Dead Toadfish

[kanzaris]

Hi

About 10 minutes ago I heard splashing in the tank and saw that the Monos where fighting over something. I got up to have a look as the tank is in the extension bit of the house. They where fighting over a dead fish. There was not a lot left of it and as I don’t have a lot of fish in my tank it didn’t take me long to figure out that the dead fish was my Toad Fish. My big worry is that as the Toad fish is poisonous will all the Fish who had a nibble be dead in the morning?

I dread getting up in the morning and having a look at the tank.


Sabby

 

[andywg]

My big worry is that as the Toad fish is poisonous will all the Fish who had a nibble be dead in the morning?

Toadfish are venomous not poisonous. The venom will be concentrated in glands near the dorsal spines.

Not all Toadfish are venomous BTW. Only the toadfish of the Subfamily Thalassophryninae are noted as venomous. As far as I can see this subfamily only contains one genus, so only toadfish from the genus Thalassophryne are going to have venom, or at least a venom strong enough for any real mention in literature.

It is important not to confuse toadfish with stonefish of the Order Scorpaeniformes who really are deadly with their venom. It is also worth noting that even more venomous fish (such as lionfish) are eaten by predators in the wild and as the toadfish venom is far from fatal I would be surprised if the fish have any long term damage from pecking at the body of the toad.

 

[Fella]

Sorry to hear about your loss Sabby, your toadfish was really cool.

 

[kanzaris]

Sorry to hear about your loss Sabby, your toadfish was really cool.

Thanks Fella

I hate loosing any fish but toady was special.
I recently cut down on feeding and I hope he had enough food as the other fish are so greedy.

Thanks

Sabby

My big worry is that as the Toad fish is poisonous will all the Fish who had a nibble be dead in the morning?

Toadfish are venomous not poisonous. The venom will be concentrated in glands near the dorsal spines.

Not all Toadfish are venomous BTW. Only the toadfish of the Subfamily Thalassophryninae are noted as venomous. As far as I can see this subfamily only contains one genus, so only toadfish from the genus Thalassophryne are going to have venom, or at least a venom strong enough for any real mention in literature.

It is important not to confuse toadfish with stonefish of the Order Scorpaeniformes who really are deadly with their venom. It is also worth noting that even more venomous fish (such as lionfish) are eaten by predators in the wild and as the toadfish venom is far from fatal I would be surprised if the fish have any long term damage from pecking at the body of the toad.

Hi

Thanks for your advise.
I got up this morning and all is well in my tank.
I am sure I read a post from CFC about his Catfish eating his Toadfish (Please correct me if I am wrong) and he found his Catfish dead with stuff coming out of there gills. He probably had a different Toad.

Thanks again

Sabby

 

[CFC]

No my catfish didnt eat the toad fish (theyed have a job, its 10" long and as fat as a house brick) the toad ate a small puffer fish and while i was trying to get the toad fish to spit the puffer out by netting it and poking it in the belly with a stick i think it secreted something into the water which poisened the catfish as all 3 of them suddenly died 10 minutes later for no reason. We'll never really know what happened but i can see no other logical explanation for it as the stats were rock solid and none of the other fish (scats monos eels goby) were affected.

 

[kanzaris]

No my catfish didnt eat the toad fish (theyed have a job, its 10" long and as fat as a house brick) the toad ate a small puffer fish and while i was trying to get the toad fish to spit the puffer out by netting it and poking it in the belly with a stick i think it secreted something into the water which poisened the catfish as all 3 of them suddenly died 10 minutes later for no reason. We'll never really know what happened but i can see no other logical explanation for it as the stats were rock solid and none of the other fish (scats monos eels goby) were affected.

Thanks for the correction.
Sabby