Lionfish Lair
Member
Lionfish Lair... Lion's Lair... Jungle.... Rhinos in the jungle. Ok, I never claimed to be successfully witty.
As requested in another thread.... a little about the Rhinopias family.
Rhinos are considered the Holy Grail fish by many. They have become more accessible to hobbyists and the prices have come down in recent years, making hobbyists turn their heads. When we saw our first specimen, we were speechless. We went home and discussed it because we had never dropped that hind of maney on a fish. We had to go get it and were giggling for days.
As seen in another thread, the Rhinopias frondosa.
He thinks he's in stealth mode. The frondoas generally command a higher price than the other Rhino, Rhinopias eschmeyeri. This second fish we picked up at the same store about a month later. A little haggling with cash and this baby came come with us.
They are easy to differentiate by the look of their dorsal fin. The frondosa to the left has deep incisions while the eschy has a smooth appearance.
There's no special considerations for filtration. Two of mine were in a tank that had a sump with rubble rock and that was it. The juvie is in a 28g nano-cube. But they won't be in there forever. If one could swing a protein skimmer, that would be golden.
It depends on your definition of "Reef Safe" as to which category this guy will fall into. They will eat shrimp and crabs, will not touch snails and other similar inverts or corals. Their food has to scurry or swim. They will eat other fish that fit into their mouths, but they are not the bullies they get the bad rap of being. They are very docile. My husband shoes them gently out of the way during tank maintenance and they will even eat from your hand. While I'm talking about handfeeding. Don't do it. It's not due to the risks upon feeding them, but an issue of being pestered during cleaning sessions. If your fingers = food, you will not get your work done without him getting too close. But recognize when it's time to get your hand out of the tank. This rhino looks just like its land version, as they put their heads down and their pointies forward.
We keep the tank temps about 76. We use a chiller to keep it a nice even temperature. You give a little more consideration to all the "little" things due to the price alone. When there is an earthquake, I run to the frondosa, no joke.
Make sure you have clean up critters that will take care of some of the detritus. Detritus encourages amphipod growth and too many can be an irritant to the fish as they like to crawl up... yup... the anus!
Feed them a huge variety of fish from the market. That way they are sure to get everything and not too much of any one thing, If you pack your silversides with vitamins, you'll encourage their continued good health. I use Beta Glucan, powered spirulina, and powered astaxanthin. Aquaculture grade Beta Glucan is so superior to the stuff bought off the shelves. In the video below you will see that I once used the human grade supplement. I have switched to the aquaculture grade and I love it. I buy it here, Seahorse SourceHow do you stuff a fish? Watch the video below.
[video=youtube;EOJdDlHD_mY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOJdDlHD_mY[/video]
The angle of a fishes mouth is usually a good indicater of what they like to eat. The Rhinos mouth is turned upward, so one would assume they prefer piscine over shrimp. But they'll really eat anything. make sure you get them stick trained. Unless you have an awesome arrangements of live foods, you won't be able to give him what he needs.
[video=youtube;zR6PPY8qVnA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR6PPY8qVnA[/video]
Stung bu a Rhino.....
1) Would you immediately know what to do?
2) If not, do you know where to go get the information immediately? Even if your computer was down?
3) Is your local Emergency Room in a small inland community? Would they even know what to do with you?
The answers to the above questions should answer the next one....... are you prepared if you get stung?
Our next project is to put together a little guide to help you become prepared. But that won't help if you get stung between now and then.
1) immersion of the affected area in hot water (114°F) for 20 up to 90 minutes, or until the pain subsides. Please, don't use scalding-hot water, as the resulting burn will likely do more damage than the venom. To ensure the proper temperature have a cooking thermometer on hand.
2) Write that temperature onto a piece of paper and keep it in a designated drawer along with a thermometer that can measure that high..
3) Throw a copy of the paper in your glove compartment. You'll be surprised how fast you'll forget three simple number - 911 - when you've been "hit". And you'll be surprised at what ERs are not aware of the optimal temperature, especially those that are inland. The preparedness guide I spoke of earlier will have a guide for them as well. But it never hurts to ask ahead of time what their experiences have been and how prepared they are, especially for those of keeping wasps, stingfish and stoneys.
*cough*This is not a substitute for medical attention. You may want to seek out medical care for other issues that can arise aside from the venom itself, like retention of spine particles or infection.*cough*
Ok, I think that's it. They are not a difficult fish to care for, but make sure you get the basics down first. This is not the fish to learn on. They can be $600 and more!
