Are you planning to keep the angler in the 20g alone, that would be the best plan, so an acclimation box or qt would not be necessary. While acclimating do not remove the angler from the water, they can gulp air and it can be deadly. I personally do not feed my anglers dead food. I feed my anglers as soon as they go in, and a healthy angler will mostly eat right away, many times they have been starved up to that point. At the least the live ghostie can live in the tank until the angler eats them. Ghosties are a variety of shrimp that live in fresh, brackish, and marine; so they easily acclimate to salt water. A container for ghost shrimp can be a small tank or even a plastic container with a sponge filter in fresh water, feed them some marine micro pellet food to gut them. It best to feed a few small items than a large fish, so if you have access to mollies, they need to be babies or very small as the angler gets larger. Usually a lfs that specializes in fresh water get molly babies and small ones turned in all the time, it's also easy to breed your own. it just depends on how involved you want to get. Ghost shrimp carry no diseases or parasites that can be deadly to the angler; while is may be possible with any fish, I have fed my predators mollies for decades and have never had a issue. Marine fish without qt or treatment for parasites is a big nono, that would be like Russian roulette
Frogfish concerns?
- Thread starter Bensadork
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Are you planning to keep the angler in the 20g alone, that would be the best plan, so an acclimation box or qt would not be necessary. While acclimating do not remove the angler from the water, they can gulp air and it can be deadly. I personally do not feed my anglers dead food. I feed my anglers as soon as they go in, and a healthy angler will mostly eat right away, many times they have been starved up to that point. At the least the live ghostie can live in the tank until the angler eats them. Ghosties are a variety of shrimp that live in fresh, brackish, and marine; so they easily acclimate to salt water. A container for ghost shrimp can be a small tank or even a plastic container with a sponge filter in fresh water, feed them some marine micro pellet food to gut them. It best to feed a few small items than a large fish, so if you have access to mollies, they need to be babies or very small as the angler gets larger. Usually a lfs that specializes in fresh water get molly babies and small ones turned in all the time, it's also easy to breed your own. it just depends on how involved you want to get. Ghost shrimp carry no diseases or parasites that can be deadly to the angler; while is may be possible with any fish, I have fed my predators mollies for decades and have never had a issue. Marine fish without qt or treatment for parasites is a big nono, that would be like Russian roulette
i was worried about parasites, yes. he would be alone in his tank unless something else is suitable. ahhhhhh....the horrors of the mollies being eaten...LOL. my kids have a balloon molly...but i don't have access to cheaper ones and worried local stores like petco can have diseases. is marine ich and freshwater ich compatable? does anyone know if i can give ich to a marine tank with freshwater ich? i didnt know i could put ghost shrimp with him to live...??!! i thoguht they would die from too much salt...no acclimation i'm assuming? thats intersting. yes, someone talked about acclimation box while he was small in my other tanks as a solution. i think a small tank probably is better...
Marine ick and freshwater ick are not the same and there are no fresh water diseases I know of that can transfer. The fresh water fare that I feed my marine predators are ghosties, guppies(even the fancy ones), and mollies. I keep my predators healthy and happy for mamy years even a decade for those that want to argue against feeding fresh water fare. Over feeding an angler is easy to do and usually leads to premature death, so be careful.
How often is feeding a baby good?? 3/4" right now. I ordered ghost shrimp so far. Tomorrow he ships in! Nervous!!!! I have other tanks but this fish is a little intimidating!! Is there a rule to know when you have overfed?? (looking a belly? anything like that?)
Small ones are tricky, I will tend to start them out about twice a week to about 1.5 to 2", then cut down to about once a week. Eventually from once a week to every 10 days may be better. These guys are tricky and although I have had a few and worked with friends that have kept several, they are still mysterious in a sense. Feed a couple to three small items until you see a small bulge in his belly, in the wild, they gorge then fast. So the routine is to feed well then wait until you see him cruising and hunting for a couple of days before feeding again. You kind of just have to feel it out, it is better to err on not feeding enough than to over feed. Spacing out your feeding is very important, what happens is the food doesn't fully digest and gases will build up. You will know you have overfed him if he gets like this buoyant type of look to him.
They can be rather intimidated when they are that small, so finding really small ghosties to start with is best. What I have done is turn the pumps off, and guide the ghostie towards the angler with a rigid airline tubing. Sometimes just leaving a couple/3 in the tank for him to find on his own. Don't get lured in, by him fishing you with his lure. He will act like he is starving once he figures out you are the one one feeding him. I had one that would shake his lure at me all the time, like he was starving to death, but wouldn't fish my girlfriend, she got so jealous.
William Buchanan
Community Member
That’s crazy! I too have a little 1.5 inch warty shipping to my door by 10:30 am tomorrow! From Live Aquaria -California
I’m so excited! And now I’m a little worried. I have been acclimating mollies and minnows for about a month and now they are having babies. (sooner than I expected).
