i’ll go as far as saying that you can pretty much slap these corals against a stone wall duiring transit, they are popular and hardy for their survival rates and if they fail shortly after surviving at a (loosly put because all are different) LFS then you have either an acclimation problem (most reefers cringe and deny but are fully guilty of) or water parameter issues)
I am not so sure. I have read on different reef sites people saying that they dropped theirs upside down in their tank or a snail pushed the frag off of a rock and shortly after, they died.
I acclimated this coral just as I have acclimated the last couple of frags, and I am following the Dr. Mac acclimation guide that they give. Now, that isn’t to say there isn’t something wrong with my water parameters, or that maybe the tests I have are giving false readings, it is pretty hard to tell without taking my water to have it tested by someone else. Regardless, the LFS is going to work with me to rectify the problem, so I am a happy camper.
im glad they will work it out with you. 
and of course i was kidding about slapping them on a wall lol
it was just wierd that out of 50 frags that all came in at the same time, only the bright torches had issues…
anyone???
Well, i picked up a new fish and coral today from The Fish Bowl. I got what we thought might be a Black Midas Blenny. I am not real sure, I can’t seem to find anything about a Black Midas Blenny. The only Midas Blenny’s I see on the internet are yellowish gold colored, and are only a darker yellowish gold when they are stressed out. After doing some quick research, I believe this is either a yellow tail blenny except that the yellow part of the tail is actually white (???) a Black Sailfin Blenny or a Black Comb-toothed Blenny. Most of the pictures I am seeing of black blennies have a red ring around their eyes, but this guy has a blue ring around his eyes and his tail has just a little bit of white on it… which is why I thought maybe the comb-toothed. The Black Sailfin pictures I am seeing look like the tail may be blue??
I am hoping to get a few pictures of it up on the forums here in the next couple of days, but he is mighy shy and doesn’t like to stay out very long after I walk up to the tank… nothing like buying a fish that you don’t get to see very often. weeeee!!! haha.
As for the coral, I picked up another torch coral. This isn’t the bright green variety like I orginally had, the LFS seems to be having issues with the one they had in the tank, so I decided to go with this other one, almost like a green tipped torch or something, not sure if there are different color names for them or not. I will get a picture up sometime today.
Edit: Yeah, after finding another picture of the Black sailfin blenny, I am not so sure… he doesnt have that real tall fin like he should probably have, to earn the sailfin name…
Ok, here are the pictures of the new blenny and the torch coral.
What type of blenny do you all think this is?
Here is a link to what I think it matches pretty close to:
http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/fish/blennies/Ecsenius/Enamiyei.htm
Here is the new torch
And here is the new torch being violated by my clowns…
What type of blenny do you all think this is?
you nailed it! its a black comb-tooth. i was actually going to pick one up for my 34g and Andy and I did quite a bit of research on it. You have to be careful because the combtooth, black midas, and black sailfin are sometimes labeled and sold incorrectly which can suck if you pay $40 for a $15 combtooth sold as a black midas.
Well… I can tell you this. At night when the lights are off and I shine a red light in on him, he has these white markings all over his head. It’s really kind of crazy looking and I have no way to get a real good picture of it. I also can’t seem to find a picture of any sort of Black Midas Blenny on the internet. Anyone have a link to a good picture? Almost everything I find is talking about the Golden Midas with a black spot close to the tail…
sorry about the post, it was a little unclear. basically, as much as i understand it, there is no such thing as a black midas. As far as i can tell there are only 2 black blennies: Ecsenius namiyei and Atrosalarias fuscus. However, you will often find both fish(especially namiyei) sold by LFS as a black midas blenny at an inflated cost. Typically, Ecsenius namiyei is solid black so im not sure whats up with yours having a white tail unless its just the pic. The striation that can be seen in the first pic is what normally changes color when the blenny moves.
Well, when I do a search for Ecsenius namiyei, I get pictures of the Yellow-Tail Blenny. The Genus and Species also matches the link that I showed for the Black Comb-toothed Blenny. It looks as if all blennies of the Ecsenius genus are considered Comb-toothed Blennies and I would assume the namiyei species of blennies has a lighter colored tail, that can be either white or yellow? The confusion comes when, the LFS gets them they are labeled a specific way, then they must sell them however they are labeled. Unless there is a major mis-labeling, like an Occelaris Clown put in a bag and mislabeled as a Maroon Clown or something like that?
All I know is that I have a Black Blenny with a white tail. He is very active, seems to enjoy his surroundings, and has made a home at the very back of my aquarium under a piece of lace rock… I also saw him eating some of the Mysis shrimp I fed last night, which was kind of wierd since I haven’t read where they are meat eaters.
