Sea Apples??

[BloatedSwimBladder]

I have done some research on Sea Apples and have read all the horror stories about them killing everything in the tank when they die and all the other bad things,:eek: But, it seems to me that if LFS's are selling them, some of you must own them!! I would like to hear some success stories about sea apples. What did you to to keep them happy? How long have you had them? What did you feed it? etc....

I really want to get one. I am willing to set up a species only tank, but am not sure how big it would be.

Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

PS. Don't bother "flaming" me over wanting a sea apple, I am not going to read them anyway:p

[dc]

Well a lady here in town had one, loved it. One day she saw it releasing brightly colored eggs. She said it was awesome!! Her fish were going crazy eating them. "Free food" Within a half hour every fish in her tank was dead. :D

[slimytadpole]

Just because they are being bought, doesn't mean it's by people here. LFSs sell lots of moorish idols, mandarin fish, sand-sifting starfish, wet-drys, and Skilters, too.

[DgenR8]

BloatedSwimBladder,
I'll say [welcome]

But I cannot recommend buying a Sea Apple.

[ReefFreak365]

Are you talking about Green Mandarin Gobies when you say (Mandarin fish?) Why would you not want to buy one of those?
Ive had one for about 2 years in my 55 gallon reef and he's always seemed real happy. Is there something i should know?

[DgenR8]

ReefFreak365,
If you do a search on Manderins, you'll see that for the most part, this is a difficult fosh to keep. Every LFS sells them, cheap. People buy them and put them in immature tanks that cannot support the special feeding needs of this animal.
BTW, Manderins are not Gobies, they are Dragonetts.

[WatchUrSix]

mandarin fish are not that hard to keep. yes they have a diet that you need to be ready for, but if you have one little booger to feed it, there are millions in the tank. all you have to do is wait for the tank to grow a little. I've had my tank for 6months and i put him in on the 3rd month. He's a porker now, he's a great fish.

[BloatedSwimBladder]

I didn't mean to start a great mandarin war. i just wanted to know if anybody out there has had sucess with a sea apple.:eek1:

[KarenH]

We had a purple and yellow sea apple about a year ago for an 8 gallon reef nano. It was before I discovered reefcentral.com and didn't know better. It slowly starved to death--kept shrinking--and we ended up having to remove it.

[figuerres]

Originally posted by BloatedSwimBladder
I didn't mean to start a great mandarin war. i just wanted to know if anybody out there has had sucess with a sea apple.:eek1:

:D
/me Pictures great armys of stranegly asian fish / warlords preparing for battle... Er wasent that Star Wars Ep 1?
:)

[Rube]

Had one for two years in my 55. He found a spot facing a powerhead (far enough away for the current to be gentle) and stayed there. I occasionally target fed him brine shrimp or flakes, he seemed to be healthy. Unfortunately, I didn't have air conditioning or a chiller & he died in a heat wave (pulled him out when he looked bad, he didn't poison the tank). I hesitate to post this, knowing it might convince people to get them who might have worse experiences than I did, but if you don't have much to lose in your tank (I didn't at the time), it's actually an interesting creature (it's feeding motions are hypnotic).

[ToeCutter]

I keep a pair of Sea Apples in a 10 gal nano tank (no fish).

I haven't had them for too long (less than 6 months), so mine isn't a "success" story, yet.

Powerheads shouldn't be used without taking precation to ensure that an apple couldn't get sucked into one.

So, without any fish to worry about, the big question is whether you can keep them fed.

I've fed the following:

DT's phtoplankton
Kent Microvert food (liquid)
golden pearls
my own food, which is basically various fish, shellfish, squid, seaweed, etc. mixed in a blender (from "Aquarium Corals")
ground up spirulina flake
daphnia
Tetra fish food pellets

I think people assume that Sea Apples feed on liquid/tiny particulate foods, but from my own observations, they seem to prefer solid foods, such as daphnia and crunched up spirulina flake. When they are fed something they like, they will eat much faster.

I was really shocked to see them eat pellet food, which I thought would be too large.

So, I've just been trying to feed them often, and alternate what I feed them.

[BloatedSwimBladder]

thanks rube and toe cutter. I was hoping to get that type of information.:D