Paracentropogon zonatus 1st impressions

Terrapod

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Habong
aka pygmy red rooster waspfish, red bandtail waspfish. I know I said I was finished with new additions, these had been on my list for a couple of years and this trio was at a lfs, so i picked them up. I have seen questions regarding these guys from time to time, and frustratingly no one ever gives a follow up report on how they made out. I definitely believe these guys have a very high mortality rate. So far they have been very challenging to feed. These would definitely be recommended for an advanced hobbyist or someone really willing to put the effort in.

They are scorpionfish, so I opted to not use any medication at all, that also means no prazi pro or general cure. I have never successfully used any med on a scorpionfish, every time I had to remove the meds due to stress and breathing difficulties. The 2 scorps that did survive treatment died very shortly afterwards, one I had for over a year and his tankmate needed the meds. Like all scorps this will mean risking the chance of internal parasites.

They've shown no interest in dead food; brine, mysis, artic pods, reef cavier. They also show no interest in live brine shrimp. Oh yeah, these guys are tiny, about 3/4". Full size is between 2 and 2.5", These guys seem like they would right at home in a nano, 10 to 14g. So far they have been strictly bottom travelers, tucked under a ledge and just scooting over slightly elevated rocks. The male has tended to be more adventurous, even venturing into the open sand flats. They are spending most of their time in solitary, while the females have not hung out at all, they also have not shown any aggression toward each other. The male does seem to prefer 2(hehe), he has spent some time visiting both females. Their red and white coloring changes, either with mood or a type a camouflage.

While they have been difficult and shy to feed, they have eaten some live black worms. The male has eaten some very small guppies, while one of the females has tried to catch some ghosties, but they were too large. I ordered some amphipods/copepods from Aquarium Depot; this would be a good plan to have a tank stocked with these if you were to get a pair. I do see them as pairs on DD from time to time. One of the females has become quite personable, she lives in a cavern that I can barely see her, when I walk up to tank, she scoots right over the rocks and comes up me. She comes up eat the worms from tongs, it's very cure.

These guys are adorable but the verdict is out on my overall opinion. It's only been a week, and this is my 1st impressions. I'll do some follow up as they mature in their new home. Here;s some pics, 1st pic is the male, notice the spikes of dorsal fin compared to the 2nd pic, a female.
007.jpg
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024.jpg
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The same issues. I got one over a month ago, and he wouldn't feed on anything in the sump for a week, so I put him in the display, didn't see him again and feared the worst.

Yesterday I picked up two more, after watching them feed on small live ghost shrimp in the store.

They are now in the sump, sitting very still, but surrounded live feeder ghost. One aggressively took a shrimp last night, but I still think they are nocturnal, so feeding at night is probably what they are at.

Then tonight I spotted the original wasp under a Goni, watching me feed his cousins in the sump below.

I tried putting some frozen mysis Infront of him, and he didn't flinch. I am shocked he is still alive, but pleased as he seems to be finding some food...
 
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Habong
The same issues. I got one over a month ago, and he wouldn't feed on anything in the sump for a week, so I put him in the display, didn't see him again and feared the worst.

Yesterday I picked up two more, after watching them feed on small live ghost shrimp in the store.

They are now in the sump, sitting very still, but surrounded live feeder ghost. One aggressively took a shrimp last night, but I still think they are nocturnal, so feeding at night is probably what they are at.

Then tonight I spotted the original wasp under a Goni, watching me feed his cousins in the sump below.

I tried putting some frozen mysis Infront of him, and he didn't flinch. I am shocked he is still alive, but pleased as he seems to be finding some food...


If you read through the entire thread you'll see these guys do end up being easy to care for, if you are willing to target feed and like a more reclusive, cryptic fish.
 

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Habong
The same issues. I got one over a month ago, and he wouldn't feed on anything in the sump for a week, so I put him in the display, didn't see him again and feared the worst.

Yesterday I picked up two more, after watching them feed on small live ghost shrimp in the store.



They are now in the sump, sitting very sti, but surrounded live feeder ghost. One aggressively took a shrimp last night, but I still think they are nocturnal, so feeding at night is probably what they are at.

Then tonight I spotted the original wasp under a Goni, watching me feed his cousins in the sump below.

I tried putting some frozen mysis Infront of him, and he didn't flinch. I am shocked he is still alive, but pleased as he seems to be finding some food...

They eat pods so he is probably living off that.
 

