rock beauty

[lophius]

I have a query re. rock beauty's.

I used to keep one a few years ago (I had him for nearly two years) I fed it on a frozen marine mix containing mysis, krill, artemia, SPONGE, and bits of beef heart, shrimp etc. The fish grew from 1 1/2" to a little over 4". Unfortunately a job move meant that I had to give up the tank.

Anyway now i have another marine tank and once again would like to get a rock beauy. The thing is that all of my LFS say that the food I used to feed is no longer manufactured (it was produced by a company called Waterlife .. I am in the UK).

So, my question is, does anyone else keep a Rock Beauty? What do you feed it? Can they do well, without the addition of sponge to the diet, and if not. Is it plausible for me to collect some whilst diving. Most that I see here in the Uk are small encrusting sponges, I assume that most sponges will have the same nutritional value. Could I then freeze these sponges and mix with other food.

Thanks

Carl

[hcs3]

http://www.jamaicanwedding.homestead.com/files/Img0035.jpg

hi carl

thought you'd like to see the pic. i took it while diving of the coast of negril jamaica earlier this year. there was actually a pair of them, but they were better swimmers than me ;)

in the USA, rock beauty's are considered as a no-no. most fare extremely poorly once in captivity - especially adults. most of the success stories start with a juvenile fish.

as your well aware, they need a sponge diet, which is the most difficult part of keeping this fish. collecting sponges off the coast of the UK sounds like a viable option, but i would look into the legalities of it first.

sorry i can't be of more help.

henry

[lophius]

Henry,

Wow, that's a pretty impressive picture and exactly the reason why I would like another in an aquarium.

I have seen a few juveniles (very small 1-2" ) recently. I think i shall set about collecting some sponge and get a good stock in the freezer before buying the fish, in fact It might even be worth buying a couple of live tropical sponges for the aquarium to assist acclimating the fish to tank life. Do you think this is a good idea?

I know that I'll have no worries with the legality of collecting sponge, here in the UK the law surrounding collection of organisms from below the low water line is non - existent to poor at best. :(

In fact there is very little enforcement of minimum landing sizes for most of our commonly caught fish let alone sessile invertabrates that the majority of the population have no awareness of. I shall be careful with my collecting nevertheless.

[Jaffo_botz]

Sounds like you're determined to try your luck again with these fish. Like Henry mentioned, they are very difficult to keep....but it sounds like you are prepared to invest in what is known to keep this fish....

I don't know about the UK, but in the US, there are "formula" foods manufactured by Ocean Nutrition (Angel formula has sponge. There is also a Pygmy Fomula, made for the cent. sp, which has various algaes and meaty foodstuffs, not unlike what you used to feed your previous Rock Beauty).