Wartskin angler (Antennarius maculatus) question

[anaya]

I have an empty 29gal tank I am considering using as a species only tank for one or two of these little awesome fish. I have a few questions first.

1.) How many can be housed together in this sized tank or are the better off housed alone?

2.) Are there any other fish that are appropriately sized for the tank that are not small enough to fit in the anglers mouth?

And any other personal experience, stories or tips with them will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks: Antonio

 

[SecretiveFish]

1) You should only have one in there.
2) No, there are no fish you can put in there. You can put corals/clams/snails/hermit crabs but no fish unless you do not mind them getting eaten.

I just lost my wartskin angler today after having him 9 months and have no idea why he died. Water quality is good like always, temp is good, and salinity good. I was never able to get him off of live food so he had to be fed live ghost shrimp. Maybe he would still be around if I had been able to get him to eat frozen.... RIP Hastur. Bummer of a day for me, hope you have better luck.

 

[anaya]

Thanks for your answers. I am sorry for your loss. Is age a possible culprit?

So I'm assuming it would be ok (besides the moral aspect) to keep him/her with a few small damsels and replace them as he/she picks em off, like with my eel only tank.

More input would still be appreciated

 

[anaya]

Thanks for your answers. I am sorry for your loss. Is age a possible culprit?

So I'm assuming it would be ok (besides the moral aspect) to keep him/her with a few small damsels and replace them as he/she picks em off, like with my eel only tank.

More input would still be appreciated

 

[SecretiveFish]

I put in 5 chromis in with him a many months ago, and he picked off 3 in a day. The remaining two were 'super smart' chromis as it took him months to catch the second to the last one and the last one is still swimming in the tank.

If you keep damsels in with yours, just make sure not to keep too many. You can overfeed an anger which can actually cause them to go on a hunger strike where they will not eat for an extended amount of time and can die. I think that I have read also that if an angler eats too much, the food can ferment in their stomach killing them. You would have to verify that though.

 

[anaya]

Ok that's good to hear. I had read somewhere about the over feeding part and my thought on that was the same with my eel, please correct me if it is way off, If the food is available 24-7 they will only eat when hungry as when they live in the wild. Now while the angler is in quarantine of course I would wean him from live to prepared foods so that he would be entering the DT with a full belly and not gorge himself. Then keep him on a regular prepared diet so if the urge to eat a damsel comes hopefully it will only be one or two... but of course it is all a trial and error thing.

I wonder if i were to split the QT tank into halves and keep damsels on the half he can not access it may get him a bit accustomed (keeping in QT for an extended period may help) to seeing them not as a main source of food? Just a random thought...

 

[namxas]

Lots of predators wil indeed overeat if food is available. Anglers are binge/fast predators and will literally eat themselves to death. The have such slow metabolisms that their food will actually begin to decompose in their GI tract before it is digested, which = dead angler.

Anglers are best fed 2x - 3x a week, and only offer them 4 - 6 appropriately-sized food items. You should be shooting for food length that is about the same as the fish's eye spacing, as smaller items are easier to digest.

HTH

 

[anaya]

namxas: thank you for that information. I was just reading a research paper on the species that said the exact same thing.

The part on how to judge the food size was about to drive me nuts because I could find nothing on that until your mention of it.

Again the question arises for me about the possibility of keeping more than one in my 29gal tank(SecretiveFish: I'm not disregarding your comment to house alone, I have just not read anywhere else that it is either ok or not ok to do). I have read that they are a solitary species in the wild but are found often in groups where the food is plentiful. That being said I still find it in no way an answer to the question.

Has anyone housed multiples with long term success?

 

[jarrod13]

Some people have, but in my opinion it's not good to try. You could possibly lose both anglers

 

[anaya]

jarrod13: Thank you.

So, I have decided that I will be housing only one specimen. Due to there being more than one person to suggest that housing them together is most likely a bad idea and I am unable to locate any reliable sources stating anything about the issue that says otherwise. I'm the guy who gets attached to his fish like normal people do their dog or cat and it would horrify me to have either one die because I was greedy with my desires.

Anyone with experience on this next question please chime in.
What type of cool, neat to watch, colorful or just will work cleanup crew can I use with the angler?

Sorry for not explaining the tank set up, here goes
No skimmer, 25-30 lbs of LR, HOB filter, closed loop circulation fed by an overflow, in-line UV on closed loop and a DSB 6"-8" deep. 5gal water change once a week (ok sometimes I skip a week haha ). Lighting is NOVA T-5 2-bulb so I can have nothing with moderate to high light requirements.

 

[anaya]

Sorry

 

[namxas]

With anglers, your CUC should be mostly assorted snails. You might try a couple of scarlet reef hermits, but be sure they don't pick on the fish (sometimes they do if underfed). A smaller urchin might be OK...like a pincushion.

 

[anaya]

namaxas: thank you. I have a few scarlet's in the tank but don't like the sound of the possibility of them pickin at the fish, so I'll just move them to one of my other tanks. You say mostly snails but is there any I need to stay away from? I believe I remember reading that some are carnivores which seems like a good idea for cleaning up scrap food but will they bother the fish? Will any of the brittle or serpent stars be ok? I know most get to big for a 29gal but when they outgrow it I will move them to one of the larger tanks.

Sorry for all the additional questions. I have always just used hermits and stars for CUC and know nothing about snails.

 

[namxas]

If you go with say 2-3 Nassarius snails, that should handle the carrion easily. You could go with a smaller species serpent star over a brittle star, altho micro-brittles and/or Asterina are fine too.

 

[anaya]

^^^ Awesome! Thank you!