The Frogfish Files - Page 37

uberfugu · #**901** 02/28/2005, 09:54 PM

I've ordered from Aquadesignz, Anthony is a good guy and because he is located close to the wholesalers in Southern California, he can get some rare and unusual stuff.

Atlantis Aquarium is my LFS but they are also RC sponsors. If you give Ming or Joleen a call or e-mail, they might be able to get a nice angler. I've gotten many anglers from Atlantis.

Litepsan on RC, Grimreefers, and Aquaticpredators has a pair of Antennarius nummifer that spawn regularly. I'm not sure how far along he has raised the fry. They are canibalistic and must be separated early on.

uberfugu · #**902** 02/28/2005, 09:56 PM

Oh

http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/i...showtopic=6376

uberfugu · #**903** 03/02/2005, 12:59 PM

One of the LFS in my area had a 5â€? angler sharing a tank with a 5-6â€? Rhinopias frondosa. They had been tankmates for a few months. Well, one day recently, the frogfish just decided to eat the Rhino; you could see the Rhinoâ€™s dorsal ridge pattern on the anglerâ€™s stomach! The anglerâ€™s legs couldnâ€™t touch down because itâ€™s stomach bottomed out. That $100 frogfish ate an $800 scorpionfish.

Just wanted to point out that anglers are best in a species-only tank. I see a lot of posts about frogfish in community tanks and I just have donâ€™t recommend it. Not only are anglers natural predators of scorpionfish, but the will eat anything they can get their mouth around, and this includes fishes bigger than themselves. The other issue is if the frogfishâ€™s meal is too large, the prey item may start decomposing before it can be fully digested. Scott Michael (in Reef Fishes Vol 1) says that it is difficult to save a frogfish once this happens.

Here is far-from-comprehensive list of frogfish prey that I have either experienced or have great trust in the source: Dendrochirus brachypterus (fuzzy lion â€“ mine!), peppermint shrimp, fire shrimp, Synanceia verrucosa (5â€?), onyx percula, flame angel, baby 6â€? barracuda (swallowed by 3â€? angler, spit out but barracuda died), mystery wrasse, and other anglers. Iâ€™m sure there are a lot more similar experiences out there. Would those of you that have similar experiences please comment?

I guess I just wanted to warn the angler-community-tank crowd that it is only a matter of time. I hate losing fish.

bryan

Swthurs · #**904** 03/13/2005, 11:38 AM

Found this forum through a google search..since I wanted to know more about my new cool fish. I have fist-sized frogfish - colors mimic live rock with stuff growing all over him. I thought he was sick since he tends to stay still for long periods of time, till he chomp down on 3 common damselfishes I placed into the tank. I thought it would take awhile for him to catch, but the fishes were disoriented when introduced to the tank. I managed to read through most but not all posts and see the neat pics of other frogfishes. This fish is great!! Too bad I can't keep other fishes with it.

Reefcherie · #**905** 03/13/2005, 07:38 PM

Swthurs

To Reef Central

and welcome to The Frogfish Files!

How about a picture of your fish? I think everyone here loves frogfish pictures! If your angler is fist-sized, don't be surprised if "football sized" is in your future! Take a look at detailed descriptions of A. commersons and see if your guy/gal matches up.

uberfugu - great advice! Add "seahorse" to your list, since I know I've seen a picture of a frogfish w/ one partially sticking out of its mouth!

Cheri

Drewcipher · #**906** 03/17/2005, 08:59 PM

So, I finally got my histrio histrio. He is about 3 inches now, and in a 20 gallon hex tank. I put him in 2 days ago and he is moving around trying to find his spots. He is in there with 2 small peppermint shrimp that I had in there to handle an aiptasi problem(which they did nicely). He hasn't eaten them yet, but he made 3 moves in 3 days to get to my tank. If he hasn't eaten a shrimp by the time I come home from a weekend trip, I think I will go get a small fish, that will swim around and taunt him. Maybe that will spark his interest. I am going to try to get some pictures before I leave for the weekend so I can post, but it might not come until next week. I hope he is ok.

Drewcipher · #**907** 03/24/2005, 06:27 PM

Well, I have watched the angler come face to face with the peppermint shrimp on several occasions and not have the slightest bit of interest in them, however, it made short work of a small chromis I put in, and today I put another chromis in there and he is definitely hungry. No interest in ambushing. He has been chasing the thing around the tank for an hour now. Of course he can't catch it in open water, but he is going to try.

ellamaeruth · #**908** 03/24/2005, 10:42 PM

I also have a histrio of about the same size. He eats frozen shrimp, krill, and formula one. Of course, he relished the mollies I gave him early on....

thaoctopus · #**909** 03/29/2005, 03:01 PM

His name is NACHO

thaoctopus · #**910** 03/29/2005, 03:03 PM

Another

What should I do to help him change color?

mrmashew · #**911** 03/29/2005, 04:42 PM

The only way he will change color is if you give him to me.

thaoctopus · #**912** 03/30/2005, 01:00 AM

Hey Mashew, don't hate cause your "frogfish" turned out to be poisonous!

Reefcherie · #**913** 03/30/2005, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by thaoctopus
What should I do to help him change color?

