Frogfish, fdg., reading   6/8/09
Hello WWM - what are my options to feed a Frogfish? Liveaquaria is currently out of feeder shrimp and I can't find them on any other web site (no local fish store). I am not sure what else can be feed to him
- can you help me out please?
Thanks !
John
<Shore. Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/anglerfdgfaqs.htm
Bob Fenner>

Angler, hlth, no data of use, reading   1/4/09
i have a Sargassum angler. we have had him for about 2 months now in a 75 gallon tank. today i noticed him turning in circled head pointed down.
his eyes have turned white. there are no noticeable spots or anything else that seems to be wrong. what should i do?
<Read... here: http://wetwebmedia.com/anglerdisfaqs.htm
and the linked files above.
We need information if we're to help you... See what sorts others have supplied... The system, set-up, history, maintenance, water quality tests, foods/feeding, tankmates... Thank you, Bob Fenner>

Commerson's Frogfish or similar 5/1/08
Dear WWM,
<Hail and well met.>
Hi. I am Diego a first grader. I am from Los Angeles. In my class I am doing research on Commerson's frogfish. Can you answer any of these questions?
<Yes, I can answer all of them. But can you?>
Hi. I am Diego's mom. If you don't know these answers for Commerson's Frogfish, but you know the answers for similar fish, would you please let us know about those fish?
Thank you in advance..
<Hello Diego's mom. I'm a science teacher some of the time, and when I set tasks just like these, I expect a bit more from my students than that they simply e-mail someone the found via Google. So, while I can easily answer these questions, I'm not going to tell you any of the answers. But I *will* tell you where to find the answers yourself.>
How big can it get?
<First find the Latin (or "scientific") name of Commerson's Frogfish. Then do a search at Fishbase for that species. From there, you will find a page that gives maximum scientifically recorded size for the species.>
How long can it live?
<Again, Fishbase may help. The age of fish species (other than widely kept fish farming or aquarium species) is often vague. Rather, we have a better idea of a species "doubling time", a value that essentially describes how long it takes for a fish to double in size. Though this isn't accurate by any means, if you keep halving the maximum size until you get a length of around 5-10 mm, you should have something like the lifespan of a fish.>
How does it move?
<Look at pictures of the fish. Observe especially the relative shapes of its paired fins compared with its unpaired fins. Also consider how streamlined or not the fish may be. Does it look like a fast swimmer? Does it move about in a specific habitat?>
What does it eat?
<Fishbase will definitely help here, but failing that, click on the Fishbase page for its "Family" (that's the name ending in -idae). That should give you some more clues to its diet.>
How does it breathe or get air?
<Only some fish breathe air. Most get their oxygen straight from the water. The air-breathing fish are almost all freshwater fish. Is your fish a freshwater fish? That will tell you if it breathes air. As for regular fish breathing, i.e., taking oxygen from the water, any book on fish or even animal biology will tell you that.>
Which oceans does it live in?
<Again, Fishbase is your friend. If Fishbase isn't your cup of tea, take your son to the Public Library. Go ask the Librarian for some books on Fish and the fish faunas of the place that Commerson's Frogfish live. Let your son do the legwork -- there's absolutely no point to education if all you do is grab the answers off the Internet. I'm saying this as a teacher and someone who feels strongly about education. Get your son off the computer and into a library. Books are where the information is presented best and most reliably to young minds. Sincerely, Neale.> <<Well done Neale! RMF>>

Re: Commerson's Frogfish or similar 5/2/08
Dear Neale,
<Hello Lara,>
Thank you so much for the information.
<Happy to help!>
Using the computer is new and fun for Diego, so we did a quick internet search for the Commerson's Frogfish. It turned out to be a bit harder than we had thought to come up with information that a 6 year-old can process.
<Ah, for a 6 year old, this does sound a rather ambitious project! I wouldn't personally set something like this for my Year 7 girls, which are around 11 years old. You may well want to ask the teacher whether this is something he/she has tailored specifically to you child's class, or something he/she has simply picked out of a pack of resources without any further though. It goes without saying that tasks set for children should be scaled to their age, ability, and access to resources.>
His children's encyclopedia here at home also was no help. We will look into Fishbase, and of course we'll be going to the library. This is his first-ever "science report", and it consists of answering in one sentence each, 8 or 10 very simple questions. If only he had chosen the orca!
<I suspect that you will find Fishbase a real mine of information. It's very good, and though designed for scientists, the layout is simple and intuitive.>
Again, thank you very much for pointing us in the right direction.
--Lara
<Good luck with your research. Cheers, Neale.>

