Stone fish, lion
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Scientific Name: halophryne trispinosus Price: Upon Request Origin: Indo-Pacific rim Family: Batrachoididae NOT AVAILABLE NOW |
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Other Names: Allenbatrachus grunniens, Freshwater Toadfish |
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Technical Info
Temperature: 23 - 28 ℃
pH: 7.8 - 8.5
GH: 15 - 25
Max size: 30 cm
Min Tank size: 110 Ltr
Position in Aqua: Bottom swimmer
Description
Freshwater (really brackish water) stonefish, aka freshwater lionfish, freshwater toadfish, and freshwater frogfish belong to a curious group known as toad fish. Probably the “freshwater” in their moniker is to distinguish them from their saltwater cousins. We’ll call them freshwater stonefish because they try to look like a harmless lumpy stone until a swallowable fish swims by.
Food
An ambush predator in nature, it can be sometimes be tricky to wean onto dead foods in captivity. If a specimen is refusing to eat dead food, try attaching thread to a piece of prawn, mussel or similar and moving it around in front of the fish. Once it learns that these are edible, it will usually accept them without prompting. Other good choices include live earthworms and for small specimens, bloodworm.
Breeding
Unreported in aquaria.
Compatible with
Piscivorous and will eat any tankmate it can fit into its capacious mouth, but is usually peaceful towards larger fish. It's best kept with species that occupy different areas of the tank to itself, such as archerfish, scats, monos etc. It will tolerate similarly-sized conspecifics, but smaller individuals will probably end up on the menu at some point.
Note
This species is quite popular among lovers of oddball fish for its unique appearance. Beauty is most certainly in the eye of the beholder where this fish is concerned. As discussed above, it's not a freshwater species, despite often being sold as such, and is therefore unsuitable for the general fishkeeper. There are instances of specimens surviving for good periods in freshwater, but expect the lifespan of the fish to be greatly reduced if it's maintained like this.