What a bum...Aiptasia eating filefish?

lion king

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I usually don't post here, I'm a predator guy, and you'll find me mostly in the Predator Forum. But this is in regards to an aiptasia eating filefish, or that's at least what he was sold to me as, what a bum! My lions reef been up for several years and I pretty much let the reef part go. I was tired of the occasional aiptasia x and decided to get som help. I know and agree with the rule, to never get a fish for a problem, unless you are going to be ok with him, if he doesn't do the job. It's been a couple of weeks and I don't think he's putting in any work, at all.

He was hard to find, he was actually a turn in, many things are hard to find these days. I like filefish, I actually like them alot. Anyone who likes triggers, are likely going to like filefish. They are cousins, alot less aggressive and can live in smaller tanks. But don't be fooled, this little beast dispatches live ghost shrimp as deadly as a clown triggerfish. He's a cool fish, I just wifh he would do what hired him for, just another story for the question: do aiptasia eating filefish really eat aiptasia?

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Rick.45cal

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I usually don't post here, I'm a predator guy, and you'll find me mostly in the Predator Forum. But this is in regards to an aiptasia eating filefish, or that's at least what he was sold to me as, what a bum! My lions reef been up for several years and I pretty much let the reef part go. I was tired of the occasional aiptasia x and decided to get som help. I know and agree with the rule, to never get a fish for a problem, unless you are going to be ok with him, if he doesn't do the job. It's been a couple of weeks and I don't think he's putting in any work, at all.

He was hard to find, he was actually a turn in, many things are hard to find these days. I like filefish, I actually like them alot. Anyone who likes triggers, are likely going to like filefish. They are cousins, alot less aggressive and can live in smaller tanks. But don't be fooled, this little beast dispatches live ghost shrimp as deadly as a clown triggerfish. He's a cool fish, I just wifh he would do what hired him for, just another story for the answer: do aiptasia eating filefish really eat aiptasia.
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The one I had much preferred micromussa to aptasia!
 

vetteguy53081

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I trust A politician more than these cowards. Like an emerald crab, they go after everything BUT what you bought them for.
 

tehmadreefer

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I usually don't post here, I'm a predator guy, and you'll find me mostly in the Predator Forum. But this is in regards to an aiptasia eating filefish, or that's at least what he was sold to me as, what a bum! My lions reef been up for several years and I pretty much let the reef part go. I was tired of the occasional aiptasia x and decided to get som help. I know and agree with the rule, to never get a fish for a problem, unless you are going to be ok with him, if he doesn't do the job. It's been a couple of weeks and I don't think he's putting in any work, at all.

He was hard to find, he was actually a turn in, many things are hard to find these days. I like filefish, I actually like them alot. Anyone who likes triggers, are likely going to like filefish. They are cousins, alot less aggressive and can live in smaller tanks. But don't be fooled, this little beast dispatches live ghost shrimp as deadly as a clown triggerfish. He's a cool fish, I just wifh he would do what hired him for, just another story for the question: do aiptasia eating filefish really eat aiptasia?

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that isn’t an aiptasia eating one from the looks of it. The ones that do are more mottled looking.
 
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I did say "that's what he sold to me as". I'm not the filefish expert but he is a full adult over 3". Filefish do camouflage and he does change from this coloring and does become more of a green and brown spotchy look. With the available filefish that I know of, he is not any of those. So if any one has an ID, please enlighten.
 

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Aiptasia eating filefish is just clever marketing, some will, some won't, some will but only for a part of their life. It's no different really from calling an asfur angel and aiptasia eating angel as quite a lot seem to.
The way I was described aiptasia by a anemone scientist was that they taste like salad when you normally eat steak, so it's not surprising that some don't eat them if they are well fed, or that their tastes can develop onto other things.

I know they can be very variable in colour but yours doesn't really look right in the shape. It has the profile of a different species but I don't know them well enough to hazard an id.
 

sixty_reefer

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Looks more to a trigger fish to me
 

Shon

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Not an "aptasia eating filefish" but a wild one brought home. I was against it since a few local species mean the 75g will need to become a minimal 200g..

He uses limpits as pacifiers, waits over one until it's on the move, some how grabs it and swims with it sucking on the meat. Only have seen it twice, but the limpits are disappearing, so I am sure more often than I pay attention.

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Photo of when it was extended out before the pulse of going back in.

Not like I mind, but I suspect he started with the snails, did his hovering on them too, and they're all dead now and moved onto the limpits.

I guess some fish get a taste for something. Wish it would eat the tube snails.

