Tank Journal Archive

[MagicJ]

My little Flame made it home last night - currently she (hopefully) is in a bare tank but that should improve over the weekend. It was actively chasing down frozen BS tonight so hopefully there shouldn't be any problems. Although I wasn't really expecting any problems as all of my Flame Hawks have been bullet proof.

I plan to introduce her to my existing Flame on Saturday afternoon.

 

[suta42]

I'm sure she'll be fine. I have a weakness for flame hawks, especially in groups. A while back I saw a few really tiny ones (well under an inch) in a shop. Was sorely tempted to snap them up, but reminded myself why they're not a good choice for my system at present.

Look forward to seeing yours hop around together and terrorising small inverts!

All the best,
Angie

 

[MagicJ]

All the best,

Thanks Angie

... but reminded myself why they're not a good choice for my system at present.

Can I ask why?

 

[suta42]

Guess it's for a couple of reasons MagicJ. Partly it's because I like to keep my fish long term so I don't want to rehome them, unless absolutely necessary.

I've also been experimenting a bit with the kind of system I like to keep. The fish I like haven't changed but I've really enjoyed adding a lot of small critters so that theres activity in every corner of the tank. The bigger the tank the more important this is (as a personal choice).

So if I want a species I try to foresee interactions and consequences for existing stock. It usually takes me a year or two of procrastinating before I buy (unless the species is never available on the domestic market). Sure, my crystal ball is sometimes off, but it works well. eg when I wanted aCBB I knew there'd be no Christmas tree rock and that diversity among small critters would drop. Any small fan worms would be toast. On the plus side, there were fewer smaller worms and aiptasia. I don't keep boisterous fish so the cbb had no worries there.

Considering a small harem of flame Hawks, I envision a large pocci/ stylo forest and adding a trio, or maybe four, tiny Hawks that eventually grow up and spend a lot of time hunting crabs etc among the forest. For that to work I think at least three or four sq feet of appropriate coral cover is needed. Do I really want that much (especially pocci) in the tank? Behaviours of sexually mature, spawning fish also change and they often hunt together. They're typically a lot more cocky and may tackle prey they otherwise don't bother with. TBH if adult hawks did this to snails, I wouldn't care. I'd rather they didn't eat or harass my tiny gobies (Trimma, Eviota and to an extent Priolepsis) or my miniature Stenopus shrimp, too.

To sum up, if I can provide the right environment for a mini harem I may one day take a risk so long as there's ample cover for the remaining small critters to flee, without becoming invisible. ie ask me in a year whether I've made a final decision!!!

Hope that makes sense:eek
Angie

 

[MagicJ]

The introduction has taken place ... and ... there has been little interaction between to two. They just seem to be ignoring each other. I suppose that is a good thing :confused:

Excuse the dirty glass

 

[Wrangy]

The introduction has taken place ... and ... there has been little interaction between to two. They just seem to be ignoring each other. I suppose that is a good thing :confused:

View attachment 54127
Excuse the dirty glass

What a cute couple :D this makes me way too happy haha. It might taken them a little while to bond but as long as there's no aggression then it's a good sign :)

 

[slin1977]

She is pretty!!

 

[MagicJ]

The two hawks have continued to get along fine with no aggression at all. They have set up home in an open rock structure I have built and rarely venture too far away.

So, now that they have settled in, and the LFS advertised a couple of Copperband butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus) for sale, I thought it might be time for my next purchase. I ended up buying the smaller of the two, at around 5cm total length.

A Copperband has been one of a few fish that I have always wanted to keep - long before I even had a marine aquarium - so I am pretty happy with this purchase. I have been informed that it was eating mysis shrimp at the LFS so I will give it a few hours to settle in and then see how it goes.

Should I have seen it eating at the LFS - probably. But, I trust the owner, and I was fully expecting that it wouldn't be eating at this stage anyway so it is just a bonus if it has been eating :)

 

[MagicJ]

My Copperband has settled in fairly well - it has had a fairly strong feeding reaction from day 1 but doesn't actually recognise much as being food. It is now tentatively eating frozen brine shrimp but not a great deal else at this stage - but something is definitely better than nothing.

Some pictures from tonight

 

[Wrangy]

There's a reason I love them so much. That is one gorgeous fish and the pics are amazing :)

 

[MagicJ]

That is one gorgeous fish and the pics are amazing :)

Thanks - it's been a while since I had something to take photo's of :)

 

[MagicJ]

I am really struggling to get the Copperband to eat - it has a good feeding response but keeps spitting everything out. I have tried frozen brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and lobster eggs together with fresh prawn meat and a cracked fresh mussel. It has eaten some of the brine shrimp, but spits most of it out.

