Golden Hamlet
- Thread starter MrTaleb
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Gumbies R Us
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I've never heard of that fish before. Cool looking fish!
Hamlets in general aren't common in the hobby, and this species is less common than most - a beautiful fish and a great find:
Rare Golden Hamlet makes its Way to the Reef Builders Studio | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
The Golden Hamlet, Hypoplectrus gummigutta, is one of the most striking small fish of the Caribbean, and it also happens to be one of the most elusive. We have revered this fish for over twenty years…
reefbuilders.com
kevgib67
10K Club member
From my research Hamlets seem to be a lot more common in William Shakespeare plays.Hamlets in general aren't common in the hobby, and this species is less common than most - a beautiful fish and a great find:
Rare Golden Hamlet makes its Way to the Reef Builders Studio | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
The Golden Hamlet, Hypoplectrus gummigutta, is one of the most striking small fish of the Caribbean, and it also happens to be one of the most elusive. We have revered this fish for over twenty years…reefbuilders.com
rhitee93
Well-Known Member
Brevity is the soul of wit.
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MrTaleb
Community Member
Oh nice, what size is it now? Do they grow quickly? I think my is about full grown, all of my fish came from a diver and his wife's personal collection, some the diver collected himself like the hawkfish, Hamlet, white spotted soapfish* and clownfish I believe. They all had flukes so tank is currently in hypo and it's been fun to say the least.. some of my rock is gulf live rock that had a lot of die off so I have been dealing with ammonia spikes but i think I finally have it under control.
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MrTaleb
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I see why, it has to be the most annoying fish I've ever had the displeasure of feeding lol. It only eats things that are the "right" size and won't eat them if they touch the floor or float, and the worst part is that it actually gets spooked when it sees food go into the water and hides for a good 5 min. It only acts like this when there is food in the water for some reason. Thing is it will actually eat anything if it is the right size, so it's not like it doesn't eat, it just takes me like 20 min to make sure it eats. I've gotten it to grab food from tweezers a few times but that takes like 10 min fo fighting off other fish and waiting for it to get out of its cave and slowly come close and not get spooked. If I don't go through the effort of making sure it eats it will sometimes dart out and grab a piece of food when I feed the tank, but I know what it grabs isn't enough for it as it can eat a lot of food and has a big mouth. Besides that it's a pretty fish lol.Hamlets in general aren't common in the hobby, and this species is less common than most - a beautiful fish and a great find:
Rare Golden Hamlet makes its Way to the Reef Builders Studio | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
The Golden Hamlet, Hypoplectrus gummigutta, is one of the most striking small fish of the Caribbean, and it also happens to be one of the most elusive. We have revered this fish for over twenty years…reefbuilders.com
Haha, yeah that would be frustrating to care for - good info for anyone looking to keep one in the future though!
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MrTaleb
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I went and bought some fresh clams today so to see if that will interest him more. I cut opened a big one and by the time I was done cleaning and cutting it then tank lights were out and fish were asleep. I will try tomorrow and see if he likes them. Note: This is my first time trying this, I put the clams for 5 min in RO and they didn't expell any sand so I think the place that I got them from did that already.
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MrTaleb
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Tried to feed him, all the other fish went crazy for the clam but he didn't leave his cave and looked terrified. Could it be that's hes not very hungry or doesn't eat very often? He doesn't look skinny or anything.
Looking at the other fish in the tank, is aggression a concern for it? I know some people have issues with angels, and triggers are known for being aggressive, but this can be pretty tank-specific.
If aggression isn't a concern, then my thoughts would go to foods being offered/if the hamlet has had time to adjust to captive feeds or to disease (though you mentioned it was eating, just not pleasant to feed; most hamlets typically feed a decent amount on fish, but primarily on crustaceans - so shrimp, crabs, mysids; even mantis shrimp). What do you usually feed? Other than hiding, does anything else seem wrong with the hamlet?
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MrTaleb
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The queen can be bossy but just ushers it out of the way sometimes, but no fish is actively being aggressive towards it. I usually feed LRS, and some pellets but it won't touch those. If you check my other thread, I did battle flukes and put the tank through 35 days of hypo, closer to 45 actually with how long it took to raise salinity. The triggfish was scratching his eye but stopped, I don't see any fish scratch or anything now so I believe the hypo worked for flukes, but it was tough on the fish.
Edit: oh and I have tried feeding him mysis, both frozen and freeze dried and I think they were too small, so I tried krill and he will eat one or 2 but stop and today didn't eat that.
I'd probably try isolating it and seeing if you can get it feeding on live, gut-loaded (fed right before being offered as a feeder) ghost/grass shrimp or something; if you can, then I'd try introducing the LRS and pellets at the same time as the shrimp and try training it to recognize them as food as well.
That said, maybe @Jay Hemdal would have some thoughts here.
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MrTaleb
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So the person I got it from had it for at least 6 months. He said he was going to keep it but when I bought the hawkfish from him he told me I could buy it. The hawkfish is doing great and eats anything I put in the tank. He has a good reputation so I really don't think he sold me it with ill intentions. I will try the live shrimp things and report back.
I have been reading up on hamlets
"Hypoplectrus (Hamlets) are a colourful and relatively small predatory fish which are well suited to tank life.
All the species are very alike, when not taking colour and habitat into account.
They will eat small fish and crustaceans which can be swallowed, but are otherwise not a threat to the other animals in the aquarium.
Hamlets are fairly hardy and easy fish, but are not very good at adjusting to tank life. They should therefore be bought as young as feasable, and should be moved around as little as possible.
They are easy to feed and do not require live food, so a varied diet of frozen fish, crustaceans and the like is sufficient.
Needs to be fed once a day."
So I see a two problems, first my fish isn't young, it is probably full grown. Second, fish has been moved.
I have been reading up on hamlets
"Hypoplectrus (Hamlets) are a colourful and relatively small predatory fish which are well suited to tank life.
All the species are very alike, when not taking colour and habitat into account.
They will eat small fish and crustaceans which can be swallowed, but are otherwise not a threat to the other animals in the aquarium.
Hamlets are fairly hardy and easy fish, but are not very good at adjusting to tank life. They should therefore be bought as young as feasable, and should be moved around as little as possible.
They are easy to feed and do not require live food, so a varied diet of frozen fish, crustaceans and the like is sufficient.
Needs to be fed once a day."
So I see a two problems, first my fish isn't young, it is probably full grown. Second, fish has been moved.
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MrTaleb
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This is frustrating. I tried feeding it ghost shrimp and it is scared of them. I think it's just going to starve to death. I've tried everything I could think of and it is scared of everything.
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MrTaleb
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So I stood there today and shook half a silverside for about 20 min after I had fed the rest of the fish. It first came close and looked at it but swam away, so I waited for it to get close again and let go of it and it ate it! So at least I know it got one meal it in! I am very happy .
