Panther/Polkadot grouper info

[Ben1]

Looking for info on this fish.
Growth max size and speed.
Acceptable tank mates
Min. Tank size to keep happy
any other usefull info. Thanks Ben

 

[scottwhite36]

Hey how is everyone doing? I was wondering if anyone could email me some information on coral reefs in general, i am doing research on how coral effects land masses for my college biology class. If you could send any information you can to [email protected]

 

[fishfarmer]

I had one in a cramped FO a long time ago. My grouper was about 4" and was housed with similar sized fishes: rainbow wrasse, yellow tang, and picasso trigger. It wasn't an agressive fish and never got picked on. It is a secretive fish. It ate Formula One and clam meat. I've read they can get up to two feet.

 

[Anonymous]

Panther Groupers are the Oscars of salt water tanks if you familiar with frsh water. Thay can easily get up to a foot long or more. They turn a muddy brown color. Will eat anything they can get in there mouth. Need a least a 55. 75 would be better. Depends on if you want to keep anything else with it.

Glenn

[ September 22, 2001: Message edited by: Rover ]

 

[Ben1]

a 2' fish in a 4' tank (55gal-75gal) seems small to me. I am moving up to a 150 reef soon and want one for my reef. Fishbase.org has them in at 70 cm and staying the same color as they grow, just with more smaller spots. I was looking for more detailed info though. Any one? TIA

 

[JennM]

According to Scott Micheal's book they get to be 27" long and minimum aquarium size is 180 gallons.

I don't know how long it takes to grow that large, but I've seen small ones, 2-3" and they are big eaters. They WILL eat anything that will fit into their mouth, and in the case of another species of grouper we had at work, it was tiny, only about 2" long, it ate a longer but skinnier tankmate. Took 2 days for the tail to be swallowed....was one of the weirder things I've seen!

NOT recommended for reefs, they will also eat ornamental crustaceans.

Very cool fish though....

Jenn

 

[bowfront]

They are neat fish when small but as mentioned are voratious eaters and relatively fast growers. Your 150g will be ok for a while but don't expect to keep smaller fish with it after it starts getting larger. I wouldn't consider one in a tank much smaller than your new one. When they get too big no one wants them.

I once saw one that was speared by a commercial diver here in FL that someone had probably released back into the wild. This quy knew his local fish and kept seeing this "wierd looking grouper" out on one of his patch reefs. One day he decided to shot it to see if anyone could id it. Sure enough it was a foot and half long panther grouper.

 

[davelin315]

Panther groupers start out as small white fish with the bright dots on them. They are very beautiful and can look very enticing. HOWEVER, they grow very quickly, turn very butt ugly (coloration goes from a bright pure white to a dull brown-gray color, and the spots go from being vibrant to looking like dirt spots). They will grow very large, and they will eat anything that they can fit in their mouths, and will try and eat whatever they can't fit in their mouths. Don't get one, you'll regret it. By the way, check out this link.
http://www.seafoodol.com.au/the-fishes.shtm ]Panther Groupers - the new Chicken of the Sea?[/URL]

[ September 24, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]

 

[hurrifan]

While I understand that a panther grouper is a fast growing fish, isn't their growth somewhat limited by their envirnoment? Specifically, there is a direct nexus between the size of tank the fish is and the size he will ultimately acheive. Is this a flawed theory?

 

[fishfarmer]

Cool link, davelin!

Hurrifan, They are limited by their environment, but not tank size. If they are 'stunted' in a particular tank, then I believe factors such as overcrowding, inadequate feeding, poor water quality, etc. are attributing to this condition.

 

[davelin315]

Panther Groupers will definitely outgrow your tank. They seem to like lying around eating tank mates, and also, not having to actively chase food around. It'll overgrow your tank as you sit there thinking "the tank will stunt its growth". Won't happen, sorry. As long as you feed it, it'll keep on growing.

 

[JennM]

That notion that a fish will 'only grow to its environment' is a mostly a myth. Most fish (if not all?) continue to grow all their lives. If we STUNT fish by constricting them in small containes, the resulting tissue damage from the stunting will cause disease and premature death. They will continue to grow, but at a severely reduced rate, and it causes a great strain on their bodily systems. The fish deserve better than that IMO.

Jenn

 

[henkelsfamily1]

You must not like any of the other fish in your tank. It will eat anything and everything and is a ***** top catch when you finnaly see the light. Please stay away from this fish.

Walter

 

[gazpep]

They are very enticing and cute looking when young and you'll often see them at LFS when about 3 inches long when they are a bright white colour with black polkadots. I've found them to be fast growing and pretty easy to tame...the last one I had would come up to my fingers and snatch pieces of krill.

They'd be OK in a large tank with the bigger fish such as wrasse and triggers but not anything small enough to be eaten.