My H. zoster [Archive] - Reef Central Online Community

SDguy

07/31/2011, 11:38 AM

I was at a LFS grabbing some live blackworms and saw the smallest Hemitaurichthys zoster I have ever seen. He is about 2.5-3". I have him in QT right now. I thought he was being a picky eater, not really downing scallop or shrimp the way I was hoping for. But a tried NLS pellets today, and he went nuts for them :)

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/SDreefguy/Fish%20pics%202011/IMG_0039.jpg

snorvich

07/31/2011, 12:56 PM

Gorgeous Peter! Mine also likes mysis.

SDguy

07/31/2011, 12:58 PM

You have one Steve? Tell me about it.

I'm hoping it grows more like a chaetodon than a heniochus, since the reef is only 4'.

snorvich

07/31/2011, 01:40 PM

Very similar in behavior to a yellow pyramid butterfly. As far as I can tell, totally reef safe. Eats exceptionally well.

bamf25

07/31/2011, 07:08 PM

I wish I could find one of these or a yellow pyramid.

boilermaker1

07/31/2011, 08:29 PM

I had one of those... great fish, he'll eventually start eating everything under the sun. Their mouths are quite small so things the size of mysis or other things finely chopped are the best options, mine also ate nori off the clip. I had him for over 3 years and then he jumped.... so you may want to have a lid.

snorvich

08/01/2011, 06:34 AM

I wish I could find one of these or a yellow pyramid.

For some reason, I rarely see either fish for sale. They are pretty, personable, excellent reef dwellers.

IFbettas

08/01/2011, 10:50 AM

I got a zoster butterfly from Divers Den a couple weeks ago. He's been a great fish so far... and I think I like him more than the yellow pyramids I used to have. I'll try to take a picture of him when the tank lights turn on.

djze

08/01/2011, 03:48 PM

bamf25 there are a bunch of local fish store's here in jersey that always carry these and the yellow

Lynnmw1208

08/01/2011, 04:56 PM

such a beautiful fish! I really want a pyramid myself :)

Sheol

08/01/2011, 05:07 PM

That is a great looking Butterfly! Never seen one in my part of the USA..

Matthew

SDguy

08/01/2011, 05:58 PM

Thanks, yeah, I was happy to find it! I've seen the pyramids before, but something about that oddly brown face just never really attracted me to them. Zosters tend to look pretty bad in holding tanks... this one was not different; very pale. But it darkened very quickly.

djze

08/02/2011, 04:46 PM

one thing to beware with theses is that some do go after corals especially leathers i had a pair that i had to remove due to the constant nipping on my leather tree's i hope your's turn out ok

Stanley-Reefer

08/02/2011, 05:17 PM

WE like your H. Zoster but....

Don't call us brown faces:lol2:
http://i39.*******.com/2005w7d.jpg

NyReefNoob

08/02/2011, 05:41 PM

my pyramid i had was a model citizen other then on xenia, loved it which was a good thing cause i was trying to rid my tank of it, and it ate anything

SDguy

08/02/2011, 05:53 PM

WE like your H. Zoster but....

Don't call us brown faces:lol2:
http://i39.*******.com/2005w7d.jpg

Very nice!!

SDguy

08/02/2011, 05:54 PM

one thing to beware with theses is that some do go after corals especially leathers i had a pair that i had to remove due to the constant nipping on my leather tree's i hope your's turn out ok

Can't be any worse than the saddleback :o Plus, I don't own any softies.

bamf25

08/02/2011, 06:10 PM

bamf25 there are a bunch of local fish store's here in jersey that always carry these and the yellow

What stores tend to have them?

djze

08/02/2011, 06:19 PM

absolutely fish, pet shanty on rte 22,ocean gallery 2 on rte 22, and aquatic obsessions i normally get mines from pet shanty and plus he's the cheapest he sells his from $30 to $50 depending on the size

SDguy

08/05/2011, 05:54 PM

Sad news to report. Came home from work today to a dead fish. He looked perfect... ate like a horse just last night. Not a spot, not a mark, not a twitch. :(

elegance coral

08/05/2011, 06:03 PM

Sorry dude. That really sucks. Sometimes it's just their time I guess. I'm sure you did everything humanly possible.

Stanley-Reefer

08/05/2011, 07:36 PM

Man.....

Lynnmw1208

08/05/2011, 09:19 PM

oh no! sorry for the loss :sad1:

Big E

08/06/2011, 06:20 AM

Sorry to hear, but it happens alot with those Indo collected BF's. Unless I have solid info on how the fish was collected & where I don't buy them.

I've lost several just as you have mentioned...............eating great looking healthy & dead the next day.

SDguy

08/06/2011, 06:50 AM

Are you suggesting something like cyanide, or simply poor handling techniques? I would think a more open water fish like this wouldn't even need to be caught with any drugs. Either way, thanks for the kind words folks.

elegance coral

08/06/2011, 08:22 AM

From what I've read/heard, the collectors in Indonesia are traveling farther and farther as they over fish local sites. This puts livestock on collection boats, in poor conditions, for longer periods of time. It seems to me that the quality of livestock (not just fish)coming out of Indonesia has dropped considerably over the years.

SDguy

08/06/2011, 09:16 AM

It's really a shame.

Big E

08/06/2011, 11:49 AM

Are you suggesting something like cyanide, or simply poor handling techniques?

