I made a noob mistake this weekend..

[Twisted]

I bought a fish on the impression that the pet store knew what he was talking about.

I bought a batfish. I always loved them and thought,what the heck, I am sure he will be good for a year, maybe two before I would have to get rid of him. I am running a 55 gallon tank, with very little rock in it, and he is a very small batfish right now.

I asked the clerk at the store, is this guy reef safe, she says, "let me go look him up" she comes back, and says yup, he is reef safe.

I buy him, put him in my tank, and after only a few minutes he takes a bite from one of my large brown polyps...

So far I have nothing of value in my tank, a lot of plain brown polyps, a couple of kenyas, a small finger leather, and a small cluster of pink xenias.

and a few very friendly fish.

Is he going to stick to the large brown polyps, or will he go for my xenias, and little zoos eventually?

[Paintbug]

chances are as it gets older hes only going to want to eat more soft corals. they also may eat stony corals. happen to know what kind of batfish it is?

[Sk8r]

OMG. This tends to be an "expert" fish, and they get very large. I don't know about his eating habits, but I do know you need to do some reading and some careful consideration as to whether you want to take this on. They're delicate and beautiful fish, and they're not what I would recommend to a newbie at all, primarily because you're a smallish tank [so is mine] and secondarily because that tank is going to go through mini-cycles and crises common to new tanks, from algae blooms to the general instability of its chemistry this early in its life.

[Twisted]

Just so you guys know, the only reason I didn't go back with the fish and demand my money back, and complain to the owner of the fish store, is because I was out of town when I bought it.

Paintbug: Yes, it is one of the bigger ones, the Orbic Batfish.

Sk8r: I agree this fish is completly wrong for me. Although my book says it is a hardy fish, and that my mini cycles will most likely have little effect on it. It is going to out grow my tank rather quickly.
At this point I have two choices.
1: Keep him for a year or so and trade him in to a local fish store for store credit, for what I paid for him because they are worth more as they get bigger.
2: take him to a local fish store and be rid of him.

At this point I have nothing soft coral wise worth much money, all new aquarium stuff, brown buttons, brown and green buttons, a couple of more common zoos, a couple mush rooms, and xenias, with a small frog spawn. I have no stoneys in my tank due to not enough lighting.
My only other fish are a flasher wrasse, a gold striped jawfish, and a lawnmower blenny, my only inverts are a few snails, a skunk shrimp, a boxer crab <maybe, haven't seen him in awhile> and a feather duster.

At this point other then eating my basic and common soft corals, they only problem I foresee is out growning my tank, with only about 15 pounds of live rock, I think he has plenty of swimming room, atleast for awhile.

You guys have any suggestions, or comments on something I might have overlooked?

[Paintbug]

it seems the main concern with batfish are their fins make easy targets for other fish to nibble on. they are pretty fish! good luck with him, and get some pics.

[Twisted]

My jawfish sticks to his burrow, and the lawnmower blenny sticks to the ground too. So the only threat I could see would come from the flasher wrasse, who is listed as non-aggressive, so I going to assume he won't bother the bat either.

I guess I should also mention I am planning to set up a bigger tank with in the next year, hopefully a 180+ gallon. I have a 325 gallon that I just got to hold water, but not sure I want to trust it to hold 325 gallons for a long period of time. I might cut it down and reseal it into a 300 gallon.

But the futur intention of this 55 gallon is an established fish only tank. so if he can make it a year or so in this 55 gallon, I should have a bigger tank for him to go in, atleast for another few months after that, the bigger tank will be a full reef, so he will not be welcome in it.

So I guess currently he is going to be okay in my 55, even if he does munch on my few soft corals.

