Toadfish/batrachomoeus Trispinosus

[La.La]

I picked up this guy yesterday:

He seems to be doing alright, however with the lack of information readily available and the numerous names that has been given to the species i'm not quite sure what's necessarily reliable. I only have two concerns with this fish since taking him home:

1. Everywhere I have read, seems to say that they are a very inactive fish however, some also said due to different personalities of the fish that they can be more active. Now, mine seems to be moving around a lot swimming around and what not and then perching himself on plants or rocks for a bit and then moving again a few minutes later. Now under normal circumstances I wouldn't think twice of it but it leads me to my second concern:

2. The person at the store where I purchased this little beauty did not know much of the fish and upon netting the fish to bag him I think got a bit nervous because it was under the name of 'freshwater lionfish' and knowing of the unrelated saltwater lion didn't want to get stung and ended up dropping him in another tank below! So after acclimating to my tank and and releasing him he hid for a bit as expected but when he became 'exploratory' I started taking pictures when I noticed this:

There is an obvious white discoloration above/near his gill. But only on the right side and there is only one spot where this is occuring. (the small white spots are from the sand being kicked up, not ich) Could this be caused by stress or the fall? Or is this a natural occurance?

My water tests read normal:
PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
SG: 1.008 (will be raising this over time)

Is there a thread in this forum that perhaps I looked past with info on the toadfish? Just looking for a point of reference so I don't ask the same questions over and over again if they're already available.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nmonks]

It's hard to tell what the discolouration might be. But moving the fish to brackish (SG 1.008-1.012) is fine should eliminate any risk from external parasites. Hopefully the white will go away, or at least, not spread. Treating with antibacterial medication is worth a shot, but assuming the fish is feeding and behaving normally, I wouldn't medicate until I'd waited a few weeks to see if the white was going away by itself.

These fish tend to be nocturnal rather than inactive, but like a lot of wild-caught fish, can be restless when first imported.

I've seen this species do extremely well in aquaria (even, shock, in essentially freshwater conditions). They do seem very tough. Feeding can be tricky, but if you have access to river shrimp and earthworms now, you should be able to wean him onto dead foods in time. As always, avoid "feeders" unless you're breeding them at home and use only the offspring, not the parent fish, to eliminate risk of introducing internal parasites. Indeed, I strongly recommend against feeders generally.

Cheers, Neale

 

[La.La]

Thank you, yes he seems to be acting fine i'm just being overly cautious i'm sure. I'll be paying close attention to see if the spot spreads or gets any worse. He did become more active once I turned the night lights on, I just didn't expect him to stay active once it was daylight again.

I've seen this species do extremely well in aquaria (even, shock, in essentially freshwater conditions). They do seem very tough. Feeding can be tricky, but if you have access to river shrimp and earthworms now, you should be able to wean him onto dead foods in time. As always, avoid "feeders" unless you're breeding them at home and use only the offspring, not the parent fish, to eliminate risk of introducing internal parasites. Indeed, I strongly recommend against feeders generally.

As far as food goes, I have some mollies that I specifically bought to breed for live food for my gymnothorax tile, however he's apparently lost his appetite for them and i've been alternating between large freezedried brine shrimp and prawns for now since this is pretty recent where he hasn't wanted the live food. So i'll try and incorporate something where I can possibly feed them the same/similar foods and i'll get him eating frozen/dead food like the eel as well. Not sure if he'll take to the ghost shrimp either as it seems everyone in the tanks been leaving them alone. I'll have to try the earthworms, and on that note, can I introduce any other type of worms or should I stick to the earth worms only? I'm going to give the mollies away as they aren't serving much of a purpose anymore and aren't really my cup of tea. Again, Thank you.

 

[nmonks]

Earthworms aren't the only "worms" but they're often the easiest. If you live near the sea, getting hold of bait worms (like rag worm or lug worm) may not be hard. Otherwise, insect larvae can be tried too, such as mealworms, though these drown very quickly, so if they don't get eaten remove at once before their dead bodies mess up water quality.

I prefer to use long forceps to wiggle foods about in front of predators. Rarely fails, especially if the fish have already learned I'm serving the meals! Tilapia fillet would be the ideal thiaminase-free staple for this sort of fish. Cheap, easy to buy, and can be sliced up into strips and frozen for later use.

Cheers, Neale

 

[La.La]

Sounds good, thank you for the info!