Interesting. OK. That sucks, I was looking forward to QTed fish.
Dr. Reefs, TSA, etc... there are several well references here on the site
Guess I'll go find the reviews. Had no idea Top Shelf did it. Marine Collector's owner seemed to know what he was doing, so I'm surprised they are poor. What specifically have the problems been?
Okey dokey. I might pass, but he's a cutie XD
Okay, thank you
I'll PM
Chalk bass is actually one of my favorites. Might swap the royal gramma.
Somehow I thought you meant the striped blenny specifically. Silly me! I realized the Bundoon is in the genus too, and I like its look. Maybe I'll go with that.
Cirrhilabrus condei is a relatively aggressive species from what I remember when I last looked after them. They can be rather active as well so I’d personally pass on them.
Leopards can do the same job as Halichoeres however they aren’t totally reliable for it.
A Magma should work however the Condei won’t likely work well. Those who know me will have an idea of my love for the magma, I just need to hunt one down.
OK. I thought condei was on the list of either green or yellow aggression on the chart, not red - but I get it, and I don't want to push aggression limits either. I like my tanks fight-free if at all possible. I may get the pencil early on and train it to hand-feed so that I can be sure it'll get enough as the tank fills up. I do feed pretty heavily in general, too (mental note, gotta make sure I build the filtration to handle that.) I'm disabled, so I have the time to stand there and make sure everyone gets what they need. I have a trick I've used in the past, too - if you drop the food in two or three different spots regularly, they spread themselves out and while the biggest bully is concentrating on one source the others can move to another. It works especially well if you wait until he's fully absorbed to start the subsequent spots.So apparently I haven’t replied to this thread yet, so let me start from the top
Cirrhilabrus condei is a relatively aggressive species from what I remember when I last looked after them. They can be rather active as well so I’d personally pass on them.
Leopards can do the same job as Halichoeres however they aren’t totally reliable for it.
A Magma should work however the Condei won’t likely work well. Those who know me will have an idea of my love for the magma, I just need to hunt one down.
Unfortunately, MC seems to have gone slightly downhill from what I’ve read (I’m in the UK and not in the US) however it seems TSA and Dr. Reef are great with these guys.
Pencil Wrasses do change sex and this is where you NEED to be cautious. These guys are easily outcompeted by other fish and do need more specialised tanks, built around them. I have yet to actually have my own personal pencil (I’m waiting for a more specialised tank for a few) however I know @SaltyT experienced her pencil wrasse being outcompeted for food by her other wrasses.
I could make that the only wrasse, though, which would probably help. Maybe fill in the missing red with a little flame hawk instead.
This is imo a decent and well stocked list with the same caveat you put with the tang. Leopard wrasse without pinched stomachs who are aggressively eating tend to do well, but be choosey. If you see one at your lfs for several weeks round and eating pounce on it. I'd suggest a Derasa for first clam. Least demanding and lowest light requirements and a sand dweller which is easier to manage.
I will say though maybe no Leopard wrasse in this tank just saw the mandarin. Idk that you'll have enough pods for both. Leopard will outhunt the mandarin
All right, thank you! I was kind of thinking a purple Maxima, but the Derasas are pretty cool too.
I'm getting my mandarin captive-bred, so he'll be getting supplemented with extra food (and I tend to feed heavy as a rule.) I may make a habit of dosing pods too if I have both. They are similar in color, though, so...yeah, maybe I'll pull him off. I'll go edit that list.
