radiata moratorium

hi every one! i have been told by my LFS that the radiata lionfish have not been doing very well in the trade lately, most becoming sick and dying in short order. he said the same is true of antenatta lions from any where but hawaii. due to these facts, he will not carry radiatas until they become healthier, and will only get antenattas from hawaii. my two questions are: i thought only p. sphex lions lived in hawaii. is he getting them mixed up with the antenattas due to their similar look, or are there actually antenattas in hawaii? and how long do you think it will be before the health of the radiatas in the trade improve? i really wanted one of these as my center piece fish, but if they wont be around for a while, i will find another centerpiece. :'(

 

[shadow=Blue, 2, 300]Hey Roger,

If you aren't getting a lion to be your showcase fish, that changes a lot of things. For instance, you do not have to have a predator tank, if you do not want to. You can simply have a semi-aggressive community FOWLR tank. The showcase fish in this tank, would be your ANGEL.

Having an Angel as a showcase fish is probably one of the most common FOWLR tanks out there. I know I've set up many, many of them, in my years running the SW fish store in Chattanooga (a little over 2yrs while in college). I've also kept 2 or 3 tanks myself, that have been set up on this model. It is relatively easy to do, and you can have some very pretty and very interesting fish.[/shadow] [smiley=beer.gif]

[shadow=blue, 2, 300]Now, that being said, I don't know what type angel intrests you. I tend to go for the "extraordinary" angel, meaning one you don't see every day. I know, everyone likes Queen Angels, and Emperors, and Imperators, but honestly, you see them everyday.

I like the ones that attract the eye and attention of the viewer. One like this:[/shadow]​

​

[shadow=blue, 2, 300]This is the "Singapore Angel," and it is one of my favorites. This picture, from MarineDepot, does not do justice to seeing one of these beautiful angels, alive. They are gorgeous little critters, and not nearly as expensive as you'd expect (the large runs about $21.00). [smiley=stars.gif]

But, just by staying away from the "main stream" angel, you can get a beautiful fish, get one that is fairly easy to care for, and also get one that will draw attention to itself for years and years to come.

There are a few other angels like this, a "little off the beaten path." Let me know if you are interested, and well walk down that path a little further.[/shadow]​

[smiley=wink3.gif]​

 

well wrassman, i am very interested, especially since you have demonstrated tastes similar to my own. i love the out of the ordinary animals, and the singapore lion is on the list of fish i made a couple of days ago as a potential keeper. i think i would like to go this route, mainly because my favorite lion (radiata) is no longer readily available...at least in a healthy form. what other angels would do well in my 90g? the map angel also caught my eye... would i be able to keep a dwarf lion in the tank if i went this route? would i have to cancel the snowflake eel? would i have more leeway in getting inverts with the angel as the theme? all of a sudden i have a whole host of new questions thank you for the help mi amigo.

 

p.s. when do i get to stop being a plankton?

 

Roger,
When you hit 51 post it will change to what I currently have,,,
Happy posting, dude, hehe.....

 

im not sayin for sure but one problem that they get sick fish in this hobbys is that some places use cyanide to catch fish. almost all cyanide caught fish end up dying and this may be the probelm with the lions. u mentiond the healthy fish come from hawaii. in hawaii most of the fish are net caught. the indonesia and phillipines area are the ones that still practice capture for cyanide. some fish stores if interested where there stock comes from can find out which method in which there live stock is caught.

 

Good point Karlas.....

 

but why the radiata's and antenatta's in particular? these are really great looking fish, but i keep being told that they are unavailable due to porr health and shipping. why are all of these fish suddenly cyanided?

 

they use cyanide on all kinds of fish not just lions check out this article on using cyanide and explosives to catch fish

cyn and exp

 

Complete rubbish(original post, not yours Karla).  From that info your lfs gave you, I'd be suspect of ANY in fo he tries to give you.  Lions aren't captured with cyanide, the are TO EASY TO CATCH.  I've seen, personally, around 100 lionfish of all types this year alone, and lost only 2.  Sounds like your lfs is having a bad wholesaler episode, tell him he needs to look around for another.  

All our lionfish have been from PI , except a shipment from the Solomon Islands.  Now granted our PI supplier is one of the only true net caught exporters in Manila (we deal with the other 1 also).  I just finished acclimating a shipment from PI, and all the lions are doing great.  Lost a few algae blennies though, just to darn big for shipping (thanks guys-we really wanted 8" dead algae blennies)