Wanting a Frogfish

[SWaquariast]

I am wanting a frogfish and just want the pros and cons.

So far for the dwarf frogfish I am looking can fit into a 20g easily.

Here is my equipment and supplies:

20gallon glass aquarium
100w HOB heater
Penguin BOI-Wheel 200
20lbs live sand
Cheatomorpha Algea
Flourescent Growth light

I might be missing some thing but I don't know

For food I'm going to feed it aclimated mollies and guppies. For this 10g tank I have 8lbs gravel, Aqua-Tech 10-15 filter, and 50w heater.

 

[snommisbor]

Pros- Not an active fish so a small tank is OK
Cool to watch them ambush their prey with such speed.

Cons-Will eat most everything so that is all you can have in your tank including CUC So you may get tired of him after a while so make sure this is something you really want.
Not a messy fish all the time but when they go it is a lot. So keep up water changes
I wouldnt feed freshwater fish all the time need SW prey most of the time plus you can get them to feed on pieces of shrimp, squid, etc. but would take some work and they may not take to frozen.

 

[prime311]

I have to agree on the food thing. I don't know how long your going to have the Mollies and Guppies live after acclimation, but I doubt it'll be long enough to change their physiological structure. FW fish are much fattier then SW fish and this means FW feeders leadf to fatty liver disease if they are a primary food source in your SW fish's diet.

 

[SWaquariast]

I all ready know that thats why mollies are brackfish and go both ways and they can live in saltwater for up to 1-4years.

 

[LisaD]

Try to get it onto frozen so you can offer more variety. It took two years, but my wartskin is finally eating frozen. I can get it to eat almost anything, including Ocean Nutrition gel cube pieces.

While feeding live, gutload with high quality marine carnivore food. I'd also acclimate and gutload ghost shrimp.

Choose your species carefully. Many will outgrow a 20. I think a 29 or 30 is a better size. Water quality is very important for anglers. Be sure to do frequent water changes to keep quality high. I always use a skimmer with anglers. Also watch temperature, and don't let it go below 80.

I'd ditch the Bio-wheel part of the filter. IME, they are nitrate factories. Your LR and live sand will handle biofiltration. Chaeto is a great idea. I use macroalgae a lot for nutrient export.

If you want to research, a great book is the frogfish chapter in Reef Fishes volume 1 (Scott Michael). Or look for posts by uberfugu here on RC, Bryan is really a self-taught frogfish expert. He's even had them spawn and had at least one baby.

 

[SWaquariast]

Whats gutload and do you just aclimate ghost shrimp slowly like when the fresh water evaporates you add salt water.

 

[LisaD]

gutloading is feeding a feeder animal high quality food before you offer it as food. that way, the animal eating the shrimp or guppy gets the benefit of the good food you just fed it.

if I am holding them in a tank, I slowly drip acclimate to salt or keep in heavy (is that the word?) brackish. that way they live in the display tank a while when I feed them. it's usually a moot point, as they get eaten up pretty fast. I like to get a bunch and hold them a while so I don't have to be running out for them too often.

you could probably add salt water when the fresh water evaporates. I don't usually hold mine that long, not more than a week or two at the most, as they are all fed to the fish by then.

 

[SWaquariast]

I will be getting the frogfish in a month. I will have plenty of time to aclimate them.

LisaD how do you aclimate your ghost shrimp and mollies. Explain in detail.

 

[LisaD]

If you have the time...

Put them in a tank with filter and some cover. Match pet store water parameters.

You can rush, like with drip acclimation. However, since you have time, each day, siphon out about 15-20% of the water, replacing it with full salt. Do this daily until you are at heavy brackish or full salt.

If you find that the ghost shrimp you get don't do well at full salt, just keep them brackish. There seem to be some ghost shrimp that are well adapted to salt water, others are not. My LFS sees it in the batches they get in, and keep all their ghost shrimp in brackish, whether they feed to fw or sw tanks. Either way, if you have them in brackish, at the least, they'll live longer in salt water.

