Basic care For FrogFish & setup

[Lester]

Hi

To all those interested in frog fish.. i was surfing the net and came across this site on the basic setup and care for frogfish... hope it is useful to those rearing them

cheers

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as stated above

FROGFISH FEVER

Frogfish Setup

Frogfish, depending on the species, range in size from a max 5 inches of the warty or 'clown' angler, to the max 12 inch 'giant' or commersons angler... there are even species such as the dwarf and Randalls frogfish which stay under 2 inches... but are not commonly avaliable.

For the smaller species, a tank size of about 20g will be fine, allthough good filtration is a good idea as they produce alot of waste. Feeding is also much easier in a smaller tank.

tankmates are quite tricky. keep any fish smaller than it's size and it will probably become a meal for the angler, yet keep something bigger/aggresive and the angler may get picked on. Ornamental shrimp may not be a good idea, but from my experiences, crabs, snails, and echnoderms seem to be ok.

Frogfish Feeding

Feeding a frogfish is very interesting and fun. They can be fed live fish, silversides, or shrimp. If your tank is small enough, you can drop a damsel in and watch the angler use its 'rod' (Illicium) and 'lure' (esca) to bait the fish towards its mouth, and when its ready, dont blink because they will suck in their prey alllmost too fast to see, and u can actually see the fish wiggling around in its stomach.

if you are keeping the angler in a larger tank, u can feed by putting the fish in a net, and displaying it to the angler. When it gets out its 'rod and lure' and begins moving towards the fish, move the open side of the net towards the angler so he can climb in and swallow the prey.

Feeding prepared foods is more difficult, but u can try to feed silversides by using a sharpened rigid tube to hold the silver side and display it to the angler in a swimming motion. pass it by the anglers mouth till he goes for it... which he may not do if u dont convince him its alive.

There is some debate of how often u should feed an angler, as they are easily overfed and can die if they do. I would recommend a fish of about 1/2 it's size, once a week. allthough some would say to feed as often as every other day, and others as long as once a month.

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Reproductive behavior:

The following is a description of courtship behavior of Histrio histrio observed by Carol Mosher (1954):

A male and female were placed in the same tank. Initially, they did not display the aggressive behavior towards each other typical of Histrio histrio. Instead, the male stayed close to the female in the center of the tank. Next, the female clung to a patch of sargassum in the corner of the tank. Her abdomen swelled, and she assumed a vertical position. The male remained close to the female, tapping her with his snout. He turned a dark brown color and continually touched the female with his pectoral fin. The female emerged from the corner of the tank and began to "march" across the sandy substrate. The male "marched" with her, and continued to nudge her. After "marching" across the tank for approximately three minutes, they suddenly shot to the surface. The female released her egg raft, and the male fertilized the egg raft.

The female spawned several times after that, and the spawnings were approximately 3 days apart. The male became continually more aggressive after each spawning, until he finally became aggressive to the point of killing the female after spawning.

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HOW DOES IT DO IT?

When a frogfish strikes, it takes just 1/30 of a second to grab and eat its prey - too fast to be visible to the human eye. It opens its mouth rapidly and sucks in its prey before the victim realises what is happening. It can increase the volume of its mouth twelve-fold and swallow prey as large as itself.

Jet-propulsion is a common method used for getting around. Frogfish swallow water and expel it through small round openings behind the pectoral fins, essentially the same action as breathing, but more forceful. When using jet-propulsion, a frogfish appears to levitate and drift along using its fins as stabilizers.

Frogfish are weak swimmers. Swimming using the caudal fin or tail for propulsion is not frequent and only really used for brief dashes such as fleeing from a predator.

Most tropical water frogfish lay eggs as a gelatinous mass that expands on contact with seawater, absorbing sperm ejected by participating males. After floating near the surface for a few days, the raft sinks to the sea floor and the eggs hatch far away from their parents. Other species lay fewer but larger eggs which the male guards until they hatch.

Frogfish possess a highly modified first dorsal spine that they can wave about. At the tip of this spine grows a bit of flesh, known as the esca, that resembles food and entices other fish into its striking path. The diner becomes dinner.

