Jolson10450's planted predator biocube!

[jolson10450]

Well after moving and shutting down my old tanks i decided i cant live without a tank so i got myself a 29g biocube to make things easier than the whole system and i decided to do a predator tank. Here is a picture with some of that Tropicorium premium dry rock they have, that stuff is fantastic!! since it is dry and bleached with no dead matter on it my tank cycled in about 3 days using fresh live sand and water and rock rubble in the back chamber. (for size reference the rock on the right is 10x10x10 approx)

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0253.jpg

after reading about a few fish to put in the predator tank i decided i wanted to angler! I picked up this guy at reef solutions through a trade, he is about 1.5" if that:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0278.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0281.jpg
Waving:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0282.jpg

I also got this orange toadfish about 4.5" from them through the trade as well, i am still afraid he will eat the angler but i am keeping him fed so hopefully it doesnt happen:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0276.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0277.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0283.jpg

i decided i really wanted to do some coral so i will probably get a few z's and p's but i really want to do a planted tank. i have the crappy biocube skimmer and we all know those things work like garbage so i decided to get some macros and saltwater plants for the tank to help overcome the horrible feeding habbits of these fish. The macros/plants will help eat the bad nitrates and phosphates left behind so hopefully i can maintain good water quality. I put in an order for 5 different varieties yesterday and i am also picking up 2 other reef plants today from a buddy. i will post new pictures of the fish in the tank later today and also with some of the plants in when i get them.

[AJ :)]

Cool fish!
It will be interesting to see how this all works out for you.

My son is always bugging me for weird predator fish.

[jolson10450]

Both fish are eating, so far the angler has only ate guppies but the toadfish will eat guppies, krill and goldfish. I will try some PE mysis on the angler this weekend. I havent tried ghost shrimp because my local store has been out.

Here is a video of the angler eating a guppy during acclimation, if you pay close attention at the beginning of the video he is flicking his lure!

VIDEO0004.mp4 video by boonesville - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid476.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/VIDEO0004.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid476@@AMEPARAM@@476@@AM EPARAM@@rr126/boonesville/VIDEO0004@@AMEPARAM@@mp4 (http://s476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/?action=view&current=VIDEO0004.mp4)



---------- Post added at 08:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 AM ----------


Cool fish!
It will be interesting to see how this all works out for you.

My son is always bugging me for weird predator fish.

i have always wanted to but always had a reef! finally i get some different fun!! It should all go good, i got the reefkeeper on it so it keeps everything good and steady. i will post more as i get the plants and stuff. i still want 1 more thing just not quite sure what yet, thinking a small snowflake eel.

[wilco1rd]

HA thats bad ***

[jimsflies]

Never seen a toad fish before. Looks cool. But I have to say, I don't think putting that in with your 1.5-inch frog fish is is a good idea at all.

I fixed your video link as well. When linking to the video, just include the URL with no other code. The site automagically will embed the vid. :)

[bigbill]

seen this guy in Pearson what a fish gl with the new tank bud

[jolson10450]

Never seen a toad fish before. Looks cool. But I have to say, I don't think putting that in with your 1.5-inch frog fish is is a good idea at all.

I fixed your video link as well. When linking to the video, just include the URL with no other code. The site automagically will embed the vid. :)

thanks jim! and he isnt 1.5" he is 4.5" lol! so far he has ran right in front of his face but didnt eat him. i think he likes swimming fish more. i also keep him pretty well fed so he hopefully doesnt! im keeping my fingers crossed!

and thanks bill! they are sweettt!

also, a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone out there today!!

[jimsflies]

I re-read your first post ...so, how big is the frog fish?

[iyachtuxivm]

I was looking at the posted sizes and it says your angler is 1.5" and the toad is 4.5" if that is correct the angler will probably become dinner at some point. Hope not but it is a distinct possibility. Get a clear acrylic rod and use it to feed thawed krill to both the toad and angler this is how I fed my angler after a while I was feeding him cubes of formula 2 (i think thats right) with the rod he loved it, no more worring about the ability to get feeders. Also becarful with feeding fresh water feeders to them. Its kinda like feeding brine shrimp all the time with the added threat of infection. One more bit of knowledge before I go ( i found this out the hard way) dont let the angler ingest air, keep them submersed at all times. If they ingest air they can not expel it and will bloat and die.
Two really incredible fish I hope they do well for you. Good luck.

