Are These Fish Hard To Take Care Of?

[Ninjouzata]

Oh I feel silly now! That is one of the things we talked about was that it's a dragonet and not a goby..sorry

 

[stanleo]

the Manderin is a beautiful fish but everyone is right about the feeding thing. they require live copipodes that live in the substrate and keeping enough alive in the tank for this glutton to eat can be a huge challenge. Not impossible and its so pretty it may well be worth the effort. But I would never recommend someone get one if they are just starting with saltwater.
 
Blennys have a similar appearance to me except they are not as colorful and they are a lot easier to care for.
 
Gobys I think diamond are fairly easy.

 

[ncguppy830]

diamound gobies eh too bad they wont fit in a pico reef.

 

[stanleo]

Sorry I didn't realize you were talking about a pico reef. Honestly, If I ever do one of those it will just be inverts. Loads of choices in inverts for a pico.

 

[ncguppy830]

yea ive heard some gobies could go in one but im not sure

 

[AngelAi]

I think I'll stick to fresh water! even tho salt water fish are so pretty! HARD CHOICE. 

 

[ncguppy830]

yup and even if there pretty fish compared to freshwater the price is really not worth it.

 

[Christina]

always use caution with wild caught fish

 

[ncguppy830]

always use caution with wild caught fish

ok what do you mean by that other than the obvious?

 

[BigTuna]

I apologize, I haven't had the time to read carefully through the entire thread.  I successfully kept one for quite a long time until something nuked my entire tank.  Make sure that you have a mature tank before getting one, they will find food in the Live Rock and live sand.  I will be getting one in my new tank once its had time to mature and I will be having a refugium on that setup as well.  I don't believe a refugium is absolute must with the madarin but it definitely wouldn't hurt.  I also had a very diverse feeding, using all kinds of frozens, flakes, and seaweeds. I honestly don't know if that helped because I never seen him actually eat the food, but he scavenged all over the rocks and sand.   They are incredible fish, so I am excited to have on again someday. 

always use caution with wild caught fish

 
Aren't all marine fish (or close to all) wild caught? 

 

[stanleo]

I think most oscelaris clown fish are captive bred but I think they are the only ones. One other downside to marine fishkeeping, you have to get them from the wild and that depletes the wild population if it isn't done right and not all countries have laws in place protecting the marine habitat.

 

[AngelAi]

I dont know why but if I got a fish from the wild them kept it as a pet i'd feel bad. X__X

 

[Donya]

Aren't all marine fish (or close to all) wild caught?

 
 
In terms of species count that would be true, but it's getting better in terms of the percentage of captive vs. wild stock for sale at places I've seen. I'm sure there will be a lot of regional variation in what is available, but in my current location I regularly see various types of the following listed as captive-bred when I cruise through LFSs:
- many clowns
- cardinals (PJ and Bangai)
- gobies (mostly little guys like neons and sharknose)
- dottybacks
- blennies (mainly canaries)
- dragonets 
- seahorses
 
Those are of course a drop in the bucket compared to the total number of possible species that pass through the trade as oddballs and such, but they also represent some very commonly kept and heavily stocked varieties. 

 

[BigTuna]

That's encouraging, but I'm afraid its quite opposite in my region.  I will definitely ask, but other than a few clown species, I never see any labelled as captive bred. 

 

[MBOU]

And Clarion Angelfish
 
I got to go see this stunner at TMC, nearly had a darned heart attack with a hefty trade price in the thousands It would have to retail at about £9K
 
http/fishkeeper.co.uk/site/news/one-of-a-kind-worlds-only-captive-bred-clarion-angelfish-at-tmc