Since we're on the subject I'm more into the coral, fish are just there for some movement and they require too much attention with the feeding and.. well just the feeding but that can still be a chore. The way I see it a fish is a fish, for the most part easily replaceable and a dime a dozen, not really a collectors item. Coral can sometimes be one in a million and is definitely more of a collectors item. Yes they do have rare fish that are hard to get but for the most part you can always get them and they will always be the same.

I would definitely go with coral over fish. In the future I would really like to have a coral tank with only self sustaining fish and coral. You know a couple mandarins, pair of tilefish, nothing special :biggrin:

Sounds like it would be a nice tank!

I guess it depends on how you look at it...I don't see the hobby as collecting items like you would hockey cards or stamps. To me these are pets and when it comes to my puffers, more like family :) Not replaceable at all. I lost my dogface to jumping a few months back and did get another but its just not the same at all. Personality of the two fish is quite different. I have lost tangs and "replaced" them though and barely knew the difference.

Actually I guess I kind of see things completely opposite of you ;) Corals are easily replaceable to me!

No need for wars here. Thanks for the update sphelps.

Re: who adds to finding out the care of our fish/coral inverts
scientists, experts, hobbyists may I give you an example.

I want to set up a tank housing only florescent corals.
From marine scientists I now know that the degree of florescense its determined (apart from enviromental conditions) by the genes of the LPS. I have to find them by night diving.
From lighting scientists (not vendors) I am determining the specific lighting conditions that cause optimum florescence; lighting, depth of tank etc. Really heavy stuff.
Scientists announced in September that they had found that some 20 or so fish are florescent. This is new information.
When I have all this information, I will set up the tank.
When and if successful, I will share the information on this board. Hopefully I can corral a tank photographer to take pictures.
(If you want to get an idea of what I am striving for turn off all the tank lights and the lights in the room and shine a LED light [from a penlite or the lighters that have an LED light on them on your coral]

You can see than that it is the scientists and experts that contribute the expertise. All I as a hobbyist is doing is starting the ball rolling and hopefully sharing my experience here.
To the poster who asked, I have had a marine tank since around 1987ish.

You bought a fish that you researched first and provided it with the the best case scenario for optimal survival and longevity. If that makes you cruel then I'm crazy!

Wait, maybe I shouldn't go there...:lol: :wink:

Thanks for answering that I was just curios.
I do appreciate the knowledge you bring to the board.
can't wait to see that tank when you get it up. I would even be willing to take the pictures for you.
Cheers

Thanks. I will take your offer up when I am ready.
Do you think you can borrow Sphelps' camera?

He is to far away, but my camera is not too bad.:wink:

Edit: I feel the need to add that I look at my tank to look at the corals more often than the fish, watching them grow makes me happy, but I cater to the welfare of the fish first and foremost because they actually have feelings - make sense?

Perfectly. Well expressed and exactly how I feel.

Corals look the same to me.

I suppose this is the difference between a pet owner and a gardener.

A little update
 

The fish has become very comfortable and ventures to all parts of the tank. He's got a ferocious apatite and is constantly looking for food. The good news is that he's not picky, eats every type of SPS coral and even likes the odd zoo skirt. No noticeable damage to coral at this point :biggrin:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...h/DSC_1746.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...h/DSC_1747.jpg

No surprise I think millepora is his favorite.

just make sure you have garlic... and lemon..

If it eats the corals so much they can't recover, get a pan nice and hot.. add a bit of almond oil, garlic, and sear both sides, finnish in the oven and add lemon.

Steve

Haw haw haw...
Steve, you crack me up.

COOL fish, continued good luck with it.

Am I the only one that tried to shoe off that fruit fly off the computer screen.
ha ha

Very cool fish... I think I'll get one for my 10 gallon contest tank :D

glad to hear it's still going well. cool feeding pic.

still doing well?
 

if anyone in Calgary wants to have a go with one of these fish, there's 2 at Oceans right now - $27.99

sounds like a deal.

That seems like a good deal...but the food can be expensive!

Is this fish still doing OK? No problem sustaining his needs so far? Does he tend to eat from any particular part of the corals (growth tips?, base?) Does he eat a large spot from a coral or just a polyp here and there? Any shots of coral that have been snacked upon?

