Goodbye To An Old Friend,

[andywg]

The little guy was out and about, so I thought it was rude not to take pictures

And then, after ages of trying, I finally got a head on shot with the fins spread

And at the request of chat, here are the salty full tank shots. First the Lion tank

Then Frog Man's tank. This is still work in progress as once the reef is moved to a 6 foot tank the reef's sump will become his sump, so the water level has to be low to stop it overflowing the weir and flooding the carpet.

And finally the reef with the above tank fuge.

 

[stang1]

Great tanks and great pics! I really do like your new one, he's got beautiful colours.

 

[Underwurlde]

Cool.

I'd keep my on him, as I reckon he has his eye on your Bud.....

 

[SandMan8388]

Wow, very stunning tanks!

 

[Gnatfish]

Andy, have frogfish been bred in captivity before?

 

[andywg]

Andy, have frogfish been bred in captivity before?

I am fairly sure they will have been at some point.

Getting the fish to spawn is not a problem, but (as with most marine fish) feeding the fry and gettting them through the first couple of weeks or so is quite a challenge.

I know of someone on Grim Reefers and Reef Central (Uberfugu) over in California who managed to get a pair of Lophiocharon sp to spawn and he discovered a minute fry about 3-6mm long some time later. however during a move or power outage he lost the fry. Antother member on Grim has a video of his Antennarius dorehensis spawning, though I am unaware of the final outcome of the egg raft.

Breeding is likely to be easier with the frogfish that are not Antennarius striatus, A. hispidus or Histrio histrio as these three species are noted for having a larger than average appetite and taste for cannibalsim (H. histrio has been observed in the wild trying to swallow fish over twice as long as itself and one taken from a sargassum growth was found to have the bodies of 13 conspecifics within its stomach).

 

[Gnatfish]

When breeding marine fish or frogfish do you get a lots of them, say 6, and wait for them to pair off like Cichlids. Or do you just get one male and one female and hope?

Your Lionfish looks great btw, even if you just brush against its spines do you get poisoned?

 

[wendywc]

Sorry about the loss of that neat frogfish... Your new guy is stunning though.

 

[andywg]

When breeding marine fish or frogfish do you get a lots of them, say 6, and wait for them to pair off like Cichlids. Or do you just get one male and one female and hope?

Your Lionfish looks great btw, even if you just brush against its spines do you get poisoned?

It all depends on the fish. Anthias should be kept in shoals of 1 male to 8 females for a hope, clownfish you just buy two young ones and one will turn from male into female. With frogs you separate the tank so they can see each other and see how they respond, if they respond well try putting them together, if not don't.

One problem is sexing frogfish as there isn't a great deal of difference in colour or shape of the sexes (remembering they are masters of changing colour to suit their surroundings). In most the female ends up larger, but as they are often growing it can be quite hard to tell until you have a very large female.

I seem to recall that the venom glands of the Scorpaenidae are pressure operated, so that they require some force to inject venom. The downside is some lions have a habitat of dipping the head (the venom is in glands at the base of the dorsal spines) and ramming aquarists' hands spine first.

 

[Gnatfish]

It all depends on the fish. Anthias should be kept in shoals of 1 male to 8 females for a hope, clownfish you just buy two young ones and one will turn from male into female. With frogs you separate the tank so they can see each other and see how they respond, if they respond well try putting them together, if not don't.

One problem is sexing frogfish as there isn't a great deal of difference in colour or shape of the sexes (remembering they are masters of changing colour to suit their surroundings). In most the female ends up larger, but as they are often growing it can be quite hard to tell until you have a very large female.

Thanks for the info. Good luck with any attempts you make!

I seem to recall that the venom glands of the Scorpaenidae are pressure operated, so that they require some force to inject venom. The downside is some lions have a habitat of dipping the head (the venom is in glands at the base of the dorsal spines) and ramming aquarists' hands spine first.

Ouch! Let's hope yours doesn't do that to you.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Dude, I didnt see this post. Very sorry for your loss, he was awsome. Nice new Lion though, gorgeous colours. Now youve really got into marine! WOOT

 

[andywg]

Very nearly out of marine would be more appropriate.

Over the month or so before and after Xmas I lost a lot of fish across three independant systems. The death roll includes the new lion, my earlier scorp, both my frogfish, a clown, a pseudochromis, a yellowtail angel and 2 blue cheek gobies.

I now have two entirely empty systems as I can't be bothered to get any more fish until I set up the bigger reef. Once that is in then I can look into getting more predators.

On the plus side I have my Tunze nano stream and a Tunze wavebox. Tunze really do make great products. I implore anyone with a tank from around 70 gallons upwards to get a wavebox. Shifts loads of water in a perfectly natural way.