[Reefcherie]

I suppose there are only a handful of people that will appreciate my sadness in reporting that I had to euthanize my frogfish, Fuggly (my avatar), early this morning. It was time. He started exhibiting buoyancy control problems about a week ago. I had hope since he ate a live marine shrimp as recently as this past weekend. I thought he might come around, but he continued to go downhill.

I got this frogfish as a 1.5” juvenile (see the first page of this thread before it split), just under 2.5 years ago. He never would take anything but live food, so he’s always gotten marine feeder fish or marine shrimp – who were in turn quarantined (the fish) and fed the best marine fish food. I don’t know how much that had to do with the length of time I was able to keep him (or her – I never knew). I don’t think we know much about their longevity in the wild, but 2.5 years seems to be more than most in captivity.

At any rate, I’ll miss this fish with all the color changes, watching him stalk his prey and his preference for hanging upside down from his refugium home. I’m fascinated w/ these fish, so I will look for another one soon.