Wasp fish

[Sumthin fishy]

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddb...%20Fishl.ht m


What can y'all tell me about these guys?
I found one dead at an LFS. Another one was on its side breathing heavily, then stopped breathing while I watched. A third one was not doing much better than the 2. After doing more to that fish in the store than any employee would have known how, they gave it to me for free to try and save it. I have been sucesful in nursing it to health so far. Have raised salinity to 1.005 over the course of a week (was in FW at lfs). He is in my 2.5 hospital tank, is only about 1" long ATM, and eating live brine and baby guppies(they were trying to feed it flake food ). Will a 10 gallon be sufficient for a single specimin? If so, are there any tankmates I could keep there(if not no big deal) On a related note, if a 10 is too small, would there be any suitable tankmates if he required a larger tank? (profile says about 4") I understand it is an ambush preditor, and does not do well with others of its species, so I may just keep it alone if need be.

[Dangerdoll]

omg fishy, what a good looking fish... don't know a thing about them but good luck with him.

[reiverix]

I wish I could find more literature on these fish but it's all so sketchy. For tank size, a 10g may be ok since ambush predators don't tend to move around too much. On the other hand, they can produce a lot of waste so upgrading to a 15g would be more forgiving.

As for tankmates in a larger tank, I really have no idea. As a rough guide it would have to be something too big to get eaten, yet peaceful enough so not to bother the wasp fish. Also, preferably occupying a different area of the tank. In the brackish world that doesn't leave many choices, so personally I'd leave it solitary until I found some definite answers.

[Sumthin fishy]

Yeah riv, Ive seen 2 totally different scientific classifications, 3 different common names, and very little info at that. From what I figure they need live foods, light brackish, and only get 3-4". They are primarily bottom dwellers, if that helps in finding suitable tankmates. I was thinking of ordering some wild mollies, as they seem to be upper level fish and will provide some live food, but i have some time to think about it.

[FreddytheFish]

Very cool fish, unfortunatley, all the info I know about them you also know, becuase I learned it from AquaLandPetsPlus.

[nursie]

Nice rescue, Fishy. Keep us posted on how it does!

[MonoSebaelover]

In my experience, I wouldn't go too high on salinity. They are definitely not freshwater, but definitely not strong brackish either. I wouldn't go too much higher than 1.008. They do require live foods, 10g should be fine as they don't move a lot. I would say you could do maybe a pair of Mollies or Guppies as tankmates. Anyway hope this helps and good luck with them! They are AWESOME little fishies. They remind me lots of one of my fav marine predators, the Lionfish in paticular the Volitan (I have a young Black Volitan). Anyway good luck!

[Sumthin fishy]

I was planning on 1.005. Good to hear a 10 g is Ok from y'all, as I did not really have the funds to take this on, and will have to not eat for as long as it takes to buy a better tank

[reiverix]

Originally Posted by Sumthin fishy

I was planning on 1.005. Good to hear a 10 g is Ok from y'all, as I did not really have the funds to take this on, and will have to not eat for as long as it takes to buy a better tank

You can always live on feeders and fries

[Incognito]

So have you tested yet to see how much it hurts to be stung?

I'm one of those people who couldn't resist knowing...

[wildiana]

i have one in my 29g planted tank. as always i got the little guy and then did my research.
so far so good. i had him for a little over a month or two. i have plenty of fish and bottome dwellers. bummble gobies, golden pleco, blue shrimps and ghost shrimps.

my research let me to believe that my tetras (cardnals) will be in danger. but this little guys if very slow and i havn't seen him eat yet. but he must be doing something at night because he is still alive.

i just started to feed brime shrimp, i did see him going after them. so i will be adding brime shimp to my tanks diet every other day.

i do see him tryikng to sneek up on my ghost shrimps, but they move to fast for the little guy.

he is active and very interesting to watch.

as far as salt, i'v put only 2tbsp per 5gal but only add for 15(half of my tank) so i put ~6tbsp of salt. the little guy and the gobies appear to be happy and active.

here he is attempting to sneek up on my ghost shrimps, look closely and you'll see the shrimps...
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y28...ofvenamous.jpg

-wil

[Barracuda324]

ohhhh hes cool

[Emg]

That is one cool little fish. I remember reading something online about those fellas. If I ever ran across one at the lfs, I would have a hard time resisting...the only thing that would stop me is that I would have to setup another tank for it...

[reiverix]

My LFS got something very similar in yesterday but they labelled it as a brackish stonefish. They only difference I could see was the size. This one was about 5-6 inches but the coloring and finnage were nearly identical as far as I could see.

[FreddytheFish]

Originally Posted by reiverix

My LFS got something very similar in yesterday but they labelled it as a brackish stonefish. They only difference I could see was the size. This one was about 5-6 inches but the coloring and finnage were nearly identical as far as I could see.

Any of these, by any chance?

http://wetwebmedia.com/batrachoididae.htm

[reiverix]

Very similar to the first one.