Jikkers' Stonefish adventures

[Jikkermanccini]

Dibbs on your stuff when you die

I'll make sure the stonefish goes straight to you.

 

[Adam]

I plan to start it on live mollies and eventually wean it on to frozen squid, mussels, and octopus. My eel and frogfishes eat the same things, but they eat so infrequently that I usually have an excess that gets freezer burnt and thrown out.

Put some RO water in bags for the excess that you're going to freeze. Not a little either, enough to surround as much of the fish & other chunks as possible. It will help protect the tissue from freezer burn.

 

[siege]

Dwarf frogs meaning dwarf frogfish haha. I used to keep them years back, they're hard to find though. They're fun because many of them are crustacean specialists, so you can actually keep them long-term on frozen krill and ghost shrimp!
The greatest part of the stonefish is that you have to take 6 whole spines worth of venom to be at risk of death, so I should be safe unless I grip it like a burger on a speedboat ride.

In my years of working with animals, no few of which professionally, I have learned a few truths, one of which is that every individual is just that - an individual. Another is that there is no such thing as 100%

In "North American Falconry & Hunting Hawks", one of the two authors makes this point. As falconers, we know that birds of prey don't bite. The very definition of raptor is an animal that seizes its prey with its feet, and its the feet you've got to watch. Until it isn't.

He discusses how he was putting a hood on a newly caught wild falcon for the first time. Since one has their off-hand occupied by the bird on the glove, one must use their strong hand and their teeth in order to pull apart the braces at the back of the hood and tighten it, and he was doing just this when the bird bit him, piercing his bottom lip, at which point it clamped down and just hung.

All of which is to say... you *say* that, but in nature, shit has a way of happening. For the sake of those who care about you, I'd think it'd be worth calling your local health department or emergency care provider - one of those, "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it", or at least understand what response times might look like should it have to be ordered.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

In my years of working with animals, no few of which professionally, I have learned a few truths, one of which is that every individual is just that - an individual. Another is that there is no such thing as 100%

In "North American Falconry & Hunting Hawks", one of the two authors makes this point. As falconers, we know that birds of prey don't bite. The very definition of raptor is an animal that seizes its prey with its feet, and its the feet you've got to watch. Until it isn't.

He discusses how he was putting a hood on a newly caught wild falcon for the first time. Since one has their off-hand occupied by the bird on the glove, one must use their strong hand and their teeth in order to pull apart the braces at the back of the hood and tighten it, and he was doing just this when the bird bit him, piercing his bottom lip, at which point it clamped down and just hung.

All of which is to say... you *say* that, but in nature, shit has a way of happening. For the sake of those who care about you, I'd think it'd be worth calling your local health department or emergency care provider - one of those, "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it", or at least understand what response times might look like should it have to be ordered.

Good point. I will see if I can get an answer somewhere.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

He's here. Even cuter than I could have imagined.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Arrived alive and well, unlike an order of scissortails that also arrived this morning...
Good grief. I wish more LFSs would carry scissortails, they so hard to find.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

This is truly a beautiful animal, I tell you what. It seems to be getting quite comfortable in the tank, thankfully. It was willing to eat a half silverside for me!

 

[Hunna]

Always loved finding stone/scorpionfish out in the wild in my scuba instructing days. I never understood why the titan scorpionfish was named that way, until I found one and realized how massive it was. The Devil scorpions were always fun to harass just enough to expose the color bands on their pectorals.

Your guy have any hidden colors other than the yellow?

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Always loved finding stone/scorpionfish out in the wild in my scuba instructing days. I never understood why the titan scorpionfish was named that way, until I found one and realized how massive it was. The Devil scorpions were always fun to harass just enough to expose the color bands on their pectorals.

Your guy have any hidden colors other than the yellow?

I can't wait until I have the time to get a dive license, finding scorps and frogs in-situ is a huge dream of mine.

I don't see any othercolors besides the yellow dots, no. I'm not sure if they change colors with exposure or not, though I've seen photos of totally coralline-colored stonefish before so I wonder if it's a genetic thing.

 

[Rainblood]

Its so ugly, lol. Any tank mates?

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Its so ugly, lol. Any tank mates?

He's alone for the moment. Might put him with another scorp of some sort down the line.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Update, this guy is an absolute pig. Ate half a silverside day 1, then had fun hunting a dozen ghost shrimp before getting another 1 1/2 silversides today. Gonna let him digest for a little while before I feed him again, but it's a really good sign that he's got an appetite right out of the bag. Scorps can supposedly be picky after shipping.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Caught a slo-mo vid of Rocky feeding! Even in slow motion, the bite is only a few frames. Wicked cool critter.