Good leaf fish info
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I have a pair of Hawaiian leaf fish in a 55. They get about 4 inches long, mine are a bit smaller. My leaf fish will only take live food - shrimp, guppies, gambusia. I think a 12 gallon nano is on the small side for most scorps. If you can, I'd get a 24 gallon nano cube or better yet, use at least a 29.
In my 55, I have several scorpionfish and relatives. They are all ambush predators, some take only live food, others will take frozen:
-2 Hawaiian leaf fish - live food only
-longspine waspfis h - frozen and live - I have a mate for this one currently in another tank
looks like this:
-orange banded stingfish - just got it, hear they are hard to wean to live - here's a pic of one similar to mine, mine is less colorful:
This tank is pretty packed right now. I have other fish now in the 55 that I'll have to move soon:
-small bluethroat trigger - going to the 210 when it is set up
-small green wolf eel blenny - will need to eventually move, maybe to the 210 - very cool fish
-3.5-4" yellow angler, Antennarius pictus - will go in my 29 reef when the angler already there gets a little bigger
The leaf fish seem to be thriving, I've had them for quite some time. This tank has lots of live rock (65-75 lbs) some hardy corals, lots of different macroalgae. Shallow sand bed, fairly low flow. Filtration is BakPak skimmer, Emperor 280 HOT power filter and an Aquafuge HOT refugium full of macro and lit 24/7.
I hope this helps you some. I don't know many sources of good aquarium care information for leaf fish or other scorpionfish. Scott Michael's book Reef Fishes volume 1 is about the best source I can recommend.
In my 55, I have several scorpionfish and relatives. They are all ambush predators, some take only live food, others will take frozen:
-2 Hawaiian leaf fish - live food only
-longspine waspfis h - frozen and live - I have a mate for this one currently in another tank
looks like this:
-orange banded stingfish - just got it, hear they are hard to wean to live - here's a pic of one similar to mine, mine is less colorful:
This tank is pretty packed right now. I have other fish now in the 55 that I'll have to move soon:
-small bluethroat trigger - going to the 210 when it is set up
-small green wolf eel blenny - will need to eventually move, maybe to the 210 - very cool fish
-3.5-4" yellow angler, Antennarius pictus - will go in my 29 reef when the angler already there gets a little bigger
The leaf fish seem to be thriving, I've had them for quite some time. This tank has lots of live rock (65-75 lbs) some hardy corals, lots of different macroalgae. Shallow sand bed, fairly low flow. Filtration is BakPak skimmer, Emperor 280 HOT power filter and an Aquafuge HOT refugium full of macro and lit 24/7.
I hope this helps you some. I don't know many sources of good aquarium care information for leaf fish or other scorpionfish. Scott Michael's book Reef Fishes volume 1 is about the best source I can recommend.
I think a 12g tank would be OK for leaf fish, if that's all you'll be keeping in it. I kept a pair in a 15g for quite some time, and they seemed very happy. Leaf scorpions are largely sedentary animals and don't need a lot of room for movement. Having ample structure in the tank will make them happier, as they enjoy having stuff to perch on.
Leaf fish are extremely easy to keep. They super hardy and will withstand all kinds of abuse (not that you should give any of course). The only caveat is that they almost never learn to eat dead food, so you should only keep them if you are able to reliably get live food items. Usually glass/ghost shrimp are most popular.
Leaf fish are extremely easy to keep. They super hardy and will withstand all kinds of abuse (not that you should give any of course). The only caveat is that they almost never learn to eat dead food, so you should only keep them if you are able to reliably get live food items. Usually glass/ghost shrimp are most popular.
I agree a 12 gallon nano could be ok for no more than two leaf fish. But these fish, while sedentary, get to four inches long, and mine do use the entire length of the 55. Sometimes they even hop around after each other (courting?). I think a 12 gallon cube will get crowded, even if it can sustain the fish. I'd still pay close attention to water quality. While not very active, these are predator fish, and I suspect they produce plenty of metabolic waste, like my anglers do. I think even a 20 long would be better.
Besides only accepting live food, also note that leaf fish are considered venomous. Mine have never stung me, and I don't handle them, so I don't know how bad a sting would be.
