Pinnatus Batfish

akabryanhall · Mar 3, 2011

I had no idea these fish existed until I saw one on live aquarias website. Has anyone here kept one of these beauties in a fowlr?

Tabasco1 · Mar 3, 2011

I have not kept one, but have seen them in person and they are stunning. I have heard that they have very delicate fins that get damaged easily and need to be with peaceful tank mates.

akabryanhall · Mar 3, 2011

Lol not a good predator tank inhabitant then? I'll be making a fowlr stocklist for peeps to help me with shortly.

Hyprviperx · Mar 3, 2011

Tabasco1 said:
I have not kept one, but have seen them in person and they are stunning. I have heard that they have very delicate fins that get damaged easily and need to be with peaceful tank mates.

+1 on that

i have seen them and they are really beautiful, i saw one at my LFS and it was kinda tore up from its tank mates... it seemed to just kinda hover like cardinals do, so maybe low flow in the tank since they are already so hydrodynamic.... but thats all speculation, as i have not owned one. just my $.02

Anthony Calfo · Mar 3, 2011

Beuatiful juveniles...ship abyssmally...are said to not eat in captivity (incorrect...the ones from warmer reefs dont survive on captive foods as substitutes). Scummy retailers will show the fish as eating (they usually do in short time) as evidence of the "rare" good one that they got to eat (refer to the aforementioned comment about why they largely dont like well in captivity). They eat a plethora of invertebrates and live no where near the reef proper. You need a specialized tank for them...they get huge (18") and are staggeringly unattractive as adults...hence thew accepted common name "Dusky batfish"
Spadfsh

The key in part to getting one of these established is to buy a Hawaiian one. The cooler waters in Hawaii lend to a diet (more algae) that translates getter to captive fare. I have seen a 13 and an 11 year old specimen. The smaller was in a "smaller" tank: 240 gallon.

You really have your work cut out for you if you try pinnatus. IIf you dont want to kill 'em like most folks, you can forget about a community fish tank. This is a specialized and perhaps species tank.

Paul_N · Mar 3, 2011

If you do try one, get the captive bred ones from Blue zoo aquatics. They have them eating some frozen food as well as Spectrum pellets. They also recommend very tall tanks as they can get to 18-20".