redfin waspfish... 5.5g?

[Moonstream]

I'm wondering if there is any hope of being able to maintain one of these beauties in a 5.5g for any length of time, if bought small and grown out? I pretty much assume an upgrade would be on the horizon- a 10g for just the little wasp suitable? how quickly would said upgrade be necessary- months, years? I'm not sure how fast growing thses guys are...

tank will have an aquaclear 20 running carbon with some filter floss to catch detritus, as well as an aquaclear 70 with some rock rubble (to be washed in old SW once every few months to keep from creating a detritus trap) and cheato. I'll have a few well established larger pieces of rock and some just-colonized smaller pieces. tank will be nicely planted with some of the better nutrient-depleating macros, and pruned frequently to remove said nutrients. waterchanges will be done at least weekly, or as needed.

now, I have a feeling the answer might be no, but I figure theres no harm in asking- these are some of the most interesting/adorable little scorps I've come across. hopefully someone who's kept these guys will chime in...

 

[Moonstream]

yeah, so, from common sense and such, I've deduced that these guys grow too fast/get too big for a 5.5 to be reasonable housing- even temorarily. back to the initial plan of sexies and a goby, then, I suppose.

 

[namxas]

IME, red-fins are fairly slow-growers. We currently have a 1" female in a HOB fuge. We've used this for another female red-fin in the past, as well as a dime-sized juvie D. barberi lionfish. A smaller setup will be helpful when weaning the fish too, esp. if you get a small specimen (which I've been seeing lately). Our male grew a bit quicker, but he was larger to begin with.

I think you could keep a single specimen in a properly-scaped 10 gal with no issues.

 

[Moonstream]

I was hoping you'd be the one to respond to this thread- I do have a NC24 that could be used as permanent housing. I'd like to keep a trio in there, perhaps, although the only fish that I could find (from LA DD) appear to both be female...

anyways, would two females (and hopefully a male as well, eventually) be able to live together in a NC24, with 4XT5HO as lighting (I believe high light can bother scorps/wasps/lions, so I want to be sure that it wont be too bright for them in there). also, how big are there mouths? are most fish safe, save for small gobies?

 

[namxas]

We kept a pair in a NC 28 HQI for awhile, and never noticed any adverse effects. I suspect that multiple males will fight, but I doubt that two females would do so (to be honest, I don't know for sure as I've never tried it).

I went back and peaked at the DD fish, and the two they have now are definitely females. They had a definite little male recently tho.

IME with waspfish, they're all pretty mellow and their mouths are small, so with the exception of fish the size of most male feeder guppies, I'd say you're pretty safe there. Our red-fins are great eaters, and I've never seen them even CONSIDER bothering another fish. They can be a tad reclusive at first, esp. the smaller ones, but once they get used to "the program", they're always out and about.

 

[Moonstream]

thanks, I was hoping that would be the case. do you have yours trained to frozen? if so, how'd you do it?

I was planning to start with male feeder guppies (will be sure they are disease free before I use them). once its feeding well on those, begin using a feeding stick (still with live guppies) to introduce them, hopefully to get it to associate food with the feeding stick. then begin to freeze the guppies, and eventually switch to pieces of frozen silversides... workable plan?

 

[namxas]

Depending on the size of your fish, guppy juvies or even fry might be a good food for these fish. IME, most fish wean best to fairly small pieces of food (it's less "overwhelming", IMHO), and we use a modified "stealth" stick for food presentation that has worked like a charm for us.

Remember, for red-fins, we're talking around 3"-ish adult size, so they're small fish.

 

[Moonstream]

so adult guppies (even small males) will likely be too large?

the tank I plan to put them in likely wont be cycled for a few more weeks, but I dont want to lose the fish on DD... I figure the 5.5 is probably too small for both, even just as temporary housing, especially if they may not even be able to live together without aggression (if this ends up being the case in the nanocube, I'll move the larger one to my 40 breeder). I could put the smaller one (they measured her at 1.75" I think) in the 5.5, which is currently fish-less, and keep here there until I've sucessfully weaned her and she's settled in to her new home. as for the larger, I could rig up something, maybe a specimen container with holes in the side to provide some flow, and use that for her temporary housing, put some rock/macro in there for her to use as cover.

think that would work okay? (sorry for all the questions, just want to be sure these two get off to a good start. thanks for helping me though, I really appreciate it!) if I decide I'm ready, I'll likely order them this weekend!

 

[namxas]

It depends on the size of your fish. Juvie guppies should be fine, and maybe even small males, but you'd have to see. These fish actually do better on ghost shrimp to start since they're mostly a demersal species.

 

[Moonstream]

well, LA says both are eating ghosts well; I'll have to look for some then, the stores nearest me don't sell them.