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@Loganberry yes that's a female. What's the tank she's going in, size and tank mates.
Thank you, she is currently in a 64 gallon system, just a few fish and shrimp, very reclusive but is feeding, so far iv fed her frozen mysis and live brine shrimp, easy to find as my marco rock is still clean ish. So im able to target feed wherever she is, as she moves new location over night, although today strangly i just cant find her.
I have sent you a PM about a different species.
Thanks again for your repky.
 

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Anyone knows the lifespan of these fish?

I have a couple in a 200 gallon tank and they're easy to find when it's feeding time. They are not shy at all during feeding.

Unfortunately the female has been egg bound for at least 8 months but she remains lively (for wasp standards).

One of my heraldi angels confuses them with cleaner shrimp and it annoys the wasps.

Are they big enough to be safe with dwarf lions?
 
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Anyone knows the lifespan of these fish?

I have a couple in a 200 gallon tank and they're easy to find when it's feeding time. They are not shy at all during feeding.

Unfortunately the female has been egg bound for at least 8 months but she remains lively (for wasp standards).

One of my heraldi angels confuses them with cleaner shrimp and it annoys the wasps.

Are they big enough to be safe with dwarf lions?

I'm not sure about the lifespan, I've heard reports of as long as 4 years, but 1 to 2 years seem more common; that is in captivity. I haven't been able to find their lifespan in the wild. Scorpionfish as a whole have a lifespan 10-15 years in the wild. The low number in captivity I would think has to do with nutritional deficiencies. What a fish will eat and what a fish needs, is 2 different things.

I have my 3 with a small fuzzy now, he's actually about 4" now. The little wasp are still under 2". The fuzzy eats live ghosties, guppies and very small mollies if I have them. I believe he could eat them if he wanted to. I would say the lion grew 1" in the last 3 months and the little ones have doubled in size. I was very nervous when I first put them in, I believe it is definitely a risk. I originally had another tank set up fro them, but it took me a year to find them, by that time I broke down the other tank, and this was the only spot available. My other fuzzy is 5" and 3 fingers thick, he's alot more aggressive and would put them down in a heartbeat. So I think it's 50/50, depending on the size and aggression of the lion. While I feel somewhat safe now, I still wouldn't be surprised.
 
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Ardeus

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Thanks a lot for the info.

Mine should be close to 2 years old now and I was a bit afraid of having them with marine bettas, but they can't eat them now, especially with the female being egg bound.

Do you have any idea about their breeding behavior? I see the belly of the female vary a lot so I am not sure what's happening between the 2.
 
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Thanks a lot for the info.

Mine should be close to 2 years old now and I was a bit afraid of having them with marine bettas, but they can't eat them now, especially with the female being egg bound.

Do you have any idea about their breeding behavior? I see the belly of the female vary a lot so I am not sure what's happening between the 2.

I'm not sure about the breeding, i've never heard of any reports of breeding in captivity. Most scorpionfish actually give live birth, I'm not sure about this specific species. Are you sure it's just not a fat belly from eating, their method of eating is gorge/fast. Mine gets huge bellies because sometimes they will go days between eating, and then just gorge themselves silly.
 

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I had no idea that they could be live bearers.

Here they are. The male looks normal.



I have tried putting her in the refugium and not feed her for 3 weeks. I was trying to persuade her organism to resorb the eggs. Her belly was slightly smaller at the end of the 3 weeks, but I guess she was hunting pods the whole time.
 
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I had no idea that they could be live bearers.

Here they are. The male looks normal.



I have tried putting her in the refugium and not feed her for 3 weeks. I was trying to persuade her organism to resorb the eggs. Her belly was slightly smaller at the end of the 3 weeks, but I guess she was hunting pods the whole time.


Omg, that is a huge belly. More than I expected, I would have thought the same thing as you. How long has it been that way? I would have been worried. I'm at a loss, I don't think that is completely normal. If there was a blockage, she wouldn't make it more than a couple weeks.
 

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She's been like this at least since last November.

It varies a little but it's always huge. I have seen her bigger than she is in this video.

I don't think there's anything I could do that wouldn't put her at risk. I could make a more controlled attempt at starving her, but it would stress her out and I don't even know if it could work.

She acts normal so I guess the best is to let her be.
 
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She's been like this at least since last November.

It varies a little but it's always huge. I have seen her bigger than she is in this video.

I don't think there's anything I could do that wouldn't put her at risk. I could make a more controlled attempt at starving her, but it would stress her out and I don't even know if it could work.

She acts normal so I guess the best is to let her be.


