Introducing my new rhinopias frondosa

[luv951]

Here's my opinion without hijacking this thread, it is an awesome predator fish & that looks like a healthy beautiful specimen, I just feel like most people who fancy predator tanks, ie. mantis shrimp, lion fish, stone & frog fish are just fascinated with the violence of it all, most of us here hate any predation of any kind, including hermit crabs killing snails for shells, Snorvich?, I want to keep fish & corals thriving, almost like they are better off in my tank, than in the ocean, this specimen needs live food, as much as I dislike damsels, I wouldn't want to use them as prey. I am not preaching here, to each their own, but I still feel these types of fish are far better off left in their natural environment.

Good point...now leave it be. We all don't feel that way. I love predator tanks. I just love coral tanks more. If you can have both, more power to ya. I'd love to have both one day, plumbed to the same fish room.

The OP said it was in his macro tank which is a sort refug. for his system, so this obviously is not his main display tank.

The fish will likely be well taken care of if the OP has the type of system that has a dedicated macro tank. Isn't that whats most important? That fish are being cared for and fed appropriately? What would you rather have, it rot at an LFS or online vendor?

To the OP...beautiful fish! Bravo!

 

[sporto0]

I don't think you understand active versus passive. An active sting is where the fish or animal tries to sting you (defensively or otherwise) whereas a passive stinging occurs because you were careless and did not stay out of the way.

Semantics sir, I respect your experience & knowledge, I do understand the difference between passive & aggressive fish, but in a fish tank the danger is one in the same, rarely will you find an aggressive fish willing to attack you, most stings occur through carelessness, regardless if the fish is considered passive or agressive in it's natural habitat.

 

[Plato]

Freaking sweet.

 

[luv951]

this specimen needs live food, as much as I dislike damsels, I wouldn't want to use them as prey.

Just one more point. I have had at least three lion fish in my care that also would have preferred live food and would have loved damsals at $3.99 a pop at my LFS. Every one was successfully transitioned to frozen food.

All three grew to at least 6 inch specimens. The biggest i owned grew to about 8-9 inches. All on frozen food. Not one died in my care.

It can be done, but it takes patience and diligence.

 

[sporto0]

Good point...now leave it be. We all don't feel that way. I love predator tanks. I just love coral tanks more. If you can have both, more power to ya. I'd love to have both one day, plumbed to the same fish room.

The OP said it was in his macro tank which is a sort refug. for his system, so this obviously is not his main display tank.

The fish will likely be well taken care of if the OP has the type of system that has a dedicated macro tank. Isn't that whats most important? That fish are being cared for and fed appropriately? What would you rather have, it rot at an LFS or online vendor?

To the OP...beautiful fish! Bravo!

Fair enough & yes I hope the fish thrives.

 

[snorvich]

Semantics sir, I respect your experience & knowledge, I do understand the difference between passive & aggressive fish, but in a fish tank the danger is one in the same, rarely will you find an aggressive fish willing to attack you, most stings occur through carelessness, regardless if the fish is considered passive or agressive in it's natural habitat.

I said it was passive stinging and you said it was active stinging. So I assumed you did not know the difference. But I don't want this to digress to that kind of thread or it will be closed. Please stay on topic.

 

[sporto0]

Just one more point. I have had at least three lion fish in my care that also would have preferred live food and would have loved damsals at $3.99 a pop at my LFS. Every one was successfully transitioned to frozen food.

All three grew to at least 6 inch specimens. The biggest i owned grew to about 8-9 inches. All on frozen food. Not one died in my care.

It can be done, but it takes patience and diligence.

I know there are lots of predator fish owners who take excellent care of their fish, & I apologize if I offended anyone, a long time ago I got turned off on predator fish by keeping Piranha in a home aquarium, I regret it, after they were big enough, I gave them to a local municpal aquarium so that they would receive proper care.

 

[luv951]

I know there are lots of predator fish owners who take excellent care of their fish, & I apologize if I offended anyone, a long time ago I got turned off on predator fish by keeping Piranha in a home aquarium, I regret it, after they were big enough, I gave them to a local municpal aquarium so that they would receive proper care.

No worries and no offense. I had Oscars as a teenager and know how poorly some fish can be cared for - especially when you take the advice of a greedy LFS. I gave mine to a pond supply store that had multiple 1000+gallon tanks/ponds.

We all live and learn.

