Gumdrop Coral Croucher question

[scubakid3]

My local LFS says a sting from one of these little guys can kill you. Is this true? Can i put one in an 8 gallon nano?

[small alien]

I'm gonna seriously doubt that. Of course anything is possible, but even with the various scorpionfishes, you're not going to die unless you have a really bad reaction. When you're thinking stung or poisoned to death, think jellies and octopus. If you would die from a sting, I don't think we'd see this fish in the hobby.

[scubakid3]

I doubted their claims, thanks. I always try to snag one from Live Aquaria but they sell quickly

[namxas]

Stonefish are the only venomous fish where deaths have been recorded, and as of the last time I checked, there were only 3 cases that ended in death. That's not to say that there haven't been any UNrecorded envenomations where the victim died...

Coral crouchers are indeed small scorpionfishes, but they're small, and have a fairly weak venom, altho I imagine getting popped would still hurt. Sorry to burst the "doom and gloom" bubble of your LFS employee.

Now, to the fish itself...they're very cryptic, and in the wild they inhabit coral heads and coral skeletons. In captivity, they may decide to take up residence in the rockwork, but they should be offered someplace "branchy" first.

As I've mentioned, they can be pretty cryptic, and depending upon where they take up residence, they may be difficult to feed (they pretty much always require target feeding).

Here's about as much as we saw our last specimen:

FNSQuNeJPhU

[Andyf30]

Quoted from liveaquaria: "the reaction may be similar to a bee sting only a little stronger." not a big deal. it would suck, but not a big deal.

[SaltwaterSensei]

I think the only way one would be fatal is if you had an allergic reaction to it, or it got infected and you're immun comprimised or something.

[bobkill]

I think the only way one would be fatal is if you had an allergic reaction to it, or it got infected and you're immun comprimised or something.

I would bump half of this statement - anaphylaxis induced via a sting could kill you but very unlikely you are allergic to said venom unless you developed a hyper sensitivity to it from a anlogus venom.

Immune comprised Situation is a sink hole with out going through the pathways of histamine and mast cells

[namxas]

Scubakid,

I left out the answer to your other question...yes, you could keep a croucher in an 8 gal nano. It might be interesting to give it a branchy coral skeleton as the "centerpiece" decoration and see if the fish will take to it. Ours preferred the rockwork tho.

FWIW, I've been keeping venomous fish for over 20 years, and have never been stung. It's all about respecting the fish and knowing where they are if your hand is in the tank, altho in some of our setups, there are venomous fish "everywhere"...fortunately, they're all pretty tame and don't get spooked easily.

Just be careful, and know what to do is you get popped (excerpt from our scorp care article):

First aid for a scorpionfish sting is immersion of the affected area in hot water (114°F) for 20 up to 90 minutes, or until the pain subsides, in order to inactivate the thermolabile components of the venom. The reason for applying heat to the wound is because some scorpionfish venom is composed of heat labile proteins, and the heat actually denatures the venom. Please, don't use scalding-hot water, as the resulting burn will likely do more damage than the venom. To ensure the proper temperature have a cooking thermometer on hand.

Don't worry, unless you happen to be allergic to the venom, or you get stung by a stonefish, your life really isn't in danger from the effects of the venom. That being said, you need to guard against secondary infection of the wound as well as make certain that there are no pieces of the spine left in the wound, which can cause infection. A tetanus booster is recommended if it is past due. To that end, you may want to seek professional medical assistance, just in case.

HTH