It is sometimes necessary to wean this fish onto a captive diet, but patiently offering meaty chunks of seafood in front of the anglerfish with a little action or wiggle should entice the fish to eat. The anglerfish’s diet should consist of meaty table seafood such as shrimp and scallops that can be offered on a feeder stick. The wartskin anglerfish will not bother corals or most other invertebrates. The illicium suspends a lure-like device called the esca in front of the anglerfish’s mouth, and when another fish takes the bait-BAM!-the anglerfish quickly makes it a meal. This behavior is integral to its feeding method, which can only be described as “ambush.” These fish possess a specialized feeding apparatus called an illicium, which is really a modified spine. Growing to about six inches, the wartskin anglerfish will camouflage itself by changing colors to match its surroundings. The wartskin angler possesses many namesake wartlike protuberances and ranges widely in color. Collected throughout the Indo-West Pacific from the Maldives and Mauritius to Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, this tropical, reef-associated fish is a favorite at the public aquarium, but it can also be kept with relative ease in the home aquarium. The wartskin anglerfish is a fascinating fish appropriate for the intermediate aquarist with either a reef or a FOWLR tank (so long as smaller fishes are not present). Clown, Warty Frogfish, Wartsikin Frogfish, Wartskin Angler
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