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Len

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I recieved my shipment from Twilight Aquatics today. It was honestly the healthiest fish I have ever recieved via mail in my 20 years in this hobby. Upon opening the bag, the fish were energetic and vibrantly colored. After an hour of slow acclimation, I added them to the tank. Unlike my previous fairy wrasse additions, these guys did not dive into the rock to hide for days. They immediately started exploring the tank, out in the open and happily ignoring my presence .... that is, until I fed them. All the fish took frozen prepared foods immediately. I am extremely happy with this purchase. Here are some pics of the C.earlei (supremely rare) and C.rhomboids (a species I've always adored).
 

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Len

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Another photo of the pair. They constantly swim together and appear to have found a home in one small cave in my tank. They spend most of their time around this cave, swimming in and out (sometimes together, sometimes taking turns).
 

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Len

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Male C.rhomboidalis, stretching its mouth :) This is a relatively small male, but definitely a male with its striking colors and diamond-shaped tail.
 

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A

Anonymous

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Geeze Len, all this time nothing out of you now its like you're an honest to god reef nut with all the coral and fish stuff ;)

I'm guessing its due to a recently installed tank? :D

btw pretty fishies
 
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Anonymous

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Len, all I have to say about the rhomboids is...CONGRATS!

I know you've always wanted one, and now you have a pair!

The earlei pair is stunning...would they do well in a 40g with no other fish? ;)

Peace,

Chip
 

Len

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Yep, the earleis and/or johnsonis would do just fine in a 40 gallon. These are amongst the smallest Cirrihilabrus.

Ever since my first rhomboid pair jumped (stupid Pseudochromis splendens chased both of them out), I've wanted a pair back in my tank. Finally!
 

bronco7777

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Len,

Absolutely great pictures. I'm writing to you because I am a huge fairy wrasse nut. I've devoted myself exclusively to the collection of these wrasses for the last 6 years. I just purchased a Johnsoni pair from Twilight myself. They will ship out monday and I should receive them Wednesday. I almost purchased the Earle's but I could not afford both just now.

I'd like to ask a couple of questions of you:

What other fairy wrasses do you keep and how are you housing them (size tank, setup...etc)?

What camera did you use to snap those pictures?
 

Len

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Hey bronco!
:welcome:

These are the only two Cirrhilabrus species I'm currently keeping. I started a new tank (52x28x28) late last year and these two pairs are in that tank right now.

I've kept numerous species of fairy wrasses in my ~20 years in this hobby. Like you, I am a HUGE Cirrhilabrus fan. Congrats on the Johnsonis. I've kept Johnsonis (beautiful fish!) which it turns out were one of the first collected by Brian several years ago, or so Brian tells me :). Unfortunately, it jumped after being with me for about a year .... finding a small hole at the top of the tank, apparently.

I am incredibly happy with the quality of Brian's fish shipped direct from him. I look foward to more fish from him (though no more wrasses as two pairs is more then plenty for my tank). I am almost tempted to set up a small tank to house a few more fish :P

My camera is the venerable Nikon D1X. Shots were taken with 60mm micro lens and hot shoe flash. I will shoot some more photos soon without flash (finally have my halides on). FYI: I'm not so sure I'm gonna stick with 10KK lights now that I have these fish. Being deeper water, they seem a little skittish around bright white, so I may be forced to go 14 or 20KK. My current rhomboids are especially skittish with the 10Ks on. Strange thing is my previous pair of rhomboids in my old 120 gallon (this was a long time ago) adjusted to 10K lights immediately.
 

bgreene

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Hey Len,

Great photos. I think I'll need to invest in a new Nikon. I collected about a dozen Cirrhilabrus johnsoni in 1997 that I donated to the Waikiki Aquarium. The first real batch that I brought back was in '99 or 2000. :wink:

-Brian
 

bronco7777

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Len,

Wow D1X, that's one top notch camera. You can certainly see the quality in the pictures. I'm currently using a Panasonic Lumix with a 12 zoom Leica lens and built in flash which does a fairly decent job. I'm looking into possibly getting a Nikon D50. Have you ever had any experience with this unit?

