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THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD


ZephNYC

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albertthiel
Albert , I have been working all afternoon so have not read all the posts however do you mind if I issue a word of warning regarding Anthias? Especially given that this is a nano forum I know of no Anthias that are considered suitable for a nano aquarium. These fish are regarded as not the easiest to keep and require a fair amount of space to prosper and do well. Most recommend a tank of 100 gallons plus to keep these fish happy. I don't know what your view on this is but I would be interested to hear it.

 

Thanks.

 

Les.

 

Yes they are indeed difficult fish to keep and have very specific requirements in terms of swimming space, meaning tank size, food, and lighting, and need hiding spots and cannot IME be kept with fish that are larger than they are as they will be bullied and will not make it. I seem t remember that it is also a good idea to keep a number of them together and that they should all come from the same batch (dealer and same tank) meaning they must have lived together.

 

Also I would not buy any Anthias of any kind, unless I have "seen" them eat myself.

 

Anyone who read this please feel free to add your thoughts to this thread.

 

Again these are not fish for the beginner. I will post another thread on them in the next few days.

 

Albert

 

 

Of course - anthias by no means suitable for any nano, or even a tank smaller than 60 gallons or so for a single fish (they love having their personal space ;) ).

 

They sure do and IME they do a lot better when several are kept together in a large tank ... see my earlier post replying to Les

 

Albert

 

 

The reason I issue this warning is simply many start into marines and on reading this thread might get the idea a nano is in some way suitable for 3 or 4 of these beautiful fish. We have all heard horror stories of people putting tangs, the larger angels and puffer fish etc in tanks far from suitable size wise for such fish. We all have a duty of care when it comes to providing the best we can for our animals and fish are no exception. I just felt it necessary to inform the uninitiated that these beautiful fish need a good sized tank amongst many other things like regular feeding and IMO 4 or 5 times a day. Anthias are constant feeders in the wild and constantly pick plankton etc from the water current which is another thing these fish like best along with excellent water quality.

 

IME very high quality water and no strong flow ... beginners beware this is NOT a nano tank fish ....

 

Albert

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@Zeph Yesterday I was standing up some of the clams at my LFS (because they had fallen over), and some squirted water at my hand. Like it was a distinct stream of water. Can they do this?

Zeph?

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Zeph?

 

Yes clams can do this and in fact I have seen large clams squirt water with such force that from the bottom of a 2' deep tank it come out the waters surface.Clams can be considered one big powerful mussel which can expel water at extreme force.

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YES!! I love when that happens...only super healthy clams do that. Sorry i missed you earlier.

Yes it was a golden teardrop and that thing is goregous. But it likes to flip in its sides so I always right it. Question: Is 120$ good for a golden teardrop that's 5-6 inches long?

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Yes it was a golden teardrop and that thing is goregous. But it likes to flip in its sides so I always right it. Question: Is 120$ good for a golden teardrop that's 5-6 inches long?

 

yes, that is a decent price..i would pay it.

 

edit: ESPECIALLY since it is spitting on yo...i would get it and quarantine it.

Edited by ZephNYC
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albertthiel
YES!! I love when that happens...only super healthy clams do that. Sorry i missed you earlier.

 

Yes and for someone who has never seen it happen it can be scary or frightening or give them a shock and wonder what is going on ....

 

There's always something interesting to report that others may not know ....

 

Like OOP my Trigger who used to eat out of my hand (I said out of not eating my hand :) )

 

Albert

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albertthiel

Petco did have their $1 a gallon aquarium content ...

 

I got a 20 long and a 20 high for $40.00 ... nice deal ....

 

Now I just have to do all the mods on both so I can set up an aquarium sump combination but I may start with the 20 high and add the sump at a later date ... obviously that will take some doing but I am sure I can figure it out ...

 

At least now I have the tanks ...

 

Albert

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jedimasterben

What are ya'lls opinions on phytoplankton for anthias and chromis? I notice that after dosing live phyto in my tank with both, they seem to go pretty nuts for a good hour or two.

