callen

Kudos to John and all that organized the meeting!! Nicely done! To Scott- Great as always to see you and thank you so much for a great presentation! PS Stay away from the glue (whistle)

It is pretty neat. Matt has come a long way with tank raised Mandarins and very happy that he has been able to get them to eat prepared foods. It's huge for this hobby.

Matt thinks it's a mix of A. Ocellaris and A. Percula that were highly breed at one point in Puerto Rico. As you can see on the adults only partial middle band. The babies are 5 months.

Forgot to post a picture of the parents.

Wanted to share some articles by Matt Wittenrich. He has come alone way with breeding Mandarins and getting them to eat prepared food. The article Miniature Mandarin Beer Mug Diner are babies from my male mandarin he has. Very proud http://microcosmaqx.typepad.com/matt_wittenrich/

Thought I'd share a picture Matt Wittenrich sent me of the babies from my breeding pair of clowns he has.

Understand and thanks for the explanation.

Dave I'm curious to your comment on spawning age? Ours spawned at that size 2-2 1/2 in, but not sure on age. Thanks Dave...I would love to. And yes we are trying to narrow down some dates for Matt's visit.

How big are these clowns? Matt is an awesome guy and wrote a great book. Please feel free to PM me with questions. I talk to Matt often as he has our two clowns and our male Mandarin that he has had great success in spawning. Sorry off topic.

The behavior your seeing is normal. It's the female showing who is boss and sounds like they may be getting ready to spawn. We had a matting pair (now Matt Wittenrich has them) and what you have described is what they would do a few days before spawning.

I have also treated Ich with using garlic. It's fast, safe and will help boost the the fishes immune system. For the tang the best way to get garlic into them is with Nori seaweed. Just place a few drops onto the seaweed let is soak in and then clip it to a veggie clip and place in tank. Also have you thought of adding a Cleaner shrimp to the tank? One thing to keep in mind with Ich it will reoccur if you have not found what caused it in the first place. So you should ask yourself a few questions... Temp stable? Water parameters in check? Feeding the right foods? Tangs need plenty of veggie matter and seaweed to stay healthy. Any aggression in the tank causing the fish stress? Purple tangs are notorious for getting Ick but with the proper diet he should do just fine. I have never QTed a fish with Ich or have ever recommended moving one that has already been placed in the main tank...the stress of the move only makes matters worse. I have always recommended treatment of garlic and treating the fish in the main tank.

Shoot...just saw this post is a little old.

Yes you can swab Iodine on the wound. Not sure how you will with a lionfish (scratch) Lockjaw with predator fish could be caused by freeze dried krill and it's also been linked to feeding freshwater fish. Puffer fish have been know to have the same issue. How's he doing?

They look like flatworms to me too. Harmless little buggers but boy can they take over a tank. 6 line wrasse do a great job in clearing them up. Not sure if that is an option for your tank.

Sorry I'm late to the party!! Hope it was a fabulous B-day!!