copps

Hey guys, I posted this on Reef Central, but I also wanted to share it with the WAMAS folks... also for people like leishman who have RC blocked at work... Just over a month ago in November of last year I received another pair of Centropyge from my good friend and owner of Reef Culture Technologies (www.rcthawaii.com) Frank Baensch out in Hawaii. The previous month in October I was in Hawaii for three weeks and met with Frank for three days when I was free and not working. One day was spent diving, one at the Bishop Museum with Rich Pyle, Jack Randall and John Earle going through their extensive angelfish collection among other things, and one just having beers and hanging out at his house just outside of Waikiki. I own many of Frank

Happy Birthday bud!

As for the former, what about one or two pyramid butterflies... a reef safe butterfly of the genus Hemitauricthys that feeds mainly on plankton up in the water column... Here's a shot Chris (143gadgets) took of my pair... As for the latter, people always like my group of glass or blue eye cardinals (Apogon leptacanthus) when seen in person, and they are one of the very few fish that will form a true school throughout life in a small aquarium... So many things are written on message boards because people "read it somewhere"... and not as a result of first hand experience... Grouping all tangs together in requirements and appropriate tank size is wrong no matter how its done... There are tangs I feel comfortable with in a 65 gallon and tangs I wouldn't feel comfortable putting in a 500 gallon... For the most part tangs could be broken down by genera, and Zebrasoma (of which the yellow is Zebrasoma flavescens) happen to be the most suited to smaller aquarium in my opinion. They also grow much slower than other genera of tangs, like the hippo for instance, which I'd stay away from in a three foot tank. Small Zebrasoma are fine in smaller systems and grow slowly... if you got a small yellow tang (not too small as the tiny ones are tougher to adapt and lose body weight very quickly adapting sometimes) you could keep it for years in the 65... the bottom line is that for every tang that dies as a result of outgrowing a system, there are at least 50,000 that die as a result of human error before being given a chance to outgrow it... why don't the "tang police" concentrate on that? ... stick with Zebrasoma and you'll be fine... No!!!! I have about 20 angels with most in reefs... I could write a book about this, but suffice it to say that is wrong... not only could you keep them, you could keep a spawning pair in a 65 and watch them each night! This is a great suggestion Dave... this fish is awesome... cheap, colorful, and hardy... yes they jump but so could ALL fish at one time or another, so you should plan for it anyway! I cannot comment on their compatability with a dottyback because dottybacks are completely unpredictable... you should know yours... I keep mine with the little bit of sand I have for aesthetics and he's fine... here he is... Another good suggestion and a close relative of the canary wrasse, but much more dark red than anything and a bit pricey as you're paying its plane ticket from Africa... A good post and I back it up... hippos grow quickly, are more skittish, and require more swimming room than Zebrasoma... I'll second the suggestion of Talbot's damsels... mild mannered and pretty... if anything's going to tango with your dottyback it would be a royal gramma, so you may want to stay away from those... Again this would be years and years down the line... Acanthurus pyroferus is a species that mimics different pygmy angels in different areas, thus the different colorations... Most Acanthurus species tangs require alot of swimming space, but when small these mimics act much more like the pygmies they are mimicking, requiring less swimming room than other Acanthurus you may see flying in the surge zone... they also do not grow as large as most of the other Acanthurus... but definitely not suitable for a 3 foot tank for too long... As to your last question this species will only hold their solid yellow coloration to about the size of an adult lemonpeel or other Centropyge, because after that it does not benefit them... A flame angel has a much better chance in a reef than a lemonpeel... lemonpeels are amongst the worst... I have one of 12 captive bred lemonpeels ever produced and even he picks on corals... so much for the "doesn't know corals" theory! Hope that helps... Copps

They don't have the authority, but this designation is help to those that are trying to convince the Indonesian government and others to end wild collection. I believe you're referring to the CITES appendix II proposal by the United States to include Banggais, which was dropped earlier this year...

There is a pretty comprehensive list at my friend Frank Baensch's RCT site (the captive breeder of angelfish) in Hawaii at the link below... http://www.rcthawaii.com/cvb/5.htm Of course very few of those are available captive raised in the trade, but that's a list of what's been done...

Legally no... but the question is how well it will be policed with so many captive raised individuals in the market.

Well, this can be considered good news or bad, but the Banggai cardinalfish is now listed as endangered. For those who don't know, Banggai cardinals are widely renowned as the "saltwater guppy" because of their relative ease in breeding in captivity. They are mouthbrooders that give birth to young that lack a pelagic larval stage and feed on relatively large food, making them easy to raise in captivity relative to other fishes. However, those same characteristics make the young not spread far in the wild, and their wild range is less than 15 square miles in the Banggai archipelago of Indonesia. When I got into the hobby in the late 80s the fish was unknown to the hobby, but since it's been collected in the last 12 years the populations have been reduced by 89%. Anyway, just a heads up to all... here's the link... http://www.iucn.org/themes/marine/marine_species.htm Copps

Submitter: John Coppolino, copps Location: my old 10 gallon apartment kitchen nano Camera Used: Nikon Coolpix Subject: Nemo going to the Mothership!