Fish is doing really good so far, he prefers acropora to other types of sps and only eats the polyps but from all parts of the coral. Corals are not showing any sign of stress but they definitely have less polyps or show less extension.

I also saw a tiny one at Big Als.

Does the fish seem to eat anything else besides the corals?? Any kinds of food interest it?

Nah not really any interest in other food. I've read of others having success with frozen food but it's extremely rare.

I had one of these guys and he ate more hair algea and sand than SPS, also took pellets and frozen angle food I smeared into a rock, I thought it was a female and tried to pair it up with a male but he killed the first one then ate nothing and died:cry:, but if i see a healthy one iam going to try again, great fish for sure

How is this fish doing? Is he still eating SPS polyps exclusively? How are the SPS doing?

I am curious, and I apologize if already been asked/mentioned. How long, roughly, does it take for the new polyps to grow back on SPS (moreso the acro's and so on..) ?? Obviously you've got enough SPS in there to keep him going. Like I say, just curious...

Fish is good, SPS also all look healthy just don't show much polyp extension during the day anymore but polyp extension at night seems normal. And yes only eating SPS polyps with the occasional interest in zoo skirts but no frozen food interest what so ever.

I would be curious on this as well, I can't say for sure how long it takes as it's pretty hard to keep track and I don't pay that much attention. All I can say for sure is that they do grow back in what seems to be a reasonable time frame.

I am not at this same level of experience to even be able to make much comment aside of the tank and fish are beautiful. As an observation from gardening though, we pick back buds, stems and stalks to enocourage more growth from our plants. We divide plants to allow them space to grow or they snuff themselves out. If we pick back one bud, two will grow back in its place. If we divide one plant we can make two or more, since it is not fighting for space and food.

Could it be possible that adding this fish to his tank will be beneficial to the corals growing in it, since the fish is essentially doing what a gardener does to promote growth? I dunno, it's just a newbie observation and I have no proof or knowledge that it might happen, but it could.

This is a picture took yesterday of my yellow mille. This coral is by far the fishes favorite. As you can see not much for polyp extension but still looks healthy.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/IMG_0099.jpg

Seems to be doing just fine. A little less hairiness is an insignificant cost to pay if the fish is doing fine. :)

Yeap, it's beneficial in my mind as I get better color from a lot of my SPS since some have brown polyps.

Gorgeous milli... and photo.

One can be both a pet owner and gardener... most reef tank owners seem to tend toward the gardener side, with beautiful aquascaping, colorful corals, etc. Those that don't have FOWLR tanks, where the fish involved would simply devour any and all invertebrates, and the aquascaping is lower-key but since the focus is the fish anyhow, this is rarely an issue.

All aquarists are both to some extent however... we want the best for the creatures in our glass boxes, but also want the tank to be attractive. The difference is in the pets... Chihuahua that eats plankton or German Shepard that eats chihuahuas? The chihuahua will do little damage to your garden, but a german shepard can destroy said garden in minutes.

I noticed the parallels between the two hobbies in the first 5 seconds of having a freshwater tank years ago... corals and many other marine organisms are just too similar to plants in many ways to not see other parallels. That's why I'll be mixing corals and plants in my reef :cool:

welll looking at this picture the fish looks healthy and well done Steve , love your fish. i think that this fish due to its color loves the yellow, orange, blue milli's :lol::lol: that is why he is that color LOL
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...h/DSC_1746.jpg

You're probably right. The fish poops a fluorescent green slime that I swear would even glow in the dark.

huh this fish seems to have done a lot less damage than i had expected. since you mention the really bright poop... have you ever tried putting the poop under actinic only lighting and see if it fluoresces? im actually half serious :) I don't see it having any use for the coral's fluorescent pigments so maybe they pass largely undigested (although i would be greatly surprised if they haven't been denatured and are nonfunctional)?

I was curious how this guy is doing. Any updates?

Death by Tunze, sorry folks.

Are you planning on trying this again.

Yes, but not right now with the current setup. I've never lost a fish to a tunze before so I don't want to get another one unless I can be sure it won't happen again. I also want to make sure I have a few more colonies of millepora as it was definitely a favorite and since I only had the one it did take a good beating.

:cry: That sucks, sorry to hear that.

There have been some threads on RC that speculated that systematically fragging small pieces off corals actually speeds growth. I can't wait to see how this goes...it may even help you!