Want a Tiger Stripe Angler

[Mental1]

So I have a 35g tank in the basement that I have been using to breed mollies. The lions now eat whatever I put in the tank so I am thinking about stopping with the mollies. The tank suffers badly from hair algae -- I feed a lot to keep the adults from eating the babies. It has no rock or sand so I can keep it cleaner by scraping and siphoning every week. I am actually getting fed up with the time required for this tank especially if the lions eat everything I put in! I don't even have to target feed them anymore.

Am thinking about adding some rock and sand and getting a tiger stripe. It just has a power compact light so I really don't want to put any corals in. Right now it has a HOB skimmer -- an Aqua C Remora Pro and an Eheim Pro Canister filter so plenty of "stuff" to filter the water. I figure I would leave the mollies in and the angler can eat whatever he can catch. If I take rock out of my big system and put fresh sand in -- think I will get much of a cycle? I could also do a big water change and really get the hair algae under control. Maybe change the eheim media more -- it hasn't seemed to need changes much recently. I just take water from the big system and put it in there when I need water changes... what do you think?

 

[namxas]

If you're not cleaning your canister (esp. the sponges) weekly, that could be part of your HA problem.

When you say "tiger stripe" angler, do you mean A. hispidus, A. striatus, or H. histrio? If it's the latter, you'll definitely want to keep the tank covered, as these fish are natural jumpers in the wild (they jump onto Sargassum "rafts" to escape danger, and hop off when they feel it's safe).

My only concern with having an angler on a "free feed" as you're proposing would be that it could overeat and so much food may begin to decompose in the fish's GI tract before it's digested, which usually spells death for the angler.

JM .02...

 

[Mental1]

It's the hispidus that I was looking at -- usually that I see or the striatus:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/DiversDen/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+3&ddid=118507

I did wonder if he would over eat. The mollies are salt acclimated so I think it would be easy to find them homes. And yea -- I do not clean it weekly. I figured it was probably the source of the HA.

The tank is tall and thin -- it's at least 24 inches deep. Would that still be a problem if it is not a histrio?

 

[namxas]

The only angler we've kept that we covered was a histrio. We've kept a hispid uncovered with no issues.

 

[Mental1]

Hey Greg -- I have no idea what the difference is between them. Here's a picture from a lfs - can you tell which it is?

 

[namxas]

That's A. striatus...A. hispidus has a esca (lure) that looks like a cotton ball as opposed to the "worm" of the striatus.

 

[Mental1]

Thanks Greg -- so not a jumper. Cool. I am going to start cleaning up the tank.