Tell me about your filefish!

[Westside Guy]

Mine came from Biota and I haven't seen any Aiptasia since it was placed in the tank.

 

[Westside Guy]

And strange acting. He'll spend hours with his nose buried in a corner.
He did have a clam close on his snout for about 20 minutes 2 weeks ago.
But the corner thing was before and after.
Like you said. Funny fish

Mine also spends hours with its nose buried in a corner. Very strange behavior but entertaining to view.

 

[WIReefer]

Mine came from Biota and I haven't seen any Aiptasia since it was placed in the tank.

Awesome! Love to hear these stories!

 

[Westside Guy]

Awesome! Love to hear these stories!

My wife named it "Bizarro" as it is so ugly it is beautiful!

 

[WIReefer]

My wife named it "Bizarro" as it is so ugly it is beautiful!

My wife was saying the same thing last night when I put it in tank haha it is a different fish

 

[WVNed]

I have had mine a while now. He is my daughters favorite fish. I call him Nauty, short for Nautilus like the submarine. I have never seen him eat an aiptasia but I dont have any in the tank so something does. I have about 2000 in my fuge.

 

[User1]

WetWebMedia says they often have trouble accepting prepared foods. Have you guys found that to generally be true? And what about pairing the Matted Filefish?

First - hats off for stopping by WWM. A lot of hidden gems tucked away on that site from the late and great Fenner.

This is something I've also heard and read. However, I never experienced it with either of mine. They both at prepared food such as frozen LRS reef frenzy, frozen brine, mysis, and blood worms. Also various dry pellet and even nori. I do not know the origin of of my first (captive or wild) but my second one was captive raised/bred via BIOTA and it eat all. Both also ate and controlled aptasia.

 

[Westside Guy]

First - hats off for stopping by WWM. A lot of hidden gems tucked away on that site from the late and great Fenner.

This is something I've also heard and read. However, I never experienced it with either of mine. They both at prepared food such as frozen LRS reef frenzy, frozen brine, mysis, and blood worms. Also various dry pellet and even nori. I do not know the origin of of my first (captive or wild) but my second one was captive raised/bred via BIOTA and it eat all. Both also ate and controlled aptasia.

My Biota filefish loves mysis!

 

[WIReefer]

First - hats off for stopping by WWM. A lot of hidden gems tucked away on that site from the late and great Fenner.

This is something I've also heard and read. However, I never experienced it with either of mine. They both at prepared food such as frozen LRS reef frenzy, frozen brine, mysis, and blood worms. Also various dry pellet and even nori. I do not know the origin of of my first (captive or wild) but my second one was captive raised/bred via BIOTA and it eat all. Both also ate and controlled aptasia.

I’m goin to feed later today and going to observe and watch this guy!

 

[Zionas]

Ahhhh I’m glad it worked well for you. How big were they when you got them and how long did they live?

 

[Maritimer]

I don't have an Aiptasia issue, but my tank's pretty rife with ugly brown majanos. (Majanos seem to be the only cnidarian that does well in the tank, so I [this is going to sound nuts] actually purchased some of the lime green ones with the pink tips, just to get some color under the blues.) Has anyone had any luck with filefish clearing out majanos?

~B.

 

[Loggerhead]

Have used them twice. First one took out aiptasia then moved on to rock flower anemones. Second took out aiptasia and doesn’t bother anything else. Will not eat pellets, eggs or nori. Eats very well on rods food, lrs reef and fish frenzy and mysis, so basically eats fleshy frozen food.

 

[Waboss]

Mine eats anything I throw in the tank. I got him due to an aptasia issue and I was tired of buying berghia's once a year. He cleared out all my aptasia and then moved on to some zoas and palys. Normally this would have been his ticket out of my tank, but he's a cool fish and he leaves the zoas I like alone!

 

[zoous]

I recently purchased one. I had hundreds of aiptasia in my tank. After about 2 week I don't see anymore. They really do a great job. But I think mine is depressed. Always hiding in the shadows.

 

[sghera64]

I selected "No" in the survey only because I bought a copper band butterflyfish a week later and after 3 days, the CBB ate all the aiptasia. I actually saw the CBB snap a few of the little aiptasia right before my eyes in one gulp. About two weeks later I found my filefish dead - - presumably starved. He did eat mysis, but that is about it. To prevent the CBB from starving, I'm trying to feed mysis A LOT. The CBB only eats uncooked shrimp and mysis. I have some aiptasia in my sump and frag tank and I'm trying to "irritate them" hoping they will spawn and take root in the display tank to feed the CBB.

