Anyone have any direct experience with these? They have one at the FishBowl that I want to pick up. I know about the toxicity, and that they are not invert safe. Just curious if anyone has kept one for an extended period.
my girl’s dad has one in his tank, and he said its a pretty easy fish to take care of, but like you said they eat shrimps n stuff, so i wouldnt consider them reef safe IMO
No personal experience for many reasons.
If you are seriously looking into them check the adult size and coloration of an individual species. Often times they become less colorful and fairly large. You also run the risk that you go to drop food in the tank one day when the thing isn’t watching and stress it out and it releases toxins and kills everything.
Personally I have never thought they were suitable for home aquariums, but always good to question why and not just take peoples words for it.(research highly preferred vs. trial and error of losing a tank full of live stock) Many of the animals we keep in aquariums now were said to be impossible to keep in the past. Just have to figure out what there niche is and see if you can provide for it.
I am aware of the adult coloration, I’ve seen a few articles that suggest that their toxin is diminished once they are fed a captive diet. Basically once it makes it past the two month stage, you’re in the clear. Ever heard anything similar?
i had one for a few months, so it never got big. was pretty friendly to me and other fish. a little on the slower side, so make sure it’s getting food. never had any experience with the toxins, so i cant comment too much. i get different info depending on what im reading. i DO know (which i why i ended up moving him from my D/T) they r pretty easy to get ich. for some reason, the slightest stuff would break him out. was always simple to get rid of. they r slow, pigs, and lacking in the peripherals. so catching him for a dip took hardly any effort. but they do get ich kinda easy. hth