If she has been like that since Nov I don't think there is anything to be done. I have experimented with raising mg levels with my predatory fish when I thought digestion could be a problem. I'm only talking about to 1400. Since it is a reef I'm sure you are keeping your mg to reef levels.
 
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So 6 months now, they have pretty much settled in now, very cryptic, they come out when they are hungry, otherwise you have to look for them. There is no angst between any of them , I see the 2 females together as much as any of them. For the most part they appear to be more solitary than not. The white face girl is the most out going, and quickly eats from the tweezers or pipette. I still feed them pe mysis, hikari mega marine, live black worms, and I'll toss in the very small ghosties that are too small for my lions. They are a solid 2" plus and fat, so more than doubled in size in 6 months.

20200802_220814.jpg
 
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I've seen quite a bit of interest in these guys lately, so I thought I would give some final thoughts. 1st, what interest do you have in these fish; is it just because they are small and cute, venomous, or little predators. Other than my one large community tank I only keep predators and feed live food, I wanted a small tank in my bedroom and wanted these guys because they fit a small tank. Their appeal for me is that they are predators and they are small. If small and cute is your intertest, and not being a predator, there may be other fish that would fit your bill better, like a red dragonette. For the most part these guys are pretty boring.

Even though these guys will eat dead food, they do need to be target fed. Most people don't keep them that long, as much as what anyone says, I will bet it is because of feeding challenges. If you are looking for a small predator that will fit at least a 30g; the Hawaiian leaf fish, yellow spot scorp, and Caribbean scorp are all much more interesting choices. Without the venomous predator angle I wouldn't go out of my way to acquire these guys.

The pic below is my white face girl, she's awesome. She is a great aggressive hunter and somewhat social, as you can see her palling around with the leaf fish.


20201024_185929.jpg
 
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LV_Luxury

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aka pygmy red rooster waspfish, red bandtail waspfish. I know I said I was finished with new additions, these had been on my list for a couple of years and this trio was at a lfs, so i picked them up. I have seen questions regarding these guys from time to time, and frustratingly no one ever gives a follow up report on how they made out. I definitely believe these guys have a very high mortality rate. So far they have been very challenging to feed. These would definitely be recommended for an advanced hobbyist or someone really willing to put the effort in.

They are scorpionfish, so I opted to not use any medication at all, that also means no prazi pro or general cure. I have never successfully used any med on a scorpionfish, every time I had to remove the meds due to stress and breathing difficulties. The 2 scorps that did survive treatment died very shortly afterwards, one I had for over a year and his tankmate needed the meds. Like all scorps this will mean risking the chance of internal parasites.

They've shown no interest in dead food; brine, mysis, artic pods, reef cavier. They also show no interest in live brine shrimp. Oh yeah, these guys are tiny, about 3/4". Full size is between 2 and 2.5", These guys seem like they would right at home in a nano, 10 to 14g. So far they have been strictly bottom travelers, tucked under a ledge and just scooting over slightly elevated rocks. The male has tended to be more adventurous, even venturing into the open sand flats. They are spending most of their time in solitary, while the females have not hung out at all, they also have not shown any aggression toward each other. The male does seem to prefer 2(hehe), he has spent some time visiting both females. Their red and white coloring changes, either with mood or a type a camouflage.

While they have been difficult and shy to feed, they have eaten some live black worms. The male has eaten some very small guppies, while one of the females has tried to catch some ghosties, but they were too large. I ordered some amphipods/copepods from Aquarium Depot; this would be a good plan to have a tank stocked with these if you were to get a pair. I do see them as pairs on DD from time to time. One of the females has become quite personable, she lives in a cavern that I can barely see her, when I walk up to tank, she scoots right over the rocks and comes up me. She comes up eat the worms from tongs, it's very cure.

These guys are adorable but the verdict is out on my overall opinion. It's only been a week, and this is my 1st impressions. I'll do some follow up as they mature in their new home. Here;s some pics, 1st pic is the male, notice the spikes of dorsal fin compared to the 2nd pic, a female.
007.jpg
008.jpg
009.jpg
024.jpg
026.jpg
Old thread but mah I ask where you purchased the?
 
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Old thread but mah I ask where you purchased the?

A friend runs an lfs and saw them on a wholesalers list and remembered I had mentioned wanting one, he ordered all 3 and I took them all. Ask your lfs if any of their suppliers have them available, and check back often.
 

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A friend runs an lfs and saw them on a wholesalers list and remembered I had mentioned wanting one, he ordered all 3 and I took them all. Ask your lfs if any of their suppliers have them available, and check back often.
would love to know where you go them. I would love 3. im in NJ.
 

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