Show me your experiences with difficult fish to keep or expert only fish.

[GT3000XX]

Magnificent images of your fish, quite clean and healthy. Regal angelfish from the Red Sea have positive experiences for many aquarists, but as you say they are already very expensive, lately I have seen several specimens from the Indo that do not look promising, the food passes by without even being seen. What are the positive points of your uv filter? I've considered one for my future tank, but opinions are widely mixed and I'm honestly not sure I'll place it in the future.

Thanks. I have used UV sterilizers for years. I have observed the following:
No bacterial blooms
Crystal clear water
My understanding, at least with Aqua UV brand, is if it is run at the proper flow rate it will control fish diseases. For the 25 watt that would be around 400 gph. I have seen throughout the years using UV a fish or 2 may show a few spots of crypt one day but then after 7-10 days no more spots and no other fish infected. Of course there are many other factors to consider like stress, water quality and diet. The key with a UV sterilizer is proper sizing and flow rate. I run mine on a dedicated pump that picks up the water in the first chamber after the filter socks then return to the last chamber where the return pump is. This assures that the same water isn't goin through the UV again. Below is a chart for the 25 watt classic model:

Saltwater: 150 Gallons
Recommended Flow Rate for UV Dosages	at 30,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 1,200 (Max Flow Rate) at 45,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 800 at 60,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 600 at 75,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 480 at 90,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 400 (Min Flow Rate)
Information for Reef Tanks	A UV rated in the 30,000 or 45,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) is ideal for the reef environment. UV’s used at higher kill rates will destroy the planktonic food supply for the reef.
Information for Marine Fish	(No reef or live rock) A UV rated in the 75,000 or 90,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) will be the most effective at controlling fish disease. All UV dosages are calculated at the end of lamp life (14 months).

 

[GT3000XX]

How are your four dwarves getting along? Any fighting / bickering? What about your two Dottybacks? One of yours is similar to the Neon right? Neons generally don’t have the best reputation for being good members of the community.

I have a 90 gallon aquarium. The 4 dwarfs overall get along good. There is some minor bickering but nothing that causes ripped fins etc. The 2 Dottybacks are OK. The Neon is much larger than the Fridmani. The Fridmani has learned to stay clear of the Neon and has experienced some aggression from the Neon and also from the Sixline Wrasse. The Fridmani seems to be holding it's own. You are correct about Neons. Over the years everyone I have had are very aggressive.

 

[Zionas]

They’re a beautiful Dottyback apart from their temperament.

How long have your fish been together, and for the butterflies or angels did you have any issues getting them to eat?

 

[Rocky Mountain Reef]

For nuptial colouring you will need a pair however for the regular male colouring you just need a singular male

so if you have a pair of any species of wrasse, one will morph into a male and one into a female? Like clownfish?

 

[i cant think]

so if you have a pair of any species of wrasse, one will morph into a male and one into a female? Like clownfish?

Generally yes, but getting into Cirrhilabrus, Paracheilinus and other genera like them it gets confusing.

 

[GT3000XX]

They’re a beautiful Dottyback apart from their temperament.

How long have your fish been together, and for the butterflies or angels did you have any issues getting them to eat?

They have been together a while. I have 2 local stores I bought them from. I made sure they were eating before I purchased them. As I stated earlier the 2 Bicolors did eat at the store but were very thin. It has taken a couple of months to get them to the bulk they have now.

 

[LaloJ]

Thanks. I have used UV sterilizers for years. I have observed the following:
No bacterial blooms
Crystal clear water
My understanding, at least with Aqua UV brand, is if it is run at the proper flow rate it will control fish diseases. For the 25 watt that would be around 400 gph. I have seen throughout the years using UV a fish or 2 may show a few spots of crypt one day but then after 7-10 days no more spots and no other fish infected. Of course there are many other factors to consider like stress, water quality and diet. The key with a UV sterilizer is proper sizing and flow rate. I run mine on a dedicated pump that picks up the water in the first chamber after the filter socks then return to the last chamber where the return pump is. This assures that the same water isn't goin through the UV again. Below is a chart for the 25 watt classic model:

Saltwater: 150 Gallons
Recommended Flow Rate for UV Dosages	at 30,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 1,200 (Max Flow Rate) at 45,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 800 at 60,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 600 at 75,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 480 at 90,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 400 (Min Flow Rate)
Information for Reef Tanks	A UV rated in the 30,000 or 45,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) is ideal for the reef environment. UV’s used at higher kill rates will destroy the planktonic food supply for the reef.
Information for Marine Fish	(No reef or live rock) A UV rated in the 75,000 or 90,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) will be the most effective at controlling fish disease. All UV dosages are calculated at the end of lamp life (14 months).

Valuable information here, I have always thought that the intention of obtaining a uv filter is thinking about eradicating fish diseases, before obtaining an impeccable aesthetic against algae, in any case it's important to have read your experience, for now I i trust in qt tank even though I don't get fish as regularly as i used to.

