My Hitchhiker

Iphis

Iphis

New member
Oh man, this guy is hard to get a picture of.

I got my second shipment of live rock in today.

While I go to grab the rock, something big slaps my hand and runs circles around the base of the rock.

Me, totally freaked out by the sudden, unexpected feeling, is standing over the rock when I see a fish swimming around. It looks like a tadpole. About 2 inches long.

I finally get the rock out of there and get a good look at him, turns out my hitchhiker was, what appears by my newbie eyes, to be a Orange Toadfish.

He's happily set up in his very own tank right now. His water is still settling, so the water isn't clear yet. As soon as it is, I will post pictures of this dude. Man he is cool looking.

Iphis
 
your toadfish hitch hiker looks like mine! You identified him quicker than I did though. I had to post a pic on here to figure it out. Isnt he crazy? Are you keeping him separate? I have had mine about a year but have kept in my 40G. Ive enver seen him attack anything, but that doesnt rule out the possibility. How do you feed him? IMO, he is dumber than a doorknob and blind a s a bat. I have to dangle food over his eyes and he still misses occasionally!

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/51748toadfish.jpg
 
Hey there,

Yeah he has his own tank. That pocket guide called Marine Fishes has the orange toadfish as one of the first fish listed, kinda lucky he was up there. Thats how I got the quick ID.

He lives by himself under a fake piece of coral (Had to get something at 8pm at night, and petsmart was the only thing open).

I feed him by placing pieces of silversides in the tank, normally with the head attached, and shine a normal flashlight at it. For some reason, this makes him eat the fish.

Freakin awesome fish though, he hasn't gone after my fingers, much too scared. I'm looking for another fish that I can place in the tank with him.

He's doesn't seem dumb, he just likes to be left alone. He is much happier living underneath a rock and not being seen. As for being blind, I'm not sure about that. I know he seems to be light sensitive, or at least not like the light. He certainly can see things moving around in front of him.

Maybe you just have a 'special' one :D Mine rarely eats (I only feed him about twice a week), but when he gets it into his head that he wants to eat something, its gone in the first strike.

Iphis
 
Oh btw, what light do you have over your toadfish?

That blue-ish purple-ish hue is freakin sweet on yours.

Mine is definately a white, orange, brown and bright red eyes. No other colors.

What do you actually feed yours?
 
Ok, so he isn't literally dumb and blind. Everytime I approach the tank he swims out of his cave and gets right up to the glass. If i drop a piece of food in the tank he knows its in there, but he cant seem to make his way to it. He isnt much of a swimmer. What I do is shove a piece of a brine shrimp cube, squid, or other frozen fish I have on hand (including left over clam or lobster occasionally) into the end of my turkey baster and dangle it over his head. He then ambushes, its a wonder he hasnt yet bitten off the baster completely! Sometimes he misses, and sometimes he doesnt seem to 'see' it at all. Thats why I say he is dumb or blind, maybe just a little slow, hand feeding him is annoying. I have probably gone almost a week without feeding him when i'm lazy and he'll be fine. He must find something else in the tank to satisfy himself. He does have an appetite. He's now learned to ambushe anything I dangle in the tank (turkey baster, siphon hose, fingers, hydrometer).

BTW- that purple hue your seeing is from the actinic light. I dont know much about lighting (my boyfriend takes care of the technical stuff). I just know we run one white light and one actinic (makes things glow inthe dark) the fish alone is a tanish color with brown spots that darken according to his surroundings, and beady red eyes.
 
oh and as far as compatability with other fish, mine is fine in my fully stocked 40gallon. My fish include a six line wrasse, a blue headed wrasse, and a blue green chromy. he also doesnt bother my emerald crabs or pep shrimp (when i had them, come to think of it, maybe he is responsible for their disappearances)
 
Eheh, interesting. I have no problems getting mine to eat. I just drop something in the tank and you will see movement underneath his rock. Should the piece of food move, you see thi huge kick up of dust emenate from underneath the rock and he is ontop of the piece of fish like you wouldn't believe.

I've never seen him miss, or anything. He does seem to not like the light though, I keep wondering if he might be light sensitive. Maybe your powerful lighting has something to do with his missing the food?

The only time I can get him to come out to get pictures is when the lights are out. Which is why all my pictures of him are so dark.

I only have a stock 13w Power Compact light on his tank.

I'm totally not brave enough to dump him in with my main fish. He's voracious when I feed him.

Iphis
 
An update, just cause I'm excited about my fish.

I set up my QT tank about 5 inches away from my toadfish, Captain Jack's, tank.

Keep in mind, the Captain stays under his rock all day long, sometimes sticking his head out to watch what we are doing.

At night, when its feeding time, he comes out. Putting on a huge display as he tries to attack the small 6 line wrasse and small lemonpeel angel we have in the QT tank.

Of course, he can't get to them, but he can see them. He goes up and down the glass, all his fins flaring, trying to get to them.

Its very amusing to watch him do his thing. We feed him a few hunks of silversides and he goes back under his rock.

I'd like to feed him a more varied diet, but he won't even touch the Marine Cuisine stuff I have, I suppose because its too small, or just unappetizing for him.

Anyone by chance have any suggestions on what I could look into to feed him in addition to silversides?

Thanks!

Iphis
 
mine acts the same way at night. he catches me off guard if i happen to sneak a peak at night when the lights are off. since he is usually under the rocks all day, seeing him at night up on top of the rocks or floating up the glass walls is startling. for feeding, check out your grocery store. we bought a huge block of frozen squid and cut it up into chunks for him, he loves it. he'll eat a block a brine shrimp too as long as he can get to it before it breaks up too much, he doesnt go for the little guys.

did you know toadfish went to space???
http://www.mbl.edu/publications/LABNOTES/8.2/toadfish.html
 
I set up my camera again tonight with a brand new cd. I'll see about getting some pictures tonight.

He is growing pretty fast, still one of my coolest hitchikers with my TBS rock.

Squid, hmm, hadn't thought of that. I was looking at mussels, but they were in the same frozen cube format that the marine cuisine was in, so was not interested in jumping into that.

How did you come across that article? :P

I still want to know how you keep yours from eating your fish. I'm 99% certain if the Captain were released into my main tank, all my fish would be food. :P
 
i guess he is just used to my fish. 2 are smaller than him, but very fast. he could never catch them. his mouth is big, but not that big. he doesnt even snip at them. anything that moves quickly in front of his face scares him back into his cave, unless it smells like dinner.

doesnt anyone else out there have a toad fish???

the article i just came across when i was looking for a really good site about toadfish i read once, but cant remember how to find again...
 
Thats crazy. The tank next to mine has a six line wrasse and a lemonpeel angel. The angel is way bigger then he is, at least bigger then his mouth and that doesn't detur him as well. Mine even goes after my fingers (so long as they're on the outside of the plastic)

Fish personalities are amazing.

I am setting up to get another shipment of live rock from TBS. My angel unfortunately is not safe with my corals (I knew the risks, was just hoping), so I need to get another tank :)

Can't wait to see what I get on my next shipment. Man I love this rock.
 
and now my condy anemone is gone....... is it possible the toad fish would decide to eat him one day? an entire condy??? I cant believe it. Ive never actually seen him do anything. Iphis if you werent in AZ I might ask if captainjack needs a big brother....
 
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