Can someone identify? Basslet vs Chromis vs Other?

[Smarkow]

Hi all,

My LFS got into stock a trio of these mystery fish. Neither the two owners on site nor I could identify them, they apparently came marked as "green chromis," which clearly they are not. They are active swimmers with no fear of bigger tangs in the tank and have eaten frozen food but spit out pellets, making me think they are wild caught. Very social, schooling together, the dotty back is the only fish they don't seem to get along with.

I got a great deal for them (I think) 60$ for the trio, but would love to know what they are.

Thanks

 

[PDR]

Yellowtail Fusilier?

 

[Swoody]

Yellow tail Damsel is my guess.

 

[andrewkw]

I feel like I've seen these before but couldn't find them in any book I own. Good luck with the ID.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Yellowtail Fusilier?

This was my first thought as well. If that’s the case, not a great impulse buy.

 

[PDR]

This was my first thought as well. If that’s the case, not a great impulse buy.

Yeah, I hope I’m wrong lol

 

[scchase]

Yellowtail Fusilier, Caesio cuning, wish they were here in Colorado I would have bought them in a heartbeat.

 

[PDR]

Yellowtail Fusilier, Caesio cuning, wish they were here in Colorado I would have bought them in a heartbeat.

You must have a huge tank lol

 

[scchase]

You must have a huge tank lol

1100g

 

[Smarkow]

Okay, so doing a comparison to THE GOOGLE, I think you guys are right on the yellowtail fusilier, apparently these things can grow to 16 inches? Yep starting to rethink what a great buy this was. Really looked like a basslet or a chromis to me, whoops. 210 gallon - 6ft long, think they will do okay for a year or so? LFS in my area have some longer tanks I could donate them back to if need be.

SMH

Thanks all

 

[Kmsutows]

Yep looks to be Yellowtail Fusilier. And I must say, if they got them in as chromis then they paid for chromis... few bucks each. Sorry man, they marked that one up big time too

 

[Smarkow]

Yep looks to be Yellowtail Fusilier. And I must say, if they got them in as chromis then they paid for chromis... few bucks each. Sorry man, they marked that one up big time too

Yeah I'm still okay with how the LFS handled it. The seller was honest with me about what he paid and that he didn't know what it was. We negotiated the price and he demonstrated they were eating. At that point, it's buyer beware. This particular store is dear to my heart - when I was a new reefer they tested my water for free and provided a ton of advice before I knew about the online community. They also negotiated a 20$ 3inch acropora frag at the same time where I def got "the better end" of the deal. They have to make money too.

 

[Smarkow]

So at this point, as a hobbyist, I'm sort of in an ethical conundrum. Obviously this fish has no place in the marine hobby. So who is to blame? Is it me, as the end buyer creating demand? Is it the LFS, since they accepted the fish despite recognizing they were mismarked? Is it the wholesaler, who misidentified the fish in the first place and selected an importer to work with who clearly did not know what they were doing? Is it the importer who caught these fish in the first place (were they by-catch, an honest mistake, intentionally caught?)?

Personally, I believe some small blame likely goes to all of us.

So my next thought is, was there damage done? The yellow-tail fusilier is listed by IUCN as "Least Concern." So, concerns about food-fish stocks aside, this is not a panda plucked out of the jungle... By-catch methods are probably the biggest concern here ethically, meaning aside from my little fusiliers what else did they catch and harm? Nothing I can do about that now.

So personally, I conclude that little damage was done.

Finally, what should I do about all this? Should I try and resell the fish to a reefer with a larger tank? Maybe, and I'm still considering that. For now, I just want to feed them and watch them grow. The best answer that I can muster about how to responsibly deal with an introduced fish to my tank that really should have been left in the ocean is to take the best care of it I can and learn from it. So I will try to post my experience.

Thus far, the fish have ignored pellets. They have excepted photo loaded and plankton loaded mysis shrimp as well as rod's food and fish eggs. Feel free to suggest other things for me to trial them on. I feed them 2-times per day with a steady drip of acceptable foods over a multi-hour period. I may upload some videos to youtube and link to here later if people are interested.

Stephen

 

[eatbreakfast]

I have had Casieo species in a few tanks. Even in an 11' tank for over 5yrs they haven't grown past 8", so you should be fine for sometime with them in av6' tank.

For the most part I've found them to be a hardy, desireable fish for larger systems.

 

[Smarkow]

Great! Would you mind sharing your feeding regimen for me? I imagine that they need frequent small meals like other open swimmers?

Thank you,
Stephen

I have had Casieo species in a few tanks. Even in an 11' tank for over 5yrs they haven't grown past 8", so you should be fine for sometime with them in av6' tank.

For the most part I've found them to be a hardy, desireable fish for larger systems.

 

[Hemmdog]

Well you saved it from becoming a fish taco so I wouldn’t beat yourself up to bad. Fullisers are the go to fish taco fish in Hawaii/South Pacific

They also use tangs, specifically yellow tangs.

 

[Smarkow]

Well you saved it from becoming a fish taco so I wouldn’t beat yourself up to bad. Fullisers are the go to fish taco fish in Hawaii/South Pacific

They also use tangs, specifically yellow tangs.

Who would have ever guessed yellow tasted so good?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Great! Would you mind sharing your feeding regimen for me? I imagine that they need frequent small meals like other open swimmers?

Thank you,
Stephen

They started on a frozen mix of mysis, spirulina brine, rerf plankton, and fish eggs 4x's aday, but now they soley subsist on nls pellets 4x's a day.

 

[Smarkow]

@ElussssvReefSD

 

[ElussssvReefSD]

@ElussssvReefSD

Sweet! Thanks for the linking me to this thread!