For those who have had success keeping anglers

[Treehrtsme]

I've purchased a few anglers and have never had much success with them. I've done extensive research, but I'm beginning to believe it may be my source or there may be some tricks or tips that I'm missing to help with success. I know they're not generally expected to live but a few years in captivity but looking for advice from the community for many one

What style tank is appropriate? Low tall long frag lagoon bookshelf, I know they don't move around much but is the tank shape important

Where have you sourced your anglers? I've been getting them from the divers den mostly because I tend to have credit there, but they don't live long, most of the time enough for me to get store credit. Now I'm fully aware of acclamation procedure with these guys and I've read through Lion King's posts about predators extensively. I've heard Violet aquariums is a good source for predators but the divers then just hasn't been working out for me.

Also first week, do you treat observationally immediately start dosing certain medications? I know these guys are sensitive to Medicine but everything can be fine and then one night he's breathing real heavy and the next day he's gone. I've heard of several specific ailments they can come with but haven't looked extensively into treatment. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Formulator]

I know they're not generally expected to live but a few years in captivity

Why would you want to pull a deep sea creature out of the most alien place on earth and stick it in your living room to die 20 years before its time? Sorry I know its not the answer you are looking for, but as you’ve already killed several of them, maybe move on? There are a lot of fish in the hobby that can live a full, or even longer life in captivity than they do in the ocean. Keeping fish like the angler just gives the haters over at PETA ammunition in their quest to end the trade…

 

[skey44]

I don’t think the anglerfish we are referring to are from the deep sea. They are also know as frogfish. I’ve had them in small tanks alone with just a little bit of live rock and moderate filtration, not community tank members. Do well starting them on ghost shrimp and progressing to plankton/krill pending the size. They’re really cool little fish. Didn’t have any issues with disease and no need for quarantine since I kept them alone.
Quality Marine always sent some nice ones that acclimated well.

The Frogfish: Weird-Looking and Wonderful - Ocean Conservancy

If you’re looking to find one of the strangest fish in the sea, look no further than the frogfish. See what makes the frogfish so weird—and wonderful.

oceanconservancy.org

 

[NonstopSoda]

When I worked at my LFS the giant frogfish we had in our 300 gallon aggressive display would get live mollies and frozen shrimp

 

[Formulator]

I don’t think the anglerfish we are referring to are from the deep sea. They are also know as frogfish. I’ve had them in small tanks alone with just a little bit of live rock and moderate filtration, not community tank members. Do well starting them on ghost shrimp and progressing to plankton/krill pending the size. They’re really cool little fish. Didn’t have any issues with disease and no need for quarantine since I kept them alone.
Quality Marine always sent some nice ones that acclimated well.

The Frogfish: Weird-Looking and Wonderful - Ocean Conservancy

If you’re looking to find one of the strangest fish in the sea, look no further than the frogfish. See what makes the frogfish so weird—and wonderful.

oceanconservancy.org

Aw man I’ve actually always wanted to have a frog fish! Cool. Sorry, we were not on the same page!

 

[Treehrtsme]

Why would you want to pull a deep sea creature out of the most alien place on earth and stick it in your living room to die 20 years before its time? Sorry I know its not the answer you are looking for, but as you’ve already killed several of them, maybe move on? There are a lot of fish in the hobby that can live a full, or even longer life in captivity than they do in the ocean. Keeping fish like the angler just gives the haters over at PETA ammunition in their quest to end the trade…

I'm talking about frogfish bro

 

[Formulator]

I'm talking about frogfish bro

Ya just ignore me

 

[Treehrtsme]

I don’t think the anglerfish we are referring to are from the deep sea. They are also know as frogfish. I’ve had them in small tanks alone with just a little bit of live rock and moderate filtration, not community tank members. Do well starting them on ghost shrimp and progressing to plankton/krill pending the size. They’re really cool little fish. Didn’t have any issues with disease and no need for quarantine since I kept them alone.
Quality Marine always sent some nice ones that acclimated well.

The Frogfish: Weird-Looking and Wonderful - Ocean Conservancy

If you’re looking to find one of the strangest fish in the sea, look no further than the frogfish. See what makes the frogfish so weird—and wonderful.

oceanconservancy.org

Yeah I've heard different opinions on whether to start with a smaller specimen or a bigger one. I noticed in the diver den they have a giant frogfish on sale but I'm going to stay away from that one. I've had ones live for over a year, and have been very meticulous but I'm beginning to think it's my supplier. More than half of the last batch I got in had flukes so doing observational quarantine I was able to confirm this through freshwater dips but taking all the stress in the consideration and the delays and shipping it might have just been inevitable.