So, it appears that I've gone from trying to get rid of aiptasia to now trying to promote it. Is anyone else going down this road?

 

[Pistondog]

I selected "No" in the survey only because I bought a copper band butterflyfish a week later and after 3 days, the CBB ate all the aiptasia. I actually saw the CBB snap a few of the little aiptasia right before my eyes in one gulp. About two weeks later I found my filefish dead - - presumably starved. He did eat mysis, but that is about it. To prevent the CBB from starving, I'm trying to feed mysis A LOT. The CBB only eats uncooked shrimp and mysis. I have some aiptasia in my sump and frag tank and I'm trying to "irritate them" hoping they will spawn and take root in the display tank to feed the CBB.

So, it appears that I've gone from trying to get rid of aiptasia to now trying to promote it. Is anyone else going down this road?

With asterinas and a harlequin Shrimp.
He seems happy with a 1/5 of a sand sifting starfish every few days.

 

[Easy E]

Aptasia was taking over two of my tanks and is now under control since adding the filefish. It wiped it out completely in one tank, and the few that are left in the other are way down in the rocks. Funny thing is, I've never seen it actually eat one. I also rarely see the fish, and when I do, it's usually hiding behind something trying to act like a dead leaf. As others have stated, it's a very weird fish.

A word of caution, be careful if you ever have to net the fish. When I moved it from one tank to the other, the file got stuck through the net and was nearly impossible to get out. I wound up having to cut it loose with a scissors, which was a delicate operation. Fortunately it survived, but the traumatic experience could definitely be one of the the reasons I don't see it much anymore.

I'm not sure whether it bothers the corals or not. Most of them appear to be fine. Some of my zoas aren't doing too well, but that could quite easily be caused by something else. I did have a bunch of flower anemone hitchhikers that were thriving and are now gone, so I'm pretty sure the filefish got them. My theory is, if they can stomach a steady died of Aptasia, no anemone would be totally safe from them.

 

[HockeyRooster]

I have one in my overflow currently due to poor behaviour. Lots of fighting between fish when he was in there. I saw him bite a nassarius snail multiple times and it appeard to injur the snail. I thought he killed them all since they didn’t come out for a while and about 3 days after he was out of the dt the snails came out again. They were just hiding I guess.
And most importantly, he didn’t eat any aptasia!!!
I wish he would have as he is ugly-cute and I grew to like him. Going to put him in the sump

 

[Chessmanmark]

A year ago I was caught up in a national championship team and neglected my tanks in the process.

I have a 90 gallon and a 20L side by side.

They both achieved plague level aiptasia.

The 90 got 10 Burghia and the 20 got a Filefish two weeks later. Both were interesting to watch.

The Filefish worked quickly, eradicated all the aiptasia and to this day maintains this goal.

The Burghia took about 5 months before the tank turned a corner. A year later a few aiptasia are starting to appear. The Burghia starved to death long ago.

I love that Filefish. It’s so interesting. What it lacks in color it makes up in mood changing patterns. I love how it floats around the tank incognito. It’s like a tang for a small tank. When it gets blasted by current it lifts something like a horn that stops it cold in the strong current.

My only regret is that it is so shy. My LFS has one that is out in the open swimming all day long. I have to watch mine from a distance unless it is really hungry. Even food doesn’t coax it out on some days.

It’s important to note that I have it in a predominantly soft coral tank. My 90 has fleshy LPS which is why I haven’t moved the fish over.

I’d like to have it in the big tank, but if it eats my LPS then it would be a problem.

 

[ApoIsland]

Have used them twice. First one took out aiptasia then moved on to rock flower anemones. Second took out aiptasia and doesn’t bother anything else. Will not eat pellets, eggs or nori. Eats very well on rods food, lrs reef and fish frenzy and mysis, so basically eats fleshy frozen food.

I made the stupid mistake of putting a file fish in the tank with a bunch of RFA also. Took one full day and he wiped out 90% of the baby rock flowers and every adult was curled up. Luckily they are an easy fish to catch so got him out that night and all the adult rfa recovered.