Pics of mudskippers and hog chokers
- Thread starter kkirkt
- Start date
Deadliestviber 7- one other concern for me about a dragon goby is if the mollies would eat too much of the food and the dragon would get a little hungry. Again, I don't know enough about them so I"d love to hear more. I'd love to get a sand sifter, but . . . . (size, feeding, and interaction with hogchoker)
Deadliestviber 7- one other concern for me about a dragon goby is if the mollies would eat too much of the food and the dragon would get a little hungry. Again, I don't know enough about them so I"d love to hear more. I'd love to get a sand sifter, but . . . . (size, feeding, and interaction with hogchoker)
Deadliestviber 7- one other concern for me about a dragon goby is if the mollies would eat too much of the food and the dragon would get a little hungry. Again, I don't know enough about them so I"d love to hear more. I'd love to get a sand sifter, but . . . . (size, feeding, and interaction with hogchoker)
Sorry for the double post.
J.H.- I read a good bit about hogchokers before I got them. While I did read several stories about their starving, I read several success stories. I think I read a few on MFK by doing a search. One aquariumist said he had kept them from a very young state (before their eyes had shifted and they swam like regular fish).
Like I said before, I'm pretty careful when I feed them. I unplug my filter (to reduce the water current so the food stays right in front of them). I feed the mollies at the other end of the aquarium, and then I position the food right in front of their face. I've often had them eat while on the sides of the aquarium, I use a chopstick to position the worm and I can hold it on the side right at face level. I am concerned about their nutrition since by far their primary food is earthworms (usually every other day, depending on the size of the worms). I've had them eat a few Hikari carnivore bites but they're slow with those and eventually a Molly or ghost shrimp takes it away. And bloodworms are easy for me to get them eat (since they try to eat my chopstick now).
I do really enjoy the hogchokers, especially trying to have friends find them (easy once you know what to look for) but they're pretty sedentary. I wish they would take more fry. And I was so glad once they grew enough to eat smaller earthworms and then bigger worms! When mine were little I had them in a quarantine tank. Initially I tried feeding earthworms but it was hard finding small enough worms (1 cm long). I put a huge amount of black worms in (since they were alive- could live for a while in the tank) and then I felt I didn't need to seem them eat each time because half the tank had black worms sticking out of the sand.
I ordered mine from Sach's System's Aquaculture and have loved them. One other concern- vacation. I'm planning a weeklong trip coming up. I plan to have my neighbor drop in some food but I don't expect him to carefully feed the hogchokers. I'm hoping that the fish can easily go 8 days with just snatching an occasional fry. I've gone away for a long weekend before but never a whole week. Of course, on MFK, many people say fish can easily go a week without food, but I think when they talk about long term fasting I think they may be referring to the huge fish many people on MFK keep and not the mini monsters I keep.
J.H.- I read a good bit about hogchokers before I got them. While I did read several stories about their starving, I read several success stories. I think I read a few on MFK by doing a search. One aquariumist said he had kept them from a very young state (before their eyes had shifted and they swam like regular fish).
Like I said before, I'm pretty careful when I feed them. I unplug my filter (to reduce the water current so the food stays right in front of them). I feed the mollies at the other end of the aquarium, and then I position the food right in front of their face. I've often had them eat while on the sides of the aquarium, I use a chopstick to position the worm and I can hold it on the side right at face level. I am concerned about their nutrition since by far their primary food is earthworms (usually every other day, depending on the size of the worms). I've had them eat a few Hikari carnivore bites but they're slow with those and eventually a Molly or ghost shrimp takes it away. And bloodworms are easy for me to get them eat (since they try to eat my chopstick now).
I do really enjoy the hogchokers, especially trying to have friends find them (easy once you know what to look for) but they're pretty sedentary. I wish they would take more fry. And I was so glad once they grew enough to eat smaller earthworms and then bigger worms! When mine were little I had them in a quarantine tank. Initially I tried feeding earthworms but it was hard finding small enough worms (1 cm long). I put a huge amount of black worms in (since they were alive- could live for a while in the tank) and then I felt I didn't need to seem them eat each time because half the tank had black worms sticking out of the sand.
I ordered mine from Sach's System's Aquaculture and have loved them. One other concern- vacation. I'm planning a weeklong trip coming up. I plan to have my neighbor drop in some food but I don't expect him to carefully feed the hogchokers. I'm hoping that the fish can easily go 8 days with just snatching an occasional fry. I've gone away for a long weekend before but never a whole week. Of course, on MFK, many people say fish can easily go a week without food, but I think when they talk about long term fasting I think they may be referring to the huge fish many people on MFK keep and not the mini monsters I keep.
If your worried about dragongobies getting outcompeted by mollies just feed them by hand/forceps whatever, they should get along well with your hogchokers as they aren't very aggressive (people have kept them with bumblebee gobies) and don't pick on other fish.
As far as diversifying your hogchokers diet: I've seen hogchokers at pet stores eating little chunks of fish (shrimp and krill can also work) but it depends on what your fish will eat. U can also add guppies and sheephead minnows to produce fry for hogchokers. And finally depending on salinity u can add live brine shrimp and mysis shrimp (a refugium may help here). I would recommend 1 for your tank (your tank is big enough for even the biggest dragon fish)
Deadliestviper7- Thanks. Again, o of my problems is the mollies swarm food. I try to fed them and then immediately feed the hogchokers. Any food my hog chokers don't eat quickly will soon have mollies pecking at it. But I'll still try some of those other options.
I tried guppies (for additional fry) but all of them eventually died (I got some initially with the mollies and later tried a few more). Other live food- I can't find any store near me that sells live food (other than feeder fish and crickets). I have raised brine shrimp but the mollies got them before the hog choker had a chance.
Hopefully the hogchokers snack on the occasional young ghost shrimp too. I but a filter media sock over my filter intake to reduce the number of fry (and shrimp larvae) that made it into the filter. I got 6 live fry out one time when cleaning my filter. I'd love a sump, and hopefully I'll get one when I'm able to get my dream tank (bigger tank, with sump, tidal flow, and similar aquascaping as HX7- https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...er-paludarium-an-alternative-solution.410444/ )
I tried guppies (for additional fry) but all of them eventually died (I got some initially with the mollies and later tried a few more). Other live food- I can't find any store near me that sells live food (other than feeder fish and crickets). I have raised brine shrimp but the mollies got them before the hog choker had a chance.
Hopefully the hogchokers snack on the occasional young ghost shrimp too. I but a filter media sock over my filter intake to reduce the number of fry (and shrimp larvae) that made it into the filter. I got 6 live fry out one time when cleaning my filter. I'd love a sump, and hopefully I'll get one when I'm able to get my dream tank (bigger tank, with sump, tidal flow, and similar aquascaping as HX7- https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...er-paludarium-an-alternative-solution.410444/ )