 

[Zionas]

With a few exceptions, if I had several tanks or a huge tank, my first priority would be completing a collection of angels and some butterflies except some of the species that get too large or ones I don’t really like. Currently where I am in Thailand, a company called Atoll Farm is breeding Flames and Colini regularly, they will soon add the Brazilian Flameback (blue tail) and are starting work on the Multi-Bars.

They’re also working on a few of the more exotic species of Clownfish including the Maldives (Nigripes) and the Wide Band (Latz). Orange Skunks will probably be available this year, it’s good to see more species than just your Occys and Perculas which are too boring for me. I will have a Clown pair but not the Percula complex.

Centropyge might be revised and split into more genera in the future. I would expect the likes of Colini, Narcosis, maybe the very poorly known Nigrocella to get the Paracentropyge treatment and moved away from the main branches.

Xiphypops is just waiting to become its own genus. That’s Argi, Acanthops, Aurantonotus, Resplendens, and Flavicauda / Fisheri.

 

[LaloJ]

With a few exceptions, if I had several tanks or a huge tank, my first priority would be completing a collection of angels and some butterflies except some of the species that get too large or ones I don’t really like. Currently where I am in Thailand, a company called Atoll Farm is breeding Flames and Colini regularly, they will soon add the Brazilian Flameback (blue tail) and are starting work on the Multi-Bars.

They’re also working on a few of the more exotic species of Clownfish including the Maldives (Nigripes) and the Wide Band (Latz). Orange Skunks will probably be available this year, it’s good to see more species than just your Occys and Perculas which are too boring for me. I will have a Clown pair but not the Percula complex.

Centropyge might be revised and split into more genera in the future. I would expect the likes of Colini, Narcosis, maybe the very poorly known Nigrocella to get the Paracentropyge treatment and moved away from the main branches.

Xiphypops is just waiting to become its own genus. That’s Argi, Acanthops, Aurantonotus, Resplendens, and Flavicauda / Fisheri.

You and I don't have very different tastes in angelfish, but I personally became a little more interested in butterflies when I saw Peter Martis FOWLR tank with rather complicated species like Chaetodon rainfordi and Chelmon marginalis. It has long been thought of "rearranging" the situation with dwarf angelfishes, some call Keyhole angelfish as the true dwarf angel, look at its physical features and it's quite similar to Centropyge nigriocella which is quite a mysterious fish to say least.

 

[Zionas]

Yeah we have very similar tastes when it comes to Angelfish. I like butterflyfish too but the fact that there aren’t really any captive bred ones makes me pretty nervous to try. I was really impressed by SDguy (Peter) and how he was keeping the more difficult species of butterflies, really gotta give him credit. I’m not sure how many of them he still has now.

Yeah it would also be interesting to see Centropyge re-classified into different genera in the future and what they do. I do know Keyhole is seen by some as the original dwarf Angel, but yeah once we get to Xiphypops, Colini, and many of the others they will get re-classified.

 

[LaloJ]

Well I haven't seen any updates about Peter in a while, but I hope he continues to keep his magnificent fish. No news about copps either, although I haven't looked at RC for a while.

 

[LilsReefTank]

I am curious to know the experiences of the aquarists here, what fish have they had? What have been your methods to adapt these animals to your tank? Do you use a quarantine? What medications do you use in quarantine and how do you use them? Data like this can help many aquarists to be able to follow a kind of pattern to keep fish that are considered difficult to keep. Personally, the only fish in this range that I have dealt with have been the regal angel and the multibarred angel, I did not do well with the P. diacanthus 11 or 12 years ago, since I was quite new to keeping fish and to be honest the fish he never ate or left the rocks, I put it directly in my main tank, a small 50 gallon tank, at that time I did not even have a measurement test, a disaster, the fish died 10 days later, and I have never tried another .
Two years ago I tried my luck with the multibarred angelfish, they rarely arrive in Mexico, and I was fortunate that a trusted friend obtained it from QM. So again the fish went straight into the dt, a 90 gallon tank with a coral beauty angelfish (new fish) and a flame angelfish (came from my 30 gallon tank) that I added at the same time, luckily there was little aggression from the flame angel. The multibarred angel always had a lot of character, it roamed throughout the tank, however he never tried food, I tried everything I could find, mysis, seafood porridge, cyclopezee, brine shrimp, and of course dry food in pellets and flakes but without success, the fish refused to eat and died 5 weeks later, at least at this point I had no problem with my tank, just a difficult fish to keep that did not adapt, I'm planning to have a try with either of these two fish, considering the multibarred angel in a separate tank, but the regal angel would go into my main tank, these come from time to time but the prices are ridiculous, so since my last attempt I think I have more experience for either of these two fish, I will try soon as soon as I have the opportunity. Show your experiences here and add your photos, let's see those beautiful fish.

I have 2 fish that can be described as harder to keep.

1 copperband butterfly
1 powder blue tang

ATM they are fat and just so extremely beautiful and lively.

