I want an Angler So Bad.

[PicassoClown04]

This is why I came to that conclusion, 1st, people can not keep these long at all. In the best conditions and cared for by experienced hobbyist they rarely live more than 3 years. Something is very wrong here. I' ve seen reports and even confirmed by people who have seen them while diving, that they are living in waters below 70 degrees. I'm talking about keeping them at about 68-70 degrees. Other species that people could never keep are now being kept long term successfully because of keeping in cooler waters, these include the catalina goby, some varieties of jawfish, and some varieties of trunk fish. People still to this day fail in long term success with the jawfish simply because of keeping the water too warm.

I don't know what the true lifespan in the wild is of the anglers we keep, but it has to be more than 3 years. So we are definitely doing something wrong, or these guys need to be left in the ocean. Unless they came to us with some sort genetic issue which shortens their life, we should be able to provide them at least that they get in the wild.

Since they are listed at the tropical range of 72-78, maybe just keeping them at the bottom of that range, 72.

This is absolutely true. I had the pleasure of diving with what I was told were painted frogfish in the Red Sea. The water was indeed in the 68-72 F range and a wetsuit was definitely a must while I was diving. I think it would be really neat if you were to set up a tank specifically geared towards the Red Sea area to mimic its natural habitat (probably not real sponges though- as they seem to do poorly in tanks due to their eating habits. But I don't see a huge issue with a few realistic synthetic sponges amongst your corals as that is the natural perching place for the fish). I love this frogfish, and other small predatory species, although I will not attempt them until Im 100% positive that I am able to either breed food myself or make weekly trips to the fish store to re-stock. The painted was definitely the fish that got me looking at preds and now I am on the hunt for Madagascar Coral Crouchers. Best wishes to you and your frog, it sounds like you are a very dedicated keeper who is willing to put a lot of effort into creating the best environment possible for this little guy and I applaud you for it. Keep us posted, especially about his color shift. Are you planning on getting more red/orange tank decor (live corals or synthetic) to help him gain the coloring you desire or are you just gonna let it pan out on its own? Very interesting and informative thread, I hope your fish lives a long happy life with you! It really makes a difference when a fish grows up with you versus getting a mature adult, you really bond with it

 

[duberii]

This is absolutely true. I had the pleasure of diving with what I was told were painted frogfish in the Red Sea. The water was indeed in the 68-72 F range and a wetsuit was definitely a must while I was diving. I think it would be really neat if you were to set up a tank specifically geared towards the Red Sea area to mimic its natural habitat (probably not real sponges though- as they seem to do poorly in tanks due to their eating habits. But I don't see a huge issue with a few realistic synthetic sponges amongst your corals as that is the natural perching place for the fish). I love this frogfish, and other small predatory species, although I will not attempt them until Im 100% positive that I am able to either breed food myself or make weekly trips to the fish store to re-stock. The painted was definitely the fish that got me looking at preds and now I am on the hunt for Madagascar Coral Crouchers. Best wishes to you and your frog, it sounds like you are a very dedicated keeper who is willing to put a lot of effort into creating the best environment possible for this little guy and I applaud you for it. Keep us posted, especially about his color shift. Are you planning on getting more red/orange tank decor (live corals or synthetic) to help him gain the coloring you desire or are you just gonna let it pan out on its own? Very interesting and informative thread, I hope your fish lives a long happy life with you! It really makes a difference when a fish grows up with you versus getting a mature adult, you really bond with it

Interesting- perhaps I could get a fan system to replace an actual chiller. They're so stupidly expensive that I'm not even considering splurging. Maybe I can get one used somewhere but even that is a huge investment. I really don't want to have to put anything synthetic into the tank (call it a personal aversion)- I'd love to get something like this, but again I'm not sure if it would do well at cooler temperatures. I could keep the tank right at 72- that way I have a shot at keeping something like that sponge but I could still test out the lower temp hypothesis.

As for the color question, I would love to keep it with that pure white with red highlights coloration, but it seems next to impossible with the tank I'm getting (I have purple rock and I was planning on adding corals, but I'm not aware of any corals that thrive at lower temperatures, beyond maybe xenia or other bulletproof corals). Those sponges do well in some peoples tanks, and I'd be fine dosing some phyto or something once a day when it's small to help it pick up. In some people's tanks, they say it's almost invasive, which would be cool to have for the angler, but again I'm not even sure it would thrive. Definitely worth a shot- seeing as it's only $40! Also it's another excuse to get a few cool things from liveaquaria for the main tank.

I'll probably break this off into a build thread soon- I'll post a link if you're interested once everything is set up today

 

[duberii]

A little tip for skiddish foods like amphipods- if I tossed them into the tank the frogfish would never find them. I have a breeding box that has a decently fine mesh that i scooped the frogfish into, then dropped a few amphipods in with it. Zipped around and slurped them all up- I'd rather see more hunting around the rocks, but until I can feed a slower food this will have to do.