Your best shot at getting your frogfish to change color is to alter the environment he's in. As an ambush predator w/ very little swimming skills, his only defense and his ability to ambush both depend on his ability to "blend in." My A. pictus has been red, black, red/orange, yellow, yellowish-green and now putty in that order - all in response to the various things I've done with his 40-gallon refugium home. The yellow was a mystery, since it didn't blend w/ anything, but the rest have been explainable based upon the dominent colors in his home.

Cheri

thaoctopus · #**914** 03/30/2005, 11:29 AM

Thanks,
So would you recommend plastic corals or some easy-low light corals?

If easy corals, which ones?

Reefcherie · #**915** 03/31/2005, 07:48 AM

I haven't tried the plastic corals route - perhaps someone else here has?

Live rock w/ lots of nice coraline algae or red macro algae maybe. If you have the lighting for easy corals, you might try some colorful zoanthids and mushrooms. I got Fuggly to turn red/orange w/ sponge markings when I put a big red/orange tree sponge in w/ him, but those sponges are difficult to keep healthy, need a really well-established tank w/ the right water flow and I don't recommend trying that trick.

Cheri

thaoctopus · #**916** 03/31/2005, 11:39 AM

Thanks Cheri,
Hopefully the corals I have will work. Just some zoos and shrooms. A couple of white sponges that came with the Liverock.
Just curious, The closeup of Nacho shows some white spots on him. Could this be a parasite? He is swimming a bit now as well.

Reefcherie · #**917** 04/01/2005, 08:37 AM

Could you post a close-up or two of Nacho and describe the white spots better?

Cheri

thaoctopus · #**918** 04/01/2005, 11:32 AM

Here they are, but suprisingly, they are going away! He also ate 2 small frozen silversides last nite.

A funny observation was that if I speared the silverside from the head and dangled the tail in front of Nacho, he would flick his "Angler" but not eat.

As soon as I speared the tail end and waved the silverside's head in front of Nacho, He attacked it right away!

uberfugu · #**919** 04/01/2005, 11:39 AM

Anglers will usually strike at their prey headfirst. I think that the success rate is higher (kinda like using the tine end of a fork instead of the handle end

)

Watch your guy for more white spots. Crypto falls off during the day and often reappears at night. All fishes are susceptable to disease and infection after the stresses of transit (or multiple transit). It is a good reason to do FW dips and a 4 week quarantine.

Drewcipher · #**920** 04/01/2005, 11:42 AM

I am still feeding only live food. He hasn't been able to catch the second chromis yet, after a week. So I added 2 small mollies, one on Monday and one on Thursday. He got both of them within a few minutes. Anyway, he maneuvers himself into a position to swallow head first. I am guessing that is an instinct. If he grabs for the tail, the prey might be able to swim away. I still find it interesting that mine has no interest whatsoever in the 2 peppermint shrimp I had in there. Just hope he doesn't decide they look good all of a sudden and eat them both.

Mr. Ugly · #**921** 04/05/2005, 04:04 PM

New frogfish for me!

I picked him up from Amazon Aquarium here in Alameda for $50. Their supplier sold it as a green angler. It's more of a charcoal black/gray actually.

He's about 3", and looks like a pictus. 12 dorsal rays, 10 non-bifurcated pectoral rays, long illicium, 3 spots on tail. The second spine is kind of club shaped like on a maculatus though. If he gets all warty and bumpy later, that's fine too.

He's been checking out his new home since last Friday. I fed him a few live ghost shrimp from some fishing line on the end of a feeding stick this weekend.

No name for him just yet... maybe Kingsford, or Lump, or Mr. Moldy... depends on what color he turns

Mr. Ugly · #**922** 04/11/2005, 01:04 AM

Just a few pics of Mr. Moldy hanging out by some candycane

That's it!

Reefcherie · #**923** 04/11/2005, 05:55 AM

"Mr. Moldy"! I love it! I've got some sponge on the undersides of some of my rock that look a lot like him

Actually, Fuggly looks a lot lot him and I've been wondering if he is A. maculatus rather than A. pictus since he stopped growing at 4" (but eats plenty!) and also has that club-shaped second spine. I got him as a 1.5" juvenile but he never showed the typical sinusoidal waving of the dorsal fins I've seen in young A. maculatus and he's not as bumpy as I'd expect. I wonder if it is possible the trade is seeing frogfish that aren't A. maculatus and also aren't A. pictus....

Cheri

Mr. Ugly · #**924** 04/11/2005, 11:16 AM

Hmmm... interesting. Do other anglers have the sinusoidal fin motion, or only maculatus? Mr. Moldy does do that. He's not very bumpy though.

Interesting that Mr. Moldy has the quad nares. Mr. Ugly didn't have that. He was a pictus. I haven't noticed with other anglers. I'll have to look at more pics.

Reefcherie · #**925** 04/11/2005, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Ugly
Hmmm... interesting. Do other anglers have the sinusoidal fin motion, or only maculatus? Mr. Moldy does do that. He's not very bumpy though.

Interesting that Mr. Moldy has the quad nares. Mr. Ugly didn't have that. He was a pictus. I haven't noticed with other anglers. I'll have to look at more pics.

I have only read about that fin motion associated w/ A. maculatus. I wonder if there is any chance that A. maculatus and A. pictus have been breeding? If I ever get Scott Michael cornered again at a conference, I'd love to talk to him about frogfish identification and questions like that.

Cheri