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albertthiel
I had one actually. B)

I named him Happy. But, err, I , ah, had to, umm, send him away. I got yelled on the forum for it too!

But he was really a sweet aiptasia. :huh:

 

Here are 2 pics of Hidden cup coral (found it referred to as Phyllangia Americana)

 

hiddencup1.png

 

hiddencup2.png

 

The second one looks a lot more like what we were trying to identify ...

 

Good call Kat ... I believe it was you ...

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Petco did have their $1 a gallon aquarium content ...

 

I got a 20 long and a 20 high for $40.00 ... nice deal ....

 

Now I just have to do all the mods on both so I can set up an aquarium sump combination but I may start with the 20 high and add the sump at a later date ... obviously that will take some doing but I am sure I can figure it out ...

 

At least now I have the tanks ...

 

Albert

 

Another option is a HOB (hang On back) refugium as I have Albert. Wont give you as much gallonage as a sump or as much space to put equipment in for I know many who have them and grow cheato and have lots of pods in them to feed the tank. Mine also has a DSB in it but it wont process much in the way of nitrate its more for worms etc.

 

Here's a few pic's of mine.

Fuge001-1.jpg

Fuge002-1.jpg

Fuge015.jpg

Fuge017.jpg

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albertthiel
Another option is a HOB (hang On back) refugium as I have Albert. Wont give you as much gallonage as a sump or as much space to put equipment in for I know many who have them and grow cheato and have lots of pods in them to feed the tank. Mine also has a DSB in it but it wont process much in the way of nitrate its more for worms etc.

 

Here's a few pic's of mine.

Fuge001-1.jpg

Fuge002-1.jpg

Fuge015.jpg

Fuge017.jpg

 

That would indeed be an option ... did you build it or did you get it pre-built ... I am sure the exist so I will have to look for one as that may have them for sale probably here in the US but I have not researched it.

 

If anyone knows who sells them please let me know. Thanks

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It's mine you pig! Haha and I'm turning in my large GSP rock for coral credit.

 

 

Thats cool...I'll just get your IP address and NAP THAT $&%*TT!!

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albertthiel
Thats cool...I'll just get your IP address and NAP THAT $&%*TT!!

 

Tricky tricky Zeph ...

 

Notice how all the purple queens looks like they are doing so good in the pictures with the tubastrea sun corals. The perfect combination as both require the same foods. I have anthia schools in all my systems except the seahorse one. I used to and a dispar developed a relationship with one particular seahorse and would nudge it until the horse would wrap his tail around it. And they would sit there..seahorse hanging on the fish. It was great. Anyway, i feed them live baby brine shrimp at least 4 times daily. frozen mysis once daily, flake food ( more for the tangs but they eat the tiny pieces) twice daily. So these guys eat like 7 - 8 times daily. Ive had pictilis pairs, but always lost the males. I love Bimaculatus males. Something else interesting about Anthias is they are one of the few species where adults can change sex according to school domination. If you get a small group of females, eventually one will convert and completely change colors.

anthias2.jpg

 

Zeph ... is that your 1000 gallon tank ? Just kidding

 

Albert

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Tricky tricky Zeph ...

 

 

 

Zeph ... is that your 1000 gallon tank ? Just kidding

 

Albert

 

Actually Albert...Yea it is!!!! just kidding

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albertthiel
Actually Albert...Yea it is!!!! just kidding

 

Knowing you though I would not have been surprised if you had one hidden somewhere ...

 

BTW ... have you seen KAT's killer pod ? No .. here it is

 

killerpod.png

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That is Joe Yaiullo's 20,000g tank at the Long Island Aquarium.

 

What are ya'lls opinions on phytoplankton for anthias and chromis? I notice that after dosing live phyto in my tank with both, they seem to go pretty nuts for a good hour or two.

 

Phytoplankton is much too small for any fish to eat. They may be acting differently because of the smell.