As requested in another thread.... a little about the Rhinopias family.
Rhinos are considered the Holy Grail fish by many. They have become more accessible to hobbyists and the prices have come down in recent years, making hobbyists turn their heads. When we saw our first specimen, we were speechless. We went home and discussed it because we had never dropped that hind of maney on a fish. We had to go get it and were giggling for days.
As seen in another thread, the Rhinopias frondosa.
He thinks he's in stealth mode. The frondoas generally command a higher price than the other Rhino, Rhinopias eschmeyeri. This second fish we picked up at the same store about a month later. A little haggling with cash and this baby came come with us.
They are easy to differentiate by the look of their dorsal fin. The frondosa to the left has deep incisions while the eschy has a smooth appearance.
There's no special considerations for filtration. Two of mine were in a tank that had a sump with rubble rock and that was it. The juvie is in a 28g nano-cube. But they won't be in there forever. If one could swing a protein skimmer, that would be golden.
It depends on your definition of "Reef Safe" as to which category this guy will fall into. They will eat shrimp and crabs, will not touch snails and other similar inverts or corals. Their food has to scurry or swim. They will eat other fish that fit into their mouths, but they are not the bullies they get the bad rap of being. They are very docile. My husband shoes them gently out of the way during tank maintenance and they will even eat from your hand. While I'm talking about handfeeding. Don't do it. It's not due to the risks upon feeding them, but an issue of being pestered during cleaning sessions. If your fingers = food, you will not get your work done without him getting too close. But recognize when it's time to get your hand out of the tank. This rhino looks just like its land version, as they put their heads down and their pointies forward.
We keep the tank temps about 76. We use a chiller to keep it a nice even temperature. You give a little more consideration to all the "little" things due to the price alone. When there is an earthquake, I run to the frondosa, no joke.
Make sure you have clean up critters that will take care of some of the detritus. Detritus encourages amphipod growth and too many can be an irritant to the fish as they like to crawl up... yup... the anus!
Feed them a huge variety of fish from the market. That way they are sure to get everything and not too much of any one thing, If you pack your silversides with vitamins, you'll encourage their continued good health. I use Beta Glucan, powered spirulina, and powered astaxanthin. Aquaculture grade Beta Glucan is so superior to the stuff bought off the shelves. In the video below you will see that I once used the human grade supplement. I have switched to the aquaculture grade and I love it. I buy it here, Seahorse SourceHow do you stuff a fish? Watch the video below.
[video=youtube;EOJdDlHD_mY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOJdDlHD_mY[/video]
The angle of a fishes mouth is usually a good indicater of what they like to eat. The Rhinos mouth is turned upward, so one would assume they prefer piscine over shrimp. But they'll really eat anything. make sure you get them stick trained. Unless you have an awesome arrangements of live foods, you won't be able to give him what he needs.
[video=youtube;zR6PPY8qVnA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR6PPY8qVnA[/video]
Stung bu a Rhino.....
1) Would you immediately know what to do?
2) If not, do you know where to go get the information immediately? Even if your computer was down?
3) Is your local Emergency Room in a small inland community? Would they even know what to do with you?
The answers to the above questions should answer the next one....... are you prepared if you get stung?
Our next project is to put together a little guide to help you become prepared. But that won't help if you get stung between now and then.
1) immersion of the affected area in hot water (114°F) for 20 up to 90 minutes, or until the pain subsides. Please, don't use scalding-hot water, as the resulting burn will likely do more damage than the venom. To ensure the proper temperature have a cooking thermometer on hand.
2) Write that temperature onto a piece of paper and keep it in a designated drawer along with a thermometer that can measure that high..
3) Throw a copy of the paper in your glove compartment. You'll be surprised how fast you'll forget three simple number - 911 - when you've been "hit". And you'll be surprised at what ERs are not aware of the optimal temperature, especially those that are inland. The preparedness guide I spoke of earlier will have a guide for them as well. But it never hurts to ask ahead of time what their experiences have been and how prepared they are, especially for those of keeping wasps, stingfish and stoneys.
*cough*This is not a substitute for medical attention. You may want to seek out medical care for other issues that can arise aside from the venom itself, like retention of spine particles or infection.*cough*
Ok, I think that's it. They are not a difficult fish to care for, but make sure you get the basics down first. This is not the fish to learn on. They can be $600 and more!
