Tank has now been running for 3 months. So far pretty happy with everything. Still looking for an apex trident but they are all out of stock here in Canada.
I added a second foxface not long ago. It was immediately beat up pretty bad by the other larger one that was already in the system. Similar to when I had pbass or first got the tangs I just let the aggression run it’s course. The foxface had torn fins, marks all over the body and started to get ick due to the stress. I increased my feedings and doubled water changes for two weeks. Last few days I have started to notice a lot of improvement. The smaller foxface shows no signs of ick, fins have healed to some extent, showing regular coloration, constantly out from hiding, and noticeably less aggression from the larger one. It still gets chased around but it looks like that will end soon.
Something I have learned in this hobby is that immediate aggression is inevitable. A hierchy has to be established amongst the fish. Normally this lasts 1-2 weeks. If aggression continues after a month than it’s no longer an establishment of hierchy but a fish being a bully. Point of this being that if one of your new introductions doesn’t work out give it a chance. Remove the fish if the condition gets critical. I was very close to pulling the foxface but he kept eating so I let it go.
As for those of you thinking I just introduced ick into my display. I have been doing the Paul B reef method since I first read about it a few years ago. I do not QT my fish. My display system always has/had ick. I say had as a few studies demonstrate that without new strains of ick being added to the population the parasite dies within the system around 8 months. I actually intentionally add fish without QT in order to increase the strains of ick within my system that they can become immune to. In my experience ick is the easiest saltwater parasite to overcome. Feed your fish well for a week using bacteria rich foods and it will disappear. A fish that overcomes ick will often not show signs again assuming it’s health is maintained. The ick will still be present within the system but the fish has become “immune”. When I added the butterflyfish it blew up in the parasite. Fed bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and black worms soaked in fish oil and vitamins for a week and he overcame it without issues. Added the tangs and not a single fish broke out in ick including the ick prone tangs. The reason I believe is that when I first got them they went through the immunization process over 3 years ago. I have transported them in a bucket over 5 hours, added them into a mini/semi cycled tank and they still did not show any signs of the parasite. The small most recent foxface showed signs of ick for around a week. No other fish in the tank displayed any signs as they are all kept in “spawning” condition. I feed frozen/fresh whole foods daily often soaked in fish oil or vitamin supplements which I would say is a big part of the success I have. A lot of things I do in saltwater most would say does not work but for me they have been proven effective.
My current stock is as follows:
1 sailfin tang
1 purple tang
1 blue tang
5 occelaris clowns
1 black occelaris clown
1 lawnmower blenny
1 green spotted mandarin
1 red mandarin
1 butterflyfish
1 one spot foxface ranbitfish
1 foxface rabbitfish
I added a second foxface not long ago. It was immediately beat up pretty bad by the other larger one that was already in the system. Similar to when I had pbass or first got the tangs I just let the aggression run it’s course. The foxface had torn fins, marks all over the body and started to get ick due to the stress. I increased my feedings and doubled water changes for two weeks. Last few days I have started to notice a lot of improvement. The smaller foxface shows no signs of ick, fins have healed to some extent, showing regular coloration, constantly out from hiding, and noticeably less aggression from the larger one. It still gets chased around but it looks like that will end soon.
Something I have learned in this hobby is that immediate aggression is inevitable. A hierchy has to be established amongst the fish. Normally this lasts 1-2 weeks. If aggression continues after a month than it’s no longer an establishment of hierchy but a fish being a bully. Point of this being that if one of your new introductions doesn’t work out give it a chance. Remove the fish if the condition gets critical. I was very close to pulling the foxface but he kept eating so I let it go.
As for those of you thinking I just introduced ick into my display. I have been doing the Paul B reef method since I first read about it a few years ago. I do not QT my fish. My display system always has/had ick. I say had as a few studies demonstrate that without new strains of ick being added to the population the parasite dies within the system around 8 months. I actually intentionally add fish without QT in order to increase the strains of ick within my system that they can become immune to. In my experience ick is the easiest saltwater parasite to overcome. Feed your fish well for a week using bacteria rich foods and it will disappear. A fish that overcomes ick will often not show signs again assuming it’s health is maintained. The ick will still be present within the system but the fish has become “immune”. When I added the butterflyfish it blew up in the parasite. Fed bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and black worms soaked in fish oil and vitamins for a week and he overcame it without issues. Added the tangs and not a single fish broke out in ick including the ick prone tangs. The reason I believe is that when I first got them they went through the immunization process over 3 years ago. I have transported them in a bucket over 5 hours, added them into a mini/semi cycled tank and they still did not show any signs of the parasite. The small most recent foxface showed signs of ick for around a week. No other fish in the tank displayed any signs as they are all kept in “spawning” condition. I feed frozen/fresh whole foods daily often soaked in fish oil or vitamin supplements which I would say is a big part of the success I have. A lot of things I do in saltwater most would say does not work but for me they have been proven effective.
My current stock is as follows:
1 sailfin tang
1 purple tang
1 blue tang
5 occelaris clowns
1 black occelaris clown
1 lawnmower blenny
1 green spotted mandarin
1 red mandarin
1 butterflyfish
1 one spot foxface ranbitfish
1 foxface rabbitfish
