What a bum...Aiptasia eating filefish?

[lion king]

Molly Miller Blenny

I think those are nice looking fish, but unless I get a full grown one could be a meal for my lions. This is a true predator tank with full grown medium and dwarf lionfish, they eat live ghosties and mollies.

Mine eats aiptasia and likes to hangout with my Blue throat trigger Looks a little different from yours I believe

The problem with wild caught filefish, if they can't be readily identified as one of the known species, they just get tagged as an aiptasia eating filefish. I like filefish so he's fine and will be well taken care of, I just wish I would have remembered about the berghias.

 

[User1]

I forgot about the berghias, it worked for me in another tank years ago. This tank was a lion only tank, so the berghias would have been safe. Not anymore with the fikefish. Peppermints are an expensive meal in this tank.

Berghias are a mixed bag. They are very expensive. They are also food for some fish. Having said fish or some shrimp means an expensive meal Also the conundrum of what to do with them once they finish off the pest.

 

[lion king]

Berghias are a mixed bag. They are very expensive. They are also food for some fish. Having said fish or some shrimp means an expensive meal Also the conundrum of what to do with them once they finish off the pest.

You have to continue to care for them, that's why you have to decide carefully. Berghias would likely just die off, unless you are good at harvesting them. And you would never be short of reefers ready to take them off your hands. Regardless of what that filefish is, he has a forever home.

 

[User1]

You have to continue to care for them, that's why you have to decide carefully. Berghias would likely just die off, unless you are good at harvesting them. And you would never be short of reefers ready to take them off your hands. Regardless of what that filefish is, he has a forever home.

Fully understand and agree. To care for them long term you need to keep Aiptasia around and have fish that are not predators. It sort of comes down to what is acceptable for the hobbyist as it relates to collateral damage and price. My matted filefish is from BIOTA and a true Acreichthys tomentosus. I've accepted the fact I can't keep clams or zoa's but worth the trade off of keeping the tank large Aiptasia free. I know the pest is in my sump and plumbing not to mention overflow but I don't have to worry about it on the rocks or corals.

Berghias I believe would do well for a bit but I can't stomach 15 to 20 bucks a pop knowing you need more than that even though they lay eggs in the tank. But yeah - agree 100% on the care and good to point that out.

Edit: clam and zoa's are my personal experience since mine eats them Not all fish are the same so your mileage may vary.

 

[lion king]

A different pic, @mort, any idea. My friend at the lfs agrees he doesn't look like a Acreichthys tomentosus , said he would take him back. I'm not going to return him, not my style.

 

[mort]

Sorry I don't really know the filefish family that well beyond the more common species. If I had to guess and it's a definitely a guess, I'd suggest it's the juvinile of a larger species (going by shape). I think you said it's 3" which would mean lots of files look very similar at that size and given how colouration varies massively I think it would be hard to get a 100% idea unless you really knew them inside and out. I'd suggest one of the cantherhines is possible and I'll guess at pardalis because I kinda hope it is. Be interesting to find out.

 

[Webslinger]

A different pic, @mort, any idea. My friend at the lfs agrees he doesn't look like a Acreichthys tomentosus , said he would take him back. I'm not going to return him, not my style.

Defiantly not the aphasia eating filefish.

 

[mandytriple9]

A different pic, @mort, any idea. My friend at the lfs agrees he doesn't look like a Acreichthys tomentosus , said he would take him back. I'm not going to return him, not my style.

@lion king I work at nature center in Florida and this looks just like a filefish we have on display! Ours is a planehead filefish, Stephanolepis hispidus.

 

[lion king]

@lion king I work at nature center in Florida and this looks just like a filefish we have on display! Ours is a planehead filefish, Stephanolepis hispidus.

Close but no cigar, the planehead has yellow eyes where mine has blue eyes. Does look really close and I cant find much info. What does yours eat and how big do they get. This one is a really aggressive predator. He tears live ghosties to shreds and chases live mollies aggressively, he hasn't been able to catch one yet. I have a feeling the guy that turned him into my friend's lfs wasnt all that truthful.

 

[lion king]

@lion king I work at nature center in Florida and this looks just like a filefish we have on display! Ours is a planehead filefish, Stephanolepis hispidus.

Upon closer inspection, I believe you are correct. He does have yellow eyes, I had to put me specs on, the blue is his huge pupils, maybe he's stoned. If you have any info you could share, I'd appreciate it.

 

[mandytriple9]

Upon closer inspection, I believe you are correct. He does have yellow eyes, I had to put me specs on, the blue is his huge pupils, maybe he's stoned. If you have any info you could share, I'd appreciate it.

Haha our filefish's pupils have a bit of a blue tint too, maybe they're such good predators because they have the munchies! Ours was wild caught (with proper permits, of course) earlier this year as a juvenile and when he first went into quarantine he ate frozen brine shrimp. When he moved to his fake coral reef tank we saw him kill a ghost shrimp than was 2-3 times bigger than him and pick on a fringed flounder until we moved the flounder to a different tank. He'll even sometimes pick on our 1 year old striped burrfish but seems to have gotten better about that. We feed him pieces of frozen shrimp, silversides, smelt, squid, even got him to start target training and eating from tongs but after a month or two he didn't want to do it anymore. They can get to 11 inches in length but are usually closer to 5 or 6. We also haven't been able to find a whole lot of info about them but so far he's an interesting fish!

 

[Smarkow]

My tank had serious aiptasia over a year ago. Nothing did the trick until aiptasia eating filefish. Mine do look different than yours, but it took them 2 months before they ate a single aiptasia. What happened is that I normally feed daily, but when the Mrs. and I left for our 10d honeymoon, the tank only got fed every other day. Came home to a tank free of aiptasia. So I like @mort and @reefwiser ’s salad/steak analogies
They certainly describe my experience

Good luck

 

[lion king]

Haha our filefish's pupils have a bit of a blue tint too, maybe they're such good predators because they have the munchies! Ours was wild caught (with proper permits, of course) earlier this year as a juvenile and when he first went into quarantine he ate frozen brine shrimp. When he moved to his fake coral reef tank we saw him kill a ghost shrimp than was 2-3 times bigger than him and pick on a fringed flounder until we moved the flounder to a different tank. He'll even sometimes pick on our 1 year old striped burrfish but seems to have gotten better about that. We feed him pieces of frozen shrimp, silversides, smelt, squid, even got him to start target training and eating from tongs but after a month or two he didn't want to do it anymore. They can get to 11 inches in length but are usually closer to 5 or 6. We also haven't been able to find a whole lot of info about them but so far he's an interesting fish!

@mandytriple9 He does have an interesting personality, I do like him but was hoping to get a fish to clean up the aiptasia. He's is a 90g with 3 full grown dwarf/medium bodied lions right now, I haven't seen him nipping any, which will be an immediate offense for expulsion. He has inadvertently has nipped during feeding. He will eat everything that I feed my 210g, and steals live ghosties from the lions.

I can't find much info on them either, I did read they got to 7". If he does grow out of the 90 I can put him in the 210.

 

[reefwiser]

So I like @mort and @reefwiser ’s salad/steak analogies
They certainly describe my experience

Good luck

it is simple if give the choice every animal will do the easy thing and eat the food given. Instead of hunting for it.