Frogfish swollen like a balloon

[pixelhustler]

I got this frog fish a couple of weeks ago. I’ve feed him a live chromis and was working on training him on silversides.

I was transferring him to a smaller acclimation box to help with the tong training but in the process he flapped around and swallowed a bunch of air and water. I gently massaged the air bubble out but I couldn’t get the water to pass.

I just learned they’re not supposed to be in contact with air to avoid this exact behavior. From what I read, they don’t live long after this happens…
99% of the air is out of his stomach (I could see the bubble through his belly skin) but the water doesn’t seem to go anywhere. I’m thinking I’ll give him a break for an hour or two and if he hasn’t deflated by then, I’m going to drain the water with a syringe through his mouth.

Any suggestions?

 

[blaxsun]

#fishmedic

 

[pixelhustler]

Phew, he’s back to normal. The pointy lump is the head of a silverside that he ate earlier. I’m glad I was able to drain the air bubble right away. I won’t be using a net next time - lesson learned.

I did find a video from the Waikiki Aquarium where their biologists drained a frogfish with a large gauge needle through the stomach: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8dyQp6T/

Hopefully this wasn’t too stressful and he’s alive and healthy tomorrow.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Phew, he’s back to normal. The pointy lump is the head of a silverside that he ate earlier. I’m glad I was able to drain the air bubble right away. I won’t be using a net next time - lesson learned.

I did find a video from the Waikiki Aquarium where their biologists drained a frogfish with a large gauge needle through the stomach: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8dyQp6T/

Hopefully this wasn’t too stressful and he’s alive and healthy tomorrow.

Hope it recovers! As a side note, you need to do some research if you are going to feed "silversides" to your fish. Here is a section from my fish disease book:

Silversides confusion – many aquarists feed frozen “silversides” to their aquarium animals. True silversides (Atherinids) are low in thiaminase. Many fish food manufacturers use other fish species and call them “silversides”. Some of those fish are actually smelts or sardines and are high in thiaminase. Of five products on the market that were looked at, only one contained actual silversides (Rowlett, 2017). True silversides will have two dorsal fins (the first one may lie close to the body). The smelts have an adipose fin and a single dorsal fin (like trout do).

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Frog fish can be eating machines and in lieu of silversides which are better than guppies, an occasional molly, shrimp, urchin, crab abd shrimp meat, some worms often found in sand and even calamari are better choice foods.
Glad to hear it deflated.

 

[lion king]

I strongly recommend not to use marine fish as food, you will surely transfer a disease. Best live fish to use are mollies or guppies; fancy guppies rather than feeder guppies, although feeder guppies will be safer than marine fish. Feeder guppies usually come from bad water sources, fancy guppies are pet grade and come from a safer from water source. These fish are proven to be safe and successful to use for long term success. The only true silverside I know of at the lfs is the San Francisco Bay brand, which is a fine supplement to feeding. If you have an Asian market, you may be able to find human grade "true" silversides. From all of my experience, anglers usually don't live long on a dead only diet, they will never receive the necessary nutrients. Over feeding, as in feeding too often, can also cause bloat and premature death. Here's a thread I wrote on anglers with the most comprehensive information I have today.

Burping does work, I wouldn't use that needle technique, the likelihood of a bacterial infection would be very high. People never show you the long term success after many forms of advice.

So you want a frog fish; I call them anglers

I've kept a few, my first going back 25 years. These are very difficult fish to keep and I am still very frustrated as to the success in keeping these guys long term. I do have some information I would like to share for those interested. Be forewarned, they are not for everyone and do take...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[pixelhustler]

Hope it recovers! As a side note, you need to do some research if you are going to feed "silversides" to your fish. Here is a section from my fish disease book:

Silversides confusion – many aquarists feed frozen “silversides” to their aquarium animals. True silversides (Atherinids) are low in thiaminase. Many fish food manufacturers use other fish species and call them “silversides”. Some of those fish are actually smelts or sardines and are high in thiaminase. Of five products on the market that were looked at, only one contained actual silversides (Rowlett, 2017). True silversides will have two dorsal fins (the first one may lie close to the body). The smelts have an adipose fin and a single dorsal fin (like trout do).