Good personality and does circles at feeding time, begs alot and is the most active swimmer since it stays top water 90% of the time.
 
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A friend sold him to me, so I really didn't look at him, not that I would know one way or another. Its not a fish I was ever interested in, but I have seen them similar and greenish, when wild caught. The captive bred ones are always much smaller, too small to be in a tank with my lions.

Haha, yeah this one does prefer steak to salad. I was shocked at the way he attacks the live ghost shrimp. I've kept a redtail file that ate live ghosties, but not this aggressively. I like him either way, just bjmmed I'm likely going to break out the aiptasia x this weekend.
 
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Not all are the same. You want a Matted Filefish typically. Captive raised are great. I have one and it eats all sizes of the pest. Sadly it also likes zoa's and duncan corals. I think it also went after my Maxima clam but I am not 100% sure. It is a fish that a hobbyist as to ask if they are willing to risk collateral damage when adding to a reef tank. That is about the best I can say about it. Great fish. Nice pattern. Changes colors to surrounding. Interesting way it hunts and forages. They do work. Better than peppermints at least in my experience.

I probably would have picked a different fish since you have a predator / fish only type tank.


Edit: the original URL had too many BS adds - sorry.
 

Eva Rose

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It varies with the individual. I had 2 of the Matted (Acreichthys tomentosus) previously. They did eat aiptasia, but not at first. I think it was about 2 months before I saw them eating aiptasia. I did not have a lot of aiptasia. Maybe 4 small ones in that tank. But I did get the filefish hoping they would prevent an outbreak. It did work in my case because they did eat it.
The larger of the two picked at some coral, but did not do any real damage.
 

reefwiser

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They only way to get animals like the file fish or peppermint shrimp to eat aiptasia is if that is the only thing they can eat. Berghia Nudibranchs will eat aiptasia and will die if they do not get them to eat. The problem is that other fish in the tank will eat them. Best thing to do is set up a separate QT tank and move the rocks into the tank with the Berghia Nudibranchs and let them clean the rocks and rotate the rocks thru the Qt tank.
 
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lion king

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They only way to get animals like the file fish or peppermint shrimp to eat aiptasia is if that is the only thing they can eat. Berghia Nudibranchs will eat aiptasia and will die if they do not get them to eat. The problem is that other fish in the tank will eat them. Best thing to do is set up a separate QT tank and move the rocks into the tank with the Berghia Nudibranchs and let them clean the rocks and rotate the rocks thru the Qt tank.


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.
 

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I started with just one small aiptasia on a small zoa rock which I decided to just keep an eye on. I did watch it, till it multiplied to around 20 -25 before I tried Aiptasia X. The Aiptasia X was like fertility treatments because soon I had around 40 or 50 (that I could see). I picked up a file fish at the LFS ($30) that was listed as reef safe but nothing about eating aiptasia. I had seen pictures while researching here and online fish venders and it looked like the aiptasia eating kind (matted with a bristled dorsal fin).
For the first 5 days or so it just stared at the aiptasia but within a few more days there were none i could see. It"s been 7 weeks and no aiptasia. Once in a while it"ll take a little nip at an LPS or maybe something on the coral but with no damage. I try to keep it well fed,a little mysis twice a day.
 

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I feel quite sorry for this fish and the ad mans spin. Be honest with yourself how many of you would even look at it in a LFS without the 'Aiptasia-eating' prefix. ORA or whoever tank bred them must have been delighted when they found they ate Aiptasia- WOW what a label to add and a magic selling point for a unexciting mottled brown fish.

Do they feed exclusively on Aips- NOPE
Do aips consist of a major part of their diet- NOPE
Do they find an aip and rip it apart-NOPE
Will they thrive on normal aquarium fare- YEP
Will they pick on corals and small inverts- YEP

Don't get me wrong I have two of these in my tank, they did form part of my strategy to ridding my tank of aips, by taking out the small ones and removing a generation. They joined my Racoon butterflies and my Majestic angels doing the job and they were successful but it took quite a few months.

I think these wonderful fish should be called General-small-invertebrate-eating-filefish but who would buy them then.
 

Baldguy

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Another fish that might be considered is the Molly Miller Blenny. I've got three in my 120g. They've taken care of the one aiptasia I had seen but also cleared out the small algae problem I had. It's one of those fish that is so ugly it's cute. Lots of personality. Always flitting around the tank. Only downside I've seen is they will also go after rock flower anemones. Bta's are ok. I got mine tank bred from Sustainable Aquatics on ebay. I've been seeing some on DD lately also. Anyway, they are known to go after Aiptasias but no guarantee from me. :)
 

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