 

[Treehrtsme]

Ya just ignore me

Nah the threaded just LED dormant for a bit so I scroll down to the first post, check the join date, and didn't bother the scroll any further down assuming that was it. Apologies as someone else that already corrected you

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I've purchased a few anglers and have never had much success with them. I've done extensive research, but I'm beginning to believe it may be my source or there may be some tricks or tips that I'm missing to help with success. I know they're not generally expected to live but a few years in captivity but looking for advice from the community for many one

What style tank is appropriate? Low tall long frag lagoon bookshelf, I know they don't move around much but is the tank shape important

Where have you sourced your anglers? I've been getting them from the divers den mostly because I tend to have credit there, but they don't live long, most of the time enough for me to get store credit. Now I'm fully aware of acclamation procedure with these guys and I've read through Lion King's posts about predators extensively. I've heard Violet aquariums is a good source for predators but the divers then just hasn't been working out for me.

Also first week, do you treat observationally immediately start dosing certain medications? I know these guys are sensitive to Medicine but everything can be fine and then one night he's breathing real heavy and the next day he's gone. I've heard of several specific ailments they can come with but haven't looked extensively into treatment. Any advice would be appreciated.

I don't know that tank shape matters for them.

I would try to get them a solid feeding or two in before treating to be safe, but I personally would try and treat them both for ich (possibly with hyposalinity if Jay knows if they'd tolerate it/if it'd likely be more effective than copper with them) and internal parasites (Prazipro and Metroplex).

What are you planning on feeding them and how often?

They are prone to marine ich, but it is difficult to treat them for that. The long term problems with them seems to be diet related. Two main issues: they tend to get fed too often and develop hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) and then, the food they are fed is an issue; don't feed them freshwater fish, or fish that are high in thiaminase. Live marine fish augmented with live glass shrimp is probably the best diet.

My posts in the link below may also be helpful here:

Striated Anglerfish long term diet?

Hey all I recently got a small striated anglerfish, about 4/5”. It’s doing great so far, been feeding saltwater ghost shrimp, peppermint shrimp, green chromis and frozen silverside soaked in selcon. Feeding every 4-5 days currently. I set up a chaeto grow tank and am also using it to...

www.reef2reef.com

And a link showing some decent results of the diet before (unfortunately) showing why I would try to prophylactically treat the fish:

Frog fish ownership

A couple of things I'm hoping the r2r community can help me answer... 1. A reputable source for buying frogfish online 2. The most ideal water parameters or unique things I should be doing for my frogfish tank (Temp lighting MG etc) 3. Feeding amount, diet variation and supplementing 4. Can...

www.reef2reef.com

Edit: Ah, I remembered that Jay commented on another thread that he's never used hypo on a frogfish before; the frogfish that underwent hypo ended up floating at the surface, but we don't know why (it could have been the hypo, overfeeding, a combination of the two, etc.) - I'd probably give hypo an experimental shot, then try burping the fish if it starts floating; to burp it, you basically gently massage its belly while rotating it 360 degrees in the water (so head up with tail down, then tail up with head down, repeat several times).

 

[Treehrtsme]

Depending on the specimen size I try to start with black molies typically once a week. I know there's susceptible to I think it and one other particular ailment but it's very hard to treat. I've also heard they prefer colder water conditions but ideally I wish one of my lfs wouldn't get one in so I could have deserve it for a couple of weeks before buying. I haven't read all of those articles, I'm familiar with Jay Hemdals writings on them as well as the fact that there was conflict between him and Lion King over live feeding fatty liver disease and non-acute death in relation to copper. I'll check out the ones I haven't read. Thanks

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Depending on the specimen size I try to start with black molies typically once a week. I know there's susceptible to I think it and one other particular ailment but it's very hard to treat. I've also heard they prefer colder water conditions but ideally I wish one of my lfs wouldn't get one in so I could have deserve it for a couple of weeks before buying. I haven't read all of those articles, I'm familiar with Jay Hemdals writings on them as well as the fact that there was conflict between him and Lion King over live feeding fatty liver disease and non-acute death in relation to copper. I'll check out the ones I haven't read. Thanks