By the way, thanks for the information and the responds Logans_daddy.
Yep, the Ecsenius namiyei is the black comb tooth. It would seem that the tail can vary in color quite a bit based on maturity and are collected although the ones i have seen in person have always been entirely black. Regardless of tail color, its still the same fish and a beauty at that. Fishbase is a really useful site when looking for factual information independent of the hobby.
The confusion comes when, the LFS gets them they are labeled a specific way, then they must sell them however they are labeled.
I disagree. They can and should sell them as honestly as possible regardless of what name is used when acquired. Trust me, if an LFS ordered a rusty angel and got a potters you better belive it will be sold as a potters ;D There are two very real problems though. The first being the ridiculous amount of trade names used in lieu of scientific names. Second, as you intimated, is the very real chance of livestock being sold by the distrubutor with incorrect identification.
He is very active, seems to enjoy his surroundings, and has made a home at the very back of my aquarium under a piece of lace rock.. I also saw him eating some of the Mysis shrimp I fed last night, which was kind of wierd since I haven't read where they are meat eaters.
Very cool. These guys seem to be very hardy, im sure you’ll have it for a long time. Very nice choice!
Yeah, I would have to guess that most LFS would sell the fish as honestly as they could. But I am sure somewhere in the world there are those shady pet stores that would try to pull a stunt like selling a Occelaris Percula as a True Percula to make a few extra dollars to an amateur aquarist (like me), hoping that a true aquarist that knows what he/she is looking at won’t come in… haha
But anyway, anyone have any issues with their clowns hosting in a torch coral to the point where they kill it? Mine seem to have been really jonesing for an anenome, and are now hosting in my new torch very very often, I am afraid they may damage it…
very good info shawn… i never knew a “black midas” doesnt actually exist. i know mom has bought some!!! and im pretty sure that what he got came in as a black midas. (tank was labeled bicolor, and i gave it up at the misprinted price anyhow) but very good to know.
i also researched the black midas after billy left with this blenny that night and found nothing, which now makes sense. always looking to learn something!!
if im not mistaken, the same thing happened at DPA. Their distrubutor was listing black midas as Ecsenius midas with a wholesale cost higher than the retail for Ecsenius namiyei. Now that i think about it, it might be that the solid black Ecsenius namiyei are a little more uncommon and are sold at a premium as black midas because, as i mentioned, all the black combtooth listed as black midas that ive seen in person are entirely black. makes me wonder ???.
ok, here is what i got from a distributor of mine. they r listing “black midas” blennies as Cirripectes stigmaticus… still looks nothing like the one u got. so i dunno!
awesome, thanks for the info!!
makes things even less clear though because, like you said, the pics of the Cirripectes stigmaticus look nothing like the “black midas” that i typically see. i guess the mystery deepens…damn trade names!!
see what i mean? but the list specifically says “black midas-stigmaticus”…
who knows, i usually try to id the fish if it’s wrong and re-tag it. but unless i can be 100% sure i have id’ it, i tag it as we buy them. just sux sometimes tho
Hey, just as long as its not one of these Leopard Blenny’s. I bought one of these strays in a store once, thinking it was just a variation on a lawn mower blenny.
http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/fish/blennies/Exallias/Ebrevis.htm
I had some hair algae i wanted it to munch on. Bought it, brought it home put it in the reef tank and watched it sereenly sit on a hairy rock observing the surroundings with its bug eyes.
Well it sat there about 20 minutes, and then jumped up, swam right over to one of my prized staghorn acropora’s and took a “Great Big Cookie Monster” bite out of it! and then swam back to its perch and sereenly sat there. Until it jumped up and took another bite, and another and …
Well that fish went right back into a bucket, and after a fast internet ID search, I found it was a Leopard Blenny, which eats nothing BUT Corals. So it went right back to the store next day. To be labeled, NOT REEF FRIENDLY!!!
It was just an oddball that looked similar but acts completely different. Who knew? it got shipped as a lawnmower blenny.
So how is your little fishy? OK?
Oh that fish site above is great for fish info, pictures and ID.
My blenny seems to be doing pretty good. He is not eating my corals, which is a good thing!
I will say that if you look at my blenny at night, he looks something like that picture that BJ posted. I have been trying to get a decent night picture, but it is next to impossible. He has some very different colors on him than during the day. His body is mostly brown with white ‘stripes’ all over his body. NO real pattern though. I plan on trying every night to get a good picture, until I get one… >LOCO<
I wonder if it is just a color morphed starry blenny?