What do you struggle keeping?

[Zojro]

Naso Tang
I have made 4 different attempts to keep this fish and failed every time. These 4 attempts were made over the course of
1 year spaced about three months apart. My tank was about 8 months old before I attempted the first Naso. I have now given up on the Naso. But I really wanted this fish. My tank specs are:
125 gal long (72x18wide) 55 gal. sump. Remote DSB Softy and zoa dominant. Loaded with live rock.
Lightly stocked, livestock includes 1 green chromis, 1 false perc. and 1 med. size purple tang.
The first 2 never ate and I offered a wide range of foods.
The foods I attempted were:
Formula 2
Formula 1
New Life Spectrum Marine Formula
Spirulina Flakes
Nori (Red, Green and Brown)
Hikari Frozen Algae
Brine Shrimp
Spirulina Enriched Brine Shrimp
Squid
Mysis
Marine Cuisine (San Francisco Bay Brand)
Emerald Entree (San Fran. Bay Brand also)
The second 2 I attempted did eat, and ate well. The only thing I did differently was soaking the food in Kent Garlic Extreme. But they just withered away over the course of about 1 month. Please note these fish were added individually. Not 2 at a time. They were spaced out about 3 months apart over 1 year. The purple tang I added with the first Naso is doing very well.

 

[BigJay]

I had a similar problem with a blonde naso. After two attempts I gave it up and went with a powder blue instead.

 

[Reefmike]

Maximas!

I have a 14" Squamosa and 7", 6", & 3.5" Croceas. Also kept a Deresa (until stupid pyramid snails got him). The Squammy has been in the tank 1-1/2 yrs and the 2 big Croceas 2 yrs. Never an issue with any of them.
However, every time I've tried a Maxima (3 or 4 times now) they look great for a couple of weeks then boom, seemingly overnight they're dead.

 

[Zojro]

Thank you for the input Matt.
The first Naso was introduced with the purple, with no hostility.
There was some initial hostility with the other additions but nothing I thought was out of the ordinary and the harassment did not last long. I did attempt a kole tang and the purple attacked promptly. I was appalled at the violence. The kole was laying on the bottom with a deep cut starting behind his eye all the way to where his tail begins before I could get my 20gal setup to relocate it. I have not tried another tang since. I have a new respect for his caudal peduncle, but I still hand feed it nori on occasion. I wish the purple had been my last addition.

 

[ReeferArt]

Coral hogfish - I tried it twice and both times they went belly up. One lasted like a week, the other a couple of weeks.

In my 60 gallon - Ricordeas. I mean, how easy are ric's to keep alive?! I've put some HIGH $$$ ones in there. One turned loose after a day, never to be seen again. Another turned loose after a week. And it was all scrunched up the whole time it was visible.

I almost forgot. Colt corals. I've tried them about 4 times. No luck. :sad:

 

[Drew]

Money in my pocket.
As for the tank, it's always been hard for me to keep powder blue tangs, and blue spot jawfish.
I guess my tanks have never been the ideal set-up for blue spots, and I don't think I feed often enough, and a large enough variety for a PBT.
As for corals, the elegance is the coral that I, like many others, have had extreme difficulty trying to keep alive.
I currently have a new one that came from John Power's tank, and is doing very well. KNOCK ON WOOD.

 

[the floor guy]

i have had several naso tangs my self they only last for few months. i really like them but think if i get another it will be from some ones tank that has had it in captivity while. i have heard from several that they have hard time with Blue Hippo Tangs. also i think newbies should not get a flame angles. the fish i have had for years are bi color blenny, maroon clown, fridmani dottyback. these fish have changed tanks 3-4 times . i have never had problems with yellow tangs, coral beauty, Blue Hippo, six line wrasses except they jump out

 

[DaveJ]

There is always something...

My bane has been Blasto's. I've lost a few larger colonies though I do have one frag from PEA that has been doing well and budding out new polyps.

As far as specific corals.. I've had a rough go on the Bellina from ORA. It also took me several attempts to find a happy place for the Darth Maul palys. What finally did that was talking to a few fellow reefers on RC who have had great success and just duplicating their placement. Turns out the things grow like weeds in the shade, I had always done moderate to high light.

The trick on the Elegance Drew is finding a healthy non-indo. I have an Aussie in the sump of the 300G that I have had for nearly a year now. It bleached bad when I overdosed Tech M about 7 months back but has come around quite a bit. You should also feed it directly, something meaty like clam or scallop chunks once a week or so. Mine actually partially ate a Sea Hare before I figured out it needed meat

 

[Darby]

I had that same problem a couple of times. It's usually because they're going from one type of light to another, usually the new light is too bright, so they go mobile to try to find less light. This usuallyr esults in them going into a deep hole, rather than a better spot...

The best thing you can do it to keep them in a holed container towards the botom of teh tank with some extra rubble in case they do come up. Then they can't go anywhere, get used to the light, and can fasten to rubble without falling in a hole. It's worked wonders for me, and I haven't lost one since (well, except one that slit, and the new Ric, got away before I could catch it, dang vortec...)

 

[milkit]

I wish this topic had come up before I bought a Naso tang 3 days ago. Luckily, i saw him eating today for the first time. Hopefully he will survive.

 

[chappy]

scollys 4 in the tank 4 skeletons now

 

[DaveJ]

@chappy wrote:

Ouch.. was that the sailfin damage or something else?

 

[chappy]

looking back now it could have been the badboy and i didnt catch it
i am watching him eat an open brain at the moment

 

[DaveJ]

@chappy wrote:

Not good...

 

[CarolynM]

This one is embarrassing....xenia.

I can't seem to keep Xenia for over a couple of months. I have one frag I got about 2 months ago now that is struggling. It is slowly getting smaller and smaller. I've tried several times...high low...everywhere...all with the same result.

I'd love to say maybe my tank is too clean but let's just say I know better...

 

[lowincwrx]

@CarolynM wrote:

It happens I had xenia when I first started and did great for about 5 months then one day shriveled up next day gone. Trust me there's people that regret ever introducing it into their system and would pay big bucks for your problem. I never tried again but my daisy clove polyps didn't do good either. Lucky for me I don't really care for many softies anymore anyways and both of those have potential to get out of hand.

 

[bigtex52]

@lowincwrx wrote:

Count me in that group...... and add kenya tree to the list! :lol:

 

[Shaggy]

Lps. Haven't had any luck since I've started keeping sps. Peppermint shrimp ate my frogspawns until I move the frogs to my little tank. All chalices I've had have died, too. Sps does fine but no lps for me I guess

 

[Monti]

@lowincwrx wrote:

Its funny you mention that about the daisy polyps. I've tried several times to keep those in my tank but they never seem to do well, my guess is because of low nutrient levels but who knows.
Drew just try an Aussie Elegance, mine's been doing awesome for about a year now. Just make sure that its actually an Aussie and not an Indo one labeled and marked up as an Aussie!

 

[debdp]

Lately feather dusters. I had a Hawaiian for 2-3 years. The last six months in the tank It was constantly harrassed by my jawfish & hermits and it finally left the tube and moved to another rock. It was sitting up, crown intact, looking like it would build a new tube. But by the next morning the hundreds of mysids in the tank had began devouring it's unprotected body and by the second day nothing was left. I was pretty upset but nothing I could do. I have since tried 3 feather dusters in my filter feeder tank and they all died, within 2 months of purchase. First they dropped their crown and then left the tube to die.