The Bluespot Club

[mps9506]

don't you know digital is the way to go?
Cabela's Digital Fish Scale

[Dentoid]

Saltwaterfish, that's so cool! Were they male/female? Mated? It seems that there has been a rash of unhealthy BS on the market. One of our members (bluespotjawfiah) was successful for years, she will pipe in soon, I'm sure, she's the BS Grande Dame.

Anyway, I digress. A hardy welcome to you saltwaterfish! We are most anxious to hear your experiences with this species.

I'm elated that we are drawing other BS owners and new members to the Club and to RS. Join in the discussion!

[saltwaterfish]

thanks for the warm welcome.....
ok some of my experiences...
little giant pumps suck... with this in mind make sure your tank is jump proof and overflow jump proof or your pump intakes are protected from fish intrusion. waking up in the wee hours of the morning to weird pump noises and a dead fish are not nice...
I started trying to keep them probably 6 years ago... when Blue spot disease first came into play... the best way I can describe it is fish lepracy with rapid onset and death.
I got 1 it died a few days later got the warrenty fish and it repeated the process.
tried different vendor 2 more dead
then called "the marine center" and asked for a pair of them thinking 2 and got extremely lucky and got a male and female. said screw it and threw them right in the main tank no quarentine figuring if they gonna die they gonna be happy in a nice house. (at this point didnt know they were a pair)
fishies live happy for long time. 4 months down the road of feeding mysis, krill and garlic I discover I have a couple. male turns white when in mating colors.... have several semi broods carries eggs for a few days/weeks then she gets horny and gives up the eggs for a romp in the cave.
at around the year mark decide to make a life change move from Rochester N.Y. to Boca Raton, FL. 1500 miles in 2 5gallon pails with bubblers and they are happy in a new tank. unfortunately I was tired and lazy and didnt put my overflow cover on and a week later lost my female to a little giant pump.
found him a new mate and life was good.
fast forward 5 months and stepson comes to visit us while we are living with best friends till can afford our own place. a few days later I am at work, wife, stepson and his firlfriend leave to go shopping. come back an hour later psyco is gone and house smells bleachy. they look at the tank and all is white. everything dead. tested with a pool test kit tested strong enough to pass a health inspection for pools. no one fesses up to the incedent. 6 months later finaly move out to our own place and never speak the them again.
now looking to change from my 92 back to a 120 and a semi deep sand/rubble/crushed coral bed. and getting a few new BSJF and hopeing for a pair and trying to raise captive bred fishies....

ask anything and I will answer my best...

[Dentoid]

Wow sorry to hear that, what a bummer. That picture is awesome, the male is stunning. Is there anyway to sex them?

[saltwaterfish]

my only best guess is to feed heavy with high nutrition food and see if one changes color should start in august or put 2 together and see if they fight.... no fights either lesbians or a couple.... 2 males fight.... oh and the pic was dumb luck I was taking a full tank shot compairing a 15k bulb to an iwasaki both 400wt and they got caught doing the mating dance... with they were on the 15k side would have looked a lot nicer...

[bluespotjawfish]

Oh My! Oh My! Oh My! Wow! Wow! And More Wow!



Welcome Saltwaterfish! That is awesome!

Since my story is in one of the first posts in this thread, I won't go into details here. I've had them for the past 8 years, the last one for about 2-1/2 years (he died during a cycle after my tank crashed in December). Here is the link to the post:

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...tml#post211944

When you say you used ground krill, did you put it in a blender or chop it up? Same question on the garlic too. Did you make a mush out of these? I'm sure I have more questions for you, but that will have to be another day when I can think clearly.

Again welcome!

PS - Thanks Scott for sending me the PM notifying me of this exciting news!

[bluespotjawfish]

BTW, here's an update on my new Bluespots

Mr. 50 guy has dug completely through the sand under the rock and now gets to see out the front and back of the tank, as well as between the rocks. He ate today as well, but he is staying under his rock (except once I saw him come out to grab some food).

Mrs. QT is very unsettled still and hasn't eaten yet.

[bluespotjawfish]

Scott - your mailbox is full BTW~!

[Dentoid]

Cleared!

[Craig Manoukian]

Originally Posted by soulbabel

I've been able to use a small plastic cup with my hand cupping the bottom to guide them back into their containers.

Hope your wearing gloves as body oil is not good for such a small water column.

[soulbabel]

Unfortunately, no gloves, only one hand washed really well. I've gotten the technique down to using a plastic cup, and a small piece of plastic canvas to slide underneath.

Actually today, one jawfish finally swam out of the container. I guided him back in, and he swam out again while in the dark.

Also, this might be unimportant to most people, but I tried feeding them Formula One when I first got them and they completely ignored the pellets. They would only eat mysis shrimp. Tonight, however, they were gobbling those pellets down.

[saltwaterfish]

Well that is definately good news on the fishies eating . the more they eat the better their chances.

about the garlic. fresh cloves from grocery store slice 1 or 2 thin wafers of a clove and mush to a paste and add to frozen while thawing.
the krill is hikari krill. is the same type of package as their mysis shrimp but orange and peach aluminum foil instead of purple it also claims to have multivitamins in it.

[saltwaterfish]

oh another thing I do when getting mail order fish is when they come in I take a syringe and inject a few ml of prime (an ammonia lock and chlorine remover and stress coat) into the bag while temp acclimating before actually adding any water to adjust salinity and stuff. recently while working at a LFS we started only doing a 10 minute fresh water dip on all new fish instead of drip acclimation. the results seem pretty promising not a lot of deaths....

[bluespotjawfish]

Soulbabel - Your BSs sound like they are doing really well. You may have a pair since they don't seem to be fighting with each other. That would be cool.

Saltwaterfish - I did the magic formula this morning! My display tank snarfed it up. Everyone in my 50 said what in the world is that! It was so funny! Perhaps I got a bit too much garlic in it!

Mr. 50 is hanging out in his den that is smack dab in the front of the tank - just perfect! Mrs. QT seems to be much calmer today. I made her a modified version of soulbabel's containers. The one I made lays on its side. It is a ziploc container with the screw on lid. I have cut out half the lid so it is always open, drilled some holes on the other end, sanded everything down, filled it half full with sand and put er in the QT. The lid is situated so that it keeps the sand inside. She hasn't gone inside, but hangs out under the container so it at least provides her some more shelter. For now they are being referred to as Mr. and Mrs., but me thinks they are both guys. No wonder Mrs. QT isn't doing as well, HE has a complex!

Have a great day, got to go and support my habit!

[Craig Manoukian]

Great news on the BSJF front Lorraine and soulbabel!