Hello everyone, I was wondering if any of you that have frogfish keep them in a reef and if you do what kind of corals do you keep with them and how much flow? I currently have 2 frogfish and each has its own 5 gallon tank. They are small right now, about 2-3" each and will be moved to probably a 20G long as they get bigger. I would like to put them into a reef but unsure which corals would be appropriate. I know the frogfish will not eat the corals I'm concerned about which corals might be irritated by them perching on them or maybe possibly stinging them. Any suggestions? I would like to do a Florida Ricordia garden and a zoa garden. I would also like to do a rock flower garden but I think that might be a bad idea. A NPS tank would be cool as well. I would really appreciate any feedback.
Frogfish In a Reef?
- Thread starter Jason Coy
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Well they are know to spend 90% of their time perched on rock work or even coral which may disturb polyps causing them to be semi permanently retracted so as far as reef tanks go id say take caution also they can be territorial so 2 in such a small tank i would take caution to that aswell and they are excelent ambush predators and will eat any and if not all small fish and inverts or anything small enough to fit in its actually Huge mouth so id say just take your time do your research and be cautious on how you setup[emoji16]
Jason Coy
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2017
- Messages
- 130
- Reaction score
- 108
Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear they currently reside in separate tanks as I don't trust them together. I know they like to perch that's what concerns me about mixing them with corals but when I was looking through the show off your frogfish thread I notice a lot of people keep them in a reef tank and was wondering what kind of damage the fish have done if any.
I guess it just depends. im sure someone on here with more experience keeping them in established reefs will give some input here soon. But i would imagine imo that most of the guys that house these guys in reef tanks have a substantialy large system with tons of rock work and coral which im sure promotes more movement from them spot to spot so the disturbance of coral polyps become a little more minimal if that makes sense
Ricordeas and zoa would be great, I don't know what you mean by a rock flower garden A nps tank would not be a good idea because of the flow. They do prefer flow on the lesser side, most lps corals do well, here's a pic of one of my angler tanks. If you give higher flow they will find spots blocked by the flow, and will not be as active. With lesser flow you will even be surprised by how much they swim and will cruise around much more. My wartys would take a few swimming bouts daily, and my painteds would take at least one extended swimming bout as the white lights turned off for the day. They will walk all over everything and may even perch on some corals, over all everything will adjust just fine, it less bothersome than many other fish that are common to reef tanks. Can you see his mug under the ledge of the cave.
Jason Coy
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2017
- Messages
- 130
- Reaction score
- 108
Yes that makes sense and I suspect you may be right. I may just do a macroalgae display tank with one of them and maybe Xenia/gsp/softie with the other. Maybe those will be pretty safe.
Glad to help yeah that sounds like an awesome way to display them not to mention the surroundings may be more fit for their needs as they like to camoflauge themselves in the rockwork theyll acclimate quicker... post some pics in this thread when you finish your setup
Jason Coy
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2017
- Messages
- 130
- Reaction score
- 108
Thanks for the input. buy rock flower garden I'm talking about a tank with nothing but Rock flower anemones in it but whenever I set that tank up I want to put some sexy shrimp in there and that would be a no go with the frogfish. I kind of figured slower flow would be the best route which is why I was considering the recordias. I can see his mug and that is a nice tank you have there. I can't tell is that frogspawn or hammers that you have on the top and if you ever seen your angler perch on top of one of them?Ricordeas and zoa would be great, I don't know what you mean by a rock flower garden A nps tank would not be a good idea because of the flow. They do prefer flow on the lesser side, most lps corals do well, here's a pic of one of my angler tanks. If you give higher flow they will find spots blocked by the flow, and will not be as active. With lesser flow you will even be surprised by how much they swim and will cruise around much more. My wartys would take a few swimming bouts daily, and my painteds would take at least one extended swimming bout as the white lights turned off for the day. They will walk all over everything and may even perch on some corals, over all everything will adjust just fine, it less bothersome than many other fish that are common to reef tanks. Can you see his mug under the ledge of the cave.
Those are a combination of different euphyllias(frogspawn, hammers, etc) at the top, he never bothered them. he would crawl across the top of the acans and rics to no damage. Give him time in the tank before you start putting down your coral, and you'll learn his habits and path of hunting. He would put a foot on one of the acanthophyllias(meat, brain corals) on the sand bed to perch, they got used to it and did not care. Stay with corals that like higher nutrients and they'll appreciate the contribution by the anglers.
Not the prettiest tank, my macro tank, but a macro tank can be a nice choice as well. I would think a rock anenome tank would not work, they do sting don't they, I would imagine the angler would be constantly getting stung.
Jason Coy
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2017
- Messages
- 130
- Reaction score
- 108
Thanks for all the good info. I guess corals aren't as fragile as we might think at times. Yes rock flowers sting and that was my concern with corals, at least the ones known to have powerful sweeper tentacles. After hearing from your experience and seeing your tank I feel better if I decide to mix. I like the look of your macro tank and It'll look even better once it starts to fill in more.Those are a combination of different euphyllias(frogspawn, hammers, etc) at the top, he never bothered them. he would crawl across the top of the acans and rics to no damage. Give him time in the tank before you start putting down your coral, and you'll learn his habits and path of hunting. He would put a foot on one of the acanthophyllias(meat, brain corals) on the sand bed to perch, they got used to it and did not care. Stay with corals that like higher nutrients and they'll appreciate the contribution by the anglers.
Not the prettiest tank, my macro tank, but a macro tank can be a nice choice as well. I would think a rock anenome tank would not work, they do sting don't they, I would imagine the angler would be constantly getting stung.
