The Holy Grail Conspicuous Angelfish

[aquagem]

I've was lucky enough to acquire the holy grail of angelfish, the conspicuous spectacled angelfish, however, was not that lucky enough to get a smaller specimen that will start to feed immediately. The specimen i acquired was approx 6.5 inches. Initially, I was reluctant to bring the her back home given its size, after much contemplation, i went ahead with it. How many times do we actually see this fish surface in trade?? Since the opportunity was there to purchase one, i took the gamble. i knew the difficulties which I've to face in getting her to feed. After almost 4 weeks, she finally took her first bite and, all in a day Breakfast Lunch Dinner and Supper! 

 

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[marineph]

Good to hear a large conspic begins feeding.  Well done!

[nemonary571]

Great sense of satisfaction. Can imagine the huge amount of effort you put in.

[sklego]

Congrats bro!

[aquagem]

Thank you. Yes, he's been totally ignoring all food thrown into the tank for the entire 4 weeks. He finally snapped last night and decided to do a 360 degrees chg the hard part now is getting him to go for pallets


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[marineph]

Training it to take pellets should be much easier after it began to eat. 

Please keep the updates coming when there is another breakthrough.

[Dispar_Anthias]

Amazing, you have a harem of Bandits

[Harlequinmania]

What did u feed your conspic with ?

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[aquagem]

What did u feed your conspic with ?

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Frozen prawns. Pallets are meshed with the frozen prawns together and she's accepting it. She just wouldn't swallow the pallets standalone. My aim ultimately is to get her to feed on nori in the Long run. I didn't wish to choose the frozen food opt, but given she hasn't taken anything for 4 weeks my priority is to get her to survive


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[aquagem]

Amazing, you have a harem of Bandits

Thank you. The other half are on the other side of the tank


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[Dispar_Anthias]

Are you based in Singapore? 

Do you have pictures of your setups.

[aquagem]

Are you based in Singapore? 
Do you have pictures of your setups.

Yes locally. It's currently in a 120l QT with some lousy cheap setup.


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[Dispar_Anthias]

Setup maybe cheap but content aint cheap 

Have kept both Bandits & Conspics before. The conspic I bought was ard 3.5 inches and was pretty much bullet proof till I sold it to another reefer. Did not have much luck with Bandits though, tried mainly the 3-4 incher ones, died after keeping for a year for no apparent reason and another just decide to carpet surf after a year or so as well.

[aquagem]

Setup maybe cheap but content aint cheap :lol:
Have kept both Bandits & Conspics before. The conspic I bought was ard 3.5 inches and was pretty much bullet proof till I sold it to another reefer. Did not have much luck with Bandits though, tried mainly the 3-4 incher ones, died after keeping for a year for no apparent reason and another just decide to carpet surf after a year or so as well.

Bandit are fairly easy to keep. May I ask if the bandit suddenly ceased to eat ? My bandits are mainly around that sizes.


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[Dispar_Anthias]

Nope did not cease to eat just died apparently for no reason the next day.

[aquagem]

Nope did not cease to eat just died apparently for no reason the next day.

What was your temperature set at? If sudden death, more likely that will be the factor.


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[Dispar_Anthias]

25 then slowly up till 26. 

[Indeco]

@aquagem  Is this common that this fish can survive without eating for 4 weeks? or u actually did something to sustain the life while trying to get the fish to eat?

[aquagem]

25 then slowly up till 26. 

They are classified towards deep sea fishes. Should be acclimated to 21-22 degrees max for Long term survivability.


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[aquagem]

[mention=26237]aquagem[/mention]  Is this common that this fish can survive without eating for 4 weeks? or u actually did something to sustain the life while trying to get the fish to eat?

Yes 4 weeks won't be a problem. For large angels, I'm betting on 6 weeks max till we will see the stomach getting pinched and that's when one should get worried. I've one bandit that went without food for 6 weeks and after 4 months, it's still in QT tank. It just take time to fatten them up.
Having said that, please bear in mind the time which the fish is being displayed in the LFS. There's one particular LFS in the western part of central region which brand themselves as extremely upmarket and believes in selling sky rocket high price and occasionally having sale, promotion and lucky draws That's the time you should avoid purchasing the fishes. That leaves the poor little fish in display for some time. By the time consumer bags it home, the fish will have limited time left for survivability.


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[Harlequinmania]

Bandit are fairly easy to keep. May I ask if the bandit suddenly ceased to eat ? My bandits are mainly around that sizes.


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I think bandit is only easy if it is captive breed or hand caught properly as it is a deep water fish, and most of the time the collector did not condition it properly before bringing it to the surface.

I had my fair share of keeping bandit before as well , and you get what you paid for..

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[Dispar_Anthias]

9 hours ago, aquagem said:

 

They are classified towards deep sea fishes. Should be acclimated to 21-22 degrees max for Long term survivability.


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The bigger adults can be found in shallow reef and the younger ones are said to be found deeper but even so that is not properly documented. 

Most if not all fishes from hawaiian regions were caught by hand so I believe that should not be the issue and I have purchased mine from famous collector like Rufus but same result after keep them for awhile. The longest one I had was transship from Hong Kong's red Heart King which lasted a year and half and decide to jump 1 day.

 

[Indeco]

9 hours ago, aquagem said:

 

Yes 4 weeks won't be a problem. For large angels, I'm betting on 6 weeks max till we will see the stomach getting pinched and that's when one should get worried. I've one bandit that went without food for 6 weeks and after 4 months, it's still in QT tank. It just take time to fatten them up.
Having said that, please bear in mind the time which the fish is being displayed in the LFS. There's one particular LFS in the western part of central region which brand themselves as extremely upmarket and believes in selling sky rocket high price and occasionally having sale, promotion and lucky draws That's the time you should avoid purchasing the fishes. That leaves the poor little fish in display for some time. By the time consumer bags it home, the fish will have limited time left for survivability.


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Oh Ok, I always get worries when the fish don't eat after 1 or 2 days... Haha... now I'm will focus more on their stability then on the feeding....

This LFS is famous for their sky high price, I was told by them they charge high is due to they QT the fish before selling. I went there a couple of time and everything look fine until recently visit. When I saw a few tang having ick and dead fishes lying around. Then finally I understand that is just marketing... lucky everytime I want to buy but is stop by their price else feed like kana chop carrot. Haha.. 

[Dispar_Anthias]

I think is not about just about the LFS also because no matter how detailed a lfs does their QT, even the best can have dead fish. Responsibility also lies in the hobbyist himself to know how to look at the overall condition of the fish, such as whether the fish is already feeding or showing sign of malnutrition such as sunken forehead, pinch stomach, skin, eyes and breathing appearance as well as behavior of fish as to whether fish is curious about its surrounding or just purely hiding in 1 corner. 

[Indeco]

Yap agree with you bro, but personally I feel that if you branding your position on the premium side then I guess many will also expect the premium service that you should provide... anyway I will not buy from there so wouldn't comment any further... Haha...