got a 2nd targetfish today!

ColoFishGuy

ColoFishGuy

Large Fish
#1
May 22, 2007
130
0
0
#1
finally Bullseye has a little buddy! Gonna try to get 1 more when I see one, but they're not often available here. I'm gonna let them get used to eachother for a day before I toss in any feeder fish, i don't want them battling over a rosy just yet...

Their tank mates are a moray eel, 2 fig 8 puffers, and a green spotted puffer.
 

ColoFishGuy

ColoFishGuy

Large Fish
#3
May 22, 2007
130
0
0
#3
poorlittle guy lost a pretty sizeable chunk off of his dorsal fin, not sure which puffer did it, but I'm suspecting the GSP. Hope he makes it, I'd be pretty upset if he didn't even survive a day in there, not to mention being out $13. I've never seen the puffer mess with the other one much because he's too fast for them to keep up with. Hope this is just 'harrass the new guy' type behavior or he's not going to last long...
 

ColoFishGuy

ColoFishGuy

Large Fish
#6
May 22, 2007
130
0
0
#6
he's not looking too hot, he's swimming just below the surface of the water and from what I've seen from his older counterpart this isn't typical targetfish behavior. Thinking of isolating him and giving him a bit to eat without others to compete for the food so he's got some energy to heal up and keep away from the puffers.
 

ColoFishGuy

ColoFishGuy

Large Fish
#7
May 22, 2007
130
0
0
#7
isolated him with a tupperware container and fed him some blood worms, also fed the others while he was isolated so that they weren't hungry for more target fin. He seems to have perked up some after eating, and he even chased away one of the fig 8's (the small one) after i let him loose.
 

ColoFishGuy

ColoFishGuy

Large Fish
#8
May 22, 2007
130
0
0
#8
he made it through the night and is looking pretty good! As i turned on the the lights he and the older target came flying out from behind some slate, and buzzed the front of the tank. Definately showing signs of schooling behavior. It also looks like his dorsal fin is already healing up. Pretty sure this guy's gonna make it!
 

ColoFishGuy

ColoFishGuy

Large Fish
#9
May 22, 2007
130
0
0
#9
He's looking great today! I can't believe how quickly the chunk out of his dorsal fin healed, you can barely tell anything happened now. I've never seen a fish heal so fast. Could this be due to steroids used for shipping? The store just received him yesterday morning.

He and the larger targetfish are showing strong signs of schooling behavior, can't wait to feed them tonight!
 

Brack-Man

Brack-Man

Large Fish
#10
Jan 18, 2006
267
3
0
51
In the cardboard box my fish tank came in
#10
Umm...Personally I think your tank is a little over stocked...yeah I know theres only 6 fish in a 40 gal tank...but all of them are typically messy eaters, especially the puffers. Next, you really shouldnt have the F8's and a GSP in the same tank, the GSP is a much more aggresive puffer and will more than likely become problematic for the F8's and quite ppossibly for the moray as well. What is the salinity of your tank right now? Because another problem you will run into down the roadis that GSP's need full marine conditions as they mature and F8's dont, F8's stay in lower brackish conditions their entire life.
Therapon jarbua, also know as the tigerfish, crestedperch or in your case the targetfish also like high end brackish to full marine conditions, and they are, as I'm sure you know alredy very aggressive eaters, which is not very good for their tank mates...trust me on this...I used to house my GSP with 2 green scats, 2 archers, a violet gobie and some golden killies....it was very dificult to try and get food to the GSP without my scats and killies getting it first....now my GSP is in my reef tank basically by himself and he is much happier... but anyway that is a problem I foresee you having with all of these fish in 1 tank...my thoughts are to find you a 55 gal tank for your targets/tigers leave the rest in the 40 until you start gettin your SG up to about 1.008 or so and then either move the F8's to a different tank or move the GSP.

Thats my $00.02
I'm around most nights so if you have any ??'s i'll try to answer. and BTW
Welcome to MFT.net :cool:
 

ColoFishGuy

ColoFishGuy

Large Fish
#11
May 22, 2007
130
0
0
#11
I'm running this tank between 1.010-1.012, which I know is pretty high for a few of these but they seem to have adapted well. All have been eating well and growing at a decent rate. All but this new targetfish have been living in this tank for about 6 months now.

I'm aware that the GSP is gonna be a problem when he gets bigger, but I'm gonna cross that bridge when i get to it. Right now he's a bit smaller than the bigger fig 8, and doesn't seem to be bullying them any more than they bully back(i know he will one day though). I didn't know they were reef friendly, but that may be a bonus because we're considering setting up a reef tank soon. I'm not sure what the compatability would be though there because we for sure want harlequin shrimp and a mandarin goby in there and the puffer might have probs with these... guess i could leave him in there until the tank is ready for it's other inhabitants. Worst case scenario I can take him back to the store and trade him in on something else. I'm not terribly attached to him.

Thanks for the advice, and I will keep a good eye on the GSP to make sure he's not getting to aggressive with the others.
 

Brack-Man

Brack-Man

Large Fish
#12
Jan 18, 2006
267
3
0
51
In the cardboard box my fish tank came in
#12
Thats about as high as you need to go with your SG with the F8's in there...As for the GSP, it sounds like he is still pretty small/young, so thats good for now, I went slow and took about 2 years to build up the SG in his tank to full marine before I moved him. As for being reef safe, I'm not going to say they are or arent, just going to say that I'm not having any problems, his other tank mate happens to be a Mandarin Dragonet and so far so good there too...but it all depends on the individual puffer. I doubt you would be safe putting any decorative shrimp in there though...lol. I dont have any in my tank but I do feed my GSP pieces of thawed shrimp (people food shrimp, not fish food) and he devours it, he doesnt mess with my hermits or any other of my clean up crew that I can tell, doesnt even seem to mess with the emerald crabs...yet, I'm still waiting for that day...haha.

Good luck
BM
 

ColoFishGuy

ColoFishGuy

Large Fish
#13
May 22, 2007
130
0
0
#13
The little guy had his first 2 confirmed kills today! The first one was a comet that was actually a little bigger than he is. He ripped the things whole face and gills off in one bite! Unfortunately as he was munching it's face, Mitch (moray eel) came in and stole the rest of his prize. He went and got a Rosie all to himself after that. My bigger target hasn't even killed a comet yet, he just munches on them after the puffers take 'em down. WTG little guy!
 

You must log in or register to reply here.