Tired
2500 Club Member
I picked up a curious wormfish (Gunnellichthys curiosus) from my LFS the other day, and I'm really taken with this little critter. It sits low near the bottom of the tank, undulating gently, looking really unusual. Took me a day to get it eating, but I figured out the trick; you have to put the food on the ground. It started eating out of the turkey baster pretty quickly, so I'm expecting to be able to get it to snag food out of the water eventually. The ones the LFS has had in the past learned to do that with no special care.
Before I bought this one, I asked the LFS to try feeding it. It seemed excited about the food smell, wiggling faster and looking around, but bit at hermit crabs and snails instead of catching the food. I'm guessing maybe they eat worms and such in the wild? It didn't persist with biting the hermits or snails, so I don't think they're its actual prey, I think it saw movement on the sandbed and got excited.
I'm reading that these fish can be kept singly, or in groups. A lot of the pictures of wild ones seem to have them in pairs. The LFS had two. They were near each other for a bit, then one separated off and burrowed itself into the sand.
If I get another one or two, is that better than keeping a singleton? Or is it like chromis, where I'm more than likely going to wind up with just one? They're fast, slender fish that can burrow, so I'm not interested in trying to catch them back out, if it turns out that a group won't work. I have the current one in QT right now, so if I get more, I can introduce them to the display tank at the same time.
Any advice on these little guys? I know they need sand, but the one at the LFS buried itself handily in about a 3/4" layer, so I don't think they need much. I'd guess they just need to be covered.
Before I bought this one, I asked the LFS to try feeding it. It seemed excited about the food smell, wiggling faster and looking around, but bit at hermit crabs and snails instead of catching the food. I'm guessing maybe they eat worms and such in the wild? It didn't persist with biting the hermits or snails, so I don't think they're its actual prey, I think it saw movement on the sandbed and got excited.
I'm reading that these fish can be kept singly, or in groups. A lot of the pictures of wild ones seem to have them in pairs. The LFS had two. They were near each other for a bit, then one separated off and burrowed itself into the sand.
If I get another one or two, is that better than keeping a singleton? Or is it like chromis, where I'm more than likely going to wind up with just one? They're fast, slender fish that can burrow, so I'm not interested in trying to catch them back out, if it turns out that a group won't work. I have the current one in QT right now, so if I get more, I can introduce them to the display tank at the same time.
Any advice on these little guys? I know they need sand, but the one at the LFS buried itself handily in about a 3/4" layer, so I don't think they need much. I'd guess they just need to be covered.