Interesting New (Frog) Fish Article - 04/06/08
Hello everyone,
<<Hi, Karina!>>
Thought I'd pass this along. Have a great day!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346289,00.html
<<Ah, yes...saw something about this on the TV as well...interesting. Thank you for this! EricR>>

Angler info -11/18/07
Hello,
<Dale>
I recently purchased a tiny, and I mean TINY Frogfish from a LFS. Looking at pictures on the web I really thought it was a baby Commerson at first. The more I research though, the more I'm thinking it's actually of the Antennatus group. Its lure is very hard to see considering the little guy is no more than 1.5 inches long. I just went to the LFS I purchased him from earlier, and they had 2 more that had the same physical build as mine, but were funkier colors.
<And these change...>
Looking at Antennatus pics on the web, one of them looked identical to the Tuberculated Frogfish.
Where on the web do you suggest I look to find more information about pygmy frogs?
<Mmm... nowhere there that I know... the scientific lit. has a bunch to offer though... Look for the name Ted Pietsch... Frogfishes of the World... the references there>
I checked Fishbase, and it's pretty limited and the picture is not very clear. I found a frogfish forum "Grimreefers" but it's not a very active board. Any help pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
<And the hobby works of pet-fish writers... particularly Scott Michael... you can find through a computer search bibliography at a large (college) library with a Zoo. dept. See WWM re such searches if you're unfamiliar or get a reference librarian to "show you the ropes".>
If it is in fact a pygmy frogfish (noticed some of them only get between 2-3 inches) I am considering adding it into a community reef with considerably larger peaceful fish despite the general advice to keep Anglers in species only tanks. I'm only considering this because none of the fish are the type to harass each other or pick at "rocks" and none of them will fit inside his mouth. He usually only eats 1 or 2 small feeder shrimp or tiny fish every few days so his appetite is pretty limited (I have gotten him to eat thawed krill and silversides but rarely). Makes sense to me, but I will be happy to read whatever your opinion is on this particular scenario. I want to do what's best for the little guy, but I don't want him to have to live in the critter keeper forever. I'm keeping him in a plastic critter keeper for now so I don't lose him in the rockwork of my 75-gallon reef.
Dale Tyler
<Good technique... just make sure it's getting fed... Antennariiform/Lophiiform fishes are much easier to discern as species when larger. Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Frogfishes / anglerfishes... Sel., beh., hlth. gen.  -11/18/07
Hi people -
<Rachel>
I was reading over your Q&A page for frogfishes (aka anglerfishes, but this common name is usually reserved for the entire order, Lophiiformes).
<Ahh! Yes>
I think your website is wonderful and a joy to read.
If I may, I would just like to comment a little on the Q&A for frogfishes.
<Please do>
The inside of the mouth of a frogfish is quite varied; it can be the normal pale color you might expect, or the tissue could be differently colored and look like algae (many times black and white!) - all part of the fish's camouflage
<And lure strategy>
(can't have that prey item scared away at the gaping mouth of the frogfish, since they rarely close it all the way in order to keep water circulating over their gills).
Lumpy frogfish - consider that A. maculatus (the clown or Wartskin frogfish) is, well, many times warty. So if your readers have purchased A. maculatus and are perplexed by its cancerous tumors filled with skin parasites, please assure them that this is perfectly natural. Another side note being that most frogfishes have a small bump on their lower lip right smack dab in the center. This shouldn't be abnormally huge (such as the size of a pea), but it is noticeable.
It can also get pink and inflamed if they're constantly hitting up against the glass of the aquarium.
<Well-stated>
Air bubbles beneath the surface - this does seem to be a problem, albeit rare, in most frogfishes. I would venture to say that it is more common in the pygmy frogfishes (Antennatus - note that this is different from the genus Antennarius :) ) often collected from Hawaii.
Hearing about gas bubbles problems in fishes that have been well-established in their tanks makes me wonder if they're more prone to the 'gas bubble disease' as it is called in sea horses. Most are rather shallow (<90m), but they aren't built to go up and down in the water column, and their natural habitat is hidden within the benthic fauna (exception being H. histrio...perhaps this is the reason why H. histrio does exceptionally well in the aquarium comparatively).
<Interesting speculation. I agree>
Air bladders - most genera in Antennariidae have air bladders, but some do not. The ones people are usually concerned with in the aquarium hobby do have them.
<Although diminished in relative size>
Swallowing water/air - I know it happens, but that fish has got to under quite a bit of stress/sick/dying. I've pulled frogfishes out of the water, clipped a tiny bit of one of their fins (DNA), and put them back in without ever having a frogfish do this to me.
Hardy fish - for up to a year, generally (depending on the species...certainly not Antennatus, which is lucky to make it past 30 days). Many people can't get them past this point and there appears to be no apparent reason why currently. They are not known to be ich prone (except Antennatus), but if the tank or tankmates are infected you can probably bet it'll become infected as well.
Frogfish 'yawn' from time to time - nobody knows why.
<I do think this is very much "stress related"... see them "yawn" more the closer and longer they're approached underwater>
When purchasing a frogfish - if your readers get anything from this message - avoid Antennatus at all costs. It's probably the cutest little one of all the frogfishes, but it has major issues with longevity in captivity, if it even makes it that far. Unfortunately, I've never seen a frogfish labeled as anything but Antennarius, since it's the most common, so if you're going to purchase one try to identify it at least to genus. Antennarius and Lophiocharon are pretty much the only genera you're going to find in the U.S. that are suitable for aquariums.
Cheers
<Thank you very much for this valuable input. Will post/share. Bob Fenner>

