The title of this thread made me think of my "Unicorn" fish -- The Colini or Colins angel fish. This is a dwarf angel, available from the Phillipines, Austrailia and a few other deep water areas. They are seen in the industry only a couple of times a year. They come into LA in very small quantities. A big shipment might have 10 fish in it.
These fish have been impossible to keep. My record is 2 different specimens to 6 months. I know of only one other hobbyist in Europe to keep them for past 60 days. I know of no one in the US to successfully keep one long term. And in my visits to Public Aquariums around the country I have never seen one on display.
People talk about Moorish Idols or Copperbands being impossible to keep. But they are just difficult to get them into a home they are comfortable in. In a comfortable home there are many people who keep them long term with great success.
But there are no such stories of the Colini. My wife knows this fish is a goal of mine. And she lets me purchase up to 5 a season to try with - Singles, Groups, QT, medicated, live foods, Fresh Lobster Eggs shipped overnight from the East Coast, Clams on the half shell, live brine, live black worms. We've given it every attempt we can.
Most fish last less than a few weeks in captivity. They are from deep water and shy fish. So even when they are comfortable it's hard to tell the fish is comfortable.
The 2 times we have gotten past the 2 month mark - two about 6 months on each fish. There was nothing we did differently. The first time I had a 350gallon fiberglass trough outside in the sunlight. It had started out as a frag tank and turned into a Phytoplankton soup tank. Dark green water. But fish flourished in it. Purple Tangs with exacrebated HLLE, Angels with Pop Eye, we brought home all kinds of fish and threw them in the soup and they healed and thrived. You could only see the fish when they broke the surface to eat. We had attempted a group of 4 Colinis and three died within a few days - the 4th one was on it's last legs and I tossed it into the green soup tank when it was just starting to lay down and gasp. Knock me on my butt when about 2 months later we were feeding the fish in the swamp tank and boom there is a Colini eating pellets from the surface. But at 6 months the fish vanished - No idea why as we couldn't see into the tank.
The second partial success story was a Colini that I just directly added to a mature 400g packed reef tank. The fish did well for 6 months and then vanished without a trace.
This is a heart break fish for me. My wife and I have tried everything to save the lives to these fish that come into the US. While not having the same facilities and staff as an Andrew Sandler, I have tried my best to provide great homes and food sources to keep these fish happy.
This season there are Captive Bred Colini's avaiable from Bali AquaRich. My wife keeps telling me NO, to let it go, but the temptation still lurks.
Dave B
