angler fish just ate my wasp fish

[salmo trutta]

yeah, didnt expect that, everyone has been saying that those two fish were compatable with each other at LFS...onmtop of which the fish were about equal in size.


sure enough though, angler fish baited hima nd ate him within an hour of acclimation. im worried though that the angler will die from the venomous spines from the wasp fish.


and my poor wasp fish

 

[afilter]

Wow, sorry for the loss.

Please describe your tank. Have not heard or seen either species in an aquarium before.

 

[salmo trutta]

its a 40 gallon predator only tank.


it has about 15 lbs of live rock, and 15 lbs of base rock

it currently has, one angler fish (exact spp unknown, just picked it up from LFS today)

a fuzzy dwarf lionfish

and that wasp fish

all three spp. checked out on compatability lists, and so i planned it out months ago to obtain them (though i initially wanted a radiata lion and a leafish, instead of the wasp fish, but they all are in the same family for compatability)

there is also two scarlet hermit crabs, about half a dozen cleaner inverts that hitched onto the live rock. and the filtration is a home made trickle filter with overflow into a sump.

liofish has been in there about a month, wasp for about a week and a half, and angler fish was put in today.

there is also a damselfish in there from when i cycled the system about four months back, and he is left in there to be eaten as i hate damsel fish because of how territorial they can be. but he is still in there...wasp fish is not.


im confused as to why. anglerfish showed no interest in the lionfish...infact he was getting defensive when ever it came near (shaking his fins, and such) but when the wasp fish was close, his little bait started wigglin...


i thought it was funny at first because i was watchin, then in an instant the fish was halfway down and i started freaking because i kept thinkin the angler fish was going to die from the toxic spines (or at least he was gonne spit him out)

nope...he hasnt died or looked sick at all since it happened...and he is soooo full.

sucks. nobody would have guessed that though, especially since all the aquaria stores show those two as being compatable.

 

[demodiki]

I know someone who has an angler tank...has had a few of them actually...I want to say that they are species only.

 

[afilter]

Very interesting I have only ever seen the Dwarf lion at an LFS. What family is a wasp fish in?

With a 40g I would think you may want to just stick with what you have. I was suprised to learn that min recomended size is only 30g since they can get 7-10" depending on what type of angler you have. Not to mention they can be messy eaters and will produce a lot of waste.

How big are/were your fish?

Best of luck,

 

[salmo trutta]

update, at some point in the last 20 minutes the angler regurgitated the wasp fish, alive.


both fish seem fine, wasp fish looks like he has seen better days though (looks like his dorsal fin was digested a bit)

i have a fried who has a lionfish/angler fish tank, he gaver me the idea.


but if the angler ends up eating those other fish, then thats a lesson learned for me i guess.

oh, each fish is < 4 inches i'd say. and its all im going to have put in there, and my filter is plenty able to keep up with them i built it big and the system, really moves water.

 

[salmo trutta]

oh, and the wasp fish is a scorpianfish (also called a sailfin/rogue scorpian)

here is compatability chart from livesquaria

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm

 

[Brenden]

update, at some point in the last 20 minutes the angler regurgitated the wasp fish, alive.

8O What the *BEEP!*

 

[salmo trutta]

yup, that wasp fish is definately a trooper. he's got some serious digestion on his fins though, should this be cause for concern? i do not have a QT to put him in, nor the money/equipment available to do it.

he is swimming about as per the norm. he got close to the angler fish again and wanted nothing to do with him (think the angler got pricked by the spines)


wow, as freaked out as i am, im kinda in disbelief that the fish survived roughly four hours worth of digestion

 

[DragonForce]

I would leave the wasp fish alone. Taking any action right now could over stress the fish. I would observe and take action accordingly.

 

[StripesTheEel]

there is also a damselfish in there from when i cycled the system about four months back, and he is left in there to be eaten as i hate damsel fish because of how territorial they can be

dont u think a better idea may be to return it to the LFS? rather than leave it in there to be eaten..?

i dont think the "waspfish" and the angler should stay together..otherwise u'd be looking at a repeat at some stage.. let alone with the lion your kinda maxxing out..

Do you have specie names for these two fish..?

 

[afilter]

Amazing, we need pics. 8O

 

[dorian965]

i know its not funny but thats the most messed up thing ive ever heard.im reaaly sorry but i was dying when you said that he spit him out.