Lophiocharon trisignatus... Frogfish, specific to general care  11/9/07
Good Evening WWM Crew,
<Josh>
I have used your website to find the answers to many of my questions before but this is the first time I have been able to find an answer to my question within your great website or on any other website that I could think of.
<Mmm, okay>
I picked up a frogfish last weekend, believing it to be a Painted Frogfish. I posted up pictures of it on two websites to confirm my identification but told to be wrong it is in fact a Tail Spotted Frogfish (Lophiocharon trisignatus).
<Here on Fishbase: http://fishbase.mnhn.fr/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=10330>
I have spent the last four days doing searches on all websites and my small collection of Reef Related books and all I have come up with is some basic information from fishbase.org, a brief mention of it in Reef Fishes Vol. 1, and other basic stuff from some other websites. Do you know of any books and/or websites that I may be able to find some more extensive information about this particular species or at least the same family so I can better take care for my Frogfish.
TIA,
Josh
<Not about the particular species, no. A computer search bibliography (at a college with a bio./zoo. dept.) might help here. Re such searches here: http://wetwebmedia.com/litsrchart.htm
Otherwise the general husbandry of all Antennariiform, Lophiiform fishes is about the same... even Histrio... Bob Fenner>

Wartskin Frogfish (Antennarius maculatus) Care Questions   2/20/07
I think I've just fallen in love with warty frogfish (Antennarius maculatus)!
<Hee!  Easy to do in my opinion!>  
I have a 2'6" 96 L (25 gallons) tank that I am considering turning into a nano reef, would this be feasible for one of these fish?
<Yes, this fish stays relatively small, at 4 inches and isn't exactly a big swimmer!  Twenty-gallon tank would be the smallest recommended.   More info here:  http://www.wetwebmedia.com/anglerfishes.htm  >
Obviously he would be the only fish in there but do you think he would eat an urchin?
<I don't know if he would eat it, but I would be afraid he might be injured by it, so I'm not sure these two would make good tank mates.>
Also, what do you think would be better, a refugium, a skimmer or both?
<Both!!!>
Thank you so much in advance
<You're welcome!  -Mich>
Will

Angler Fish
I currently have three FW tanks (all single-species and sparsely populated)   I'm planning to venture into FOWLR... I have a 29 gal tank that I want to keep one solitary angler fish in--the LFS labeled him "painted" he gets to approx 12". My questions-- Is the tank large enough? <If it is small now, you can get away with it for the time being, but a 60 or 70 gallon would  be my choice for the full grown with it being the only fish.> Do I need a skimmer for
this rather inactive fish? <The inactivity has nothing to do with it, it is the waste that it produces.  You could use a product like Chemi Pure in your filter that would work quite well as they have scavenging resins that can remove waste that carbons will not.> What could I offer as food instead of feeder goldfish, since they may cause digestive problems?  I want him to be happy and healthy! <I've had one quite some time ago and I had a 10 gallon tank with four or five female mollies with one male.  I'd feed the babies frozen newly hatched brine shrimp which got them growing rather fast.  This is what I used for food.  Read here for more info. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/anglerfishes.htm Thanks for your time. <You're welcome.  James (Salty Dog)> Laurie B.