Both are issues & probably a few more............this is just my opinion. I've been around this hobby too long not the see where the garbage comes from.

Stanley-Reefer

08/07/2011, 06:21 AM

Ask them to order another one similarly sized and let it live at the fish store for a month or so before buying it!

SDguy

08/07/2011, 10:00 AM

We had a reef club meeting at a LFS a couple months back, and they had a zoster. The LFS owner mentioned that it had been there for at least 6 months. Well, I went there yesterday, and they still had it, so I picked it up. It's larger than the one I lost, but still very nice!

Daniel Reef

08/07/2011, 12:25 PM

Stanley-Reefer

08/07/2011, 01:42 PM

Yes! the little guy would have grown to the one you have anyway!

flameangel88

08/13/2011, 09:45 PM

Peter,

Glad to see you found another one. If they had it for 6 months that should be pretty good. Any pics?

I was at the lfs today picking up salt and saw one that's about 4" normally that's too big for me but I remember they had it for some time now so I took a chance. It's in QT and ate frozen and flakes & pellets after only 4 hours in the tank. I've two lighting zone where the left side is brighter and the right side lower (one of those par38 18W led from home depot) and it tends to hang in the lower light side except during feeding. If everything goes well in a couple of weeks it will be going into a 120.

Here's a vid eating pellets
<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid75.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi287%2Freeftankpix%2F100_0392.mp4">

geaux xman

08/13/2011, 10:02 PM

Sad news to report. Came home from work today to a dead fish. He looked perfect... ate like a horse just last night. Not a spot, not a mark, not a twitch. :(

These fish look similar to Pyramids. I had a 4" pair from LA that was eating like horses for over a week and died overnight due to an unknown reason. I had dose copper, but it was only the initial .25ppm dose and it was 3 days prior.

Dr Colliebreath

08/13/2011, 10:18 PM

Peter,

I was at the lfs today picking up salt and saw one that's about 4" normally that's too big for me but I remember they had it for some time now so I took a chance. It's in QT and ate frozen and flakes & pellets after only 4 hours in the tank.

Here's a vid eating pellets
<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid75.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi287%2Freeftankpix%2F100_0392.mp4">

That fish is eating great and it looks like a good find. Nice QT. What other fish are in the QT?

flameangel88

08/13/2011, 10:36 PM

Thanks. I've a pair of dalmatian mollies and a hawkfish in the QT to keep it going. I wanted hardy fish that's not expensive or dull looking and came up with them. They'll show the new fish to eat prepared food and not leaving any on the bottom. More importantly they will not bully the new fish.

You can see them better on this one
<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid75.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi287%2Freeftankpix%2F100_0393.mp4">

Dr Colliebreath

08/14/2011, 08:00 AM

aleonn

08/14/2011, 12:28 PM

I had a zoster before that ate like a pig for the first 3 weeks in QT. Then one day it was hiding in the rocks with bilateral cloudy eyes, nipped fins, and sudden loss of appetite. Read on this forum that they often come with flukes, so I did a freshwater dip. At least 20-30 flukes came out during the 6 minute dip. That provided immediate relief and he began eating like a pig the next day. The eyes cleared up within a few days, and I did 2 treatment rounds of Prazi-Pro. He was eating well for the next 2 weeks until he suddenly died with no other visible signs or symptoms. I fresh water dipped his corpse to see if any more flukes would appear, but there were none.

I hope the best for your new zoster, and maybe you can prophylatically treat him while in QT in case anything pops up later on.

flameangel88

08/14/2011, 08:38 PM

Interesting, I thought the two with black looked like mollies. I have heard of people putting them in salty or brackish water. Did you have to acclimate them slowly to the saltwater?

Given the other three fish and the rock, I take it that you don't generally treat fish in the QT with Cupramine and just move a fish to a hospital tank if you need to treat??

Sorry to deviate from the thread's topic.

The mollies were acclimated for about 45 minutes by adding a cup of tank water every 5 minutes then over the next 5 days to 1.022-23. I can treat with prazi in the QT (if the new fish has it then it's already in the water) hand I've another tank for copper but I prefer hypo if it's simply ichs.

SDguy

08/16/2011, 04:38 PM

A pic of the new one from today. One round of prazi just in case, then into the DT:
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/SDreefguy/Fish%20pics%202011/IMG_0080.jpg

Sheol

08/16/2011, 05:20 PM

Very nice. I was sad to hear about the first one, but then I've had similar experiences with Centropyge angels before. Eat like pigs, appear to adjust very well. Then, drop dead for no reason.
A real bummer, especially considering the prices we pay for our livestock!
I hope V.2 H. zoster does great for you..

Matthew

SDguy

08/16/2011, 05:40 PM

Thanks Matthew. I think "zoster 2.0" will be its official name :)

SDguy

09/01/2011, 09:53 PM

His colors have continued to increase in contrast. Quite a bit more stunning than I had expected!

snorvich

09/02/2011, 10:02 AM

Thanks Matthew. I think "zoster 2.0" will be its official name :)

Cute. So you can be Peter 4.1?

falconut

09/02/2011, 11:21 AM

I had a Pyramid a few years ago. It ate great and I was told about the fluke possibility, so I also treated with PraziPro. Mine did well and was moved to my display. But, after a few weeks of eatting great, it just died. Apparently, it's common with them.

Good luck with 2.0, looks great.