Hey guys, for those of you who are even remotely interested in angelfish there is an excellent new book coming out next month. The book is titled "Angelfishes of the World", and was first published in Japanese. A few months ago when I gave my talk on rare angelfish with Julian Sprung at our WAMAS meeting we had dinner afterwards. Most people know Julian as the guy who literally wrote the book on The Reef Aquarium along with Charles Delbeek, but he is also an angelfish nut like many of us! Like many of the big names in this hobby, deep down he shares the same trait as many of us; a true passion for this wonderful hobby. Anyway, his company Two Little Fishies has finished an updated English version of the book to be released at MACNA next month in Pittsburgh. Even better, the Japanese author, Kiyoshi Endoh, will be at MACNA along with Julian! I've seen the Japanese version of this book and while I had no idea what the text said, the photos were AMAZING! Even cooler is that Julian was able to squeeze in one of my photos into the English version just before it was printed, so I get a free copy! Of course I'll still have to purchase a second copy that will be the "red flagged" edition that will sit in my bathroom . Anyway, I just wanted to give a heads up to you guys, as this will be one of the few opportunities ever to get this book autographed. There will be a limited number of copies, so if you are attending MACNA be sure to hit them up sooner rather than later... The cover of the book was just posted on the Two Little Fishie's website here. For those not able to make it to MACNA I could get you a copy autographed if you pay me in advance... the price is reasonable at just $24.99... Who else is excited (I say in my dorky giddiness)? Copps

Shot you a PM... I'll take the controller... Thanks, John

By "picking up another member's 300" he meant that he is helping carry it. This is my tank that is going on a separate truck, but we are using the same group of guys to load them up... Thanks to anyone who could lend a hand, and thank you Dale of course... John

Yeah I figured it wasn't that color, but a nice fish nonetheless... At BRK we could bring in many nice Indian Ocean specimens, but currently not Red Sea. I also have a line on good Marshall Island Pacific regals through one of my buddies in Hawaii... However, the last pair we got in John swiped for his home tank! These are never collected as pairs, as true pairs are too large to be collected, but by combining smaller specimens together they work it out in the long run as they are hermaphrodites like many other reef fish...

Congrats Dave! I've had my trio of these together for about 2.5 years with single specimens longer. One of the WAMAS banners at the top of the page shows a shot of my original guy from years ago... One of my favorite angelfish for years... I did want to chime in and offer some advice though... with proper care your chances of success with this fish will increase exponentially. Too many people use what I call the "dump and hope" approach, adding these fish to an established reef right away where the animal has little chance. Established reef tanks are a stressful environment where food lasts just seconds when added. These fish should be quarantined in a quiet dimly lit environment free from stress and competition for food. Sometimes the lucky individual will begin feeding right away, but usually it takes coaxing. I recommend clams and mussels on the half shell, but really try anything it will eat. Whatever it begins eating, feed that! Do not worry about long term dietary needs, but rather just worry about calories... feed early and as often as you can. After about a month or so (different with each fish) the fish could be added to the display. The pestering from established fish that newcomers get is much more manageable when the fish is fattened up, settled in, and feeding very confidently. Also, by keeping the fish segregated at first, if any issues arise the fish could be easily medicated or treated... I have doubts whether this is a true Red Sea fish, but really it doesn't matter... many people label all Indian Ocean regal angels as "Red Sea", but exports out of the Red Sea have been few and far between recently. Chris and Kristine at RM are good people so the fish either way should be in good shape. Ask them what it is feeding on if anything at all. While these are touchy fish at first, if you could get over the hump and get these fish adapted they settle in quite well and will feed from your fingers... Here's an older shot of them tagging the turkey baster... And a newer not so good shot of the trio... the nice thing is that while they grow to about 10 inches in the wild they top of in the 6 inch range in captivity... Good luck Dave... you have a good chance as you pay attention to detail... keep us updated! Copps

Hey guys, these guys came in beautiful, net collected in Hawaiian waters at the perfect size, ranging from small (but not too small) to medium... straight from the collector to BRK! If you want to see what small Heniochus diphreutes look like check 'em out! These are not an easy fish to find in Hawaii, especially at this size.

