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Garibaldi? What do you guys think.


AquaticEngineer

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AquaticEngineer

I think I've found 3 different websites to order juvenile Garibaldis from today. What do you guys think, should I get one for my big system? Its a 200 gallon with a 110 gallon sump.

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They look like orange napoleanfish to me... just waaay smaller. Will bring lots of color to the tank. I have no clue what kind of space they require, but if it's pretty close to your tank size, then get them.

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o wait your tank is temperate lol

 

yeah sure a garibaldi would be cool

 

i know nothing much about them

 

If it's a temperate fish... 10x cooler! (no pun intended) :P

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Is it a reputable website? If so I say do it! They're very territorial like most other damselfish so I think one is good for your tank.

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AquaticEngineer

A local fish shop offered me trade in livestock for a calcium reactor I was trying to sell ( which I got for free :lol: ) I told him the only thing I was looking for that he might be able to get would be either a school of Hula Fish, some Garibaldi's, or a bunch more Catalina Gobies.

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AquaticEngineer
The only thing is they get pretty huge, and will eat smaller fish as an adult :/

But they are very cool as juvis, always active

 

I figured on trying several juveniles and just keeping one male and multiple females. As they get older the males get a large bump to their heads and their anal fins are more pointed. The cool thing is since my tank is 3 feet tall, I'm going to take a shot at growing kelp in a portion of the tank spot lighted by a tight optic Par38 bulb. I'm hoping that with the combination of tall kelp, and lots of rock structures that the Garibaldis will have plenty of places to hide from each other.

 

If you've got the room for them. You think they'd eat catalina gobies?

 

They may when they are older, but they are found in the wild together, not that it means they wont eat them though :lol: I imagine they will be fine for quite some time, the Catalina gobies are some of the most cryptic fish I've ever had. If you give them anywhere to hide, they will take advantage of it, at least until the food comes :D

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At $129 each, I'd try to find someone who has actually kept them, to get an idea of their space requirements, to avoid a costly lesson about what's too small. I can tell you that when I see them scuba diving (me, not them), they are visibly territorial, and usually have a little depression filled with a short red algae that they keep tidy (not kelp). They warn divers to keep away by snapping their beaks loudly, and they are usually found where it is shallow and surgy. You don't see them north of Monterey Bay, so they might not do well in water that is consistently below 53 degrees.

 

Here are a couple links that might help

Article

FAQ

 

Also, I've found the people at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro Ca (Los Angeles) to be helpful and knowledgeable about local species. They are a small "teaching" aquarium with a mission to help students with student projects, and I'll bet the staff there have kept garibaldi in tanks your size, and will be willing to help you if you don't sound like a Ca local who plans to go out and break the law (garibaldi are illegal to take from the wild here in Ca)

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Also, I've found the people at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro Ca (Los Angeles) to be helpful and knowledgeable about local species. They are a small "teaching" aquarium with a mission to help students with student projects, and I'll bet the staff there have kept garibaldi in tanks your size, and will be willing to help you if you don't sound like a Ca local who plans to go out and break the law (garibaldi are illegal to take from the wild here in Ca)

 

Another good aquarium that would achieve a similar purpose is the Birch Aquarium at Scripps in La Jolla. http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/

 

Personally I appreciate them best in their natural habitat, but if kept correctly - and not obtained from Californian waters - they would certainly be a great addition to any tank.

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The ones in the trade are from Mexico, so I wouldn't take it below 60 at all. Probably too cool. Definitely don't want to go above 70 either.

 

Sizewise, they need something like a 300g minimum as adults. Imagine a full grown large angelfish and that's about how big they get.

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AquaticEngineer
The ones in the trade are from Mexico, so I wouldn't take it below 60 at all. Probably too cool. Definitely don't want to go above 70 either.

 

Sizewise, they need something like a 300g minimum as adults. Imagine a full grown large angelfish and that's about how big they get.

 

The mid 60's temperatures that everyone associates with these fish are surface temperatures. Go down 20- 30 meters and its definately not in the 60's.

 

I've decided not to bother with a Garibaldi just yet though.

 

200 gallons is a lot of room, but there is a lot more interesting fish I can collect for free for my tank as opposed to paying $80 for a single fish that will be extremely territorial.

 

$80 in gas is like 3 trips to the coast and back for me in my Subaru, which translates to a lot of free fish and inverts :D

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The mid 60's temperatures that everyone associates with these fish are surface temperatures. Go down 20- 30 meters and its definately not in the 60's.

 

Where?

