Nano Predator

[reefscape15]

Good! Anglers have a lot of personality! They can be very grouchy at times, so if you want a tankmate, make sure it can swim very fast or is even meaner than the angler. I think most pseudochromis could survive, but stay small in that size tank. Bi-color is what i have and it's a total bully of any tankmate i've had no matter what size they are. Good luck and happy Angler keeping!

 

[E.intheC]

In a tank that small you'll want to keep the angler all by itself. The fish will be messy, consuming a LOT, and there wont' be enough room for any other fish.

Just dont' feed the angler freshwater fish like guppies/etc. Get them gutloaded ghost shrimp/saltwater (gutloaded) mollies, etc. and try to wean them on to frozen food.

they need excellent water quality so a nano skimmer is a good addition

 

[Fish dude32]

Good to know thanks for the info. But why would I need a nano skimmer when the nano is hooked up to my sump w/ an aqua c 120?

 

[reefscape15]

no need for another skimmer. If all tanks are plumbed together, you could definately have more than one fish in the nano. There will be enough water coming in from your other tanks that you wont have to worry about keeping water extra clean. And if you don't feed your angler too much, they really aren't that messy. They shouldn't really eat all that much, and a huge problem people have is overfeeding them, or just food that is too large. I read a phrase in Natural Reef Aquariums that said something like "people who look at a natural aquarium always ask why the fish look like they are wasting away? The one's in the store are always so fat and happy. The thing you have to remember is that every fish has to compete for food in the wild, and is almost always on the verge of starvation. There should be no reason that fish should be 'fat'."

 

[Kynigos]

No, you wouldn't need to set up another skimmer. I was just stating what I was going to do I guess.

 

[greggnyce]

Would you be worried by the amount of waste the predator introduces to the system?

 

[Fish dude32]

No not really. With a twenty gallon sump and another 15 gallon fuge should take care of the nutrient export no problem. Not to mention an over-sized skimmer.

 

[greggnyce]

What kind of skimmer? you may find out that assuming it will work can turnout bad. their sloppy eating habits and additonal feeding and waste production is what keeps them out of reefs. Why make it harder than it has to be? Just set up a seperate system for the predator than use the water from the reef system to do water changes. This will save you some cash and possible future headaches.

 

[Fish dude32]

Octopus Pro 300. Its a monster!

 

[kruxy]

Frogfish are perfect, they are mostly sedentary and as long as you change a lot of water or have a decent sump and filtration, they are fine. I had this sargassum for about a year and a half before there was an unfortunate power outage.

IIRC this was a 7 gallon minibow with a 10 gallon sump... been several years


he was able to hide well in here

here is emmerson at his feeding post waiting for dinner

a face only i could love...

 

[Fish dude32]

Hey kruxy, thanks alot for the pics. That is so awesome and I really can't wait to have mine set up and running. You have renewed my confidence that it can be done! Thanks everyone for your help and tips.

 

[kruxy]

The key to predators in a small tank is nutrient export. I obviously used a bare bottom, which allowed me to siphon the heck out of it and then do sizeable water changes weekly, but plumbed into a larger system as longa s you can keep the detritus in suspension, your main filtration will take care of it. for reference, my frog was about the size of a ping pong ball, you can see him sitting on the maxijet. If you can, get him to eat from a stick... there are threads on how to train them to do that. Mine never would, so I had to set up a deal with a local store to get bulk chromis (i went through about 12 a month) but was able to get em for about 1.50 each as I was specifically culling the tiny ones out of his shipment.

while you will read that it can be done, I don't recommend mollies or guppies. I lost a beautiful black angler to a mysterious fungus that I still attribute to dirty fresh water fish as the main part of his diet.