My fishy friends

Aanayab1 · 10-21-12, 11:06 AM

Mr. Pink, he was pink when I bought him as a wee baby, I'm not really sure what color he is now.

Mr. Pinks home

Peppermint shrimp waiting to clean a fish

Carl stopping at the cleaner shrimp station.

Grendel the day I got him acclimating. He was so little then I think only 8-10"

First introduced to his new home and not very happy

Aanayab1 · 10-21-12, 11:21 AM

Grendels home

Pictures of Grendel from last night right after feeding.

etc · 10-21-12, 11:31 AM

Love the frogfish and the eel..

I've kept all sorts of freshwater predators before and I've been meaning to set up my first saltwater aquarium for the longest time now.. Peacock mantis or frogfish most likely

Aanayab1 · 10-21-12, 11:46 AM

Thank you. Mantis shrimp are insane creatures, so much fun to just sit and watch. I don't have room for another tank or it would be a mantis. The frogfish are stunning as well but a bit harder to get eating than a mantis.

Trent · 10-21-12, 12:02 PM

very cool!!

exwizard · 10-21-12, 01:58 PM

You're whetting my appetite to get back into fish even more with these pics. I LOVE that eel. When I do get back into fish, my next tank will be a salt water tank.

etc · 10-21-12, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aanayab1

Thank you. Mantis shrimp are insane creatures, so much fun to just sit and watch. I don't have room for another tank or it would be a mantis. The frogfish are stunning as well but a bit harder to get eating than a mantis.

No problem, and I know right? The first time I saw a peacock mantis I just couldn't take my eyes off of it, and it made everything else at the LFS not-as-interesting. It seems that the peacocks (the best kind by far) are more prone to shellrot under reef-friendly lighting so it looks like I'd be limited to very basic corals if I go that route but that's no biggie.

Is your frogfish eating live or have you converted to f/t? I've read someone say that they will die eventually even after being converted to f/t because of their innate desire to eat live food.. so I think some people offer it live food once in a while especially when it goes on strikes, but I am just relaying what I've read here that may not even be the most accurate information!

I really like fimbriated eels too, ah... there is nothing more fascinating than saltwater species in my opinion..

Revenant · 10-21-12, 05:17 PM

Fascinating fishies (and non-fishy friends). When we get our house built, we want to try our first saltwater tank.

RandyRhoads · 10-21-12, 05:22 PM

Beautiful moray. Love your set up. How do you take such good pictures of them? I've been trying to get a decent one of my Lion and Snowflake, but they always come out terrible, glare , reflection, ect...

Aanayab1 · 10-21-12, 09:23 PM

RandyRhoads: A cannon rebel XT its just an older model LSR. Turn off flash and all other lights in the room so it is pitch black in the tank room and only use the reef lighting, but it's hard if you don't have at least 4-5watts of light per gallon.

etc: The peacock mantis is a low light species from what I have read also. I have reef lighting on the eel tank but only run them when I want to feed, clean or show someone the tank. Eels hate light and will rarely come out if the lights on but with them off he will literally come out all the time, you can always see him. My frogfish eats live only I won't explain how I do it because some people will most likely flame me for the procedure. I will say he is very expensive to feed, he gets clown fish, damsels and odd slow moving fish. Hands down fimbriated are my favorite moray, nasty attitude, bold, personable and just AWESOME! But the only negative is they will eat whatever you put in the tank so tankmates are are out of the question. Some people will say different but in my experience he eats it all... I wasted well over 800$ trying to find compatible tankmates but I was just buying him very expensive meals

Thank you all for the kind compliments.

alessia55 · 10-21-12, 09:44 PM

Those all look great! The little shrimp is awesome!

etc · 10-22-12, 02:10 PM

That seems a little too expensive for frogfish food, but I won't judge ya, I am sure you've got it figured out to keep your little guy alive and fed.

I am not surprised at your $800 loss, oh I could get all the money back from my aquarium mis-adventures.

I also quite enjoy the Japanese Dragon Eel, I want to say - how did you eel proof your tank?

**Aaron_S** · 10-22-12, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by etc

...I also quite enjoy the Japanese Dragon Eel, I want to say - how did you eel proof your tank?

So I'm not necessarily new to fish but I've never only read about salt water tank set ups and haven't attempted it.

What would an eel do to your tank? I can only presume it's some sort of destruction.

RandyRhoads · 10-22-12, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

So I'm not necessarily new to fish but I've never only read about salt water tank set ups and haven't attempted it.

What would an eel do to your tank? I can only presume it's some sort of destruction.

They are escape artists.

Aanayab1 · 10-22-12, 07:18 PM

etc: Yes very expensive frogfish food. I don't know of anyone who has kept one alive more than 1.5 yrs from buying them as babies but mr pink is working on year 4 now

I feel like if he has lived this long so far I must be doing something right... Eel proofing is actually quite simple. Solid glass lid with .5" holes drilled through for gas exchange. The water drains via three 1.5" bulk heads that are in the overflow, the over flow is blocked off by egg crate. I had to put screen over the holes in top and egg crate when he was small enough to fit through it but that only lasted about 3-4 months. The water is fed back into tank via three .75" bulkheads. For circulation I am running a closed loop system that is also drilled through the glass so I have nothing coming over the edge of the tank requiring cuts in the glass lid. Oh and I use 3/8" glass so if or when he tries to lift it there is a good bit of weight he has to fight with. I as well really like the Japanese and Hawaiian dragon eel but they don't really have that nasty of attitudes (and that is what I like about moray eels) they just look as if they do because of the hooked jaw and long teeth. There are a lot others that are even nastier than the fimbriated but most of those get HUGE and need a chiller to thrive. If I had the nerve I would own one but the cost of chillers, size of tank and cost of the eel are to high for me. The eel I would like is the Enchelycore anatina.... but the last few that came into US were rumored that they went for 2500-8000 and yea that's why I don't even wanna go there, the others are between 750-1200 but still steep for a fish to me.