that don't seem interested in hosting anything. I'm running 3 Viparspectra 165w LEDs, so no moonlighting. Guess I'll leave it in the store. Just curious why it looks "rough" though. I don't know much about them.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Posture and mouth to a lesser extent look off although it could just be the pic.

 

[davocean]

Looks about as I'd expect in most LFS holding tanks, and actually maybe even on the better side for a petco nem, but agree, hadonni, and one of those that have stripes.

It's not a natural host to your occs, they may or may not take to it.

They have a slightly stronger sting and stickier than most host nems, the combination of that and tight swim space is probably why they have a rep of eating more fish than others.

 

[Kimberely]

Looks about as I'd expect in most LFS holding tanks, and actually maybe even on the better side for a petco nem, but agree, hadonni, and one of those that have stripes.

It's not a natural host to your occs, they may or may not take to it.

They have a slightly stronger sting and stickier than most host nems, the combination of that and tight swim space is probably why they have a rep of eating more fish than others.

Thanks. I'll look for a different species that I don't have to worry about eating my fish as much. I have a maxi mini that I've had a year but my ocellaris aren't interested in it or any of my euphyllia. I was mostly hoping to find something that they'd take an interest in. I tried a baby bta but it hid under a rock until it died. Maybe I'll try again.

 

[davocean]

You were on track host wise thinking of a gig, that, mag, and mertensi would be natural host match's as found in wild, usually that results in pretty much immediate hosting, but you'd have to have a tank that accomidates either of those species.

I set out for a mag intentionally from the beginning as I knew I was keeping percs, so what's in my avatar, a high up perch for max light was scaped w/ this in mind.

I have had percs take to both LTA and malu which are somewhat easier, even though they are not natural hosts they seem to be taken by both occs and percs pretty often and fairly quickly.
Those are both sand dwellars and easier to contain in a mixed reef, but do require a sand bed at least 3-4"

 

[davocean]

I edited an add to that after you saw and liked post fyi

 

[Kimberely]

I edited an add to that after you saw and liked post fyi

My sand is only 1" deep unfortunately. But I could probably add more without much difficulty. The tank is a 6', 125 gallon oceanic. I have 2 large islands, the left side comes within 7"-8" of the surface and I could re-work the right side to bring it closer to the surface as well. Of the ones you mentioned, which would you suggest for someone without a lot of experience with nems? And I'll re-work the scape to accommodate it.

 

[davocean]

Looking at your scape on left I see a mound of sand that looks like a good location for a malu if the sand is deep enough, (that path up middle)and that would be a nice choice I think for a novice.

Either island could be workable for a magnifica, which would be natural, it would be my personal preference, and I don't think a mag is that difficult to keep, more so the difficulty in keeping mags is just aquiring a healthy one, and sometimes you can get an established mag from someone that has already been treated or did not need cipro treat.

Most newly shipped mags come w/ bacterial infections, like almost always, and require cipro treatment, and this can be somewhat challenging, but if you read the sticky above by Amoo, how I cipro, the instructions are right there on what and how to do, just depends if you have a qt tank, cipro, and up for the challenge

 

[Kimberely]

Thanks. Yeah that sand mound is pretty deep, at least 6 inches. There's a crevice in the rockwork there that my diamond goby insists on keeping full of sand. I'll do some research on those two and see what I can get my hands on. Thank you so much!!!

 

[Davisma]

Haven't seen any eat fish; they will avoid the area the anemone inhabits. My carpet did get a hold of a 4in horseshoe crab and suck it dry. Pretty amazing.