do foxface rabbitfish eat coral?

[Troylee]

Mine doesn’t mess with any corals… loves to eat sponges thou of all things..

 

[TimSt]

Mine doesn’t mess with any corals… loves to eat sponges thou of all things..

Yep, mine cleaned up an orange sponge that was taking over a corner of my tank.

 

[Mechano]

I tried 4 different foxface, and they all eventually picked at my trachyphyllia.

Picking / biting / nipping at any chunky meat coral is like a fighting word haha.

Just can’t trust em. Too bad they didn’t eat Xenia or Kenya tree. No no no. They go after the expensive trachys and donuts

 

[doubleshot00]

Mine nips but the corals seem to not care. I heard they eat zoas but mines never touched them.

 

[Miami Reef]

Picking / biting / nipping at any chunky meat coral is like a fighting word haha.

Just can’t trust em. Too bad they didn’t eat Xenia or Kenya tree. No no no. They go after the expensive trachys and donuts

Picking was being nice. They would continue to consume flesh until the trachy would recede and die. I’ve lost a lot of trachy’s due to foxface fish. If course I never realized it was the foxface and I would spin my wheels with testing and chemistry until I would by luck catch the fish in the act.

The foxface would hover around the trachy corals, but the nipping would be very indiscreet. Once you see it you can’t unsee it.

 

[Mechano]

Picking was being nice. They would continue to consume flesh until the trachy would recede and die. I’ve lost a lot of trachy’s due to foxface fish. If course I never realized it was the foxface and I would spin my wheels with testing and chemistry until I would by luck catch the fish in the act.

The foxface would hover around the trachy corals, but the nipping would be very indiscreet. Once you see it you can’t unsee it.

Your exact situation mirrors what happened to me yesterday. Thought it was parameters off but all other corals looked great. Then literally seen him take a bite.
Chunks out of an acantho for me and destroyed another cynarina.
Caught it in the act doing this. So my evening was spent catching the little %#^*€!

Checked the tank today and the meat corals are nice and puffed out again including the cynarina which it seemed to prefer.

Here’s my tank vid before this. The golden acantho on left side has a nice chunk bitten off it and the large cynarina on the right side , well it is no more :(

 

[Mechano]

Picking was being nice. They would continue to consume flesh until the trachy would recede and die. I’ve lost a lot of trachy’s due to foxface fish. If course I never realized it was the foxface and I would spin my wheels with testing and chemistry until I would by luck catch the fish in the act.

The foxface would hover around the trachy corals, but the nipping would be very indiscreet. Once you see it you can’t unsee it.

The acantho is missing a quarter sized chunk and the cynarina in this pic is destroyed.
The Trachy in the vid has a small bite mark but it’s in better shape.
Hopefully the acantho can recover from this.

 

[LiquidSpace]

Yes especially zoa. Having an LFS, I quickly learned - No tanks with coral. I have caught a one spot and a gold spotted eating my zoa more than once hence I no longer have rabbitfish

Did you ever see them eating leathers? I put a toadstool in the tank and it looks like there’s some big chunks out of it…

 

[vetteguy53081]

Did you ever see them eating leathers? I put a toadstool in the tank and it looks like there’s some big chunks out of it…

They mainly eat softies , and reason I no longer have mine. . . . munched on zoas like they were worms. I dont see them chewing on leather but will go after food that lands on them leaving marks. Are you sure toadstool isnt molting, which mimics bite marks

 

[LiquidSpace]

They mainly eat softies , and reason I no longer have mine. . . . munched on zoas like they were worms. I dont see them chewing on leather but will go after food that lands on them leaving marks. Are you sure toadstool isnt molting, which mimics bite marks

It’s possible? I just got it a couple of days ago. I’ll defer to you but those look like chunks to me

 

[vetteguy53081]

It’s possible? I just got it a couple of days ago. I’ll defer to you but those look like chunks to me

This is the very foxface that haunted me. While too much flow can cause this, I suspect it may have indded been nipped by the fish. To possibly determine if so, the next time you go to feed, set your cell phone on video mode for about 50 mins and drop a little food and walk away - YOU MUST walk away as they know youre there.
Review the video and see if you see evidence of foxface going after the coral

 

[BryanM]

I'm thinking about getting a foxface rabbitfish for my 125 gallon reef tank for algae control, the only thing I want to know is do they eat lps corals and coral in general, I watched some videos that had information about them eating coral if not fed enough, I am wanting to know if this is really the norm for this species. The type I would get is the normal yellow foxface.

Mine did. I also have a sailfin now that is nipping at an elegance.... I'm increasing feedings to try and curb thsi behavior.

 

[LiquidSpace]

This is the very foxface that haunted me. While too much flow can cause this, I suspect it may have indded been nipped by the fish. To possibly determine if so, the next time you go to feed, set your cell phone on video mode for about 50 mins and drop a little food and walk away - YOU MUST walk away as they know youre there.
Review the video and see if you see evidence of foxface going after the coral

I just watched him nibble on it. He did it as I was sitting in the couch. Dang it.