The esca often simulates a particular kind of prey. Some look like worms, others resemble small fish. Esca often also imitate the features of the prey item, such as wriggling, swelling up or emitting a chemical. Frogfish adopt an appearance that matches a particular habitat not as a defence but as a means of remaining unseen by their prey. This combination of using coloration to appear a part of a prey's normal habitat while using a lure to attract that prey within striking distance is called aggressive mimicry and is the frogfish's trademark.

Often frogfish walk, using the two pectoral fins and pelvic fins. This can be slow when stalking prey, or a faster "gallop" for traversing open territory.

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Cheers

[Lester]

this is one pic i found in the net ...frogfish eggs

[chinmo]

interesting.......

[Lester]

hi bro ...

look at this pics i found in the net .. so many frog fish

[hammer99]

Hi Lester,

Thanks for sharing

You may wish to place the URL to the web pages where you get the information from.

There may be some other informations that are useful.

[Lester]

Hi Lester,

Thanks for sharing

You may wish to place the URL to the web pages where you get the information from.

There may be some other informations that are useful.

hi bro ...

sorry bro ... i can't back track to the site i found the frogfish website.... i was just surfing the net wheb came across the info ...

will try looking again ;;

cheers

[neokn]

This is for you Lester.

[eques]

thanks bro for all the info , indeed it helps alot.

[Lester]

This is for you Lester.

hi bro ....

Wa that is nice ..

u keeping it ah ?? how come never see it that day at ur house ??

hmmm.. u said " this is for you.." hehe u mean givig it to me ???

Cheers

[Lester]

hi guys ..

rem posting this in march .. hehe been some time... decided to bring it to attention for thoses intreested

cheers

[Volitan]

Just curious, how many of you actually buy damsels or whatever cheap fishes to feed your anglers?

[Lester]

Just curious, how many of you actually buy damsels or whatever cheap fishes to feed your anglers?

actually there is a mix feeding bwtween fresh water and saltwater feeder fish.....

for me.. i feed a mixture of freshwater ghost shrimp, saltwater damsels fish, clown fish, shrimps and also henry special food....

feeding normally on the fourth day after every feeding session.. and will be 1 fish or 2~3 shrimps ( around 3cm ) per session

hope it helps .........

cheers

[Derek0925]

bro, thanks

i enjoyed reading it.....

[joeyttk]

bro, this is the first time I saw a frog fish and I am amazed. I am trying to do a lot more research before getting one.

can a frog fish be kept in a 6 ft tank with other fish like butterfly, angels, anthias ?

can I keep cleaner shrimp in that tank too or will it become food ? Looks like this type of fish can only be kept alone ?

[Lester]

bro, this is the first time I saw a frog fish and I am amazed. I am trying to do a lot more research before getting one.

can a frog fish be kept in a 6 ft tank with other fish like butterfly, angels, anthias ?

can I keep cleaner shrimp in that tank too or will it become food ? Looks like this type of fish can only be kept alone ?

hmmm i dun reali think so...

first u will have problem feeding the little fellow in the 6 feet..second it can sollow up to 1.5x it own size meaning any fishes within the range i will eat..

shrimps are frogfish fav food... hehe...

actually it is more of a one type frogfish tank only

hope it helps

cheers

[joeyttk]

thanks, its help.

does reborn or sealife or shop in the east have froggies ? ML is abit far, and I don know what bust to take to ah-beng ?

[Derek0925]

bro.....reborn so far i yet to see. Sealife told me they dun bring in.....

You can go Aquamarin lor....they always got one....

If you need transport, you can always arrange with me or lester.

I stay about 172 m away from ah beng's shop

[Lester]

bro.....reborn so far i yet to see. Sealife told me they dun bring in.....

You can go Aquamarin lor....they always got one....

If you need transport, you can always arrange with me or lester.

I stay about 172 m away from ah beng's shop

hehe... why am i suddenly involved ??? :P

[Derek0925]

hehe... why am i suddenly involved ??? :P

becos you are the founder of Froggipani...as a member... we must love all serve all

[NavIgatoR]

becos you are the founder of Froggipani...as a member... we must love all serve all

yup i support tat

[Lester]

yup i support tat

hehe....

like that i can work part time taxi driver .. earn $$$ to support my frogfish hehe

cheers

[Fyn]

If going to ah beng must ask me along k? i oso wanna go but dunno where exactly it is...

Btw bros, is a skimmer needed for froggie tank? and also, is chiller a must for a fowlr tank?