[jolson10450]

I was looking at the posted sizes and it says your angler is 1.5" and the toad is 4.5" if that is correct the angler will probably become dinner at some point. Hope not but it is a distinct possibility. Get a clear acrylic rod and use it to feed thawed krill to both the toad and angler this is how I fed my angler after a while I was feeding him cubes of formula 2 (i think thats right) with the rod he loved it, no more worring about the ability to get feeders. Also becarful with feeding fresh water feeders to them. Its kinda like feeding brine shrimp all the time with the added threat of infection. One more bit of knowledge before I go ( i found this out the hard way) dont let the angler ingest air, keep them submersed at all times. If they ingest air they can not expel it and will bloat and die.
Two really incredible fish I hope they do well for you. Good luck.

Thanks for the tip! the toadfish eats like a hog, he doesnt care if i use tongs or not he will still eat, i will for sure try the clear acrylic rod for the angler though! that is a fantastic idea! and when i feed freeze dried i be sure to pinch all of the air out of the food before feeding it. I have a feeling he will become dinner too but i try to feed the toad twice a day (most places say 2-3 times per week) just to be sure he is always full so he doesnt try to eat the angler. i think i have a good chance since the angler hardly moves, the toad likes stuff that is active so unless the angler decides to get up and swim right in front of his mouth i think we should be good. only time will tell though! thanks for the tip!!

[thepanfish]

One more bit of knowledge before I go ( i found this out the hard way) dont let the angler ingest air, keep them submersed at all times. If they ingest air they can not expel it and will bloat and die.
Two really incredible fish I hope They do well for you. Good luck.

This, I learned that the hard way too...

[jolson10450]

here are some new updates, this picture as about a week ago right before christmas:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0286.jpg

the toadfish came out at night to snoop around:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0297.jpg

got a nice full side view of him creeping out the side of his lair looking for food:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0300.jpg

and here is a full shot about 3 days ago now that i got the macros in it:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0309.jpg

[larryandlaura]

Great pics! Did you decide on what plants and polyps are going in yet?

[jolson10450]

Great pics! Did you decide on what plants and polyps are going in yet?

not sure of the names of the ones i got in there but i dont plan on adding to many more, i did get a frag of happy people eaters in a trade for my tank items i had posted so i might do a few other z's and p's but i also want to get a few sponges and add them as well.

i think for my final fish i am going to be adding a small snowflake eel to the tank. I've always wanted one and people who have never been around saltwater it gives them the "wow" factor so i think that is what i will go with.

[larryandlaura]

Eels rock, eagle eyes are cheap and people love them. It will make your tank pop.

[jolson10450]

Eels rock, eagle eyes are cheap and people love them. It will make your tank pop.

I might get some pom pom xenia because i hear they like dirtier water and eat nitrates but not sure if the lighting is good enough.

[larryandlaura]

[QUOTE=jolson10450;136568]I might get some pom pom xenia because i hear they like dirtier water and eat nitrates but not sure if the lighting is good enough.

You should be fine. The light ( stock PC ) in my 29 biocube let me keep Sps. Up high of course. I had a CPR skimmer in my BC29 that worked well.

[jolson10450]

[QUOTE=jolson10450;136568]I might get some pom pom xenia because i hear they like dirtier water and eat nitrates but not sure if the lighting is good enough.

You should be fine. The light ( stock PC ) in my 29 biocube let me keep Sps. Up high of course. I had a CPR skimmer in my BC29 that worked well.

i figured i should be able to especially since i use brightwell salt in a fish only tank. I got brand new bulbs for it. The normal biocube skimmer came with it when i bought it off the guy, i just havent hooked it up because i hear they are junk and a waste of time and they can be noisy. if i start to get bad algaes growing i will try to see if i can hook it up.

[larryandlaura]

I had one of those stock airstone skimmers and could never get it to work. If you keep on your water changes you should be fine.

[jolson10450]

I had one of those stock airstone skimmers and could never get it to work. If you keep on your water changes you should be fine.

yeah i do 5 gallons a week and its only about 22 gallons volume minus rocks and stuff, i figured going planted with tons of macros would help out a bunch as well that is why i decided to go that direction, plus it is something different from coral like i am used to.

[Tom Toro]

Very cool fish! Always liked the angler on those nature shows. Never saw a toad fish before. Looking forward to seeing the macros you put in there.

[MizTanks]

I hope I don't offend you to much but I've got to ask...why would you put 2 predatory fish in the same tank where it is a very high possibility that one will eat the other? Do you not believe that the angler knows he may become lunch? You would never find these 2 fish living so close together in the wild :( Personally I think it's cruel.

