Leaf fish

[reeferdude]

Ok, here is the story. Two weeks ago I took my son to the beach, Gaveston, TX. As anyone who has been to Galveston knows the water is gross. While at the beach my son was shaking out the seaweed to catch all the little critters that fell out. Mostly shrimp and small crabs. He ended up catching 2 fish that I had no clue what they were. They looked like small rock fish to me. He convinced me to let him put the creatures in my tank, the things we do for our children. I put the fish in and they disappeared and last night I was looking through "Splendors of the Sea" and saw a picture of the fish and they identified it as a leaf fish. Upon further reasearch I realized these will eat shrimp and crabs and are a member of the scorpionfish family. I noticed that my cleaner shrimp has vanished last night. The leaf fish is only about 1 inch and the shrimp was about 3. Could the leaf fish have eaten the cleaner that was twice his size? I do not want to kill the fish so I guess I am stuck with it so any sugestions on care and feeding? I have not been able to find them again - they blend in perfectly with the LR and don't move.

[steve1s]

Leaf fish will thrive on live animals but can be trained to take frozen foods after a bit of coaxing. Raw shrimp, krill, silver sides or other marine based meat items. You might be able to get marine feders from some places. My LFS stock's <1" yellow tail damsels 3 for $5.00.

It is more than possible that the leaf fish tried to eat the shrimp but chances are it spit it out later. Notice a bulging belly? Probably ended up being a hermit snack if the belly looks normal.

They can and will eat anything they can fit in their mouth. I have actually seen tips of fins from live fish hang outside the mouth as they stretched their bellies to accomidate it. They should not be fed more than once a week or more that can comfortabley fit in their belly. Overfeeding will result in parasite and/or bacterial stomach problems.

Cheers
Steve