[Sk8r]

Well, get yourself some good test kits and get a log book. If you test early and often and use your log book to spot trends before they become a problem, you can keep that tank stable. If your other fish are getting along and your ambitions include a huge tank, you're at least not going to face having a fish you love in a tank that can't keep him. They are wonderful fish, and you sound like a person willing to do the research and commitment.bb

[FISHNUTS]

When they have to go back and look it up that is a sure sign to wait and do the research yourself....lol. This has happened to me but only once.

sl

[Twisted]

Yup, I usually go to a store knowing what I am getting, or what I was looking for. This fish was just very cool, and since I was out of town, I took a risk. I have read about this fish, and knew it would need a big tank as it got bigger, but didn't know it would eat coral.
Lucky for me I don't have any coral worth a lot, most was either given to me, or I paid $10 bucks here, and there.

Here is a picture of my new batfish, and his tank, I think I can keep him for awhile, not sure how fast he grows. <sorry, tank is kinda dirty.>

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Lordtwisted/100_1576.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Lordtwisted/100_1577.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Lordtwisted/100_1578.jpg

[Sk8r]

Well, at least he is eating for you: that can be a bit of a hurdle. ;)

[Twisted]

Yeah, eats like a pig, he has me feeding him three times a day. Atleast thats going by the book, but three feedings a day, you would think he would leave the corals alone! lol.

[meco65]

If you want to get rid of him sooner you may can contact a reef club in your area' and see if someone wants to do a trade for something you want or can have... just a passing thought.

[ChunksInClemson]

Just from experience, the LR amount is not even near enough to keep the tank stable. I think you need to add a lot more LR before you add anything else. Even a pound per gallon is on the low end and you have no where near that. Your tank is not gonna be stable at all with that amount of LR. Do your research and make good decisions and be patient!

Good Luck!
Chris

[Twisted]

From my little experience, and the experience of the local reef club members. For as little and as simple of corals I have. Plus the mechanical filtration, and the skimmer that should be on there soon, I should be ok.

They do all suggest that I do not add anymore coral, or fish. Atleast not until, as you said, add more live rock.
My problem is, as I have other thing requiring my attention financially <have to finish my motor by next summer> I am thinking about just adding dry rock to my tank.

So if I add dry rock now, while my bio load is still on the low side, in 6 months to a year when I am ready to be rid of this fish, won't my dry rock be live rock?
I'm still a little confused in that area.

[yoboyjdizz]

I would take it back, just read up on it and looks like you have a Platax Orbicularis aka Orbiculate Batfish which has the potential to reach up to 2ft... It says they will eat inverts and also some corals and anemones. They are very hardy though, but i would return it until you get your large tank setup 300 or more.. Also if you plan on a reef or tank with some aggresive fish i would advise on not buying it again "if you return it"..

[cwegescheide]

Well don't feel too bad. I think with just about any new fish with the exception of a few ones its a crap shoot weather or not its going to nip/eat your corals. I got a powder blue tang a while back and I kid you not no more than 10 seconds in the tank it started munching some of my zoa's. Then it took a liking to my LE green polyped sarco. I had to "hide" the sarco from him by basically putting in where he couldn't get to it easily. I saw him nip at EVERYTHING in the tank a time or two. He since went carpet surfing (I was sortof relieved)

Chris

[ChunksInClemson]

If you put base rock in there now, then in 2 or 3 months it should be looking pretty good. I wouldn't do more baserock than LR though. 50/50 should be pretty good. Just make sure and wash and soak the base rock for a day or two to rid it of extra particles. So yeah, base rock will turn into LR eventually, but of course it would be better to add LR but I know its expensive! I think you will be ok as long as you dont add anything else.

[Twisted]

Cool, thanks for the advice guys. I think I will stick this fish out for a few months and see how he does.

A LFS said he would only give me $10 trade in on him, I paid $17. Not much loss, but at this point everything seems fine. The same LFS said if he was a medium size he would give me like $30 for him, and large he would give me $60 in store credit, so I think I will let him get medium size atleast, then take him in for store credit if I don't have my large tank up by then.
My large tank is covered in scratches, and going to take a lot of work to clean up, previous owner had a moving company move it...they didn't cover it, and actually put stuff inside it to transport it. I should start working on it next month and make it a winter project more or less.

[ChunksInClemson]

Hope everything goes well for you!