However the OP, from what I can glean, did not rush into this. He seems to have not taken poor advice and run with it, but waited and made an educated purchase. Based on his posts, he is equipped to properly care for this beautiful specimen. Not everyone is.

 

[RyanTurner]

That's a sweet fish. If you did your research, and know it's proper care you'll enjoy him for a while. Just be careful with what you feed him.

 

[scionreefing]

Try ghost shrimp.

Raffle grabber

 

[doctorgori]

They do not actively sting, only passively (you touch it). They are ambush predators so they would really require live food normally. I do not think that feeding it fresh water fish is good for their longevity. Damsels, perhaps?

many poecilia sp. can be converted to SW: guppies, picta and 5-6 species mollies off the top of my head

 

[wesgentry]

can we get a full tank shot?

 

[Postal]

Wow! Never thought this thread would take a turn quite like this.

Now for an update (and I'll ignore the "leave it in the ocean" comment which probably should apply to everything in our tanks if you want to go that route)

The rhipopias is doing very well. The brick orange color has faded to a lighter orange on most days although he can still be quite dark in the mornings when the light comes on.
I initially feed him a few freshwater rosy reds just to get him eating once he was accustomed to the new tank. Obviously I know not to keep him on freshwater fish (no goldfish at anytime) so that he doesn't damage his liver. From rosy reds he moved onto ghost shrimp, but they were a pain because of their small size in relation to the fish. I managed to get him to take an IQF silverside about two weeks into it, but on the second try the fish didn't come off the feeding stick well, and he went back on live only.
I stared noticing that he would come to the front of the tank whenever he saw me feed the frogfish (yes, another predator, and no I'm not doing it for the thrill of the kill) in the next tank with a certain blue net. So I put the IQF silverside in the blue net; the rhino walked up to it, and took the silverside as I floated it out of the net. He has been on frozen only for 3 weeks now. I will be working on expanding his frozen options soon now that we have established a pattern for feeding.
So, thank you to all of those who enjoyed the pics and liked the fish. For the person that seems to have a problem with me keeping this fish...I wasn't asking for you opinion or attitude. Please don't turn this thread into something it was never intended to be.

 

[Postal]

This is the tank at the time I got the rhino. The macro is growing in quite well thus far.

 

[Postal]

And this pic shows you how much lighter he can become although this seems to be the lightest he has gotten and has since darkened back some.
It also shows how well his camouflage can fool a snail.

 

[Eel Freak]

Dang. That fish is truly gorgeous. I may looking into adding one to my 125g macro tank (tied into my 200g reef display).

About how long is your specimen?

 

[jarrod13]

B E A U T I F U L!!!!!!! I've kept one for a while. My favorite fish by far. They usually convert to frozen food pretty easily. I fed mine damsels until he converted, and I never had to go back. They will change color to match their surroundings though, so don't be disappointed if he loses the orange color.

check out lionfishlair.com for some great info, it's a site made by two members on here, Greg and Renee (namxas and seahorsedreams) they have articles on the care of these fish, and also some great info on feeding techniques that you definitely have to check out, it's a must. Also you can post in the fish only and aggressive forum and they will definitely chime in.

Also theres a book by Frank Marini (another member on here) called "lionfish and scorpionfish" that is a must have for scorp owners, you can get it on amazon.

there are a few of us avid scorp keepers on these boards so feel free to ask any questions you have, but you will get much better responses on the fish only and aggressive forum... and you won't have to deal with the "leave it in the ocean" crap, seriuosly dude, nobody wants to hear your bs, if you knew anything, you would know you practically have to try to get stung by these fish, not only are they one of the most passive fish, but their venomous spines are pretty flexible

I'm counting the days until I can have another one, just out of my budget as of right now. Mine was killed by some stupid tangs that picked on it thinking it was a tasty rock covered in algae. So I definitely wouldn't keep it with any kind of "grazer" fish

 

[Postal]

As an update, the rhinopias is still doing well. He is taking IQF silversides with no problem. He even took one by hand yesterday (not that I want him to associate my hand with food).

 

[jarrod13]

Great job!! Glad to hear he's doing well. Has he changed color at all?

 

[Postal]

Great job!! Glad to hear he's doing well. Has he changed color at all?

He has faded from the brick red-orange to more of an orange-yellow. He is darker in the mornings when the light comes on, and lightens up throughout the day.