So, I bought some more options today - frozen blood worm, frozen chopped krill and some freeze dried black worms.

Hopefully, something will look tempting :rolleyes

 

[suta42]

Sorry to hear magic. :(
Fwiw, sampling then spitting out is usually the first step in teaching the fish to eat artificial foods. That's a good thing.

So long as it's not sick, I can't recommend live blackworms highly enough. Just turn off the pumps, add to water, and curiosity should get the better of him. I feed this until the butterfly is thick bodied, then slowly introduce other foods. It works for most butterflys that are generalists, like the CBB.


HTH
Angie.

 

[MagicJ]

So long as it's not sick, I can't recommend live blackworms highly enough. Just turn off the pumps, add to water, and curiosity should get the better of him. I feed this until the butterfly is thick bodied, then slowly introduce other foods. It works for most butterflys that are generalists, like the CBB.
HTH
Angie.

Unfortunately, live black worms are not available in Hobart so I am stuck with the freeze dried variety - these got no response at all. It was not even prepared to take anything into its mouth tonight, although it was still actively searching over the rocks.
I well set up my brine shrimp hatchery tomorrow night to see if it can be tempted by some baby BS.

 

[suta42]

How's the butterfly doing now Magic?

 

[MagicJ]

How's the butterfly doing now Magic?

Angie, I'm still waiting for the brine shrimp to grow to a suitable size.

But, I spent a few hours last weekend browsing the internet to see what I could find.

There is a longstanding, and lengthy, thread on Reef Central on Copperband Butterfly's.

Live blackworms appear to be the food of choice in the US - they are available in Australia by mail order (http://www.blackworms.com.au/searchresults.asp?cat=1819) but they are fairly expensive and I'm not sure if they can be imported to Tasmania - our quarantine laws are fairly strict!!

Unfortunately, there is still no interest in the freeze dried blackworms.

Now, blackworms are a freshwater worm, and yet they appear to cause no problems when fed long term to marine fish. I did come across a reference to a Belgium based reefer feeding his CB earthworms so, I tried some - the worm was dispatched within a fraction of a second :eek

I tried a few more and they where similarly dispatched so at least I know that it is still very interested in eating. Any thoughts on feeding earthworms to marine fish?

I did see a comment that CB's are visual eaters - I am on the lookout for a garlic press which can hopefully turn my existing frozen food mix (scallop, mussel, fish, squid etc) into worm like portions.

I also live 5 minutes from a beach so I am planning a visit next weekend to see if I can find some suitably sized sand worms.

It is probably as hard as I expected it to be, but I will find the required food item to keep this beautiful fish flourishing :)

 

[suta42]

Yeah earthworms will work, but iirc you need to let the worms purge overnight in a damp container. Not sure how good it is long term but ATM if you don't get it to eat with enthusiasm it won't be around for you to find out. Honestly with picky eaters anything is better than nothing. In saying that small beach worms should be pretty good.they are very close to its natural diet.

I know your options in Tas are limited but would any of the dedicated freshwater shops carry live blackworms? It's why my LFS carries them, as they sell a lot to FW guys. Just a thought.

RE: freeze dried food, forget it. You can try that when he has graduated from live to frozen and then try mixing it in. Meanwhile I wouldn't give up on fresh scallops or even oyster. Whatever you can find at the beach is worth trying IMO. I find you need to offer several choices regularly and usually the first good sign is sample and spit. After a few days it is more likely to swallow. Don't expect him to eat from the water column yet either...but it will happen.

HTH
Angie

 

[MagicJ]

...freeze dried food, forget it.

As it has been eating a few earthworms I thought I would try some freeze dried black worms again - stuck a small portion onto the glass and it started eating them. It has even been chasing some down from the water column :)

I am still planning to make a trip to the beach tomorrow, but things are looking positive at this stage.

 

[suta42]

At my LFS it never ceases to surprise me when I see some copper bands gobbling pellets...always a good sign they're adjusting to captivity. If it were me I'd still try giving him live worms to fatten him up. great that its lowered its standards and eating freeze dried. Hopefully it gets better from here. Well done!

Beautiful fish, hope you have it for many years to come.

Angie

 

[MagicJ]

It has now been almost 2 months since I purchased my Copperband. It is currently receiving 3 feeds/day of freeze dried blackworms together with an occasional attempt at eating frozen brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. Thankfully, it is still healthy and, as shown in the video below, is getting a bit thicker in the body, especially the area above the eye. Hopefully, it will eventually get used to eating other foods ...