Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, and wanted to say hello and also ask a few questions

Im not new to fish, as I have kept sevral south american tanks, a reef tank, and a few coldwater tanks. I'm from maryland, and upon some recent research, I've decided to do a native tank.

The main fish I'm interested in is Opsanus Tau. (Atlantic Toadfish)

Now, I would rather not take one from the wild, as I'm not sure on their population numbers, and many fisherman kill them if they hook one.

I have been unable to locate them online, despite my efforts. So I was refered to this forum, by a friend who is a marine biologist.

Thanks!

Now, I would rather not take one from the wild, as I'm not sure on their population numbers...

You don't really have to worry about their population numbers. Here is a map from fishbase.org of its distribution: http://www.aquamaps....c_Fis-24841.jpg
It ranges all along the gulf coast and all up the eastern side of the US. It's doing pretty well. So you shouldn't feel guilty about removing one or two from the wild. That is quite an impressive distribution range.

...and many fisherman kill them if they hook one.

Hooking fish isn't the only way to catch them. Lots of scientific papers have been published where the people go out and collect the fish for the lab. These people have first hand experience with capturing Opsanus tau in a manner that keeps it alive. For example, in the paper Acoustical properties of the swimbladder in the oyster toadfish Opsanus tau, free to read here: http://jeb.biologist...12/21/3542.long the authors went out and captured the fish. The nice thing about scientific papers is it lists the authors, which in this case were Michael L. Fine, Charles B. King, and Timothy M. Cameron. Mr. Fine's e-mail address is listed as being mlfine@vcu.edu which is probably still good since the paper was published in 2009.
Here's a second paper where Ed Enos is the person listed as knowing how to "provide us with healthy, locally caught animals". http://jeb.biologist...12/10/1483.long Now that's someone I'd want to talk to, if I wanted to know how to capture Opsanus tau alive. It wouldn't hurt to e-mail Peggy L. Edds-Walton at her listed contact information, plewalton@yahoo.com, and ask for more information. She could probably at least give you the contact information for Ed Enos.

Because Opsanus tau is used in so many experiments, there are bound to be tons of people who are experts in either buying or collecting them. All you have to do is a google scholar or a pubmed search to find papers (and authors) about Opsanus tau. They might even have the collection technique right there in the materials and methods section. At the very least you'll have someone to talk to who has captured Opsanus tau in a way that left it alive long enough to do experiments on. Then once you know how, you can go out and collect your own.

This forum is a good resource, so maybe someone here has captured some Opsanus tau. That's kind of an oddball fish though. But even if one of us haven't caught the fish ourselves, there are definitely people here who can help you with net techniques, once you learn which one you're using. And I, although I'm not so experienced at catching fish, can listen to your ideas about the logistics of trying to keep a foot long fish happy in the home aquarium. Did you know that Opsanus tau has been bred in captivity? You might be interested in reading The Saltwater Aquarium in the Home - 4th edition by Robert P.L. Straughan and, perhaps through interlibrary loan, Schumann, B. 1969 Rearing marine fish larvae. Salt Water Aquar. Mag. 5(5):1-10.. Very neat.

Update:
I found some that were for sale back in 2006. The Marine Resources Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusettes had them in their catalog: http://www.mbl.edu/m...log/catalog.php
They breed their own, too, so that would satisfy your desire not to catch one.

Edited by EricaWieser, 14 February 2012 - 03:55 PM.

I wouldn't too much about removing one or two from nature, most bays along the Atlantic coast are loaded with them. We used to keep them in aquaria during summer ecology classes at the Nantucket Field Station, they're not particular about eating anything meaty. Certainly you wouldn't want to keep them with anything smaller. Having said that, I don't have any....

Thank you for your thourough response! I have contacted the MBL.

yay
Please keep us updated on how it goes. I've never seen a picture of an Opsanus tau aquarium.

Remember to watch your fingers. They have some nice teeth and really strong jaws. They also have some spines on the upper opercal. They seemed to adapt to aquarium life very well, although I nevet tried to get them to eat anything other than natural foods like fresh shrimp.