Apogon Parvulus

Apogon Parvulus. Also called the red spotted cardinal. Beautiful fish that schools very well and looks like they could glow ever so slightly in the dark (they don't), but tragically has a incredibly high rate of death in captivity.

Thanks to a mysterious Santa, I was able to obtain 12 specimen. Sadly, like the literature goes, it's been only two weeks since their obtainment, and I'm already down to a third of the original count.
As of now, 5 is left of the original 12, though I had only received 9 of the 12 (Santa was holding them for me for a week and lost a few).

The Parvulus was kept in low flow initially, and it was during this time that I lost 4 during that time. Some of the deaths could possibly be attributed to transportation stress, or lack of willingness to feed. They showed little interested in food, even though I tried feeding PE mysis, grounded spirulina flake, Formula two flakes, frozen cyclop-eeze, and Salifert pellet food. I tried soaking in garlic, and not soaking in garlic. Same effects. The ones that died, I could see their stomach become rather flat and concave and some slight color change a day or so before their death.

John Maeda, another local reefer who received 12 Parvulus specimen at the same time, was retaining 10 at this time. He has them in a much larger tank (100g) with higher flow. After some discussion with him, I dramatically increased the flow rate. Since then, all of the Parvulus look much happier and no death since. They can definitely handle the high flow and now that the food is always kept suspended and moving, they're eating with gusto. They now lunge for cyclopeeze like piranhas and I can see them pooping now (who would've thought i'd be so happy to see poop!). Feeding is done at least three time a day.

John Maeda reports that after reducing feeding to once a day for a week, he lost another, and many others show a thin stomach. He has since increased feeding to three times a day again.

Not certain how tank size factors in to Parvulus success, but flow rate and frequency of feed is definitely important componenets. More updates to come at end of the month.