 

For anthias and chromis, live artemia nauplii *enriched* with phytoplankton make a really great staple diet, as well as bits of frozen seafood like clam, prawn, squid, krill. Easy way to prep these is to rake frozen seafood across a fine cheese grater. Coldwater mysis shrimp (hint, Piscine Energetics brand), fish eggs, and cyclop-eeze are good foods in small amounts, but are very fatty so should not be a large part of the diet IMO. The effect of feeding too much of these is that your fish get fatty deposits that start to crush their other organs and kill them prematurely. Yes, fish can and do get obese!

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albertthiel
That would indeed be an option ... did you build it or did you get it pre-built ... I am sure the exist so I will have to look for one as that may have them for sale probably here in the US but I have not researched it.

 

If anyone knows who sells them please let me know. Thanks

 

Hang on Fuge .... does anyone know who sells them ... Thanks

 

Albert

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Notice how all the purple queens looks like they are doing so good in the pictures with the tubastrea sun corals.

 

It doesn't just look that way, those fish have been with me for 5 years now and are super healthy. We acquired all as females and they have since turned into males. Without patting my own back too hard I have not seen anybody else keep Pseudanthias tuka looking this good in captivity.

 

I wrote this article a few years ago on their care:

http://www.reefsmagazine.com/forum/reefs-m...ka-anthias.html

 

20091015-DSC_0106-1.jpg

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albertthiel
That is Joe Yaiullo's 20,000g tank at the Long Island Aquarium.

 

 

 

Phytoplankton is much too small for any fish to eat. They may be acting differently because of the smell.

 

For anthias and chromis, live artemia nauplii *enriched* with phytoplankton make a really great staple diet, as well as bits of frozen seafood like clam, prawn, squid, krill. Easy way to prep these is to rake frozen seafood across a fine cheese grater. Coldwater mysis shrimp (hint, Piscine Energetics brand), fish eggs, and cyclop-eeze are good foods in small amounts, but are very fatty so should not be a large part of the diet IMO. The effect of feeding too much of these is that your fish get fatty deposits that start to crush their other organs and kill them prematurely. Yes, fish can and do get obese!

 

That is real good info for those who want to keep those kind of fish but I still would like to add that one has to carefully look into the space requirements of whatever fish one adds as if the tank is too small problems will eventually arise and come about IME .... I do not want to scare anyone off but whenever adding anything to an aquarium IMO research is needed on not only what size tank it should go in but also on what may cause it to have problems (basically other lifeforms that are in the tank already).

 

Research and asking questions is therefore really important and this forum and what one can find on the net are good ways to gather as much information as one can.

 

FWIW

 

It doesn't just look that way, those fish have been with me for 5 years now and are super healthy. We acquired all as females and they have since turned into males. Without patting my own back too hard I have not seen anybody else keep Pseudanthias tuka looking this good in captivity.

 

I wrote this article a few years ago on their care:

http://www.reefsmagazine.com/forum/reefs-m...ka-anthias.html

 

20091015-DSC_0106-1.jpg

 

That is a SUPER looking specimen indeed Wombat ... thanks for posting the picture for everyone to see.

 

And yes you are probably right that no one else has done so ... at least not that I have seen or read about.

 

Great work .... thanks

 

Another real nice one and not easy to keep is Pseudoanthias ventralis

 

pseudoanthiasventralis.png

Edited by albertthiel
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Hang on Fuge .... does anyone know who sells them ... Thanks

 

Albert

 

I am sure you must be able to buy them in the US. My is made by a UK company called Cleartides. They make a number of sizes and are quite popular. Here's a link to their nano one but check out their others.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMPLETE-REFUGIU...=item5632128b90

 

hey atoll who's that guy in those pics behind your tank?

 

the old dead dude from history class

 

Nelson4.jpg

n1.jpg

 

England's most famous admiral of all time, in fact most famous across the world.

Edited by atoll
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