Help picking new nano. Frogfish, waspfish, pipefish?

[Gjedde]

Ive got a 150 gallon mixed reef in the basement and had been mentioning to my wife that i was wanting to get rid of most the zoas, mushrooms, duncans and non torch euphillias to head towards a more sps heavy direction. She said the magic words.
“Maybe i can start my own tank.”
We have been talking it over for a bit and she apparently wants more of a challenge. Initially she was just interested in seahorses or pipefish, but she has also become fascinated with frogfish and dwarf lions.
I have had seahorses before, we talked it over and she is now leaning more towards anglers and frogfish. Tank size is limited to 20-25 gallons so i am thining dwarf lions are out which leaves anglers and pipefish. Ive never had pipefish before so i am definitely interested in this route however my wife is definitely most interested in a frogfish. My last frogfish died about a month after we started dating, but apparently the memory of him has stuck with her over the years.

Edit: she also wants me to let it be known that leaf or waspfish are possibly in the running.

There are three tanks i believe we have settled upon however it is a tough choice. Either a fijicube 22.5, waterbox 25 peninsula(would not be set up penninsula style) or a jbj 25 cube.

All three tanks are very comperable in terms of volume, however i have no experience with any of the brands.

https://waterboxaquariums.com/collections/saltwater-aquariums/products/aio-25-peninsula-1
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/rf-25-rimless-flat-panel-aquarium-stand-25-gal-jbj.html
https://www.fijicube.com/collection...n-cube-rimless-aio-glass-nano-tank-pro-series
Is there a tank you would go with yourself or perhaps a fish that would suit this tank size especially well? No matter what we get it will be a win for me. Who knows, maybe ill even be able to get her to take the clowns if she doesnt end up getting a frogfish.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Ive got a 150 gallon mixed reef in the basement and had been mentioning to my wife that i was wanting to get rid of most the zoas, mushrooms, duncans and non torch euphillias to head towards a more sps heavy direction. She said the magic words.
“Maybe i can start my own tank.”
We have been talking it over for a bit and she apparently wants more of a challenge. Initially she was just interested in seahorses or pipefish, but she has also become fascinated with frogfish and dwarf lions.
I have had seahorses before, we talked it over and she is now leaning more towards anglers and frogfish. Tank size is limited to 20-25 gallons so i am thining dwarf lions are out which leaves anglers and pipefish. Ive never had pipefish before so i am definitely interested in this route however my wife is definitely most interested in a frogfish. My last frogfish died about a month after we started dating, but apparently the memory of him has stuck with her over the years.

Edit: she also wants me to let it be known that leaf or waspfish are possibly in the running.

There are three tanks i believe we have settled upon however it is a tough choice. Either a fijicube 22.5, waterbox 25 peninsula(would not be set up penninsula style) or a jbj 25 cube.

All three tanks are very comperable in terms of volume, however i have no experience with any of the brands.

https://waterboxaquariums.com/collections/saltwater-aquariums/products/aio-25-peninsula-1
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/rf-25-rimless-flat-panel-aquarium-stand-25-gal-jbj.html
https://www.fijicube.com/collection...n-cube-rimless-aio-glass-nano-tank-pro-series
Is there a tank you would go with yourself or perhaps a fish that would suit this tank size especially well? No matter what we get it will be a win for me. Who knows, maybe ill even be able to get her to take the clowns if she doesnt end up getting a frogfish.

No input on the tanks from me, but just some things to keep in mind with the frogfish - they do have a tendency to die relatively fast, and a lot of people do get somewhat bored of them since they're ambush predators and don't move a whole lot.

That said, a wartskin anglerfish is appropriately sized for a 25 gallon, and if you're wife is fine with the low amount of movement, they are super cool fish.

I don't know how long you had yours for before it died, but the quotes below may help with caring for one if she goes with one (I apologize, I should organize the info better as following all of the links is pretty daunting - if you've got questions, feel free to ask):

Yeah - frogfish are super cool fish, but you definitely have to be very careful about any tankmates (which is why they're typically only recommended for species-only tanks).