 

You can find them in 5 feet of water, and again these are specimens coming from Mexico. Above Point Conception you don't really see these guys. Below 60 is the colder range of where they are found. 60-65 is a perfectly reasonable temp range for them to live for years and years.

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The Are Way Cool fish... i have snorkeled with them in San Diego... from what i have heard they are illegal to have in California... they are the state fish

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This very second in the Channel Islands the the surface temperature is 58 degrees, in the summer, at the surface.

 

Right. That is the practical northern end of their range. The specimens in the aquarium trade are from Mexico, where the water is much warmer.

 

The SST in San Diego and points immediately south in Mexico is >68F at the moment:

http://www.sccoos.ucsd.edu/data/ostia/regions.php?r=soCal

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AquaticEngineer
Right. That is the practical northern end of their range. The specimens in the aquarium trade are from Mexico, where the water is much warmer.

 

The SST in San Diego and points immediately south in Mexico is >68F at the moment:

http://www.sccoos.ucsd.edu/data/ostia/regions.php?r=soCal

 

True, but again, a surface temperature.

 

Talk to any diver who has been below the visable light penetration and ask them what the temperature was.

 

I just think that most of the people pushing these Garibaldis into the tropical trade are stretching the truth a bit. The temps they are giving are all surface temps, and usually on the high end of what the surface temps get to.

 

If I kept all my local temperate stuff at what the trending surface temps are shown through NOAA's data base, then my tank would have a temp range of 42F - 67F.

 

Even California surface temps swing from 55F - 70F.

 

Deeper water will stay at a more constant temperature than the surface will, so the surface temps are misleading.

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True, but again, a surface temperature.

 

Talk to any diver who has been below the visable light penetration and ask them what the temperature was.

 

I just think that most of the people pushing these Garibaldis into the tropical trade are stretching the truth a bit. The temps they are giving are all surface temps, and usually on the high end of what the surface temps get to.

 

If I kept all my local temperate stuff at what the trending surface temps are shown through NOAA's data base, then my tank would have a temp range of 42F - 67F.

 

Even California surface temps swing from 55F - 70F.

 

Deeper water will stay at a more constant temperature than the surface will, so the surface temps are misleading.

 

Garibaldi are found on the surface, so surface temperature is an appropriate guide to go by. Since visible light is necessary for Garibaldi's diet of algae, I don't know what relevance the temperature of the water below that depth is. ;)

 

I am providing an approximate median temperature range for the species, erring towards the warmer side due to the specimens one would encounter coming from the southern end of their geographical range.

 

I could just as easily point out that Garibaldi are found in 75 degree water at the southernmost part of their range at Guadalupe Island. I don't think that is an appropriate temperature to keep them at for the same reasons it's not appropriate to keep tropical reef fish at 88 degrees.

 

I can appreciate the arguments about retailers stretching the truth, but that's not what I'm doing. I have experience keeping these fish, do you? We have a couple monsters that have been with us for years and years...we keep them in the mid 60's varying from around 63-66F. Can you keep them lower? Sure, Monterey keeps them in the 50s and they seem to do fine, but you can keep them higher and they will also do well. Keep in mind I'm talking about fish that were captured in Southern California--ones that come from Mexico (the collection locale of 100% of the Garibaldi that a hobbyist will be purchasing) are going to be adapted to even higher temperatures.

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  • 5 months later...

I see about 1000000000 wild Garibaldi a year. They are super territorial and get about 1.5' long. Seen them in Northern California (gets in the 40s) to the Pacific side of Baja Sur (gets to be in the high 70s).

Here's some very amateur photos

Juvie

8328_130146921661_554971661_2623303_5102933_n.jpg

Adult

8328_130146881661_554971661_2623296_782198_n.jpg

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If you're looking for a west coast fish that can handle extreme temperatures, check out spotted bay bass. They can handle low 50 to mid 80 degree water no problem.

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AquaticEngineer
I see about 1000000000 wild Garibaldi a year. They are super territorial and get about 1.5' long. Seen them in Northern California (gets in the 40s) to the Pacific side of Baja Sur (gets to be in the high 70s).

If you can figure out how to legally collect them let me know ;)

 

 

If you're looking for a west coast fish that can handle extreme temperatures, check out spotted bay bass. They can handle low 50 to mid 80 degree water no problem.

 

Cool fish, but it looks like it maxes out to big for me. I just passed on bringing home a 12" Red Irish Lord yesterday for that same reason. (Although I may go back and get him anyways since he was so cool looking )

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