Aiptasia and Filefish

[smartin]

Those of you that have used an aiptasia eating filefish to take care of aiptasia, do they only go after the small aiptasia or will they eat them all?

I purchased a very small aiptasia eating filefish (about the size of a quarter) about a month ago and just recently saw it pecking at some smaller aiptasia. For now it seems more interested in pods but will occasionally peck at the smaller aiptasia and is just pecking at them not really eating them.

 

[reefz]

I know most/some filefish will eat aiptasia, but peppermint shrimp is probably the best approach. I had a huge aiptasia problem last year. I bought 20 of them, and they ate all of it in 2 weeks.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Mine doesn't touch aiptasia, and that's irresepctive of the age of the polyps. It does like to munch on all sort of softies, though.

 

[alysak6075]

i've had a filefish that started after the aptaisias after about 6 months, it went after all of them, large or small.
It died from old age.
A year later aptasias started popping up again, got another filefish, it started after them immediately, goes after small and large too.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Leather matte filefish is the one you want for aptasia

 

[davidcalgary29]

Leather matte filefish is the one you want for aptasia

That's what I have. But I firmly believe that they have to be wild-caught; captive-bred speciments either don't know that they're food or realize that frozen foods are much more nutritionally-rewarding.

 

[vetteguy53081]

That's what I have. But I firmly believe that they have to be wild-caught; captive-bred speciments either don't know that they're food or realize that frozen foods are much more nutritionally-rewarding.

You can train it to focus on aptasia. Introduce it to live or frozen balckworms. After several feedings, drop some blackworms on the aptasia and it will go after the blackworms and aptasia

 

[davidcalgary29]

You can train it to focus on aptasia. Introduce it to live or frozen balckworms. After several feedings, drop some blackworms on the aptasia and it will go after the blackworms and aptasia

Tragically, they don't seem to be available in Canada right now. I had a supplier in Calgary when I had a tank fifteen years ago, but no one seems to be cultivating them.

I feed my filefish grindal worms once a day. They apparently don't help in aiptasia-eating.

 

[smartin]

Thanks for all the input. I am not sure which one I have. It was labeled as aiptasia eating file fish. I will attach a pic below. As for the peppermint shrimp. I bought several but only one survived. It rarely ventures out from its cave so all around the entrance of its cave is slowly clearing out but that is it.

 

[austibella]

Here is my guy he was wild caught in south Florida caught in the shrimp net cleaned my tank .no more aptasia. he hid for a few days. But he is not shy anymore.he is about 3 yrs old now He is the first to grab food and follows me looking for more.he also was very small when i got him..but grew really fast he is pretty big and fat now. And he changes color to match the surroundings when he is on the bottom near crush coral he looks spotted just like crushed coral.its pretty cool. .sometimes he has spots or he is gray or almost white or yellow depending on the lights changing boy does he have Sharp teeth. He does nip at my hand sometimes thinking its food.never messed with any corals. Its best while in quarentine to put a rock with aptasia on it. Then they are already eating it before he goes into the main tank, but being wild caught he probably already was eating it.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

In my experience, they generally start out with the smaller anemones and eventually work their way through the bigger ones once the small ones are gone.

Not an overnight process, for sure.

 

[Lylelovett]

In my experience, they generally start out with the smaller anemones and eventually work their way through the bigger ones once the small ones are gone.

Not an overnight process, for sure.

I've had my filefish only a short time to help with some aiptasia, along with the peppermint shrimp. It's just up to 1.5" long right now and It's cleaned up most the of the smaller/mid-sized aitpasia but hasn't tackle the bigger ones yet.

That aside, I love this little guy/girl/they. :) It's such a nice change of look and attitude and feeling from the other zippy-fish (clown, wrasse, chromis, etc). I really love it.

 

[Uncle99]

F-Aptasia was easier for me.
Just had to be persistent.

 

[Auquanut]

That's a good-looking filefish you have there. I added one matted filefish to my 125 a couple of years ago. The peppermint shrimp I had seemed to keep the aptaisia from getting out of hand but wouldn't touch the larger ones. It took several months for Punkin to get a taste for these tank terrors, but when he did, he wiped them out in short order. Haven't seen one since. A lot of folks say that filefish are shy, and only come out at night. Punkin is always out, and the first to come see me when I walk up to the tank. Even pecks my fingers at dinner time. Kinda love this guy.

 

[Mical]

I have filefish in both of my tanks. At first they'll nibble at aiptasia but once they get a taste... they'll mow it down. Mine took almost 2 weeks to completely eliminate it completely in display(s). I still have some in sumps that on occasion will scrape & give them a treat.

 

[DonkeyDiesel]

i've had a filefish that started after the aptaisias after about 6 months, it went after all of them, large or small.
It died from old age.
A year later aptasias started popping up again, got another filefish, it started after them immediately, goes after small and large too.

What about your coral? Has it nipped at those.

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

I have had one for 3 years. Doesn’t touch aptasia, but thankfully doesn’t touch coral either.

 

[mattdg]

In my experience, they will eat all size of aiptasia, once they reach 2.5 - 3" and have acclimated and learned that the aiptasia is food for them. It does usually take some time. I have had them hang out in my tank for 2-3 months before going after them. Also, be certain you have studied the details of what an AEFF looks like, before you purchase. Many non AEFF are being sold and mis represented. There are variants that look very similar. IMO, they are better candidates for a high energy reef, such as mixed for SPS, since they can deal more easily with aggressive tankmates and tend to live longer than peppermint shrimp. At least in my experience. That said, I have larger fish that likely pick off the shrimp, though even in my non fish systems the peppermints seem to eventually disappear.

Two more things.

Better to purchase small and young and grow them out in a sump or reef with no fish. File fish are not exactly long lived, compared to other fish like some damsels and tangs, so starting young will give you time to acclimate, train them on aiptasia and you will have them around for longer.

If they are not taking to aiptasia, feed less frequently for awhile. This might mean moving them to a system with aiptasia, but no other fish. They will figure it out quick.

One of the best worker fish available and will always keep one in each of my systems.