Okay guys, a few dozen freshly caught Hawaiian Heniochus diphreutes are arriving today into Blue Ribbon Koi... sizes should be mixed from smalls to mediums... Good luck! Copps

Here's the thread on his recent 500 gallon on RC. Check it out! Copps

Pricing isn't worked out until the shipment comes as it depends on many factors, but they are not an expensive fish... in the $30 to $40 range...

Understood Valab... we'll all be able to see what small diphreutes look like when the shipment comes in, and we'll take pics of them at BRK and post them. When it all comes down to it, however each person does it it doesn't matter... whatever's easiest for each person and works... How many is everyone looking for? Anyway, Happy 4th! Johnny

What's up Howard! Most LFS are supplied by wholesalers in LA who import from around the world and most list only "black and white heniochus" or something similar with no latin name. They really don't have the time, resources, educated staff, or demand yet to distinguish... while word has been out on the difference for some time, most LFS won't demand it so they don't pursue it. Most of the LA operations are run by knowledgable owners/operators, but they do so much volume that many of the reps just don't know the subtle differences. I deal with this weekly along with John and Byron (although Byron tends to just flirt with the female reps which gets us cherry picking benefits! ) Smaller operators and wholesalers in Hawaii are run and overseen by the owners much more than the high volume LA wholesalers for the most part. This particular wholesaler is well aware of the differences and only sells diphreutes caught locally anyway... Believe it or not these diphreutes are also shipped from him to the LA wholesalers too, which end up being the minority of the "black and white heniochus" the sold out of LA as they are grouped in with the acuminatus caught on reefs throughout the South Pacific...

Agreed. This occurs much more commonly with "Hawaiian flame angels", which in reality are Christmas Island (and to a lesser extent Marshall Islands) flames transhipped through Hawaii. True Hawaiian flames are very rare (as I talked about in my rare angels talk)and in certain areas released aquarium industry flames are more common and now it's believed they're breeding. However, I know this wholesaler well and speak regularly with him and travel yearly to Hawaii. He and one of his divers specifically target these diphreutes there in Hawaii... John at BRK has brought them in along with true Hawaiian pyramid butterflies... Rest assured these will be diphreutes...

To help people be able to compare, here's shots of adults and juveniles of both species... these two are misidentified all over the internet, so it's tough to go by what they're marked as... The best way to tell again is by looking at the stubbier nose and more rounded breast of H. diphreutes compared with H. acuminatus. Also, the second black bar usually ends in the corner of the anal fin of H. diphreutes as opposed to just above that for H. acuminatus, but this way gets confusing as it changes between specimens... Juvenile Heniochus acuminatus... Adult Heniochus acuminatus (*usually not found in large shoals) Juvenile Henichus diphreutes... Adult Heniochus diphreutes... notice on the adults it's much easier to note the differences...

Yeah... I WISH those xanthic regals were mine to show off!

I'll talk to John and update in this thread when these become available. Again it will probably be sometime in August. Rsarvis, the amount of bioload a system can handle is dependant on many things including system design and tank maintenance... some 180s can handle many times the bioload of other 180s, and generally novice reefkeepers should not push the envelope. With that said, the stocking scheme you mention sounds fine though. The fish in my avatar is a xanthic (a form of albinism) regal angelfish found in the Maldives that is very rare and when collected goes to Asia for thousands of dollars per specimen... They lack blue and black pigments... Here's another specimen... I've had a trio of regular Red Sea regals together for over two years now, and below is a shot from 2004 of my original guy for comparison (you could also see this guy in the WAMAS banner at the top of the page)... The xanthic form is one of my dream fish and I talked about it for those that stayed awake until the end of my "Rare Angels" talk... Sorry to go off-topic!

Hey guys, as many of you know I help John out with ordering at BRK, and one of the collectors/suppliers I know in Hawaii collects these in Hawaii. Rest assured they are H. diphreutes, as H. acuminatus are not found in Hawaii. He is taking off the month of July (summer is the slow season for the industry), but Johnny could get these in in August if you guys would like them. Distinguishing these is not so easy when small, but I've always found it easier to look at the rounded breast and blunt nose of the H. diphreutes rather than the anal fin. H. acuminatus are much more common in the industry and easier to collect as they are reef dwellers travelling usually as singles and pairs. H. diphreutes is way up in the water column (like pyramid butterblies and others considered "reef safe") and much harder to collect. These can be kept generally with copperbands and other butterflies, but I've found that even the planktonic butterflies like diphreutes and pyramids eat tubeworms and featherdusters... on the bright side, they'll also eat aptasia though...

Dan, I'm sorry... cancel my standard 12 order unless you could make it in orange and provide soft and creamy absorbate... and you're a plankton mass murderer with that needle wheel design you're using... Lol it all you want Dan, but people originally laughed at the idea of a PC too!