Where does Biota ship there fish from?

Tuan’s Reef · Oct 10, 2022

I'm looking at a couple of Biota specimens and would like to purchase. Where are these fish coming from? Looking at getting a Mandarin from them. Any fish disease or issues from Biota?

ScubaFish802 · Oct 10, 2022

Tuan’s Reef said:
I'm looking at a couple of Biota specimens and would like to purchase. Where are these fish coming from? Looking at getting a Mandarin from them. Any fish disease or issues from Biota?

This post by @Biota_Marine gives good info on their locations - Thread 'Who is Biota?'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/who-is-biota.761354/

vetteguy53081 · Oct 10, 2022

Biota was at recent MACNA and indicated they were from Florida but had Carolina and overseas locations

hart24601 · Oct 10, 2022

All my orders from biotia like goldflake and multibar angels have shipped from Florida.

Biota_Marine · Oct 13, 2022

Yes, All of our fish ship from our Florida location. Here we make sure everything is perfect sizing, health, and eating all the foods hobbyists normally feed so they have immediate success in their new tanks.

Tuan’s Reef said:
I'm looking at a couple of Biota specimens and would like to purchase. Where are these fish coming from? Looking at getting a Mandarin from them. Any fish disease or issues from Biota?

RedReefer · Oct 13, 2022

My Biota yellow tang eats everything. He was a Floridian..

Slocke · Oct 20, 2022

I just got my 5th fish from Biota. They are so healthy compared to other fish upon arrival.

I have a mated pair of mandarins that I've had for about 6 months. No idea what they eat but they've grown a ton.
I had two Court Jester Gobies but sold one as it was being bullied. It eats everything and is far prettier than I'd originally thought.
Finally on Tuesday I got in a cleaner wrasse which I'd never buy wild. This one is crazy active and loves frozen calanus and hatchery pellets. Never seen such confidence from a fish I got in the mail or even from an LFS.

Biota_Marine · Oct 21, 2022

Slocke said:
I just got my 5th fish from Biota. They are so healthy compared to other fish upon arrival.

I have a mated pair of mandarins that I've had for about 6 months. No idea what they eat but they've grown a ton.
I had two Court Jester Gobies but sold one as it was being bullied. It eats everything and is far prettier than I'd originally thought.
Finally on Tuesday I got in a cleaner wrasse which I'd never buy wild. This one is crazy active and loves frozen calanus and hatchery pellets. Never seen such confidence from a fish I got in the mail or even from an LFS.

How adorable! May I share a pic or two from your thread on our social media pages? - Felicia

Slocke · Oct 21, 2022

Biota_Marine said:
How adorable! May I share a pic or two from your thread on our social media pages? - Felicia

Yes, of course!
I just wish the other fish where as photogenic as the CJG

Edit: Just finally got a few great shots of the mandarin:

areefer01 · Oct 21, 2022

Slocke said:
I just got my 5th fish from Biota. They are so healthy compared to other fish upon arrival.

I have a mated pair of mandarins that I've had for about 6 months. No idea what they eat but they've grown a ton.
I had two Court Jester Gobies but sold one as it was being bullied. It eats everything and is far prettier than I'd originally thought.
Finally on Tuesday I got in a cleaner wrasse which I'd never buy wild. This one is crazy active and loves frozen calanus and hatchery pellets. Never seen such confidence from a fish I got in the mail or even from an LFS.

Any chance, when you have free time, to talk a bit more about the wrasse? One of the email updates from Biota had one in it and I was like hmm...isn't that something. Then I started to think of their activity as it relates to cleaning or doing whatever it is they do and pestering other fish. I do not have many is why I'm curious.

Also if you have a chance any specific photos of it?

A lot to ask - sorry. Great job by the way.

Slocke · Oct 21, 2022

How about a video?

As you can see its very energetic and it definitely annoys some fish though that seems to be decreasing. The midas blenny really did not like it at first and the fox was very nervous (but then its scared of everything). I think so long as you keep it well fed it should be fine. Its eating the same stuff I got for the mandarins mainly PE Calanus and TDO B2 pellets though its starting to eat regular mysis too. I'm feeding it several times a day but I assume you can do far less than that. Obviously I've had it for a few days and that's no sign of long term success.

Tuan’s Reef · Oct 21, 2022

Slocke said:
Yes, of course!
I just wish the other fish where as photogenic as the CJG

If you have an adjustment on the camera shutter speed .... change the ISO 1600

Slocke · Oct 21, 2022

Tuan’s Reef said:
If you have an adjustment on the camera shutter speed .... change the ISO 1600

Thanks! This is with a cannon though. The wrasse is too fast for the autofocus even with the fastest shutter speed and the mandarins don't leave the shadows of the caves enough. They're also all tiny which throws off my autofocus.

areefer01 · Oct 21, 2022

Slocke said:
How about a video?

As you can see its very energetic and it definitely annoys some fish though that seems to be decreasing. The midas blenny really did not like it at first and the fox was very nervous (but then its scared of everything). I think so long as you keep it well fed it should be fine. Its eating the same stuff I got for the mandarins mainly PE Calanus and TDO B2 pellets though its starting to eat regular mysis too. I'm feeding it several times a day but I assume you can do far less than that. Obviously I've had it for a few days and that's no sign of long term success.

OMG thank you. You are precious. Thank you for the time. Truely. And I feed heavy as I have 4 of Biota's pink square anthias.

Reef Altitude · Nov 5, 2022

I got 2 yellow tangs about 1 month ago. Both came from Florida.

They showed up about the half dollar size as advertised and very pale and translucent (shipping and just being babies). They are much brighter yellow today and have grown a lot.

They were flying around the tank (200 gallon) within an hour and absolutely destroying and food that hit the water in under 2 hours. If you feed them 6 times a day they are still first in line. Pretty awesome little guys. I am excited to see as they mature into adults.

One with the lights on and one off. Sorry that there is no filter.

@Slocke - you have forced me to go buy a court jester goby, thanks a lot. Not because it is so expensive, its that I have to pick out enough other guys to get free shipping!

areefer01 · Nov 5, 2022

Reef Altitude said:
I got 2 yellow tangs about 1 month ago. Both came from Florida.

They showed up about the half dollar size as advertised and very pale and translucent (shipping and just being babies). They are much brighter yellow today and have grown a lot.

They were flying around the tank (200 gallon) within an hour and absolutely destroying and food that hit the water in under 2 hours. If you feed them 6 times a day they are still first in line. Pretty awesome little guys. I am excited to see as they mature into adults.

One with the lights on and one off. Sorry that there is no filter.

@Slocke - you have forced me to go buy a court jester goby, thanks a lot. Not because it is so expensive, its that I have to pick out enough other guys to get free shipping!

Nice avatar. Also how cool is it that they are eating prepared food right out of the gate? My Pink Square Anthias from them love pellets. They also love LRS frozen and the other assortment of frozen I feed but the best is that they eat dry. So easy to put some dry in an auto feeder and sprinkle throughout the day.

Results are great color, happy fish, and a steady growth rate. Thanks for sharing the photos. So tempted but not sure about my Scopas. He or She can be a bit of a poo head.