What Columbia had to offer today

[Angela Short]

Went on a window shopping trip today to Columbia and wanted to share what all I found.

Pet Love has some real nice rock at $4.99 a lb if you can take the rodent smell ;) Nice coraline and shapes. I have lots of there rock.

Franklin Aquarium had Firefish Gobies for $12.99 each, a Green Christmas wrass they have had for 2 months and a nice Fat Lamark Angle in stock. Also a spotted mandarin FWIW but he was $49. I didn't realize they were so much higher than a regular mandarin. Thay also had a lot of nice looking diamond gobies in stock. I am going back Friday for a few goodies if anyone wants me to pick them something up.

[pitbullpooch]

wow pet love dropped there prices on rock. there rock is all ill buy from there since it is alot nicer then most you see even online. franklin aquarium is stocked nice at times and then sometimes they have nothing but they do a good job at keeping the place clean and the owner is a nice guy. I have him order stuff they dont stock alot of times and he dont charge me much more then id pay online. so there is actually a plus for the lfs here in columbia...somtimes. but i dont drool like i do when i go to ac lol. they dont have much here as far as corals go.

[Angela Short]

Yea they went up on the rock then down again I guess. I asked the owner today and he said $4.99 like old times :)

[Fanof49ASU]

Is the rock figi?

[Angela Short]

Looks like it, nice shapes all on the bigger side. Franklin had rock from k something :) Kanillia something or other for $6.99 but looks like figi to me ;)

[pitbullpooch]

yea its figi if its the same rock as they use to get. it has alot more color then rock that ive seen at other places. alot of people complimented me on my rock back when i had my nano's so it does look nice especially for the price compared to other places. if only you can get past the smell of the store like you said lol.

[KeepOnReefin]

how much are the diamond goby

[SRT80]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9125540#post9125540 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Angela Short
Looks like it, nice shapes all on the bigger side. Franklin had rock from k something :) Kanillia something or other for $6.99 but looks like figi to me ;)

Kaelini (sp?) Seen that at AC before.

Steve

[Angela Short]

$29.99 I think...

[pitbullpooch]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9125846#post9125846 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SRT80
Kaelini (sp?) Seen that at AC before.

Steve yea thats what it is and you spelled it right to :) i cheated and googled it to check the spelling lol

[gflat65]

Yup, Kaelini goes for a bit more than Fiji alot of times, but the shapes can colors of the coralline usually makes it worth it.

Angela,

Is the Green Christmas wrasse the same as the one you got at the swap? I'd never heard the descriptor Green before Christmas Wrasse, so I thougth I'd ask. BTW, $50 for a spotted mandarin is nuts. I paid $20 for mine and thought it was high (they are usually the same as green mandarins). I got mine from a small LFS in West Tn a couple of years ago... I guess the plus side is that a newbie won't go in and see the cool looking mandarin and say I gotta have it without knowing what they need (unless they really have money burning a hole in their pockets). I was that newbie ten years, but somehow provided everything it needed (at the time, the 'common wisdom', if you will, was that they would not live longer than 6 months... Mine made it almost four years before something ate a hole in its side).

[Angela Short]

Hmm, I will check him out and see. Looked the same from just a look over but I will look closer. Some people were asking me if the wrass from the swap was a "true christmas" wrass and named a scientific name but I had no clue. Is there a difference and people sell other fish as a christmas wrass? Anyone ever heard of a Red Christmas wrass? He said he had one of them in recently.

[DMBillies]

I thought I had heard that there were at least two species being called Christmas wrasses, but since I never considered buying one I never looked into it. So, I decided to do a quick search about them. I found two species (there may be more) that have the common name "Christmas wrasse." I got more hits on the second species (trilobatum) than I did on the first, but that doesn't necessarily make it the "true" christmas wrasse...I don't really know what that means. In any case, the one at the swap is a really cool fish and I'd say that species looks more "christmasy" (but maybe that's not a good way of making the decision).

This is the same problem you have with common names throughout the hobby for both fish and corals, the most annoying (IMO) is the Percula/False percula/Ocellaris business with clowns.


I would be interested to hear which species is actually considered the "true" Christmas wrasse (and whether or not I would then expect to pay more for that species compared to the other).

Christmas/Ornate Wrasse - Halichoeres ornatissimus (here (http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/wrassealsoseehogfish/christmaswrasse/))

Christmas Wrasse - Thalassoma trilobatum (here (http://www.hawaiisfishes.com/fish_of_month/past_fom/fom_12_03.htm))

[Angela Short]

he one from the swap looks exactly like the first pic, I love that sight BTW. I need to go look at him again at the store to get a better idea of his markings to be sure. Thanks for the info!

[pitbullpooch]

i go there every weekend and i have noticed the christmas wrasse but cant remember which one he looks like from the links DM provided. if you dont get there by the time i do ill look at it and post which one he is if you havnt yet. Ill try to make it there this evening. it will give me an excuse to buy something lol.

[gflat65]

The ornatissimus is not the original Christmas wrasse that most talk about. It is also called the Ornate wrasse. The Thalassoma isn't as reef friendly.

[Angela Short]

So if it doesn't look exactly like the one from the swap I should pass on him? I don't recall a very blue throat area. I will go see tommorow morning. I am planning on getting some of those firefish though at that price.

[SRT80]

Thats what I was about to say about the firefish. I would like to get one but I know the clowns wont have it. They killed my last one. Everytime it would come out they would chase it. I use to have just the one clown and the firefish and everything was ok, but I got my female a male and a few days later they got aggressive.

Steve

[luckyfish]

Steve,
Was this clown fish firefish conflict in your 20 galln? I'm setting up a 100 gallon and wanted both in there also.
thanks,
Tim

[mamagoose45]

lucky - FWIW, we have a maroon and 2 fire fish in our 90, and they could care less about one another, but the maroon did go in after the fire fish.

Before, when we had a pair of black & white ocellaris, we had a fire fish in the 90 with them, and they never bothered each other either...

[luckyfish]

Good to know, thanks

[SRT80]

lucky, my clowns just have issues....for real. When I use the mag float to clean the glass they attack it. If I put a new coral in there, the female will knock it off. If she cant move it, then she slings sand on it. When I put my hand in the tank to move something, they attack. If the baby ceriths snails are near their hairy shroom, she picks the snail up with her mouth and carrys it to the other side of the tank. I thought for sure they would kill the peppermint shrimp but they dont mind them. I figure since everything is good, they are happy just mean, I wont add anything else.

Steve

[stlver1]

that wrasse has been there for a long while.....ive been in there a couple times the last few months and had to talk myself out of buying him. he looks good though.

[luckyfish]

Thanks Steve. Do they make liquid Prozac? Were they laughed at as young fish?

[gflat65]

Angela,

As long as it looks like the first one, it's all good. There is likely some color variation, but I wouldn't expect anything too drastic (like from the first pic to the second pic of the two Christmas wrasses above).