Quote:
Originally Posted by
marinebiofreak http:///forum/thread/386023/new-sargassum-fish#post_3388173
Today at the beach I found two sargassum fish. One looked to be juvenille at 3 and a half inches and one looked to be adult at almost 5. My dad said he wanted to put them in our tank and I did some research. It turns out that sargassum fish are a crazy cross bred mix of a grouper, frogfish, and anglerfish. Their maximum size is around 6 inches although bigger ones have been found. They tend to swallow things that are twice thier size and are meant to be put in agressive tanks. My dad and I were wondering the best way to acclimate them into our tank.
Thanks from Taryn
Basically all of that information is really off base. They aren't a mix of anything. The scientific name for Sargassumfish, is
Histrio histrio. I'm not exactly sure if you're up to speed on how genetics/reproduction works, but as far as marine fish go, the offspring of two different species within the same genus is very rare. it usually only happens with broadcast spawners, where different species spawn at the same time. Offspring from different genra is completely unheard of, yet alone different families of fish. You're talking about the mammal equivalent of humans and pigs.
They are definitely not fish for aggressive setups. They are for species only tanks. Put Sargassums in with too small of fish, usually about 1.5x their body size, and they'll eat them. In with significantly larger tankmates, the Sargassum are at risk from the tankmates.
I had 3 Sargassums I caught at the beach myself, as well. Had 3. The smallest one didn't even make it home from the beach, before the largest ate him. I swore I had a pair when the remaining two were still there after 3 days. Nope, the slightly bigger one 3", ate the just smaller one. The largest is now enjoying a peaceful tank all to himself.
