FRESHWATER STONE FISH!

Skiddler

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 28, 2011
8
1
0
Austrailia
i cuaght one of these guys a while ago by hand( but i'm a reckless 13 year old ) but i'm in australia so they there probaly different unless the one's at your LFS are imported. if you do have the aussie( the true fresh water stonefish aka. bullrout) they are a very hardy fish and live in completly fresh water but also very venomous and if spiked you will most likely end up in hospital. for feeding it is essentialy the same as frog fish, leaf fish or any ambush predator start of with live fish in the tank and he will gradualy pick them off in the course of 1 to 2 weeks you could also try jigging small fish infront of him to see if he will have a go at it also be very carful as there dorsal, pelvic and anal spines have venom glands. with the right info these guys are awesome to have in a tank with other medium to large argresive fish
 

kamikaziechameleon

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Sep 23, 2010
2,339
4
68
western hemisphere
I have just acquired one of these. Mine is almost 6 inches, I'll post on here instead of my ID thread. It seems to poop like a terrestrial animal, lizard or something and not a fish. I know I keep posting this but it really amazes me for whatever reason, perhaps its the size my 6 inch fish drops 1" nuggets every day, don't know what to make of this besides the ammonia issues its creating in his 20 gallon QT tank. I expect from reading around these animals suffer the same fate as many brackish fish. Novice keepers get and kill them making them get the label... DIFFICULT TO KEEP. I have made an unnofficial carrer of keeping brackish fish in fresh water similar to fugupuff. I've found brackish fish seem to do very well in fresh, well as any of my fresh water fish if you do a few things.

1. pristine water, though the fish actually does well in poor water as they typically live in or near sounds where water quality and parameters vary drastically on a seasonal basis they don't have a strong immune system. It has been hypothesized that many brackish fish use the variable salinity levels to deal with parasites etc as such if you keep them in poor water conditions you crush what little immune system they have. Long term exposure in such a system will make them more vulnerable to fungus' etc. than other fish.

2. Hard water is preferred, again while they do well with swings from different ends of the spectrum their naturally base is hard water. Beware of overly high metal content in hard water if your tap is obscenely hard. many of these brackish beauties are scaleless and don't deal well with high levels of metals relative to other fish.

3. WARM WATER! Most of the brackish fish in question like monos, stone fish, freshwater morays, etc. come from extremely tropical waters and prefer a resting temp closer to 82 or so degrees and will stop eating and prolonged lower temps.

4. Varied diets, if you are feeding a G. tile or other live food heavy animal like a stone fish don't get stuck in the rut of feeding similar foods. They will get HITH or lateral line problems. I for a long time attributed this to fresh water but found that it was actually a dietary issue not a salinity one for my fish. Raising salinity didn't fix it but changing dietary things up regularly did immediately.

These are the tenants of my care that let me keep a G. tile for just over 3 years in fresh. Monos for a similar length of time and leaf fish etc. I hope to use them with this fish to good effect. I'm still learning because doing so is still not a well documented practice and is regularly frowned on. After conquering this fish i hope to do the same with orange chromides, a fish that always ends up in my possession at the worst of times in the past, as well as Colombian sharks.
 

WinterAlloy

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 9, 2012
254
0
16
North GA, USA
There are a few similar looking species, even from different families. Can you confirm the collection area.

Sent from my C771 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

Dgmannn412

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 2, 2016
62
34
36
36
20170803_224013.jpg so I just got this thing last night. It's roughly 5 1/2 inches long hasn't moved much since it hit the sand. I have 25 differ sources with 25 different answers as to what it is and how to keep it. It has some lighter browns in it's fins and body but it hasn't settled yet.
My best guess is it's an oyster toad.
I would like an idea as to is it that and how should it be kept.
I have it in 8.2 ph
And 1.008 salinity
Temp is 81f
And I have fd krill, shrimp, marmokrebs, silversides, goldfish, and guppies at my diposal.
I'm assuming with its lifestyle that a single specimen in a 40 breeder is probably good for a while. I have a aqua clear 110 full of biosphere media stones and an additional aqua clear 70 with sponges and ceramic stone. I believe it's something like 800gph of flow.
The lightning is a single 7watt led bulb it's not super bright but I can see. If there a shallow water dweller then bright light shouldn't be an issue rite? Are they nocturnal? Or are they just a zzz ooh food zzzzzz ooh food zzzzzz type fish? I know there poisonous no matter which species so that's a given. Anything else I should know would be awesome thanks.
 

Eric70

Feeder Fish
Apr 19, 2018
2
0
1
53
Ive had one now for a month and don't think it has eaten since I got it. It seems healthy otherwise but I can see its stomach is shrinking up a lot. Going to put live feeders in with it to see if it will eat them,
 

kno4te

MFK Moderator
Staff member
Global Moderator
MFK Member
Dec 24, 2005
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USA
Ive had one now for a month and don't think it has eaten since I got it. It seems healthy otherwise but I can see its stomach is shrinking up a lot. Going to put live feeders in with it to see if it will eat them,
If it’s not in brackish water then it may not eat. Just in case if ur not doing that.
 

kno4te

MFK Moderator
Staff member
Global Moderator
MFK Member
Dec 24, 2005
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Would wait it out. Sometimes these fish can go on a fast.
 
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