The Frogfish Files

[Wee Man]

i had a hispid with the same thing in the same place. i know that giant frogfishs get a disiease where they develop a fleshy bag on their body which they die a couple weeks afer from. the frog i had though lived for another 6 months before it died of poor water conditions when i was on a trip. (you can never trust babysitters).

[Wee Man]

did it look like this

[29GallonReefer]

are you talking about the 2 litle white balls under his chin, mine takes the shape of the bottom lip long ways. it;s ahrd to explain without pictures

[Drewcipher]

So I am 3 months in now and my histrio histrio, unorigianlly referred to as "Froggy" is doing very well. He eats 2-3 fish per week. I prefer damsels, but when he is unable to catch them for a while I will get a molly. Currently he has 3 friends in his tank. A 3 spot, 3 stripe and a violet damsel. They have been there for 2 weeks, along with a second 3 spot which recently met Froggy and was consumed. I also have 2 peppermint shrimp that have been in the tank longer than Froggy. He has had many oppurtunities to eat them and does not. He seems completely uninterested in shrimp. Anyway, I will get a picture or 2 up soon and update you in another 3 months or so.

[Reefcherie]

Originally posted by Drewcipher
He seems completely uninterested in shrimp.

I've often wondered if food preference varies by individual frogfish or more by species. If mine has a choice he'll go for the shrimp every time. When he uses his lure, fish seem scared of it and shrimp are attracted to it. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Cheri

[Mr. Ugly]

I have/had a couple peppermint shrimps in the tank with my frogfish. (I finally trapped one of the shrimps because it was stealing food from the corals.)

He ignores the shrimps, and doesn't lure at them at all. They all checked each other out when I first added the fish to the tank, though. The shrimps even went up to him and put their antennaes on him.

I guess he's used to eating small ghost shrimp and not big peppermint shrimps. The peppermints are a little over 2" long, not counting antennaes.

The shrimps are such pests that I wouldn't have minded if they became dinner.

[Reefcherie]

Where are you in CA? Fuggly eats 2"+ shrimps all the time. I get a species of marine shrimp from Seawater Express in the ~2" size.

Cheri

[Drewcipher]

I put a couple ghost shrimp in there once. He looked and ignored them. I think the peppermints actually ate them

[Mr. Ugly]

Cheri, I'm in Alameda.

I remember reading about the shrimp that you keep for Fuggly.

Mr. Moldy has been eating gutloaded fw shrimp... ~1" in length. He's been eating a little frozen food too, but he's a little picky about frozen.

I'm getting ready to move my reef from a 37 to a 72. Maybe I should keep the 37 set up for marine shrimp.

[Drewcipher]

Anyone besides me feed only live fish? I wanted to watch the stalk.

[uberfugu]

I have a pictus that would not touch defrosted silversides (defrosted anything for that matter) for the first 6 months of captivity. The multiocellatus he is living with taught him to Not Fear The Stick and now, they both swim to the surface in anticipation whenever I approach the tank.

[Mr. Ugly]

Funny about the stick.

I've been feeding Mr. Moldy live shrimp from the stick. He swims over when it's dinner time too.

When he's hungry, I can sneak in a piece of frozen food in between the live ones. If he's not paying close attention, he'll eat the frozen food. After he's more full, he'll get picky and not go for more frozen stuff.

[Reefcherie]

Originally posted by Drewcipher
Anyone besides me feed only live fish? I wanted to watch the stalk.

I only feed live marine shrimp or marine feeder fish. Fuggly has never taken frozen - or I should say he's taken it and spit it out !

Cheri

[Drewcipher]

I guess what I really meant was, does anyone else plan on only feeding live food? I got Froggy anticipating that I would only feed live food. I was hoping he would eat some shrimps as well as fish, but that is apparently not the case, so fish it is. I am finding it amazing to watch the hunt. There are almost always 2-4 damsels in the tank with him. If he can't catch them, sometimes I get another 1-2 damsels and wait. He totally recognizes the new fish, even if they are the same species. I know this because he only hunts the new fish. It is very obvious. Froggy isn't much for ambush or angling, he swims alot and attacks. Maybe as he gets older he will learn to be more sneaky, but it is really cool watching him do his thing.