 

[duberii]

Here's my build thread for anybody invested in the journey:

Build Thread - Wartskin Frogfish Tank

I just bought this system from my LFS- just 13.5 gallons with some nice rock, all for this little guy: At the moment, the tank is at 76 degrees F, but I may end up lowering it to 72 degrees over time, depending on my confidence in my ability to keep the temperature stable, as that is my main...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[lion king]

A little tip for skiddish foods like amphipods- if I tossed them into the tank the frogfish would never find them. I have a breeding box that has a decently fine mesh that i scooped the frogfish into, then dropped a few amphipods in with it. Zipped around and slurped them all up- I'd rather see more hunting around the rocks, but until I can feed a slower food this will have to do.

It's good to help them out a bit in the beginning until they get used to the tank and gain confidence. They will eventually get it, there is no one in the ocean feeding them on a platter.

 

[UnderwaterGamer]

Thank you both, I found this thread extremely helpful! I am currently setting up a 20 gallon and I'm wanting to do one very oddball unique fish to be the only one in the tank so I've been researching the Warty Angler and came across this thread! Lion King you have been very helpful and duberii I'll be following your build in the meantime!

 

[UnderwaterGamer]

It's good to help them out a bit in the beginning until they get used to the tank and gain confidence. They will eventually get it, there is no one in the ocean feeding them on a platter.

Hey quick question Lion King, I know you can't use chemi-clean with a angler, is there any media that would harm them? GFO, carbon etc? I don't think they would but since you have experience with them I figured I'd ask. TIA!

 

[lion king]

Hey quick question Lion King, I know you can't use chemi-clean with a angler, is there any media that would harm them? GFO, carbon etc? I don't think they would but since you have experience with them I figured I'd ask. TIA!

I've run carbon and chemi pure elite which also has gfo. I saw no ill effects.

 

[lazycouch]

There are alot of myths about feeding live, and trust me, if you read any of my threads, the info I give is from real life experience. The hairy one you are talking about is also known as the sargassum angler, I believe the one you say looks like a sponge is likely a painted angler. The painted angler will imprint to the colors in your tank, in the wild they live among sponges. The sargassum is very popular, their lure(esca) resembles a worm. The size of both of these would mean your 40B would be for them only. They are happy to live with lps and do not need sps type water conditions. The main fail in keeping these are feeding requirements, and overfeeding, which many times is feeding too frequently. Keeping them in community tanks where they eat something too big or are fed something too big also spells their demise. In a community tank they also get injured and it ends in a bacterial infection. The larger ones come with internal parasites many times and they are susceptible to protozoan diseases(ick and velvet). They do not handle meds well, if not at all, even people reporting they have treated them successfully, fail to tell you they died shortly afterwards. Small ones can live off of ghost shrimp and feeder guppies, and when larger, mollies. Read about these food choices in many of my threads. At the top end with the best care, most anglers will live between 3-5 years, I say closer to 3.

hey, can you tag me in your threads regarding this? i can’t seem to find it. woudl appreciate if you tag me on any thread with juicy info. you’re awesome man

“Small ones can live off of ghost shrimp and feeder guppies, and when larger, mollies. Read about these food choices in many of my threads. At the top end with the best care, most anglers will live between 3-5 years, I say closer to 3.”

i have a juvenile wartskin and would like to keep learning about him since there are many controversial opinions and you seem to know what you’re talking about most. thanks !

 

[lion king]

hey, can you tag me in your threads regarding this? i can’t seem to find it. woudl appreciate if you tag me on any thread with juicy info. you’re awesome man

“Small ones can live off of ghost shrimp and feeder guppies, and when larger, mollies. Read about these food choices in many of my threads. At the top end with the best care, most anglers will live between 3-5 years, I say closer to 3.”

i have a juvenile wartskin and would like to keep learning about him since there are many controversial opinions and you seem to know what you’re talking about most. thanks !

You can click my name and "find all threads", you may find something of interest. Checkout the "why mg" thread

 

[UnderwaterGamer]

I see the idea temperature for a Wartskin angler is a 68-72F, but my house gets to about 80 on some days in the summer so the tank would max out around 78ish during the day for a month or two of the year, is that too warm for an angler? I don't see many options for chilling a nano so Im just curious about this, TIA!

 

[lion king]

I see the idea temperature for a Wartskin angler is a 68-72F, but my house gets to about 80 on some days in the summer so the tank would max out around 78ish during the day for a month or two of the year, is that too warm for an angler? I don't see many options for chilling a nano so Im just curious about this, TIA!

If you read carefully, the cooler temps were just a thought, as to maybe one more ingredient to keeping these guys longer. I've kept them in regular tropical temps, but getting 3 years or maybe 5 being wishful thinking, just isn't cutting it. I just suggest at least trying to keep them at the cooler end of the spectrum, may be worth a try. I've read and @footgal has reported seeing them in the cooler temps in the wild.

 

[PicassoClown04]

If you read carefully, the cooler temps were just a thought, as to maybe one more ingredient to keeping these guys longer. I've kept them in regular tropical temps, but getting 3 years or maybe 5 being wishful thinking, just isn't cutting it. I just suggest at least trying to keep them at the cooler end of the spectrum, may be worth a try. I've read and @footgal has reported seeing them in the cooler temps in the wild.

Definitely wetsuit temperatures in the wild. I believe the temp was somewhere between 68 and 73 because of the type of wetsuit I was wearing in the pictures. They were super cute!