All About Reef Safe Wrasses

When you say "for a bit" I'm thinking that was years back, but now it's less common? Or at the same rate as any other species?

 

In the past yes; mmmm, 2 years ago?
I wouldn't worry about it now; sure there's a risk but as minimal as you could hope.

 

Ok that's good. From the other posts I was reading it sounded like it happened enough that it was a real issue to worry about. Thanks for the help!

 

Depends on where you're getting it from, and who the collector for that store/person is. There is one woman that collects out of Marshall island that has a 40% DOA for rhomboids, and the fish that aren't DOA usually die shortly after (within 6 months)

 

Only one collector in Marshall islands? Or is she the bad one out of many collectors? It would be from Sea Dwelling Creatures, and the fish would be form the Marshall islands...

 

The fish is endemic to Marshall Islands, meaning it can only be found there. I don't believe she collects them herself, but she oversees the collection. I know she is one of very few.

 

Well my naoko is MIA, he looked rough when I got him, but was eating at the LFS and when I got him home. Assuming he's dead, I think the marine betta played a role. The marine betta is pretty peaceful, except when anyone goes near "his" hiding spots. He reminds me of a big royal gramma.

Anyways, my new question is, would the tank be too small for a male-female pair of cf. lancelotus and cf. lunatus? My understanding is that the true C. lunatus (from Japan) is significantly rarer and more expensive and the true C lancelotus gets huge and is not collected?

Could you explain the difference between the Japan and the Philippine variants?

How much would a C. johnsoni or C. squirei cost, typically?

 

I'd skip the idea of pairs and just stick with one of each species. I don't bother with pairs on Cirrhilabrus/Paracheilinus anymore.

cf. lanceolatus and lanceolatus are NOT variants of each other; they are distinct species. Yes, lanceolatus is very large and not really available.
"cf." simply means "to confer", or to resemble. In this instance, the only thing about the pintail with resembles lanceolatus is the lancet shaped tail; that's it. The size, coloration, and behavior couldn't be any more different.

A better example of (potential) variants is that of lunatus (Japan) and cf. lunatus (Philippians); there's some variation in the pattern on the body but else wise the two are very similar.

johnsoni for around $400, squirei (the handful of times it's been available in the states) well into the four figures territory.

 

What would you say is a fair asking price for a male katherinae these days?

 

What about multiple male pink margins n a 300g? Death sentence for one of them or likely to work?