Leaf fish make great display animals. Always out front, interesting behaviors, and even the "regular" light yellow color is attractive. They even shed their skins - it looks like a rubber leaf fish suit.
Besides only accepting live food, also note that leaf fish are considered venomous. Mine have never stung me, and I don't handle them, so I don't know how bad a sting would be.
Leaf fish make great display animals. Always out front, interesting behaviors, and even the "regular" light yellow color is attractive. They even shed their skins - it looks like a rubber leaf fish suit.
Leaf fish are fairly straight forwrd scorpions, in tahts they wil feed on live food . For me the key to success w/ these fish are NO tankmates and a smaller tank. While i see you guys are discussing the merits of 12gal vs 20 gal -i think both would be fine for a few leaf scorpions, and infact if yo keep the tank smaller then you'll need less food to maintain the right food density, just remember if you feed live food an they die they will foul the water of a smaller tank quicker. Hopefully you guys can get live saltwater ghost shrimp or pennaid shrimp where you live, as i found this to be the easist and best food.
Like Lisa wrote these fish require live foods almost exclusively, althou i was able to wean 2 over to PE frozen mysis.
Lisa- Sounds like a nice tank, by the way that orange banded stingfish, or whatever atlantis aquarium are calling these are actually coridactylus barbartus (aka multi barbed stingfish). Their pictures are in the first few pages of the scorpionfish section in Scott micheals book (reefFish vol1).
I have a pair as well, they are NOT eating anything dead..period. I've only gotten mine to eat small guppies, they won't even touch live ghost or pennaid shrimp. I'm not holding out alot of hope for them. Cool critters, but are comming across as difficult.
You can see photos of another coridactylus sp that I got a few yrs back, he refused to eat
Like Lisa wrote these fish require live foods almost exclusively, althou i was able to wean 2 over to PE frozen mysis.
Lisa- Sounds like a nice tank, by the way that orange banded stingfish, or whatever atlantis aquarium are calling these are actually coridactylus barbartus (aka multi barbed stingfish). Their pictures are in the first few pages of the scorpionfish section in Scott micheals book (reefFish vol1).
I have a pair as well, they are NOT eating anything dead..period. I've only gotten mine to eat small guppies, they won't even touch live ghost or pennaid shrimp. I'm not holding out alot of hope for them. Cool critters, but are comming across as difficult.
You can see photos of another coridactylus sp that I got a few yrs back, he refused to eat
Hi Frank,
The fish you pictured looks exactly like the one I just got from Atlantis. They were calling theirs a pop-eyed waspfish. Could you PM me if you know of any other sources for these fish? I'd like to get another one. I'm sorry you've had trouble getting yours to eat. Mine has taken live ghost shrimp, I hope it proves to be hardy.
My 55 works really well for the leaf fish, but the tank mates are for the most part very similar in activity level and temperament. There are never any "left over" food items, as some of the fish will eat dead, and I have bristleworms and serpent stars to clean up. The tank is very stable, even with a pretty high fish load. It ended up being basically a fringe reef habitat. The refugium helps a lot, and the skimmer, though small (BakPak) does a good job. The corals are mostly LPS, soft corals, mushrooms and polyps.
Do you have any idea how long leaf fish live? BTW, I sent you a PM with a question on another fish, Dactylopus dactylopus. If you can help me out, I'd be grateful.
The fish you pictured looks exactly like the one I just got from Atlantis. They were calling theirs a pop-eyed waspfish.
Could you PM me if you know of any other sources for these fish? I'd like to get another one. I'm sorry you've had trouble getting yours to eat. Mine has taken live ghost shrimp, I hope it proves to be hardy. My 55 works really well for the leaf fish, but the tank mates are for the most part very similar in activity level and temperament. There are never any "left over" food items, as some of the fish will eat dead, and I have bristleworms and serpent stars to clean up. The tank is very stable, even with a pretty high fish load. It ended up being basically a fringe reef habitat. The refugium helps a lot, and the skimmer, though small (BakPak) does a good job. The corals are mostly LPS, soft corals, mushrooms and polyps.
