Multiple "Aiptasia Eating Filefish"?

[ScottF]

Do bristletail filefish kill each other or can you have more than one in a tank? I have one in my 250gal reef that most certainly does not eat aiptasia. I was thinking about adding a second one if they peacefully co-exist.

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

From my understanding they don’t get along unless it’s the opposite sex, which is supposedly easy to tell the difference between male and female.

I’m in the same boat as you. Mine doesn’t touch aptasia.

 

[ScottF]

From my understanding they don’t get along unless it’s the opposite sex, which is supposedly easy to tell the difference between male and female.

I’m in the same boat as you. Mine doesn’t touch aptasia.

Maybe I'll try to figure out my fish's pronouns at some point, but for now I've decided to just spend an arm and a leg on Berghia to feed my Melanurus Wrasse.

Hopefully some will survive if I introduce them at night when he is sleeping in the sand.

 

[Garf]

Mine doesn’t touch aptasia

I expect they only eat them if they are very hungry.

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

I expect they only eat them if they are very hungry.

Agreed, I feed too much. I can only assume LRS tastes much better than aptasia.

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

Maybe I'll try to figure out my fish's pronouns at some point, but for now I've decided to just spend an arm and a leg on Berghia to feed my Melanurus Wrasse.

Hopefully some will survive if I introduce them at night when he is sleeping in the sand.

Haha. Some other options are peppermint shrimp…a lot of folks have success with biota’s milletseed butterfly (they say they don’t eat corals and go after aptasia well)..and of course a copperband.

 

[ScottF]

Haha. Some other options are peppermint shrimp…a lot of folks have success with biota’s milletseed butterfly (they say they don’t eat corals and go after aptasia well)..and of course a copperband.

Never had luck with peppermints. I don't know if any are still alive, but I put a few of them in there. Could have been eaten by my wrasse.

I already put an order in with salty underground for some berghia. I'll probably try acclimating a copperband at some point. Right now I have a moorish idol in the QT tank.

 

[ScottF]

Agreed, I feed too much. I can only assume LRS tastes much better than aptasia.

I like my fish to be fat and lazy. I feel a lot. That being said, my filefish does spend his days hunting for pods. It would be nice if it nipped at an aiptasia or two while it was patrolling the rocks.

 

[ScottF]

Any idea if this is a little boy fish or little girl fish?

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

This is according to the Biota website:

“It's easy to sex these fish as adults because the males have clear bristles on the caudal peduncle near the base of the tail, giving this fish its other common name of Bristletail Filefish.”

 

[ScottF]

This is according to the Biota website:

“It's easy to sex these fish as adults because the males have clear bristles on the caudal peduncle near the base of the tail, giving this fish its other common name of Bristletail Filefish.”

So does that mean this is a little girl fish or that it just hasn't hit puberty yet?

 

[Clowning_Around72]

I had a yellow coris wrasse that I thought was too small to eat my peppermint shrimp. Eventually, I caught it ripping one of them to bits.
I would think any of the haliochoerus genus of wrasse can decide to eat them.

 

[mh0ward]

Those Nudibranchs you ordered will take care of the Aiptasia problem for sure. I have a small tank and only had a few aiptasia (that I could see).... nothing happened the first couple of days after adding them, then on the 3rd day all of the aiptasia was completely gone. Your tank is much bigger than mine so it'll probably take longer, but they'll knock em all out eventually, especially if you ordered enough that might breed in your tank.

 

[ScottF]

Those Nudibranchs you ordered will take care of the Aiptasia problem for sure. I have a small tank and only had a few aiptasia (that I could see).... nothing happened the first couple of days after adding them, then on the 3rd day all of the aiptasia was completely gone. Your tank is much bigger than mine so it'll probably take longer, but they'll knock em all out eventually, especially if you ordered enough that might breed in your tank.

I ordered 25 x 0.5 Inch High Flow Berghia Nudibranch. It should do the trick. Either that or I'll have a really fat Melanurus Wrasse.

I still want to figure out the sex of the filefish though. I like to get partners for my fish if I can identify their sex.