Lucky Fish

[richard t]

I went to my local fish shop to acquire a chunk of live rock, the rock was duly purchased and put in a plastic bag (with no water), 15 minutes later the rock was in the tank. JOB DONE! The next day this little beauty appeared from the said rock!! Went back to shop to see what i had been given the label on the now empty tank read Orchid Gramma £39. As an upstanding member of the community i left saying nothing ). The last freebe i had on a rock was a bristle worm .I couldn't find Orchid Gramma in my book? But it's ID does fit Strawberry Gramma or Orchid Dottyback. This fish has a blue line near the eye, which may prove to be definitive. Whatever it is, lucky for me it lived in the rock. LUCKY FOR THE FISH IT SURVIVED THE TRIP HOME!!

 

[Navarre]

Orchid Dotty back or sometimes called a royal dottyback i think.

Beautiful fish and one of my personal favs. Very lucky hitchhiker indeed!

 

[bunjiweb]

Silly of the shop assistant to not check. If a shop is going to take LR from a tank with fish in they should make sure that all the fish priced are in the tank before removing some pieces.

Ben

 

[Christs_Knight]

Ben nearly ever post i have seen you make has some sort of negativity in it man... cool down abit yea? i have never seen a worker look in all the holes to see if ne thing is in there. Called hitch hikers, nothing ilegal bout that dude.

 

[bunjiweb]

But if they are going to sell live rocks from a tank where they also keep fish surely it is the sensible thing to do? I would personally have though it better if the live-rock in a seperate tank or container.

I didnt say it was illegal, i said it was silly, and theres nothing wrong with saying what i really think!...

We call those fish Strawberry Dottybacks at work, but if this is their "official" common name i don't know.

 

[fraservet]

most shops I go to will not sell you LR from actual stock tanks - presumably for this very reason. It's a shame, because often they put the nicest looking pieces in these tanks.

It's amazing how long fish can sometimes survive - one time I took a piece of bogwood out of a freshwater tank when I was moving the tank. It must have been an hour before I noticed the catfish attached to it!
Still living today.

 

[steelhealr]

LOl..I must be the only honest dude here (just teasing). I called in an order today with liveaquaria. They had credited me for my goby/shrimp order because I had emailed them that it looked DOA. Well..they both survived, but, the favites didn't make it. So..they had overcredited me. I brought it to their attention (my order today would have been free). Well..they gave me a $25 credit for being honest.

Anyway, I'd call that fish a hitchhiker and as such..it is clearly yours. Amazing sometimes, like the my yashia goby, how resilient some of these animals are. On the flip side, also how sensitive. Beautiful fish. SH

 

[billa_bong]

I work at a fish store and see little crabs/snails/shrimps on corals and liverock all the time.

One time I saw like a 20 dollar crab in the middle of soft coral, that customer got a nice surprise

I think of it this way, Fish stores are already killing you on the price per pound. Here in SOCAL i can drive 10 minutes to the wholesaler and hand pick it for 2 dollars a pound and the same stuff is 6 dollars a pound at my store.

So it's a nice treat finding a little hitchiking...fish? good find