[jolson10450]

I hope I don't offend you to much but I've got to ask...why would you put 2 predatory fish in the same tank where it is a very high possibility that one will eat the other? Do you not believe that the angler knows he may become lunch? You would never find these 2 fish living so close together in the wild :( Personally I think it's cruel.

it was just a risk i was willing to take on, i had these fish ordered already and the angler came in smaller than anticipated so i had to keep it so just decided well if it happens i am just letting mother nature take her course. I do believe the angler is safe though because he has walked and swam right in front of the toad and the toad will not touch it. the toad gets fed krill (which are orange in color) and goldfish (which are orange in color) and the angler is black so this might also play advantage to his life.

i can only cross my fingers and hope for the best. last night the angler went down into the toadfish's hole (toadfish was looking out the front, angler went in through the side entry) so i will check today when i get home to see if he was dinner or not and if not i think it is safe to say that they may be friends enough to co-exist with eachother as long as i keep the toadfish fed enough. i know if i didnt feed him for about 3-4 days he would most likely eat the angler.

[jolson10450]

Few more updates first one is the angler is still alive and kickin after venturing into the toadfish's cave so i think i am pretty safe to say if i keep the toad fed he wont mess with the angler... at least ill still keep hoping that!

Another thing is i put a few guppies in the tank to try to get the angler to catch some and eat and at the same time i was feeding the toadfish some freeze dried krill that has been soaked and air pushed out. The angler kept flicking his lure around so i decided hmmmm i wonder if i can stump him now that he sees the guppies and try to sneak a piece of krill in front of him and him eat it. took the tongs, got a decent sized krill (without looking because i didnt think he would eat it) and boom! he sucked that thing down like spaghetti! his little belly got so huge after it! So the angler does eat freeze dried krill i just had to stump him! lets hope i can keep using this trick until i can just get him completely on freeze dried or frozen krill!

[larryandlaura]

Best of luck Justin seems you are on the right track!

[jolson10450]

Best of luck Justin seems you are on the right track!

Thanks Larry! I told my LFS i wanted a snowflake eel so i hope they get that in friday on their shipment, if so i will update after that point, until then i will be working on a retrofit of something to block the front chamber so it can't escape into the back. the new biocube hoods have a piece attached in the hood to prevent escape into the filtering chamber but this is a slightly older model.

What i plan on doing is taking some of the plastic gutter guard and attaching it to the wall. it already has a U shaped end on it so it can snap right to it and the holes are about 1/4" and it also has a screen netting on it (would have to re/glue it because of cutting it down. so if all goes well then i should have that done today. i will take pictures of the modification for others having an issue with fish escaping into the back filtering areas.

[AJ :)]

Good to hear they are cohabitating well.
Plus taking frozen!

Were you able to order your SFE by size?

[jolson10450]

Good to hear they are cohabitating well.
Plus taking frozen!

Were you able to order your SFE by size?

i told them i wanted one already salt converted and preferable 6-8" only and they said that should be fine so hopefully it comes in that size.

[MizTanks]

I'm not understanding your thinking here jolson. I think if the tank was bigger then a 29g I would be accepting this concept easier however, now your adding a SFE that has a max size of 24" into the mix? :shrug:

[jolson10450]

I'm not understanding your thinking here jolson. I think if the tank was bigger then a 29g I would be accepting this concept easier however, now your adding a SFE that has a max size of 24" into the mix? :shrug:

max size is not what i am worried about. i am more worried about the purchased size because i only plan on living where i do for year, year and a half max, and these guys will either get a new home from someone else or i will get a new large tank for them. I am currently renting to be sure my current new job is doing good for over a year and such at which point i will be buying a house and moving so this is only a temporary home for these guys.

[MizTanks]

I understand your way of thinking. I just don't agree with what your doing. These animals will definitely be unhappy being housed with each other...how could they not? Nor will they have much room to get away from one another. I know I've said enough and I'll say no more. I do wish you and the fishes the best of luck and pray for the best :)

[jolson10450]

I understand your way of thinking. I just don't agree with what your doing. These animals will definitely be unhappy being housed with each other...how could they not? Nor will they have much room to get away from one another. I know I've said enough and I'll say no more. I do wish you and the fishes the best of luck and pray for the best :)

they will be happy believe me. i wouldn't buy them if i thought differently. if i notice the snowflake getting to big before i decide to move then i will post him or or take him to the LFS but there is a reason why i requested one so small.

[jolson10450]

Picked up my snowflake eel on saturday from the LFS. He is about 7" long so the size shouldnt be an issue. he chose to live in the rock to the left in the tank, and the toadfish lives in the rock on the right. here are some pictures:

In the bag:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0317.jpg

in the acclimation tub:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0318.jpg

snowflake pattern:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0323.jpg

Headshot:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0325.jpg

One thing i thought was rather odd is when i added him and he took to his new home he decided to creep into the toadfish's cave, the toadfish opened his mouth up a little bit and so did the eel, the eel proceed to gently bit down into more of a "gnaw" i will say on the upper part of the toadfish's mouth a few times. the toadfish didnt seem phased by it at all and just let him do it. he then slowly left the toadfish's home and went back and has been under his rock ever since. anyone know why this might be?

another thing is the toadfish dug down to the bottom of the tank and slid the rocks down a bit so hopefully that doesnt cause an issue. He does stir the sand around a lot so i constantly have to turkey baste the macros and the rocks to get all of the sand off of it.

