Pearls Of The Antilles... Llj's Planted Marine

[demasonisrule]

Very nice little group of fish. I remember my little chalk, they are great fish, and very hardy I might add.

 

[lljdma06]

Very nice little group of fish. I remember my little chalk, they are great fish, and very hardy I might add.

Thanks. Part of the reason I went with a Caribbean biotope. A lot of the fish are the tried and true in the SW aquarium trade. Very hardy, disease resistant, things like that. I'm only starting out. Why try to kill myself by keeping the most fragile species around? So keep the easy to keep species, but put them in an environment that's kinda cool.

Hopefully the group of chalk bass will work. I've read that they are great, but I've also read that they systematically kill each other until one remains. Haha, mixed bag there. So, I'll be watching these guys. Not a lot of people keep them in groups. They are that way in the wild. Seen them myself when I snorkel. What I think happens is that another type of bass gets mixed in the shoal and then kills. When young, tobacco bass look a lot like chalk bass. They share similar habitats.

L

 

[Donya]

but I've also read that they systematically kill each other until one remains.

Whenever I read this sort of thing about a fish, in addition to the possibility of wrong IDs you mentioned, I also have to think that somebody did something obviously dumb and chose to blame it on the species. Not feeding the animals enough and/or frequently enough is a classic.

 

[lljdma06]

Well, yeah. Gotta feed these guys.

The bad stories talk about crazy big chalk bass that like to be alone & kill everything in the tank. They say that their bass is 7" long. Uh, that's not a chalk bass. Chalk bass are 3". Now Tobacco bass reach 7" & have more solitary habits. That's why I saw my fish before I got them. The LFS has a small, 3" tobacco bass, so I was able to note the differences, though they do look similar.

It's an archived study supposedly. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[Donya]

I did have a monster guppy once that outgrew some of my mollies...but normally I would start wondering if a fish grew to twice the expected maximum size for the species . Maybe the info on the sizes for those fish wasn't as readily available when those cases happened (or maybe that's too much optimism LOL).

 

[MBOU]

For some reason i have always found the Tobacco bass to enjoy company of their own kind more so than the chalk bass when they are little. I think i prefer the tobacco bass for their colours but the chalk bass for their adult size.

Both are seriously underrated fish though! Gorgous!

 

[lljdma06]

I did have a monster guppy once that outgrew some of my mollies...but normally I would start wondering if a fish grew to twice the expected maximum size for the species . Maybe the info on the sizes for those fish wasn't as readily available when those cases happened (or maybe that's too much optimism LOL).

Haha, I'd wonder too, but with most fish in the SW trade not quite reaching full size, you can have a 5" tobacco cause trouble. I'm not sure if that data was available either. Again, this weekend I'll probably look for the article. It'd be an interesting read.

For some reason i have always found the Tobacco bass to enjoy company of their own kind more so than the chalk bass when they are little. I think i prefer the tobacco bass for their colours but the chalk bass for their adult size. I suspect that it's being picked on, though I don't have proof. Could also be getting spooked and then running into still unfamiliar rock work.

Both are seriously underrated fish though! Gorgous!

Not saying tobacco's aren't pretty, I just really like blue and the chalk bass has more blue. It'll be interesting to observe the behavior over time. Right now, they are sort of like as if cichlids and tiger barbs got together and had a love fish. They are staking out crevices in the rock to hide, but come out lightning fast for feeding. Voracious eaters. Pretty cool fish.

The gramma isn't doing as well. It's ok, but it's a lot more reclusive than the gramma in my 8g. If I continue to see that it's not thriving, I'll take it back to the store. I hate seeing a fish not thrive.

Female banded shrimp is holding eggs again. Go FREE FOOD!! Mysis is expensive

Sexy new black backgound. I'll try blue next week and see which one I like better

And videos...

 

[lljdma06]

Today I learned a lesson:

Even if the habits and coloration are vastly different and the books and forums generally say they are compatible, a basslet is still a basslet. Chalk bass and Royal grammas are both basslets & I should have gone with my gut that they are the same type of fish. The little teeny voice in your head that says "don't". Found the gramma dead this morning. Jawfish and Coral banded shrimp were eating it, but I don't think they did anything. What I think happened was that the chalk bass drove the gramma from its cave and it could then never settle in a spot. 4 against one. It got stressed and died. I was actually planning on taking it back today. Spent the whole morning testing the water. Everything's fine.

Journals are warts and all. Don't always listen to what the books and people say. It's not always ok. I'm a bit miffed, as I don't stock impulsively. That stocking took a lot of planning and I hate losing livestock.

 

[Biulu]

Sorry to hear that Liz, but as you said: you learned the lesson...

 

[lljdma06]

Sorry to hear that Liz, but as you said: you learned the lesson...

Hugs would still be nice...

 

[Biulu]

Here you are, some virtual hugs:

 

[lljdma06]

Here you are, some virtual hugs:

Awwwwww, thank you.

L

 

[StandbySetting]

Sorry to here that Liz, but we all learn from mistakes

 

[MBOU]

(((((((((((((((((((((((Lis)))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I would never have assumed this would happen! I have kept them both together, though obviously in tanks with less decor... or with 1 chalk bass and 1 gramma and they got on.. but not ideal for chalk bass...

Maybe they learn better manners on being imported unlike our common percs ***sigh***

Im sorry for the loss, its gutting to lose a fish, more so when it was when you were planning to change things but it happened over night.

Hope you are ok!

Gemma x

 

[lljdma06]

I'm fine, MBOU, I'm just kinda at a loss. As you said, you wouldn't have expected it. I certainly know better than to mix Gramma species & tell people likewise. I also know not to mix Serranus species. But I guess chalk bass are just similar enough to a gramma & they are perhaps more assertive if they are in greater numbers. Again, they are not often kept in groups. It's a bit experimental what I'm doing. The jawfish are fine. Completely different kind of fish.

I actually wish I had 1-2 more chalk bass. I'm uneasy with 4, if some come in & if I choose to get them, I'll have to rescape the tank & then add them all at once again. Not a huge hassle, but an inconvenience.

Thanks everybody. You are being super nice.