andywg
Bored into leaving
All too often people moan about bad lfs employees getting somthing perhaps wrong when they have never been taught different. As a result, I want to relay the below.
I saw a lovely pink frogfish around 4-5" long in the SW display tank at Swallows in Rayleigh (actually I missed it, discounting it as sponge, but Nina pointed it out to me). I asked the guy in charge of the SW section and he stated it came in as Antenarris biocellatus and though it had eaten live food, had not been seen eating dead yet. I asked if they would sell, and the price returned was £120. I enquired about the species as the spot did not seem as prominent as I recalled for A. biocellatus and the last thing I want to do is buy something like A. ocellatus which gets to 15" long when I don't have a tank to hold it.
I was sent to see someone else who spent some time looking at the fish and looking through a Marine fish atlas in an attempt to identify. Ultimately the frog moved and I had a go at counting rays (13 I saw) but without a more scientific guide I was at a loss as to which fish it could be (a search of my own books indicate the possibilty of A. sanguiness a true rarity).
In the end I decided agaisnt buying the fish as the only tank for it is holding shrimp for the current frogfish.
However, I would like to post up that there are a number of lfs with great experience (the original guy I asked laughed about how all suppliers list most frogfish as Histrio histrio). Remember, were it not for lfs, most of us would not be in this hobby.
I saw a lovely pink frogfish around 4-5" long in the SW display tank at Swallows in Rayleigh (actually I missed it, discounting it as sponge, but Nina pointed it out to me). I asked the guy in charge of the SW section and he stated it came in as Antenarris biocellatus and though it had eaten live food, had not been seen eating dead yet. I asked if they would sell, and the price returned was £120. I enquired about the species as the spot did not seem as prominent as I recalled for A. biocellatus and the last thing I want to do is buy something like A. ocellatus which gets to 15" long when I don't have a tank to hold it.
I was sent to see someone else who spent some time looking at the fish and looking through a Marine fish atlas in an attempt to identify. Ultimately the frog moved and I had a go at counting rays (13 I saw) but without a more scientific guide I was at a loss as to which fish it could be (a search of my own books indicate the possibilty of A. sanguiness a true rarity).
In the end I decided agaisnt buying the fish as the only tank for it is holding shrimp for the current frogfish.
However, I would like to post up that there are a number of lfs with great experience (the original guy I asked laughed about how all suppliers list most frogfish as Histrio histrio). Remember, were it not for lfs, most of us would not be in this hobby.