Do you have any idea how long leaf fish live? BTW, I sent you a PM with a question on another fish, Dactylopus dactylopus. If you can help me out, I'd be grateful.
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I definately think a 12g nano with a pair of leaffish would make for a very interesting tank. If you can put several Tree Sponges (yellow or orange) in there, it would make for a pretty impressive display, and most likely the leaffish will change colors to match the sponges.
And I really like all the pictures posted in this thread...
And I really like all the pictures posted in this thread...
Lisa-
many of the smaller scorpionfish live between 2-5yrs. i would guesstimate that this i prolly correct for leaf fish as well.
Last time i called atlantis had 4 pop-eyed- waspfish. I got 2 of them, you got 1. Unfortunately for me, it appears i got the ones that don't wanna eat.
I'll check my PM
many of the smaller scorpionfish live between 2-5yrs. i would guesstimate that this i prolly correct for leaf fish as well.
Last time i called atlantis had 4 pop-eyed- waspfish. I got 2 of them, you got 1. Unfortunately for me, it appears i got the ones that don't wanna eat.
I'll check my PM
I'm talking about the stingfish I just got, not my leaf fish, which I've had for a long time.
The stingfish, and another species of fish I got from the same company, came in uninflated bags - plenty of water, little headspace and it looked like no added oxygen. They came on Tuesday.
Breathing has been labored, and the other night I noticed the pelvic fins trembling kind of spastically, which definitely looks bad. Also, one cheek spine on one side seems swollen. So I'm worried about the fish. It looked better this morning and ate yesterday, so I'm hoping it will be ok.
The stingfish, and another species of fish I got from the same company, came in uninflated bags - plenty of water, little headspace and it looked like no added oxygen. They came on Tuesday.
Breathing has been labored, and the other night I noticed the pelvic fins trembling kind of spastically, which definitely looks bad. Also, one cheek spine on one side seems swollen. So I'm worried about the fish. It looked better this morning and ate yesterday, so I'm hoping it will be ok.
Lisa-
Ditto for me, my sting fish came in a similar bag w/ NO o2, the fish are laboring bigtime. I've got them in a 25 tall w/ 4 " of live sand, they are not burrowing, just sitting there. No other tank mates.
The larger of the two is undergoing som form of fin degradation, while its dorsal fins are like it got into a fight. The smaller stingfish ate a mollie last nite, it looks to be doing the best, laboring less hard than the big stingfish
The lower pec fin do tremble on these fish, I've noticed that before and i think its part of their active camoflague
Ditto for me, my sting fish came in a similar bag w/ NO o2, the fish are laboring bigtime. I've got them in a 25 tall w/ 4 " of live sand, they are not burrowing, just sitting there. No other tank mates.
The larger of the two is undergoing som form of fin degradation, while its dorsal fins are like it got into a fight. The smaller stingfish ate a mollie last nite, it looks to be doing the best, laboring less hard than the big stingfish
The lower pec fin do tremble on these fish, I've noticed that before and i think its part of their active camoflague
Sorry to hear it Frank. My stingfish is rather large, seems to be doing better. It ate again last night, both guppies and ghost shrimp. I am most concerned now about the Dactylopus (fingered dragonet). I posted in the Reef Fishes forum asking for help to get it to eat.
That fin degradation sounds like the same symptoms I experienced with blue fin lions and ambon scorpions shipped from Atlantis in the past. The fish all died within about a week or less. I hope your fish can fight it. It almost seems like Vibrio.
It is beyond me why a company would send out a mail order $80 fish (or any fish, for that matter) without O2 in the bag. My fish had to travel from California to North Carolina! I used to be a big proponent of Atlantis. However, the survival rate of my fish from Atlantis has been dismal. It would take a lot for me to order from them again.
That fin degradation sounds like the same symptoms I experienced with blue fin lions and ambon scorpions shipped from Atlantis in the past. The fish all died within about a week or less. I hope your fish can fight it. It almost seems like Vibrio.
It is beyond me why a company would send out a mail order $80 fish (or any fish, for that matter) without O2 in the bag. My fish had to travel from California to North Carolina! I used to be a big proponent of Atlantis. However, the survival rate of my fish from Atlantis has been dismal. It would take a lot for me to order from them again.
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