copps

He's also expecting his first child in October! I had dinner with him in Waikiki in October last year and he was ready to leave Waikiki... he had the best commute in the world but to raise a family there is just too much...

Thanks Craig! I have an even better Zebrasoma I could give you that is all bright yellow if you could believe it!

I took two... Many people know me as an angelfish guy, but I also have a collection of Zebrasoma, with some that are not the norm...

Paydirt! Oh what a feeling... at long last they are here and all healthy. Johnny has two at the shop, so for the rare opportunity to see this fish in person head to BRK by Saturday, as these won't be there long. Copps

Ken, very rarely and only under certain circumstances will ich kill a fish. Most of the time ich is opportunistic, and the fish die from secondary infections and other stresses. If a fish is fat, calm, and eating, they will usually shake ich. The main issue you have is that the regal is on the larger end. Getting it to feed should be priority number one... that fish needs calories fast or it's a lost cause. Having all of those fish in a QT is a big stress on the regal. I only use Cupramine copper, and have used it for years even with Centropyge angels. I've also used it under hyposalinity, and continue to this day... don't worry about it... I'm even using it with my clarion angel, in addition to antibiotics. The biggest concern is keeping an eye on ammonia... this could creep up within hours and do in your fish in the hospital tank. Use this product to be sure... http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pa...moniaAlert.html Without seeing the fish it's tough to tell what to do exactly... much of these circumstances require judgment calls based on experience, and is one of the reasons regals should be left to those with years of angelfish experience. Has the fish eaten any prepared food? Again, I would buy a few of every fresh bivalve your supermarket has... if this fish does not eat soon it will be done, and treating for any disease will be a waste of time... the good news is that the fish should be relatively fresh from the ocean seeing as how you bought it straight from the shipment... and yellow belly regals do not sit too long at wholesalers nowadays... Hope that helps... John

Update?

Kengar, how large is this fish? Keep in mind that regals are a difficult species to start, but specimens above about 5 or 6 inches become exponentially harder to adapt to a captive diet. A couple things to keep in mind. Beware of ANY level of ammonia in the QT. Ammonia is a huge QT killer and is often the reason why many people fail. Also be sure the fish has places to hide and feel secure... stress needs to be lessened by all means possible. Try as many different fresh bivalves as they have at the market... I've had certain angels show feeding responses to only certain things. At first all you need is calories in the fish in some form... and worry about long term nutrition later. Where did you purchase the fish from? An angel can only go so long from the Ocean without feeding, so it's often good to know how fresh from the ocean it is. Again though, large regals should be left alone, along with certain other species and genera that are just so set in their ways at a larger size that they seldom adapt to a captive diet. Good luck though... the best thing about having the fish isolated is that there is no competition for the food... but keep in mind this does not have to be a bare bones QT... it could be an established system with no other fish. One other thing... are you treating with copper or any other meds? Copps

I'll bring you some with your frags Jon...

Got you... plenty to go around on this one... that's why it's priced at less than 1/5 of what Tyree gets!

Got you guys covered... Thanks!

Got you Raf...

Here's what I've got for pre-sale and pickup at the meeting... any questions just let me know... all photos are mine except the one noted from the Penn State tank... Thanks, John 1. Tyree Idaho Grape plating monti- $10 2. Penn State scrolling red Montipora capricornis... originally from Sanjay and the Penn State tank years ago... $15 One of my colonies... ... and a shot of the old Penn State colony in the 500 gallon... 3. Blue "tenuis- blue even under 10ks, and gets more blue at the base with higher kelvin bulbs... $25 4. Super green bottlebrush acro- gorgeous fast grower... so just $15 5. Highlighter green plating monti- $10 6. Copps milli- bluest milli you'll ever see... gets purple tips as shown under high light when colony grows out... $40 7. Emerald green pocillopora- in back on the right in below photo... $10 8. Purple tip green frogspawn... nicest frogspawn I've seen... $10 per head or 3 for $25 9. Blue tip purple stag... fastest growing acro in the history of the world... $10 10. red digitata- shown top center- $15 11. yellow tip pink prostrata- $35 12. Good old green slimer- $15- large stag in left of photo...

Actually, the way the black tang market is going they are becoming rarer and rarer and may be a good investment themselves!