Yeah, the colder water was a hypothesis of lion king's - I don't know if it's accurate or not. I've heard of ich and flukes with these so far, and hypo would treat both - I don't think I've seen much else disease-wise with these so far.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Diet and water quality is of importance and they do not need to be constantly fed. Good filtration and regular water changes tested with accurate kits will help sustain this specimen. They do dwell in lower range temperature 73 -77 degrees and best foods in captivity are small fish like guppies, ghost shrimp, mysis and brine shrimp as well as chopped krill. They are messy tankmates so again, focus on water quality
Mine didnt do much but sit there and I wont mention ugly. . . LOL.

 

[Treehrtsme]

I don’t think the anglerfish we are referring to are from the deep sea. They are also know as frogfish. I’ve had them in small tanks alone with just a little bit of live rock and moderate filtration, not community tank members. Do well starting them on ghost shrimp and progressing to plankton/krill pending the size. They’re really cool little fish. Didn’t have any issues with disease and no need for quarantine since I kept them alone.
Quality Marine always sent some nice ones that acclimated well.

The Frogfish: Weird-Looking and Wonderful - Ocean Conservancy

If you’re looking to find one of the strangest fish in the sea, look no further than the frogfish. See what makes the frogfish so weird—and wonderful.

oceanconservancy.org

How did you get them from qm? Being all wholesaler they don't sell to individuals so I would have to order through an lfs. What was the experience like for you?

 

[1979fishgeek]

I’ve kept Frogfish on and off for last 10 years and had good success and learnt the hard way what not to do.

They need good quality water and love a tank full of interesting rock scapes safe corals (no strong stings like nems etc) where they can camouflage sometimes in bizarre positions in the water. They also seem to do better in tanks when I’ve had macro algae growing.

I strongly believe keeping them long term is best achieved in lower temps (water temp 23-25C) and not over feeding. They should never be over fed and feeding everyday as adults just causes more harm than good. Large meals can be too big to digest so don’t let them eat anything larger than their heads….they will try to eat a fish even larger than their entire body, but there is a high probability that they die with excess gas stuck inside, maybe cause the large meal rots before it’s had a chance to digest.

It’s almost like you need to try and slow down there metabolism to lengthen their life cycles. Fastest way to kill them is in warmer temps and over feeding.

They also don’t like strong flow from wavemakers that send them flying.

Feed when they actively start moving about the aquarium, if they sat on a rock and not really moving much for days, they probably digesting their last meal so leave them to it. Mine will start actively fishing with their little rods or will start walking about moving to different sites to search for a meal.

Some species change colour over time to match the dominant colours in the tank. My current Froggy is unrecognisable from a year ago.

 

[BiggestE22]

I've purchased a few anglers and have never had much success with them. I've done extensive research, but I'm beginning to believe it may be my source or there may be some tricks or tips that I'm missing to help with success. I know they're not generally expected to live but a few years in captivity but looking for advice from the community for many one

What style tank is appropriate? Low tall long frag lagoon bookshelf, I know they don't move around much but is the tank shape important

Where have you sourced your anglers? I've been getting them from the divers den mostly because I tend to have credit there, but they don't live long, most of the time enough for me to get store credit. Now I'm fully aware of acclamation procedure with these guys and I've read through Lion King's posts about predators extensively. I've heard Violet aquariums is a good source for predators but the divers then just hasn't been working out for me.

Also first week, do you treat observationally immediately start dosing certain medications? I know these guys are sensitive to Medicine but everything can be fine and then one night he's breathing real heavy and the next day he's gone. I've heard of several specific ailments they can come with but haven't looked extensively into treatment. Any advice would be appreciated.

Those beasts are awesome looking

 

[Treehrtsme]

I’ve kept Frogfish on and off for last 10 years and had good success and learnt the hard way what not to do.

They need good quality water and love a tank full of interesting rock scapes safe corals (no strong stings like nems etc) where they can camouflage sometimes in bizarre positions in the water. They also seem to do better in tanks when I’ve had macro algae growing.