For anyone wondering about care requirements, their needs are a bit murky at this point (they don't generally live long in our tanks), but it seems at least one of the main issues is somehow diet-related from what I can tell. A good, quality diet should go a long way to prolonging their lives.

These should be fed on a gorge/fast schedule, so they shouldn't be fed every day; they'll generally start walking around "hunting" if they're getting hungry (so you should be able to use that tell pretty accurately if they're hungry or not), but generally speaking they should be fed more often when young/small and less often when older/larger.

I would personally also strongly consider prophylactic treatment with Coppersafe/Copper Power or hyposalinity (though this may or may not be linked to buoyancy issues in frogfish; burping the frogfish may or may not help), Prazipro, and Metroplex.

For anyone hoping to keep a frogfish, I would suggest reading through the four links below (and the links I share in them), but - basically - the more natural the diet, the longer they seem to live; however, the natural diet of saltwater fish and shrimp is tough to provide, so alternatives/possible solutions (such as breeding food them) are discussed. For most people, ghost/grass shrimp, guppies, and mollies are probably going to be the best, realistic options at this point:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/frogfish-long-term-success.1055311/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/for-those-who-have-had-success-keeping-anglers.1066897/

My posts in the link below may also be helpful here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/striated-anglerfish-long-term-diet.1030740/ And a link showing some decent results of the diet before (unfortunately) showing why I would try to prophylactically treat the fish:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/frog-fish-ownership.913163/Edit: Ah, I remembered that Jay commented on another thread that he's never used hypo on a frogfish before; the frogfish that underwent hypo ended up floating at the surface, but we don't know why (it could have been the hypo, overfeeding, a combination of the two, etc.) - I'd probably give hypo an experimental shot, then try burping the fish if it starts floating; to burp it, you basically gently massage its belly while rotating it 360 degrees in the water (so head up with tail down, then tail up with head down, repeat several times).

IIRC, saltwater waspfish are similar care to frogfish, but if she decides to go with one of them, I know there's more info on the forum here about them (and some active members with hands-on experience with them).
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pygmy-red-rooster-waspfish-care-tips.964042/I'm not well-versed on leaf fish (or most other freshwater fish at this point), so I'm not much help there at the moment.

My understanding of pipefish is that they should be treated like a seahorse/a mix between a seahorse and a mandarin dragonet (low flow, gentle tank mates, lots of pods; a BBS feeding station like Paul B's may be helpful). Again, though, there's a lot of good info and some members with firsthand experience on here for these.

 

[Gjedde]

I had my wartskin for about 9 months, unfortunately died to over eating. There was a yellowtail damsel it went months without eating and i figured the damsel was too smart or the frogfish didnt like yellowtails. Found it dead one day with two damsels in its big ol gullet. Lesson learned.

Ive been reading through the forum for a few years now on frogfish and have been thinking either a painted or wartskin. I believe that lionking noted that the painted were perhaps more active however my wife is not too worried about activity wise. If we want action we will go watch wrasses in the big tank downstairs. Actually visited all those frogfish links in the last week! Ha!

One of my largest concerns is feeding as we are thinking atleast 75% live saltwater fish. Seems like that is a major factor.

Talked over the waspfish and leaf fish with her and we have decided that with small children that love getting into places they shouldn’t… yea…

As for pipefish, that is more what i am leaning towards. I think that a low flow tank with gorgonians, softies and a couple of my less high flow tolerant lps corals would fit together nicely. As for feeding, ive been hatching baby brine shrimp every other week as a treat for my wrasses and i figured that would help with the feeding requirements of the pipefish. As for pods, perhaps running a cryptic fuge in the aio and swapping rock from the main tanks cryptic fuge. Ive got about 30 gallons of live rock in the main tanks sump, absolutely full of pods.

Maybe we will just set up the tank, fill it with corals from the main tank and see what feels right.

At this point i am leaning towards the jbj cube and my wife the fijicube.Ive seen fiji cubes in person and they are definitely nice, never seen a jbj before.

 

[smol_reef]

I have a 25 AIO IM Lagoon - I really like it and it's only $250. Dimensions might be a bit unique though since it's not as tall, but just throwing it out there as a tank to consider (might not have been what you were asking about )