The angler, toadfish, and eel all eat both freeze dried and frozen krill. from time to time they will get special live treats. i am very happy about my choices! This should be a fun tank to work with!

[AJ :)]

Nice looking eel.

It will be interesting too see how it works out.

[MizTanks]

Picked up my snowflake eel on saturday from the LFS. He is about 7" long so the size shouldnt be an issue. he chose to live in the rock to the left in the tank, and the toadfish lives in the rock on the right. here are some pictures:

In the bag:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0317.jpg

in the acclimation tub:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0318.jpg

snowflake pattern:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0323.jpg

Headshot:
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr126/boonesville/IMAG0325.jpg

One thing i thought was rather odd is when i added him and he took to his new home he decided to creep into the toadfish's cave, the toadfish opened his mouth up a little bit and so did the eel, the eel proceed to gently bit down into more of a "gnaw" i will say on the upper part of the toadfish's mouth a few times. the toadfish didnt seem phased by it at all and just let him do it. he then slowly left the toadfish's home and went back and has been under his rock ever since. anyone know why this might be?

another thing is the toadfish dug down to the bottom of the tank and slid the rocks down a bit so hopefully that doesnt cause an issue. He does stir the sand around a lot so i constantly have to turkey baste the macros and the rocks to get all of the sand off of it.

The angler, toadfish, and eel all eat both freeze dried and frozen krill. from time to time they will get special live treats. i am very happy about my choices! This should be a fun tank to work with!

"One thing i thought was rather odd is when i added him and he took to his new home he decided to creep into the toadfish's cave, the toadfish opened his mouth up a little bit and so did the eel, the eel proceed to gently bit down into more of a "gnaw" i will say on the upper part of the toadfish's mouth a few times. the toadfish didnt seem phased by it at all and just let him do it. he then slowly left the toadfish's home and went back and has been under his rock ever since. anyone know why this might be?"

I cannot believe your asking this question! Why would you think this odd? Two species that would never encounter each other in the wild and here you just throw them into a little box and expect what? Did you not say you knew what your doing? I'm saddened your having FUN at their expense :(

[jolson10450]

"One thing i thought was rather odd is when i added him and he took to his new home he decided to creep into the toadfish's cave, the toadfish opened his mouth up a little bit and so did the eel, the eel proceed to gently bit down into more of a "gnaw" i will say on the upper part of the toadfish's mouth a few times. the toadfish didnt seem phased by it at all and just let him do it. he then slowly left the toadfish's home and went back and has been under his rock ever since. anyone know why this might be?"

I cannot believe your asking this question! Why would you think this odd? Two species that would never encounter each other in the wild and here you just throw them into a little box and expect what? Did you not say you knew what your doing? I'm saddened your having FUN at their expense :(

miz, no offense but if you have nothing nice to say on my tank thread then please keep things to yourself. i did research, i know what i am doing. i just have not seen this before and was wondering if anyone else has had this happen. i thought it was rather neat, regardless of where the fish is from, if it was his neighbor at sea at one time i think he still may have done it, you never know. i do know they have poor vision and he was eating goldfish and krill which are both orange so with the poor vision maybe he thought the toads upper lip was a piece of krill and tried to eat it.

[jolson10450]

not much has changed in the tank, got a little bit of algae i am working on but everything is going good. all of the fish and the eel are fully switched over to freeze dried and frozen krill now so i am very happy about this. i will try to get some more close up pictures of each soon, i can already see that the angler has grown almost 1/4" since i got him a month ago!

[jolson10450]

Well.... I guess i spoke to soon, yesterday i noticed my toadfish with a cloudy eye and he would not eat. His skin is starting to deteriorate as well so i dosed antibiotics last night in hopes that he makes it. bad part is i work all day today so i am just crossing my fingers he is OK when i get home. the angler looks fine and is active and the eel is fine and active, not sure what happened with the toadfish other than the snowflake kept going into his cave recently and ****ing him off causing him to make sand storms so maybe he got to stressed out from that but im not entirely sure. i am having my water checked tomorrow, i currently dont have a test kit on hand anymore but it could also be due to water quality (i use RODI and dose mb7 so not sure it is this)