I added a 75 gallon tank and just today transported about forty babies to it. I then decided it was time to get my little monster! Went to live aquaria and picked him out. This tank is to be the anglers new home.
But after reading this I guess I need to catch them all and put them in something else! He’ll eat himself to death! Even though those forty babies have gotten lost in that 75 I can’t take that chance. Right? I guess I could wait until he catches one then start fishing them out. I could put them in the sump...
Anyway, hope everything goes great for your little monster tomorrow! We’ll have to share pictures and tips!
They do like flow on the calmer side, unless you are keeping corals that would benefit from more flow, the powerhead is likely unnecessary. If the flow is too strong he will be less active and likely not swim at all, he'll find a spot with less flow and camp out. Too much flow does push the ghosties around and if you have a few in there to encourage him to eat it makes it more difficult. I just dump the ghosties in, some acclinate over an hour or so, some may die, but they die ratherquickly anyway, dont over do it.
William Buchanan
Community Member
Well i called UPS this morning to ask if I could come get him and they said no. My tracking number showed him to be at the local terminal not 5 minutes from my house. I expressed concern and he said they would do what they could.
Literally 10 minutes later I got a knock at my door! He’s here!
I have been acclimating him over the last 30 minutes and decided to place one of the tiny babies in the plastic holding container with him. He ate it within 5 seconds!
He is supposed to be 1.5 inches but that’s a stretch. I would guess more like .75, he’s frickin tiny! Here’s a pic of him in the container.
Literally 10 minutes later I got a knock at my door! He’s here!
I have been acclimating him over the last 30 minutes and decided to place one of the tiny babies in the plastic holding container with him. He ate it within 5 seconds!
He is supposed to be 1.5 inches but that’s a stretch. I would guess more like .75, he’s frickin tiny! Here’s a pic of him in the container.
William Buchanan
Community Member
All settled in...
You can see how little he is next to the trochus snail. Its a large snail but still, he’s tiny. Hope he makes it. Seems to be happy.
You can see how little he is next to the trochus snail. Its a large snail but still, he’s tiny. Hope he makes it. Seems to be happy.
All settled in...
You can see how little he is next to the trochus snail. Its a large snail but still, he’s tiny. Hope he makes it. Seems to be happy.
That little guy in a tank that big, you might have to help him out in the beginning. Turn off your pumps to make it easier, use a rigid airline tube to herd the ghosty or molly to him so he can catch them. Once he gets some size and gets more used to tank, he can hunt on his own. He's super cute and if you manage his feeding he will do very well. I like getting the tiny ones better, sometimes with the larger ones they have been fed disease and dying fish along the way so can come in with parasites. The tiny ones have likely been fed brine shrimp or maybe guppies, if at all. Told you a healthy one will eat right away.
William Buchanan
Community Member
He has moved around a little and found a spot I think will work nicely. The rock mirrors his color and camos him. My phone camera doesn’t really show it.
This spot is right under the ulva and is one of the mollies favorite hideouts.
This spot is right under the ulva and is one of the mollies favorite hideouts.
He has moved around a little and found a spot I think will work nicely. The rock mirrors his color and camos him. My phone camera doesn’t really show it.
This spot is right under the ulva and is one of the mollies favorite hideouts.
He's no dummy, that's likely why he chose that spot, he knows it will be good hunting, isnt nature beautiful.
Tmm87
Well-Known Member
@William Buchanan yours looks very similar to mine. @lion king has been a wealth of information with my frog so you're definitely in good hands with him. I recently picked up a nice little zoa frag which he seems to really enjoy. It's his new go to spot.
William Buchanan
Community Member
@William Buchanan yours looks very similar to mine. @lion king has been a wealth of information with my frog so you're definitely in good hands with him. I recently picked up a nice little zoa frag which he seems to really enjoy. It's his new go to spot.
How large is yours and how long have you had it?
Mine seems happy and content. I look forward to mine getting bigger.
Tmm87
Well-Known Member
I've had him since around Christmas. He's about 1.5" now. Was barely over an inch when I got him.
William Buchanan
Community Member
Cool. They ARE very similar.
I guess you are feeding yours shrimp?
All i have are molly babies but they are gut loaded and healthy.
I guess you are feeding yours shrimp?
All i have are molly babies but they are gut loaded and healthy.
Well i called UPS this morning to ask if I could come get him and they said no. My tracking number showed him to be at the local terminal not 5 minutes from my house. I expressed concern and he said they would do what they could.
Literally 10 minutes later I got a knock at my door! He’s here!
I have been acclimating him over the last 30 minutes and decided to place one of the tiny babies in the plastic holding container with him. He ate it within 5 seconds!
He is supposed to be 1.5 inches but that’s a stretch. I would guess more like .75, he’s frickin tiny! Here’s a pic of him in the container.
When you ordered from live aquaria, is that a wartskin or an assorted frog fish?
Tmm87
Well-Known Member
It's a wartskin. At that size it would have come from divers den more than likely. The sizes typically available on the regular side of LA are larger and predominantly yellow/maroon coloration.
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