Copperband butterfly took 2 months to adjust to tank life. The first 10 days it did not eat and just hid. It would only come out once it thought I was gone and at night. He did not accept any time of food during this time. My frag tank had an abundance of aptasia and large copepods (and this was the main reason I attempted with this fish). By the 2nd week, it started picking at the aptasia and copepod. It would still not accept other types of food. It did this for another 2 weeks and suddenly it tried to eat mysis shrimp. Once it understood - it would eat it constantly. Took another 2 weeks to fatten it up and then moved it into the display tank. Here it is competing with 8 other fish but has been fine ever since! But it was very touch and go in the beginning and at some points I was convinced it wouldn't survive.

Powder blue tang struggled to eat when I first purchased. It didn't understand anything as food except live macro algae I was growing. But it ate that instantly and I struggled for about 2 weeks to get it to feed. The only method that worked was using my algae scraper magnet as an algae clip and only expose a tiny bit of seaweed from the side to graze on. It loved it like that and would only eat it like that. It would refuse it on a normal algae clip >.< It learned to eat pellot food by observing the other fish. But this took about 2 months before it tried pellot.

I had an ich breakout and treated all fish with copper. I have no problem since. I don't beleive the powder blue was the cause. I purchased the sailfin tang and hippo tang from PetCo and they were not in good health. I believe it was these 2 that caused the initial ich infestation.

Current tank residents: 2 clownfish // 1 picasso trigger // sailfin tang // hippo tang // powderblue tang // copperband butterfly // melanarous wrasse

 

[FranklinDattein]

The secret for me is to get them trained to eat frozen mysis or pellets, before they are released in the display. I use a frag tank or half of the refugium for that, but I've seen people divide the DT with a egg crate to achieve the same.
I've been able to keep copperband, leopard wrasses, chaoti wrasses, mandarins and anthias doing this. Every single one eats pellets these days.

I also don't use any kind of medication and to my best to reduce stress in the first month.

 

[LaloJ]

I have 2 fish that can be described as harder to keep.

1 copperband butterfly
1 powder blue tang

ATM they are fat and just so extremely beautiful and lively.

Copperband butterfly took 2 months to adjust to tank life. The first 10 days it did not eat and just hid. It would only come out once it thought I was gone and at night. He did not accept any time of food during this time. My frag tank had an abundance of aptasia and large copepods (and this was the main reason I attempted with this fish). By the 2nd week, it started picking at the aptasia and copepod. It would still not accept other types of food. It did this for another 2 weeks and suddenly it tried to eat mysis shrimp. Once it understood - it would eat it constantly. Took another 2 weeks to fatten it up and then moved it into the display tank. Here it is competing with 8 other fish but has been fine ever since! But it was very touch and go in the beginning and at some points I was convinced it wouldn't survive.

Powder blue tang struggled to eat when I first purchased. It didn't understand anything as food except live macro algae I was growing. But it ate that instantly and I struggled for about 2 weeks to get it to feed. The only method that worked was using my algae scraper magnet as an algae clip and only expose a tiny bit of seaweed from the side to graze on. It loved it like that and would only eat it like that. It would refuse it on a normal algae clip >.< It learned to eat pellot food by observing the other fish. But this took about 2 months before it tried pellot.

I had an ich breakout and treated all fish with copper. I have no problem since. I don't beleive the powder blue was the cause. I purchased the sailfin tang and hippo tang from PetCo and they were not in good health. I believe it was these 2 that caused the initial ich infestation.

Current tank residents: 2 clownfish // 1 picasso trigger // sailfin tang // hippo tang // powderblue tang // copperband butterfly // melanarous wrasse

Congratulations for the good job you did with your CBB, no wonder they refuse to feed for the first few days or weeks in the tank, unfortunately there are many who refuse to feed until they are dead. Powder blue tang is a beautiful fish but too aggressive IMO, although they are too demanding with water quality and circulation, it's not a fish for beginners, that's for sure. Man I would hate to have a Cryptocarion outbreak after having success with CBB, it's good to know your fish are in order, however I always recommend QT for new fish.

 

[GT3000XX]

Here is a video I shot last night.

 

[LaloJ]

Here is a video I shot last night.

Beautiful, that's a pretty clean tank, are you using AF rock?

 

[GT3000XX]

Thanks. The rock is Real Reef Rock.

 

[Key Largo]

I hope to revive this thread, I'm about to receive a Flagfin angelfish, supposedly it's a difficult angel to keep, I have never tried one so this is my first opportunity, reasonable price so I hope to be successful, does anyone have any experience with these beautiful angelfish?

Have one for three years. Started him eating with live clams, oysters, mussels. has grown to over 5 inches and beautiful. Now he eats anything and everything. Including Zooanthids and meaty corals like Acans, which cannot be kept with him. (although Blastos are fine) Bullies other fish away from food, but doesnt bother any other fish generally. Doesn't touch any SPS, but has to at least sample anything new I put in tank. Also has the most 'cichlid-like' personality of any other fish I have.