Mean headed angler

[Brittany Marie]

I thought I just got lucky that he switched over to frozen food...now he eats everything, and I mean everything! I was about to turn pumps back on and he was in front of one, cupped my hand to escort him to a safe place....and this MEAN HEAD, latched onto my finger!!!! I about threw him out of the tank, I jumped so fast!

 

[Katrina71]

The pretty ones are always biters

 

[Brittany Marie]

The pretty ones are always biters

I never would have expected him! Haha. The GDM yes, but him? I'm still shocked

 

[Shrimpinator123]

I'd be careful switchting it over to frozen. I have a freckled angler and had a pictus before that. From what other people have said they tend to lose their behaviors and have a shorter lifespan on frozen or prepared foods.

 

[Brittany Marie]

I'd be careful switchting it over to frozen. I have a freckled angler and had a pictus before that. From what other people have said they tend to lose their behaviors and have a shorter lifespan on frozen or prepared foods.

Really?! I haven’t heard that. I’ve followed several people on instagram that complained theirs wouldn’t eat frozen or anything other than live, and theirs ended up dying because they couldn’t keep up with the live food source. That’s how I lost my warty....the only LFS I have around for miles is a Petco, a terrible one at that, and they don’t keep more than a dozen ghosts...I’ve complained many times but nothing changed. So I thought I hit the jackpot when he started taking frozen. Do you think if I do both frozen and live (when available) that he’ll be okay? What do you feed yours?

 

[lion king]

Really?! I haven’t heard that. I’ve followed several people on instagram that complained theirs wouldn’t eat frozen or anything other than live, and theirs ended up dying because they couldn’t keep up with the live food source. That’s how I lost my warty....the only LFS I have around for miles is a Petco, a terrible one at that, and they don’t keep more than a dozen ghosts...I’ve complained many times but nothing changed. So I thought I hit the jackpot when he started taking frozen. Do you think if I do both frozen and live (when available) that he’ll be okay? What do you feed yours?

If you are interested, some people aren't, the whole "train your warty", train your lion" thing, does have it's draw backs. Ambush predators become more sedentary than their normal couch potatoe behavior, and basically turn into ornaments after a while being on a frozen only diet. The anglers even stop using their lure all together, maybe not even moving at all from their feeding spot. They also tend to lose interest in eating all together after just a few months. These guys do need stimulation, if you know anything about predators kept in captivity, ocean or land predators, you'll understand how enrichment in their captive environment is very important..

I've kept a few anglers, have a friend that have kept more than I, and have tracked over a dozen that came into a couple lfs over 5 years. None that was fed a dead only diet ever lived more several months. To feed a combo diet would optimum, but it rarely if ever works, if you get them to take dead, once you give them live again, it becomes increasingly harder to get them take dead again. In my opinion, these guys should be fed a live diet, or left in the ocean. How would you like to be kept in a glass cage and fed with a stick, try to give them at least a stimulating captive environment.

Mollies and guppies are good alternating food source, breeding your own mollies is an option and easy. Gut loaded ghosties are a staple for my predators, and I keep a small tank with a good stock. Set up a small tank or even just a simple container of sorts with a sponge filter and get a bunch at a time. In a pinch a peppermint shrimp, expensive but beats dying, I've gotten lfs to give me deals. Last resort even a rosie.

 

[Brittany Marie]

If you are interested, some people aren't, the whole "train your warty", train your lion" thing, does have it's draw backs. Ambush predators become more sedentary than their normal couch potatoe behavior, and basically turn into ornaments after a while being on a frozen only diet. The anglers even stop using their lure all together, maybe not even moving at all from their feeding spot. They also tend to lose interest in eating all together after just a few months. These guys do need stimulation, if you know anything about predators kept in captivity, ocean or land predators, you'll understand how enrichment in their captive environment is very important..

I've kept a few anglers, have a friend that have kept more than I, and have tracked over a dozen that came into a couple lfs over 5 years. None that was fed a dead only diet ever lived more several months. To feed a combo diet would optimum, but it rarely if ever works, if you get them to take dead, once you give them live again, it becomes increasingly harder to get them take dead again. In my opinion, these guys should be fed a live diet, or left in the ocean. How would you like to be kept in a glass cage and fed with a stick, try to give them at least a stimulating captive environment.

Mollies and guppies are good alternating food source, breeding your own mollies is an option and easy. Gut loaded ghosties are a staple for my predators, and I keep a small tank with a good stock. Set up a small tank or even just a simple container of sorts with a sponge filter and get a bunch at a time. In a pinch a peppermint shrimp, expensive but beats dying, I've gotten lfs to give me deals. Last resort even a rosie.

Gotcha. I’ve tried keeping rosies/shrimp in my daughter’s goldfish tank, but the goldfish just ate them all. I’ll start keeping a supply in my betta tank and restock from a different lfs. The last time I went to my petco, the guy working the section wouldn’t help me because he was too busy putting his order up. I specifically went there for ghosts that were coming in the order, I was told I had to come back later, asked for rosies instead, he said I’d still have to come back...5 hours later. But I will stock my betta tank and do it that way. Thank you for the info

 

[Shrimpinator123]

Really?! I haven’t heard that. I’ve followed several people on instagram that complained theirs wouldn’t eat frozen or anything other than live, and theirs ended up dying because they couldn’t keep up with the live food source. That’s how I lost my warty....the only LFS I have around for miles is a Petco, a terrible one at that, and they don’t keep more than a dozen ghosts...I’ve complained many times but nothing changed. So I thought I hit the jackpot when he started taking frozen. Do you think if I do both frozen and live (when available) that he’ll be okay? What do you feed yours?