Good choice of wrasses if that's all you intend to keep from the fairy wrasse world in your tank.

I've been in the hobby 18 years but here latey I've concentrated on fairy wrasses and I think that is all I will ever do going forward. The only other fish of significance that I have besides a fairy is a Multicolor Dwarf Angel that I've had since he was the size of a nickle.

I'm currently working with a wrasse specialist in Japan on a book he is writing about fairy wrasses. Currently I have about 29 of my pictures in his rough copy of the book that will likely make the final print. I'm also in the begining stages of writing a book myself. I'm looking forward to tracking the success of keeping these rare fish (Earle's & Johnsoni) so that I may reflect that info in the book. So I hope you don't mind keeping me up to date on your fish. I hope to get some Earle's from Brian myself in the near future.
 
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I'm curious what your guys' thoughts are on Cirrhilabrus spp. in general regarding feeding. It's been my experience that they all adapt to pretty much any prepared food like flake pretty much right off the bat. Any anomalies from that trend you've noticed?

Also, it's been my experience with most of them (cyanopleura, luteovittatus, scottorum, solorensis, bathyphilus, and laboutei) that they will be out and about pretty much right out of the bag. The only ones that didn't were a lineatus and a jordani that hid for 3 days or so. I wonder if this is more dependent on how well they were shipped, or the species. Any thoughts on that?
 

bgreene

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From my experience with Cirrhilabrus spp., it all depends on how well they have been conditioned prior to entering the main aquarium. They will almost always hide when they have just been collected. They also seem to be much more active if introduced in a group.

-Brian
 

bronco7777

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Matt,

I've owned everyone of the fairies you mentioned and many more and I can tell you species has nothing to do with hiding. It all comes down to the type of handling the fish recieve before they come into your possession.
 
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Anonymous

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bronco7777":1gmg2e9i said:
Matt,

I've owned everyone of the fairies you mentioned and many more and I can tell you species has nothing to do with hiding. It all comes down to the type of handling the fish recieve before they come into your possession.

:D

Thanks. The only reason I wondered about it was because I got the lineatus and laboutei at the same time from the same place. Laboutei didn't hide, lineatus hid for a while.
 

Hiroyuki Tanaka

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My name is Tanaka, (Hiroyuki Tanaka) of Japan, and one of Cirrhilabrus-Paracheilinus lovers.

I saw these photos with a deep sigh, and what a beautiful species you got ! Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis is not so rare in our market in Japan but C. earlei has never been shipped; I have never heard of capture as an aquarium pet.

The species was originally discovered in Palau and named after John L. Earle of Bishop Museum of Oahu, who has just discovered another Cirrhilabrus in southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. He and colleague can dive so deep with Cis-Lunar equipment like Richard Pyle of Hawaii.

They seem quite curious and can eat anything offered but is there any difference in both sexes ? The female looks like its mate but could you tell me their color differences ? :D 8O

Anyway you could get this magnificent fish for the first time in the world.
 
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Anonymous

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Hiroyuki Tanaka":x4tdbfan said:
My name is Tanaka, (Hiroyuki Tanaka) of Japan, and one of Cirrhilabrus-Paracheilinus lovers.

I saw these photos with a deep sigh, and what a beautiful species you got ! Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis is not so rare in our market in Japan but C. earlei has never been shipped; I have never heard of capture as an aquarium pet.

The species was originally discovered in Palau and named after John L. Earle of Bishop Museum of Oahu, who has just discovered another Cirrhilabrus in southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. He and colleague can dive so deep with Cis-Lunar equipment like Richard Pyle of Hawaii.

They seem quite curious and can eat anything offered but is there any difference in both sexes ? The female looks like its mate but could you tell me their color differences ? :D 8O

Anyway you could get this magnificent fish for the first time in the world.

I'm pretty sure anyone who is familiar with rare fish knows who you are! 8O You take incredibly beautiful fish photographs.

You said C. rhomboidalis is not too rare there; what about C. bathyphilus? It has recently become much more common in the United States.
 
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Anonymous

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This thread seems to have generated a lot of interest from some folks new to our board.

:welcome:

Hope you stay awhile. :D
 

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