Oysterfish?

[guitarest]

OK what am I; a Oysterfish? I'm thinking she is, caught her/him at courthouse pier and a few saltwater snails.

[Gerwin]

thats a good guess, I will go with that from the face alone

[guitarest]

Its been almost 18 hours since his introduction into the tank and he is already eating and hiding under rocks and shells. Since the smaller Gobi's and Blemmies do the same I will assume this is natural behavior. This little guy is cool, his head is almost 3/4 of a inch wide and he has visible teeth behind those gums.

So far so good....

[bluwtr]

Yep. Common name is the Gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta. Cool fish in that they will collect junk in the wild and pile it around their "home" and they have a grumpy face so they kind of look like a grump old man who hoards crap in their yard. They have been recorded up to 15 inches. Cool catch.

[Scott Allen]

That thing is awesome! It definitely looks like a neighbor I once had!

[guitarest]

Yep. Common name is the Gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta. Cool fish in that they will collect junk in the wild and pile it around their "home" and they have a grumpy face so they kind of look like a grump old man who hoards crap in their yard. They have been recorded up to 15 inches. Cool catch.

I was over at Courthouse Pier and it was low tide and I was wading in the water. I have a heavy duty net that I stick under rocks and got loads of dead leaves in the scoop. I looked it over and almost dumped it out when I heard this guy flooping around in the net, I was really excited so much that I accidently let two Pipefish go who would have been great additions to the smaller tanks. Well I am out and about in a few to get more batteries so my battery operated fish aerator so I can start the removal process of the larger fish and turn the 100gal to a small fish tank with Goby's, Bleemies, Skillet fish and this new edition. Surely these are faces only a mother could love, I have really started to enjoy smaller fish. My main interest is with Goby's and Blemmies since they have a extra added ability of being able to walk on their fins.

[Jessi84]

Yep...and watch your tankmates for mysterious disappearance...I have one...ate a catfish the same size as it is. Cool fish though...caught it on a hook at pier 49 with shrimp ...what fish is this last pic of?

...just saw your other post...this the striped blenny? I love it...also cool looking fish!

[guitarest]

Now thats the one to watch, while i was feeding the tank, everyone is eating either flake food, fish chips from Tetra or fresh cut shrimp and that lil fish the striped Blem snagged a live small shrimp and 1/4 of the shrimp hanged outside his mouth. And 10 minutes later he has a huge belly but no shrimp hanging out side his mouth...

[Bud]

Like previously mentioned, that thing will eat like a beast. Don't leave him with anything you are attached to. Good luck.

[guitarest]

Nothing in that tank that I am too attached too that he can hurt; with the Oysterfish being at almost 3 inches my Spade fish is as large as a dinner plate. My hard head Catfish is about 9 inches so no worries. I have a few small crabs and its OK to lose them; hopefully the oyster fish will get into the grove of things and start eating like the others by either taking food from my hand in the tank or off a stick for my bottom feeders. I have many rocks and large shells in the tank and sometime yesterday the oyster fish disappeared and have not seen him since noon.

[guitarest]

I tell ya this guy is quite the hider. He was visible for a few hours after he entered the tank, then he disappeared for around two days. I found him late last night he is hiding under a small reef I made by putting several oystershells vertical and putting another huge collection of shells on top. I noticed allot of sand being pushed out and then there he was all covered in sand and using his tail to blow out allot of sand.

Wish he was a little more visible within the tank.