Jay

Thanks Jay, very interesting. I buy SF Bay Brand Sally’s Silversides which are Menidia menidia - it looks like those are Antherids. Are silversides good as their staple diet or is there a better alternative?

Frog fish can be eating machines and in lieu of silversides which are better than guppies, an occasional molly, shrimp, urchin, crab abd shrimp meat, some worms often found in sand and even calamari are better choice foods.
Glad to hear it deflated.

Would you say silversides are a good staple diet or is there a better food? I had a painted frogfish before and fed it mostly silversides and some krill/shrimp here and there. It grew a lot and seemed healthy but I ended up trading him after a year.

 

[pixelhustler]

I strongly recommend not to use marine fish as food, you will surely transfer a disease. Best live fish to use are mollies or guppies; fancy guppies rather than feeder guppies, although feeder guppies will be safer than marine fish. Feeder guppies usually come from bad water sources, fancy guppies are pet grade and come from a safer from water source. These fish are proven to be safe and successful to use for long term success. The only true silverside I know of at the lfs is the San Francisco Bay brand, which is a fine supplement to feeding. If you have an Asian market, you may be able to find human grade "true" silversides. From all of my experience, anglers usually don't live long on a dead only diet, they will never receive the necessary nutrients. Over feeding, as in feeding too often, can also cause bloat and premature death. Here's a thread I wrote on anglers with the most comprehensive information I have today.

Burping does work, I wouldn't use that needle technique, the likelihood of a bacterial infection would be very high. People never show you the long term success after many forms of advice.

So you want a frog fish; I call them anglers

I've kept a few, my first going back 25 years. These are very difficult fish to keep and I am still very frustrated as to the success in keeping these guys long term. I do have some information I would like to share for those interested. Be forewarned, they are not for everyone and do take...

www.reef2reef.com

Would you say relying on live, gut loaded mollies is better than silversides as a staple diet?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks Jay, very interesting. I buy SF Bay Brand Sally’s Silversides which are Menidia menidia - it looks like those are Antherids. Are silversides good as their staple diet or is there a better alternative?



Would you say silversides are a good staple diet or is there a better food? I had a painted frogfish before and fed it mostly silversides and some krill/shrimp here and there. It grew a lot and seemed healthy but I ended up trading him after a year.

No- Mollies if youre going to use fish as mentioned- No guppies or silversides or any other marine fish which are often fatty or a disease risk

 

[lion king]

Would you say relying on live, gut loaded mollies is better than silversides as a staple diet?

Yes, absolutely, mollies will be the staple. If you could breed your own, the better. I have used mollies for 20 years and kept many species that do not survive long on a dead only diet and kept them for several years to a decade. I also wrote a thread on dead foods that would be good to "include", but not to rely on as the dominant part of their diet. These foods would contain necessary nutrients, proper fats, and have low or no thiaminese. It's good to have a backup in case your live food supply line suffers. Here's a thread I wrote expanding on why choose ghosties, guppies, and mollies as live food sources.

Lion King's dead food recommendations

I'm a health nut if you haven't noticed, this also translates to my pets. Today I will cover some of the dead foods I feed and why, with some nutritional info that I recall off the top of my head. This is by no means all the foods you can feed, these are just the ones I include in my feedings...

www.reef2reef.com

Live Food

Ghosties, guppies, and mollies, oh my. These are the best, most available, safest, and nutritional choices to feed your predator. If you have a fish you have decided the inclusion of a live in beneficial or even necessary, these are the best options to feed. I can not recommend no other species...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[lion king]

Here's another thread you may find interesting, as this is a major reason the ambush predators die prematurely.

The truth about FATS

I remember one the first things I learned about fish when I started this hobby; was the differences in carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores. Lions, eels, anglers, etc. are carnivores, among many other species. Carnivores need a dominant protein and fat diet with minimal carbs. Frankly I'm a bit...

www.reef2reef.com