Cali Kid Corals

Wild caught verse aquacultured fish

MichaelB

MichaelB

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So I wouldn't call it a issue more than puzzling.

2 weeks ago I bought a file fish, looked healthy in the store. It ate when feed just not extremely agressively like my other fish typical do. It died 2 days after I got it.

This week I bought a small 2-3.5 inch rabbit fox face fish from the same shop it died within by the next morning.

Tank is fully cycled. I've had one of my existing fish I've had over 2.5 years in it for several weeks a pj cardinal.

When i picked up the fox face fish i talked with the store employee told him i lossed the file fish wrote it off as maybe it was just that piticular fish. The employee told me that all of there fish were wild caught and and acquired in the last month or so.
The fox face fish he said they had for over 2 months. I couldn't get it to eat.

Question is does having wild caught make a big difference in survivability.

So yesterday day I made the trek to aquatic collections and bought two fish.

A clown tang and a melanurus wrasse both ate immediately and where instantly all over the tank exploring.

It's too early for me to be confident but they just look more more active. The two fish from the other store looked healthy in their tanks when I got them to. I really hate loosing fish much more than coral. I haven't lost a single one until my 6 line killed the small clowns i had 3 years ago.

I will definitely keep a close eye on the two new fish. I also won't plan to get more fish from the store that sold me the two that died. Not blaming the store maybe wild caught fish are just much more harder to aclimate idk?

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The fox face i lost.
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Clown tang 3.5 inches

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The melanurus wrasse 3 inches
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melanurus wrasse next to my beefy pj cardinal.

My two maroon clowns i plan to put in the tank, so wanting to add other fish first. Hoping the clowns agressiveness will be held off if they are last to be added. Won't add them until I'm confident on the other fish.

Open to feed back, suggests or outlooks?

This won't be my end all tank, I expect to upgrade to 100-150 gallon tank in the next year or so. So decided to go with this juvenile tang. My maroon female will definitely be the biggest fish.

Beyond what’s in it already and the maroon pair i would cap off stocking after one more fish, maybe a goby or dart fish of some type, (or possibly swaping the pj cardinal to another tank and moving over the even larger banghi cardinal currently housed with the maroons and getting it a mate)

No more than 6 fish i'm thinking
 
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derek_SR said:
Are you suggesting the clown tang and wrasse from AC were not also wild caught?

Clown tang is a bold choice…for tanks your size. Not saying it to be the tang police but more so as a warning, they are gigantic assholes. And smaller tanks make asshole tangs even bigger assholes. I wouldn’t even put one in my 225
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I honestly didn't ask. It just came up in our conversation when i was explaining how the fish died oddly.

Ouch google suggested 125 which i plan to go to before it's a concern. Further research does seem to recommend 225/250 gallon plus as you stated...

I probably should have asked here first. If AC was closer to me I wouldn't have been as committed to a same day purchase. I'll definitely plan to rehome him when it becomes a issue. Thanks for feed back.

I'm not sure but there is a very different look to overall fish between the two stores. These are fat fish others weren’t sickly looking by any means just not as thick.
 
I am fairly positive that neither Clown Tangs nor Melanarus Wrasse have been captive bred, so the ones from AC are 100% wild caught unless they came from someone's personal tank (in which case...still wild caught just much longer ago:) )

I lost many fish from AC in the early days before I knew what I was doing and started shopping at Kenny's. I have lost every fish I ever bought from AC, in fact, except for two: a borbonius anthias and a leopard wrasse. Both had been there for several months already and were greedy eaters when I asked to see them being fed.

Nothing against AC - I am a frequent customer (not fish). But buying wild caught fish that have not been quarantined is always a risk, regardless of the LFS.
 
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Turkeysammich said:
I always ask old school reefers the same question about fish. Where do you buy your fish from ? The answer is always the same. Other reefers. Buying fish is the most difficult things to do in this hobby. It’s just depressing.
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So with fish losses your implying it's always a gamble with wild caught ones, taking your meaning ones form other reefers have been tanked condtioned longer so much higher chances of success?
 