I found it out from lion king on a previous thread about getting my freckled angler eating, and from reading the frogfish files on RC. I feed mine a mix of baby crayfish and ghost shrimp. I have recently started a 6.5 gal to breed ghosties, and I picked up a betta as well. My pictus used to eat out of my hand and would have eaten himself to death. My freckled on the other hand has to be forced to eat. I have started locking him in a jar underwater and leaving him in there until he eats. Even with this method he still sometimes refuses to eat.

 

[Brittany Marie]

I found it out from lion king on a previous thread about getting my freckled angler eating, and from reading the frogfish files on RC. I feed mine a mix of baby crayfish and ghost shrimp. I have recently started a 6.5 gal to breed ghosties, and I picked up a betta as well. My pictus used to eat out of my hand and would have eaten himself to death. My freckled on the other hand has to be forced to eat. I have started locking him in a jar underwater and leaving him in there until he eats. Even with this method he still sometimes refuses to eat.

Where do you get baby crayfish from?

 

[Shrimpinator123]

Where do you get baby crayfish from?

I just caught them out of local streams and QT'ed them for 3 to 4 days before feeding.

 

[Brittany Marie]

I just caught them out of local streams and QT'ed them for 3 to 4 days before feeding.

Nice! You got so lucky. I used to see babies in the ditch by my driveway, grew one up into a real monster. Daughter calls him lombster. Haha. He’s the only thing that makes it through her goldfish tank. Sadly the county came and redid the ditches...haven’t seen babies since

 

[Shrimpinator123]

Nice looking crayfish. The freckled is finnicky witht the crayfish though, it will only eat them up to a certain size and if they are any bigfer just refuses to eat.

 

[lion king]

I found it out from lion king on a previous thread about getting my freckled angler eating, and from reading the frogfish files on RC. I feed mine a mix of baby crayfish and ghost shrimp. I have recently started a 6.5 gal to breed ghosties, and I picked up a betta as well. My pictus used to eat out of my hand and would have eaten himself to death. My freckled on the other hand has to be forced to eat. I have started locking him in a jar underwater and leaving him in there until he eats. Even with this method he still sometimes refuses to eat.

How long have you had the freckler, I haven't known anyone have a good run with one of them. Like you said, very finnicky. How often are you feeding him.

 

[Shrimpinator123]

How long have you had the freckler, I haven't known anyone have a good run with one of them. Like you said, very finnicky. How often are you feeding him.

So far its been about four and a half months, got the freckled on 6 11 18. He will only accept food 1 or twice a week, no more. He seems to be fine though, luring at me when he is out. Anybody else on here have one?

 

[lion king]

So far its been about four and a half months, got the freckled on 6 11 18. He will only accept food 1 or twice a week, no more. He seems to be fine though, luring at me when he is out. Anybody else on here have one?

More and more I'm leaning toward feeding once a week at most, even every 10 days. In the wild they likely go a very long time between feeding, but they likely also eat alot more when they gorge. Their system in the wild can digest bigger meals more easily. In captivity overfeeding is many times the cause of a premature death, and feeding too large of prey. I've cut them open to find what appeared to food rotting in their guts. Overfeeding is what many times causes that bloaty floaty kind of thing they do, it's like excess gas in their gut.

 

[Shrimpinator123]

When I was researching for my first one, my pictus, I kept seeing costant warnings about not overfeeding. I'm careful with how much I feed, right now he gets one shrimp at each feeding. Have you kept this species before?

 

[lion king]

No I've only kept the painted and the wartys, my one friend had one he only kept alive I believe about 4 months or so. I've helped others with the sargassum, giant, and a couple of the pygmys. I've only worked with the wartys and painted enough to get a true read. The others Ive only seen a few and not enough of the same species to get a true read. There are many factors I believe will be the same, none of them have done well on a dead only diet, and it's delicate operation not to overfeed. They also don't seem to like high nitrates, I've seen them go off eating with nitrates over 30, and this may also be an issue as many believe they can live fine in less than optimum water conditions.

 

[Shrimpinator123]

The nitrates thing makes sense, it would give a clue as to why so many die in captivity to seemingly nothing. I lost my pictus to SAD. Im hoping mine makes it at least a year or two.

 

[Stickboy15]

did it hurt when he bit you?

 

[lion king]

The nitrates thing makes sense, it would give a clue as to why so many die in captivity to seemingly nothing. I lost my pictus to SAD. Im hoping mine makes it at least a year or two.

I've also seen them with ich, which means they can also be susceptible to velvet; but absolutely can not handle copper. I imagine they can also get internal parasites, and I have never seen them handle prazi pro either, and to use metro/focus you would have to get them eating dead you could mix in. So this with their feeding habits and misunderstood tank conditions; they do have a very high mortality rate.