I strongly believe keeping them long term is best achieved in lower temps (water temp 23-25C) and not over feeding. They should never be over fed and feeding everyday as adults just causes more harm than good. Large meals can be too big to digest so don’t let them eat anything larger than their heads….they will try to eat a fish even larger than their entire body, but there is a high probability that they die with excess gas stuck inside, maybe cause the large meal rots before it’s had a chance to digest.

It’s almost like you need to try and slow down there metabolism to lengthen their life cycles. Fastest way to kill them is in warmer temps and over feeding.

They also don’t like strong flow from wavemakers that send them flying.

Feed when they actively start moving about the aquarium, if they sat on a rock and not really moving much for days, they probably digesting their last meal so leave them to it. Mine will start actively fishing with their little rods or will start walking about moving to different sites to search for a meal.

Some species change colour over time to match the dominant colours in the tank. My current Froggy is unrecognisable from a year ago.

All right I just got to ask a few questions. It looks like you have roughly a cube tank there, what size tank do you think is appropriate? I hear about 20 gallons unless you have a giant species. Also do you use all in ones or a sump? And just a general question. I read through everything you wrote and it makes a lot of sense to me but if I'm setting up a tank specifically for an angler are there any tips you would have. I plan on going with a different tank moving forward and want to have a prep to take an angler at any moment as you never know when you're going to find one you like or find a decent one at all. I'm experienced with macro algae, any particular corals, sponges etc that you would prep in a tank before and if you plan on putting an angler in?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I’ve kept Frogfish on and off for last 10 years and had good success and learnt the hard way what not to do.

How long did your oldest one live to be?

 

[1979fishgeek]

How long did your oldest one live to be?

The fish in my profile (his name was Rhino) he was a Warty/Clown Frogfish and I had him six years at least. He lived the longest by far and I had him from a tiny tadpole.
He passed away when my auto top off dumped 30litres of water into his 50 litre tank, I was devastated.

I’ve kept 5 more (2 x Warty, a Coin bearing, a Painted and a Saragassum) and found if you have a healthy one they averaged 3 years. But you need to feed predominately live food, I always fed gut loaded feeder shrimp as the staple and occasionally gave a earth worm or if they would take ‘dead’ foods a small whitebait. But this was rare, and interestingly Rhino who was my most successful Frogfish never took a single ‘dead’ or defrosted fish his entire life, would point blank refuse. It was live or nothing.

 

[1979fishgeek]

All right I just got to ask a few questions. It looks like you have roughly a cube tank there, what size tank do you think is appropriate? I hear about 20 gallons unless you have a giant species.

Depends on the species, smaller varieties don’t need a lot of space as they don’t move much. You just need to make sure you can keep parameters stable and nutrients under control.

My Warty’s were kept in a few different tanks ranging from Fluval Evo to a 150l tank. They don’t need swimming space, just a interesting space they can camouflage and sit and wait. Painted and Sargassum 150l tanks. But I had the them living in the refugium area of a main display happily for years as well.

Also do you use all in ones or a sump?

I’ve used sumps, external filters, rear chamber sumps and hang on filters. As long as they can keep up with the waste there is no wrong filtration. They can all work, I think skimmers are a good idea as well.

And just a general question. I read through everything you wrote and it makes a lot of sense to me but if I'm setting up a tank specifically for an angler are there any tips you would have. I plan on going with a different tank moving forward and want to have a prep to take an angler at any moment as you never know when you're going to find one you like or find a decent one at all.

I always set up a softie tank, loads of leathers, toadstool, kenya trees and plenty of live rock and sand substrate. Then run it as a invert only tank with a few snails, coweries and hermit crabs which are not treated as food. Then when I get my Frogfish I introduce a load of live feeder shrimp at the same time. Dose some additional bacteria in a bottle and tank just carries on with the Froggy.

I'm experienced with macro algae, any particular corals, sponges etc that you would prep in a tank before and if you plan on putting an angler in?

Any macro algae will be beneficial as the feeder shrimp feed on it and the fish them feeds on them. Macro algae also take up a lot of nutrients and bring in so much new biodiversity potential. I’d avoid anything with a sting like anemone as Froggy skin is very sensitive. I’ve not purchased any sponges or non photosynthetic corals just because they are more difficult to keep alive in this sort of setup. Longer the tanks set up and matured before you add your Froggy the better, I’ve run them as invert only for close to a year before and fed the tank with food to keep a good mature filter going. Clean up crew love sinking pellets and coral food.