Free to good home

[crpeck]

I stopped by Petco last night for dog food and walked through the fish section. I don't know why I even torture myself by doing that because it always makes me sad.

Anyway ... there in a cloudy tank with 12 dead snails, 2 dead little clownfish, and one on its way out was the prettiest little dottyback I've seen in a while. He's really tiny and was the only perky fish in there. He kept swimming to different hiding places and then peeking out at me. I COULDN'T STAND IT! I knew if he stayed there he'd die the water was so nasty in there. I've got my little 10 gallon macro algae farm going with no fish so I rescued him and put him in there for now and need to figure out what to do with him later if he lives. He's going to town on my overstock of copepods and seems to have acclimated well.

I'm not sure what kind he is. He looks really similar to the orange dottyback, but his bottom section is more a golden yellow and his top stripe is royal purple. He might be an inch long, but I don't think quite yet. He's so little and cute right now that you'd never guess what little terrors these guys can be if your tank isn't big enough.

I already have an orchid dottyback in my 55, so I don't think I could add this little guy without dottyback strife.

He'd be great for someone with a big tank, lots of rockwork who plans to stock with mostly bigger fish. I'd be happy to hold him in this 10 gallon to quarantine long enough to make sure he doesn't have Petco cooties. I wish I could keep him because he's a really, really pretty little fish.

Also free to good home = Brown Star Polyps. I took my big rock/main colony out and scraped a bunch off of the back wall that could be glued to a rock.

[crpeck]

p.s. I just got a better look at him and he may even be a neon dottyback because there is a definite glow to the blue stripes that run through his purple top.

I didn't know what he was when I bought him. The guy at the store said he was a bicolor blenny and I've been trying to ID him on line.

[scarson61]

I really need fish for my 75 gallon. right now I have a blue damsel, a clownfish, and a bi color blenny. The only one I would worry about is the bi color blenny but he seems to be able to handle the damsel. If you still have him I would be interested but I live in Oxford, MS so I would have to figure out when I could get him.
Sanford

[crpeck]

The thing with these kinds of fish is that you just never know. Species have patterns to some extent, but it all depends on conditions and circumstances in your tank. I have read horror stories about these guys, but then seen posts from plenty of people that say they have no problems with them and that these dottybacks are their favorite fish. The tank raised ones, which I'm confident this one is, are supposed to be much less aggressive.

This guy is small enough that you shouldn't have any problems with the fish you have now. I would expect that any problems you might have would be with any fish you want to add later after this guy got established and staked his territory. If you add him to your tank, anything you add in the future should be bigger and preferably an open swimmer like a Tang or Angel.

I really like this little fish. He sees me coming from across the room and comes out of the rockwork to interact. He's got a ton of personality and I can see how he suckered me into rescuing him. I'm in no huge hurry and since he came out of such a scummy tank he should probably stay in quarantine for a while anyway. Think about it and think about what fish you're planning for the future and just let me know. How often do you come to Memphis? I can hold him for a while if you know you want him.

Cathy

[scarson61]

Yes, I would like him. I agree it would be good to let him get use to living in good conditions and shed any bugs. I'll get with my wife and see if she wants to make a trip up there sometime soon.
Sanford
P.S. I have a couple of Kenya tree frags if you would like one.

[Larson]

That is indeed a Neon Dottyback, from ORA, and if he sold it to you for the Bicolor blenny price you saved yourself about $8. The clowns, neon's ( both goby's and dottybacks), any clams if you ever see any all come from ORA that supply Petco. Everything else is from Sunpet, which I'm pretty sure is all wild caught.

[crpeck]

Thanks, Larson
I guessed that he must be tank raised because he's sooooo little and soooo tame.

The guy who helped me was really nice and I could tell that they all felt bad about that tank he was in. They were just in the process of netting out the bodies while I was there and were really glad that I was taking him out of there. The guy that bagged him up said, "Get him out of this water as fast as you can." I think all the dead snails were the culprit why that tank looked so bad.

I didn't mean to rip off Petco. I honestly didn't know what he was when I bought him.

Fortunately between scarson or the St. Jude's tank, either way he has a home once he makes it through quarantine. He's still looking perky and hopefully won't break out with anything. I haven't seen him eat any fish food, but the tank I put him in was SO full of live food for him I'm not worried about his appetite.

Thanks for the info. I like the idea of captive raised vs wild caught fish.

Cathy