It’s always a gamble period. I’ve lost fish from other reefers. Just less. Most of my fish loss is from LFS. People are probably gonna say it’s wrong to say this. ALL FISH ARE SICK. Always keep this in mind. It’s what I know over the many decades of keeping fish. All fish stores are the same. With one exception. Kenny. But let’s not talk about him. Let’s talk about the rest. They keep copper in their aquariums just enough to keep the fish alive until you buy it. At the copper levels they keep it. It doesn’t kill anything. Just keeps death at bay. And the fish may or may not eat. But at this level of copper it’s the perfect happy spot to make the fish seem healthy. Until you bring them home and put them into your aquarium. Thus removing them from the copper. Whatever sickness they have will appear internally or externally. There’s a lot more but this is enough for now. This is the fish stores dirty secret. It took me 10 years to figure it out. Sad but it’s true.
Thus. The best fish is a fish from other reefers.
 
MichaelB said:
I honestly didn't ask. It just came up in our conversation when i was explaining how the fish died oddly.

Ouch google suggested 125 which i plan to go to before it's a concern. Further research does seem to recommend 225/250 gallon plus as you stated...

I probably should have asked here first. If AC was closer to me I wouldn't have been as committed to a same day purchase. I'll definitely plan to rehome him when it becomes a issue. Thanks for feed back.

I'm not sure but there is a very different look to overall fish between the two stores. These are fat fish others weren’t sickly looking by any means just not as thick.
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The speak of a true hobbyist
Buy the desired fish and then figure out its requirements
 
Kensington Reefer said:
The speak of a true hobbyist
Buy the desired fish and then figure out its requirements
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So, I consider you the fish expert in these parts, any signs beyond the obvious ones that I should be looking out for in fish when considering them?

Signs to aviod a fish?
Sings of a healthy fish?


I was probably a idiot or treated like one, the guy who sold me the fox face when I asked him to feed dropped food in and it showed no intrest he said he just feed it before I walked in and was full, so wasn't going after the food. Lesson learned at least on that part - don't take peoples word for it.
 
Kensington Reefer said:
The speak of a true hobbyist
Buy the desired fish and then figure out its requirements
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We're all guilty of this (me included) as newer reefers and the lesson has to be taught over and over. While I have no doubt @MichaelB had good intentions, the biggest things to do is to plan your fish stock list, read up on care requirements, and buy animals only for the tanks you currently have because the future is unknown.

The fish will always be there because the wholesalers will continue to import. One of the reasons we like what @under_water_ninja does is that it isn't just quarantine, it's conditioning (getting fish used to aquariums and other inhabitants, humans, and frozen foods). The conditioning factor is why @Turkeysammich likes "used" fish because that first filter step of x% of losses from shipping, stress, tank life, and transport to new owner are gone, plus they're adapted to life in clear boxes.

Tank bred fish will have a higher chance to succeed than wild caught, but aren't perfect. What's nice about AC is that they usually put the delivery date of the fish on the tank. If it's been there a long time, aggressively eating and pooping, you're off to a better start. Acclimation boxes help too.

Hopefully other new members will learn these lessons and you can find a new home for the tang
 
MichaelB said:
So, I consider you the fish expert in these parts, any signs beyond the obvious ones that I should be looking out for in fish when considering them?

Signs to aviod a fish?
Sings of a healthy fish?


I was probably a idiot or treated like one, the guy who sold me the fox face when I asked him to feed dropped food in and it showed no intrest he said he just feed it before I walked in and was full, so wasn't going after the food. Lesson learned at least on that part - don't take peoples word for it.
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I always make sure the fish is eating at store prior to purchase. If eating at store most likely it will eat at your tank.
 
dswong01 said:
I always make sure the fish is eating at store prior to purchase. If eating at store most likely it will eat at your tank.
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I asked them to feed it, but i was a sucker when he said he just feed it so wasn't hungry. Seems dumb as heck on my part in hindsight falling for that. My maroons are always hungry even a minute after you feed them they still come to the top to beg.
 
Easier said than done, but i think the key is to do plenty of planning ahead before purchasing anything. Impulse buys on fish are rarely a good purchase. Kenny, and reefers rehoming their fish, are probably the best options. Although, with fish nothing is a sure thing.
 
MichaelB said:
Crushed coral only. Guy at ac said he was reef safe like a six line and may eat inverts when he grows out. The one i yave is also on Crushed coral.
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They prefer to sleep in sand. I would consider adding a bowl with sand,

Reef safe has nothing to do with what substrate they do best with. Jawfish are reef safe, I would not suggest keeping them in a crushed coral substrate
 
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