Will a frogfish actually eat another frogfish?

[Bohemian Waxwing]

My experience from working with these at the LFS is they will literally eat anything if they can. Similar sized animals were fine but they ate everything that moved if it was fairly smaller.

It always amazed how wild some of the patterns and colours on them were.

 

[Reef Cryptid]

I’m cohabbed two anglers (one warty one painted) for about 2 years at with no signs of aggression. During feeds they will sometimes clamour over each other to reach the net first. I do plan to split them up once there is a noticeable size difference

However, at the public aquarium I work at, before I started there, there was a system with several warty and painted anglers of varying sizes and the largest painted ate the smallest warty overnight. That was extenuating circumstances brought on by lack of understanding of the prey drive of these species and their opportunistic nature

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I hope they dont try to eat eachother! That would be so sad after being together this whole time! Did you actually sex them or just be like oh that one seems like a female lol

there's no way to sex them, it's just kind of a guess lol. I'm honestly beginning to think Dave is the female, he's got a slightly more engorged belly which makes me think eggs potentially?

 

[littlefoxx]

there's no way to sex them, it's just kind of a guess lol. I'm honestly beginning to think Dave is the female, he's got a slightly more engorged belly which makes me think eggs potentially?

Oo picture?

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Oo picture?

I'm actually running a phyto bloom rn to feed the sponges, so you can't see very far into the tank lol. When it clears up I'll take a nice pic of them both.

 

[PPBlimpy]

Any updates on these guys?
I am wanting to try my hand with one, maybe a pair.

Gathering equipment to build a 40G breeder Paladarium. Was originally thinking mantis but have turned towards frogs recently.

The main tank will hold about 20G and be hooked to a 20G sump with skimmer, sock, ATS and ATO.

Have also gone down the rabbit hole researching breeding saltwater mollies for a food supply. which may be done in a 30G tall Macro algea tank I will plumb into the same system.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Time for a little update :)

Priscilla died at the beginning of the year after a long fight with intestinal gas. I made the mistake of letting a molly loose in the aquarium for her to hunt (long after she was trained on tongs) and in her frenzy she chased it to the surface of the water and took a huge gulp of air. I tried to burp her, gently palpate her, and even attempted to sedate and extract the air with a needle, but in the end she did not make it. Which brings to light the incredible importance of keeping them away from AIR! (Specifically swallowing air; it appears that A. pictus and A. commersoni are resistant to low tide, but they close off their throats when this happens)

Dave is still doing fantastic, and currently lives in the same tank about double the size he was last time I pictured him.

I got a new frogfish in May by mail, I ordered an "assorted" frog in hopes it'd be one of the weirdo species and it ended up being a fantastic ruby red pictus! Best bang for $40 I I've ever gotten. Unfortunately, it appears that this animal took in some air in shipping and so it's still living in the acclimation box so it can stay off the water's surface. Thankfully she took to eating off the tongs almost immediately, so it's been easy to keep her strikes away from the surface. I'm trying to feed her big, intact foods to hopefully push the air forwards through her guts over time. If she does in fact have swallowed air, it's definitely less than Priscilla had because she can comfortably stay upright and navigate her little box :)

(This picture is from May, she is currently tan as most end up turning)

A shop near my recently got a big black angler that's almost the exact same size as Dave, and I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on it. I miss the interactions I got to watch with two in the tank!

My next big mission is to find foods that help frogs maintain color! Fresh squid and octopus have been very good to me as far as keeping them alive for 3+ years, but squid has so few carotenoids in it that all of my frogs that eat it turn tan over time. I've thought about making little sausages to feed them so I can engineer their colors a little better, but I do not have the equipment nor expertise to do such a thing. Oh well.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Any updates on these guys?
I am wanting to try my hand with one, maybe a pair.

Gathering equipment to build a 40G breeder Paladarium. Was originally thinking mantis but have turned towards frogs recently.

The main tank will hold about 20G and be hooked to a 20G sump with skimmer, sock, ATS and ATO.

Have also gone down the rabbit hole researching breeding saltwater mollies for a food supply. which may be done in a 30G tall Macro algea tank I will plumb into the same system.

Hey, sorry I never got a notification for this. In a 20g I honestly wouldn't go with any species in the Antennarius genus. They're far more active than their cousins and will end up running laps in such a small tank, I'd suggest trying to source a species of Antennatus such as dorehensis. They stay smaller and are a little more cryptically colored, which is think is awesome but I can see how it may be less appealing.

 

[PPBlimpy]

Hey, sorry I never got a notification for this. In a 20g I honestly wouldn't go with any species in the Antennarius genus. They're far more active than their cousins and will end up running laps in such a small tank, I'd suggest trying to source a species of Antennatus such as dorehensis. They stay smaller and are a little more cryptically colored, which is think is awesome but I can see how it may be less appealing.

The tank they would be in is a 40g breeder but only about half full of water. 36x18x8 worth of water with rocks mixed in of course.
Overall water capacity would be about 40g as I am rethinking the sump. I have a 35g tall that I used as a DSB refugium on a tank that I would use on this. Skimmer would be an octo100 hob on the sump.

I could go to a 60g breeder and give it 48x18x8 swimming space with the same 35g sump.

Water capacity would be approx 45g

 

[Mr_Knightley]

The tank they would be in is a 40g breeder but only about half full of water. 36x18x8 worth of water with rocks mixed in of course.
Overall water capacity would be about 40g as I am rethinking the sump. I have a 35g tall that I used as a DSB refugium on a tank that I would use on this. Skimmer would be an octo100 hob on the sump.

I could go to a 60g breeder and give it 48x18x8 swimming space with the same 35g sump.

Water capacity would be approx 45g

If you want to go for pictus, the bigger the better IMHO. If a 60b wouldn't ruin your aesthetic vision for the space, I say go for it!