Thanks Dan... ... and this goes without saying! Copps

Signed up! Sanjay, FYI as you know... I eat alot! John

This will change Dave! I've been working this deal for Johnny (and me! ) for a long while, and it's about to pay off... For those interested, these are from an excellent collector and are in much better shape than some of the other gems that have come in in the past... Copps

Actually, remembering that all angelfish are female to male hermaphrodites, this fish was just finishing the transition to male judging from the yellow on the face... full males have a full yellow face... I'll save my comments as this is a family board!

It's not that easy... these guys dive them regularly and that remains the only personatus caught... the rebreathers they dive cost $10,000 and much more in training... if you do not regularly dive them it's not really worth it, as the logistics of working them are much more complicated than any dive computer... and the penalty of course is death... Tourism to Midway in the NWHI may be opening up again soon, where personatus can be seen at standard diving depths... I'm hoping that will come soon enough... And with luck this fish WILL be bred again in captivity and available to the trade... just a matter of time... what a fish though! I'll wait for Johnny to chime in the koi... but from my end this is a koi to me... that would garner near six figure pricing in Japan!

It's funny how I've yanked so many people into my passion for angels... It's no coincidence that Johnny has access to all of these rare angels... To answer some questions on the clarion angels... The major breeding populations of these fish are found in the Revillagigedos Island chain ~500 miles off the coast of Mexico. A small population of waifs (individuals spawned in the islands that larval drift to the mainland) can be found at the bottom tip of Baja California, Mexico near Cabo San Lucas. They are very few and far between there however. Mexico stopped issuing permits for this species years ago. About fifteen years ago I would see this fish for sale for $300 to $400 dollars when it was collected on a fairly regular basis. As with most angelfish with a limited geographic range, it is very common in the small areas where it is found. The importer has worked Baja Mexico for ages, and finally worked out a one time permit to collect a small number of these clarions after years of work. I've been keeping in touch with him... this is a very exciting time for angelfish nuts, and this is one of the few species that Americans get first crack at... After they stay here for a very short while whatever doesn't sell will go to Asia. There is no way to tell when they will be available again, but they will never be a cheap fish due to the logistics of getting out there to collect them and for many other reasons... These guys are the smallest of the Holacanthus genus, attaining only about 8 inches or so... and quite obviously gorgeous throughout their lifetime... On preorders Johnny is offering a killer deal relative to what they'll be going for in a little while... As for Centropyge interrupta, if you're interested in those contact Johnny also... we should be bringing some in soon if there is the demand... Here's my captive raised male... It appears orange with the flash of the camera... but is near solid blue in the tank... Oddly enough he is paired up with the one and only captive raised Centropyge joculator ever produced... read more about the marriage here... Sadly, I recently received a very rare pair of Centropyge debelius that were dead within six hours after taking a rough ride here... very sad, as it will be a long time before I even have the opportunity to purchase this fish again... a real beauty... Of course, the special angel caught in this thread sold for $10,000 in Japan... I'm sure Johnny could get us one koi that would outprice all of these fish combined though... so it's all relative... Copps

I was going to say "_____ the impaler"... Historically yellow belly regals from all locations have a better track record, but certain areas from the Pacific are producing good regals now too that adapt well. From what I've seen the collection and transport is much more important that the color of the belly. One of my wholesaler friends in Hawaii brings in nice Marshall Island fish, and he's been sending Johnny nice fish, including beautiful Pacific regal angels... of course the first small pair that came in went to Johnny's home tank! They are thriving there... Just let Johnny know what you want and he'll bring it in... Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world, in the Western part of Indonesia, and is putting out nice yellow belly regals, as are other parts of the Indian Ocean... but not the Red Sea recently...

Hey Dave, this fish was actually a yellow belly from Sumatra, not the Red Sea... not that it really matters... Red Sea regals are nonexistant lately... This year makes three years with my trio of regals together!

No sweat Phil... this little guy looks pretty good... I brought him home tonight... I'll update with pics soon...

Thanks Dan... great news! Many people don't realize that mixed species pairing is not a hard thing to do... genetics is showing that despite drastic color differences, many Centropyge species are genetically identical and have speciated within the last few hundred thousand years... Tracy, I have no clue... while sponge makes up a good bit of the diet on many large angels, these are often just a certain group or type of sponges... With that said, I've seen many of my angels eat sponge within the aquarium... If the system does not have any "meaty" lps and certain soft corals, a Pomacanthus genus angel could be tried...

Thanks guys... and thanks Phil for possibly jinxing that fish! Copps

Congrats also on having the quote of last year when you said "I'm getting out of the hobby."