JustTheGirlfriend
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- Joined
- Apr 9, 2020
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Hey all, I got my boyfriend a saltwater tank for his birthday last month as he's been missing his old one for years now. He's experienced with saltwater tanks and loves to nerd out on anything saltwater aquarium related. The tank I bought was used and came with 2 aiptasia eating filefish. We don't have any aiptasia in the tank currently, so we keep them well fed and they've been great since we've had them (despite breaking my heart and finding a small snail to snack on every now and then).
But now, all of the sudden, staring yesterday, the bigger filefish started going dormant. She (I think it's a she) hunkers down to where she holds place either in the sand or against a rock with her nose/mouth and just stays there. Breathing appears normal. Only to move every once in a while to a new spot, always low in the tank. This one was the most active when we first got the tank and seemed to be the dominant fish over the other one (though never outrageously aggressive to the smaller filefish, would just give it a poke to get out of its way once in a while and that's it). We checked the water parameters several times yesterday and everything appears within the normal range. We did a 10g water change to be safe though yesterday anyway. No progress with the filefish's activity today though.
My boyfriend thinks it may be pregnant (though the smaller filefish looks female too..) or just taking a break as we can't figure out anything that could be causing her stress or illness since everyone else in the tank are healthy. None of the other livestock is picking on this now dormant filefish, she still holds her ground if the smaller filefish is in "her space" for too long, and when she does swim to a new location it seems like a normal straight swim to her next resting spot.
Has anyone ever experienced this with their filefish?? Any ideas what could be wrong with her, or is this normal?? I've taken a few crummy pics for comparison as I noticed her butt seemingly bubbly compared to the smaller one's this morning. The second pic is our smaller/healthy filefish, and as you can see even the goby isn't picking on her while she's resting in his sand, so that's a good sign, right?
But now, all of the sudden, staring yesterday, the bigger filefish started going dormant. She (I think it's a she) hunkers down to where she holds place either in the sand or against a rock with her nose/mouth and just stays there. Breathing appears normal. Only to move every once in a while to a new spot, always low in the tank. This one was the most active when we first got the tank and seemed to be the dominant fish over the other one (though never outrageously aggressive to the smaller filefish, would just give it a poke to get out of its way once in a while and that's it). We checked the water parameters several times yesterday and everything appears within the normal range. We did a 10g water change to be safe though yesterday anyway. No progress with the filefish's activity today though.
My boyfriend thinks it may be pregnant (though the smaller filefish looks female too..) or just taking a break as we can't figure out anything that could be causing her stress or illness since everyone else in the tank are healthy. None of the other livestock is picking on this now dormant filefish, she still holds her ground if the smaller filefish is in "her space" for too long, and when she does swim to a new location it seems like a normal straight swim to her next resting spot.
Has anyone ever experienced this with their filefish?? Any ideas what could be wrong with her, or is this normal?? I've taken a few crummy pics for comparison as I noticed her butt seemingly bubbly compared to the smaller one's this morning. The second pic is our smaller/healthy filefish, and as you can see even the goby isn't picking on her while she's resting in his sand, so that's a good sign, right?