[uberfugu]

My anglers seem to have adapted to tank conditions too. When first acquired, they seem to go through the wait and lure thing, being very patient and rock-like, almost to the point of not eating.

Over time, they're lost or choose not to use their stealth skills and, perhaps knowing their prey wont escape, they will swim or trot right up to their feed and gulp them down, no pretense of luring or ambush. They really only lure when I approach.

I also feed both live F/W ghost shrimp and S/W shrimp. It keeps them on their toes so to speak. I suspect that a varied diet helps prevent long-term fatty liver degeneration so, I'm also feeding defrosted silversides, shrimp, squid and a formulated fish/gelatin mix.

[Drewcipher]

I would love for Froggy to eat shrimp, but he has no interest. Anyway, this is my first angler experience. I know that he will outgrow my tank in the not too distant future. When that happens, I will send him to a deserving home and replace with a new one. I hate doing that, but I don't have a big enough tank for a histrio at full size, and I hate having a big fish in a small tank.

[29GallonReefer]

I'm planning on only feeding my A. hispidus live food only. In the future i might try something frozen but i got the fish to watch him hunt. I've been feeding him about 2 small shrimp every 3 days or so and he does not lure much at all. He did it a couple times in the beginning when i would walk to the tank, but now he just walks right up to the shrimp and they are goners.

[blackwagon]

***??? My fish died last night... No signs of anything...

[Reefcherie]

Originally posted by blackwagon
***??? My fish died last night... No signs of anything...

Very sorry to hear that If I'm remembering correctly, you'd only had him a week or two at best - right? Unfortunately deaths early like that with no apparent reason isn't that uncommon with these fish. Somewhere (or perhaps several places) in the chain of custody, I think they undergo too much stress, the wrong food, too frequent feeding and heaven only knows what else. I've come to believe that they are more sensitive shippers than many fish and I definitely know that many people don't know enough about them and don't care for them correctly.

I've seen them overfed at LFS, fed sick fish ("that fish was dying anyway, so I figured it would be a good feeder fish"), fed guppies and goldfish, transferred via a net (air exposure).... who knows what happens at the wholesaler's or transshipper's and during collection/holding.

Cheri

[blackwagon]

How long does it take a fish to die from injesting air? When I picked it up from the store he was about to use the net on it but I told em to collect it under water, I'm wondering if it swallowed the air before I got it. I need a reason for the death, I just tested the water and everything reads normal. Today was feeding day, fed it a damsel sunday.

I think this will be my first and only angler, the hefty price tag and 7 day survival just killed me. I read forever on it and still it died...

[Reefcherie]

Someone else speak up if you have any ideas, but I doubt air was the issue in your case. From what I've heard, if they ingest air and can't expell it, you'd see evidence that there was a problem - funny swimming or something like that.

I had the same thing happen to me and was positive it was nothing I did. Others have experienced the same heartache. Without an autopsy by a fish expert, you wouldn't know that there was an enlarge liver or other issues not evident on the outside.

Cheri

[Thales]

Cherie,

Do you think these fish are being caught with cyanide? The symptoms are similar.

[Reefcherie]

Originally posted by Lefty
Cherie,

Do you think these fish are being caught with cyanide? The symptoms are similar.

Not at all. I'd really doubt it because there is absolutely no need. They swim like fat goldfish and catching them is a piece of cake. They don't hide inside dense corals like the schools of Chromis that are often caught with cyanide. More often than not, they are sitting on a sponge, on a piece of kelp or the like and can be gently scooped up with little problem. From what I've heard, the challenge to getting these guys is their camoflauge - first you have to spot them.

[Drewcipher]

Originally posted by Reefcherie
Someone else speak up if you have any ideas, but I doubt air was the issue in your case. From what I've heard, if they ingest air and can't expell it, you'd see evidence that there was a problem - funny swimming or something like that.

I had the same thing happen to me and was positive it was nothing I did. Others have experienced the same heartache. Without an autopsy by a fish expert, you wouldn't know that there was an enlarge liver or other issues not evident on the outside.

Cheri

I am not sure about seeing any signs, but "swimming funny?" Isn't that a given with these fish. Plus, as I understand it, it depends on the species. I read, for example, that histrio histrio will cling to sargussum weed and when a predator comes by, will jump up on top and out of the water for a moment to escape.

[gregt]

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