What is this fish?
 

I bought a new soft coral rock yesterday as they were 1/2 price (and you can never have too much) and low and behold about 2 hours later I find a new fish in my tank!! He must have been in a hole in the rock that kept water in it. I didn't get the rock home for about a hour so he is a pretty lucky guy. Anyone know what kind of fish he is? He's bright purple and a bit shy.

magenta dottyback. nice fish.

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u...article_id=215
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/straw...dottyback.html

That is one of the nicest hitchers I've seen. Congrats, scores like that are rare. I only seem to get pests.

Thanks, I figured it was quite the score!

They are most often referred to as Orchid Dottybacks. I'm going to add one to my tank soon. :)

The Magenta dottyback and the Orchid Dottyback look much the same, but are very different. The Orchid Dottyback is much more peaceful. I had a Magenta that terrorized every fish in the tank that was the same size or smaller. Keep a close eye on that guy.

Ooops, upon second glance you are right! You don't see the Magenta (I've always heard them called Strawberry) Dottybacks often...

Nice hitcher,

where did you score that price in K-town? still halfprice here is double elsewhere. but you got a nice fish out of it.. thats for sure...

That pet store across the hwy from PetCetera has 1/2 price soft corals, paid $30! Our prices are a bit much here hey, especially when something eats your Dori fish in the middle of the night :cry:
I am setting a trap tonight to see what is hiding in my tank!

be careful what you put in your tank from total pet. they are not the best tank keepers around. and they are the highest priced i have ever seen.

i saw a cleaner shrimp for $72.00 there once. :S

Something ate your regal tang? ouch that sucks.
any congrats again on the new addition.

I don't normally shop Total Pet, I was looking for some floss and found the 1/2 price rock. It's covered with those star looking plant things (can you tell I'm new) and thought it was a good deal. Turned out it was! Yes, my tang went missing in the night as did one of my chromis the next night. No sign of anything in the AM. I have set traps 2 nights in a row (raw mussels in tupperware) to see if I could catch anything. Got up at 3AM this morning and only my hermit crabs were in the trap. Any idea's? My water is fine, the fish weren't sick, just poof, disappeared.

sounds like a zoo rock.

if you know what your getting TP is ok... to get from, just dont ever rely on anyone there for advice on what fish is compatible with your reef. As they dont know what fish is what in their tanks.

Ya, holy wow they have some steep prices, and they ALWAYS have ich. I don't know why they bother with the saltwater there.

Likely it is a Mantis Shrimp, but possibly a fairly big crab. You would be surprised the size of some of the creatures that may be in your tank that you have never seen. I know of a 5" crab that went unseen in a 180 gallon tank for 2 years! Now they can't get it out. Haha!

Any idea's how I can catch the sucker?? I can't put anymore fish in the death trap.