Mollies and guppies should acclimate fine to full salt, just take it slow.

 

[SWaquariast]

So write down the things I have to do do aclimate them I am going to have the ghost shrimp in a different tank and tell me how to aclimate them sepretly.

 

[SWaquariast]

How long do you thing this should take. Also do you think a different method should be taken for the ghost shrimp.

 

[LisaD]

please don't take this the wrong way, but if acclimating mollies and ghost shrimp to salt or brackish is confusing for you, maybe you should hold off on the angler. they are not fish for beginner saltwater keepers, and the most desirable species are expensive, over $100. many experienced keepers have observed what we call Sudden Angler Death (SAD) when newly acquired anglers die within the first days or weeks of being added to the aquarium for no particular reason. Also, the cost of live food can add up over time. I buy ghost shrimp 3/$1.00 locally. I can buy more mailorder, but need to order a BUNCH and maintain them in order to make it economical.

if you are 100% set on getting an angler, get it from your LFS where you can see it eating. try to get one that will accept frozen food. get a reliable identification to get one that is a good aquarium specimen (not always hiding) and one that won't outgrow the tank.

A good "beginner" species of frogfish is the sargassum fish, Histrio histrio. these generally run $25-50 and are easy to ID.

a good site for angler ID is http://www.starfish.ch/frogfish/

if you really want to research frogfish, read the chapter in Reef Fishes volume 1, it's more information than anyone can post on a forum.

 

[SWaquariast]

My LFS has a black frogfish with white edges. He said that it takes fine to there mollies and they throw in a little bit of frozen foods as they throw in the mollies. The guy at my LFS said that a 20g aquariums will be fine. And he also said that it is one of the extremely hardy frogfish.

 

[SWaquariast]

I am guessing by what I see on http://www.starfish.ch/frogfish/
that it is a pictas a small frogfish. Or one of the long lures because he said it is an inch long and just a little smaller than a golf ball. He also said for it being that small it had an 1 1/2 long lure "shaft."

 

[SWaquariast]

Should I buy a skimmer for on this frog fish aquarium.

 

[smitch]

I think a skimmer is a must.

I bought this guy from my lfs. They had him for three weeks, they didnt know what he was eating but they new it was live. I knew that the frog fish lived in there tanks for three weeks he would live fine in mine.

This the first day home. He had obviously ate something large before coming to his new home.

Pacman, my frogs name, ate frozen right from the start. I started with silversides on a clear feeder stick. I'd wiggle it from around a corner or something, just poking the head out in front of him. I guess Im just lucking, he'll eat anything I put on the stick.

I never had much luck with getting him to eat ghost shrimp. I think he's to lazy to go look for them. The giant yellow frogfish stay out in view about 95% of the time although will be to big for a twenty gallon.

One more thing, the frog fish would be the only fish in your twenty gallon, just fyi. When people say that they will eat anything the same size as them, beleive them. I've seen it...r.i.p clownfish.

good luck.

 

[LisaD]

I got a small frogfish, black with silver saddles and white toes. It's now about 5 inches, and yellow, either A pictus or a wartskin. there is another species, A commersoni, that looks very similar to the other two species, but it gets the size of a football!but you can deal with that later if he outgrows your tank. just do your best to find one that stays small enough.

I agree with smitch, a skimmer is a must, IMO. a good HOB skimmer for a 20 is a BakPak. there are others that are good, but I'd recommend you stay away from SeaClones and Skilters. I'm not too impressed with the Red Sea Prizm either. JMO.

 

[SWaquariast]

My seaclone does awsome I am thinking that I might get that. Every body has different luck with different things personly its awsome.

Was the guy from my LFS right about frogfish being farely hardy

 

[SWaquariast]

Plz share your pics,set ups so on and so forth. I want to get an idea for setting up mine.