270 Gallon Tank

[cheesy feet]

Thanks i'll do some research on them

 

[fish boy]

Its cheesyfeet here, I got suspended for some reason ...Anyway I think I may have the go ahead (shows mum bright colours of fish and corals ) and may be able to start this in the 2 week christmas holidays

 

[andywg]

Marine preds all the way. A 55 could house a full grown giant frogfish. Imagine a colourful fish around 10-12" long that would probably have a go at swallowing a house cat should it fall in.

Alternatively that would happily house a clearfin lionfish (Pterois radiata), a scorpionfish for the bottom and another fsh of your choosing. Could probably fit one of the smaller eels in nicely as well, especially if you go for wet/dry filtration to supplement any Live Rock (and make your own to save money if you want).

 

[cheesy feet]

Hmmmm...A giant frogfish is very tempting I'll have to see when I get it set up.

Does anyone know a good site to buy live rock, theres no descent shops where my mum lives.

 

[idlefingers]

I haven't tried it myself (though I'm probably going to order some rubble from them) but http/www.live-rock.co.uk/ is apparently quite good.

 

[snowclown]

go for FOWLRin your large system, i have one very much the same size. I keep a clown trigger- panther grouper - lion fish- emperor angel-moray eel, ect, theres always something happening in there, and at feeding time you could sell tickets!

 

[pengy666]

BORING

The idea is what you wanna do!

I voted reef yes but thats WHAT I want, No one can decide for you!

Not much help I now but you knew that anyway?



I think deep down you know what you want really!

 

[cheesy feet]

Well, no, really I don't know what I want lol.However those giant frogfish look awesome...Are they hard to keep?I can't find any information on them, just pics.Could I put some corals with them?And you say a smaller eel, is there one in particular?
I recon I would get fed up with trying to find money for corals in a reef, so for now it's out of the picture.

Oh yeh, good news.Last week I ordered the glass/acrylic for my 270 gal.Should have it any time soon.

 

[pengy666]

The Assorted Anglers can range in color from tan to grey to brown. Their body can also change color to blend with the surrounding environment over time. They require large amounts of live rock in a 70 gallon or larger aquarium.
When first introduced into the aquarium, live saltwater feeder shrimp should be used to entice this fish to eat. An angler may eat any small inhabitant of the tank (crustacean or fish) that is lured into its mouth with the use of an esca (modified first dorsal spine) that looks like a small, tasty fish. It will accept most meaty meals including feeder fish and shrimp.

Minimum Tank Size: 70 gallons
Care Level: Moderate
Tank Conditions: 72-78°F; sg 1.020-1.025; pH 8.1-8.4; dKH 8-12
Max. Size In Aquarium: Up to 5"
Color Form: Brown, Gray, Tan, Yellow
Temperament: Semi-aggressive
Reef Compatible: Yes
Diet: Carnivore
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Family: Antennariidae


Thats a frog fish right?

 

[cheesy feet]

Thanks for the info, however from the sounds of it they're not talking about the giant frogfish as it says up to 5' in aquariums, then again they must all be very simialer, right?

 

[andywg]

The Assorted Anglers can range in color from tan to grey to brown. Their body can also change color to blend with the surrounding environment over time. They require large amounts of live rock in a 70 gallon or larger aquarium.
When first introduced into the aquarium, live saltwater feeder shrimp should be used to entice this fish to eat. An angler may eat any small inhabitant of the tank (crustacean or fish) that is lured into its mouth with the use of an esca (modified first dorsal spine) that looks like a small, tasty fish. It will accept most meaty meals including feeder fish and shrimp.

Minimum Tank Size: 70 gallons
Care Level: Moderate
Tank Conditions: 72-78�F; sg 1.020-1.025; pH 8.1-8.4; dKH 8-12
Max. Size In Aquarium: Up to 5"
Color Form: Brown, Gray, Tan, Yellow
Temperament: Semi-aggressive
Reef Compatible: Yes
Diet: Carnivore
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Family: Antennariidae


Thats a frog fish right?

That is, quite frankly, shocking information.

Calling it assorted frogfish means they have no idea how to identify it. 70 gallons is a huge amount, even the giant frogfish (which gets to 12" in the wild) can be kept in a 30 gallon or so due to the lack of movement on the fish's part. Why on earth would a 5" fish need a 70 gallon tank when it doesn't rely on the live rock to harbour its food (like a dragonet)?

As to saying the fish gets to 5", how do they know? They don't even know the species! While there are a few that get to that sort of size, they have pictured A. hispidus (possibly A. striatus but less likely) which gets closer to 8". There are a very large number of frogfish in the family Antennariidae ranging from barely getting to 2" up to 15" giants.

They can occasionally be aggressive to their own kind, though your biggest problem is not that small tank mates may be eaten, it is the fact that most tank mates that are too large to be eaten (roughly twice the size of the frogfish) are likely to pick at the camouflage of the frog and thus disturb, and possibly kill the frogfish. Frogfish will all eat prey the same size as themselves, and many will eat things up to twice their length. On top of this, the more voracious feeders (such as A. striatus) will catch and try to eat things far too large to eat, just in case. then, after killing the prey by trying to ingest it, they will drop it and wander off (or alternatively manage to swallow it whereupon it rots in the fish's gut before digestion can occur and thus kills the frog).

Also, the frogfish lure shape (apparently like a fish) depends on the species. The lure can be anything from a small point, to a bio-luminescentm pom pom, to a worm shape to fish to shrimp.

While in theory they can be kept in a reef tank, they will consume ornamental shrimps, tank mates and do not do well in tanks with a high flow (so SPS tanks are pretty much a no no).

As to colour, I have one individual fish which can be anything from yellow to orange to green to black. Pretty much every colour except blue can be found in frogfish including reds, pinks and greens.

If you seriously are interested in keeping frogfish, get a look at Reef Fishes Volume 1 by Scott Michael. The book has a whole chapter on frogs including identification and how to care for them and is certainly better than the rubbish information on the website that pengy666 has found (which appears to be from liveaquaria). If you read on their other frogs (such as the sargassum frogfish Histrio histrio) that site has the completely wrong information stating that H. histrio has been known to swallow prey nearly its own size. H. histrio is perhaps the most insatiable of creatures that has been found with fish over twice their own size in the gut, and another was found with 13 conspecifics (fish of the same species) in its stomach.

 

[cheesy feet]

Thanks for all the info, so if I was to buy the £45.00 book how much would the frogfish cost?

 

[andywg]

All depends, the cheapest I have seen around here is about £17 for a 1.5-2" A. hispidus up to £120 for a 5+" frogfish which was purported to be A. biocellatus but I had my reservations about the ID, with A. sanguiness as my pick.

Don't forget that book also gives you morays, toadfish, scorpionfish, sea horses, pipefish, lionfish, anthias and a few other things, so is well worth the buy if you ever want to keep SW fish.

 

[cheesy feet]

Hmmm so they arn't too expensive.I'll have to go to a library to see if I can hire the book out.If not I can always get them to order it in.If i sell my d.riccia I should get a good £20.00 or so to save up anyway

 

[cheesy feet]

Ahh well its decided, as no one else wants a frogfish it is going to have to be a FOWLR, which i hope to eventually convert to a reef.Does anyone have good skimmer reccomendations or ideas on what would be the best powerheads/number of powerheads?Money is a big issue so I can't go overboard.