Aiptasia-eating Filefish introduction

[bureau13]

I just introduced an Aiptasia-eating Filefish to my display tank, and...is this behavior expected? I knew they were weird fish, but he did have a bit of trauma. The box was wet, which was a bad sign, and his bag had so little water in it that I had a hard time keeping him submerged while I temperature-aclimated him. Anyway, when he was finally released into the tank he sort of drifted nose-first into my MP40, stayed there a moment, then appeared to jerk awake and slowly swam away. Since then he's just been slowly swimming around staring at the sandbed and the rocks, or staying in one place and doing the same, but the little transparent fins are constantly going so he seems OK? That being said, he seems to have no reaction at all to mysis or pellets. He might be finding something to eat in the sand, but so far at least, that does not appear to be aiptasia. Anyway, I was worried about him when he showed up in so little water, and I can't tell if his behavior now is odd for that species or not.

 

[Garf]

I just introduced an Aiptasia-eating Filefish to my display tank, and...is this behavior expected? I knew they were weird fish, but he did have a bit of trauma. The box was wet, which was a bad sign, and his bag had so little water in it that I had a hard time keeping him submerged while I temperature-aclimated him. Anyway, when he was finally released into the tank he sort of drifted nose-first into my MP40, stayed there a moment, then appeared to jerk awake and slowly swam away. Since then he's just been slowly swimming around staring at the sandbed and the rocks, or staying in one place and doing the same, but the little transparent fins are constantly going so he seems OK? That being said, he seems to have no reaction at all to mysis or pellets. He might be finding something to eat in the sand, but so far at least, that does not appear to be aiptasia. Anyway, I was worried about him when he showed up in so little water, and I can't tell if his behavior now is odd for that species or not.

Sounds normally daft, for a filefish.

 

[Lavey29]

I just introduced an Aiptasia-eating Filefish to my display tank, and...is this behavior expected? I knew they were weird fish, but he did have a bit of trauma. The box was wet, which was a bad sign, and his bag had so little water in it that I had a hard time keeping him submerged while I temperature-aclimated him. Anyway, when he was finally released into the tank he sort of drifted nose-first into my MP40, stayed there a moment, then appeared to jerk awake and slowly swam away. Since then he's just been slowly swimming around staring at the sandbed and the rocks, or staying in one place and doing the same, but the little transparent fins are constantly going so he seems OK? That being said, he seems to have no reaction at all to mysis or pellets. He might be finding something to eat in the sand, but so far at least, that does not appear to be aiptasia. Anyway, I was worried about him when he showed up in so little water, and I can't tell if his behavior now is odd for that species or not.

I'm no expert but I have stared at these fish for long periods of time at my LFS and do see similar behavior as you describe in their display tanks.

 

[phillyb614]

The way you are describing his swimming, sounds very normal for the way they move about (or don’t move about) the tank.

 

[Solo McReefer]

I got my filefish from Biota

She would swim, but her spine was in the shape of a C, in the bag, and then in the tank

I thought she was a goner

Even emailed Biota, "That's perfectly normal after transport. She'll be fine"

And she was

Is

 

[bureau13]

OK, that's good news. Sounds like he seems to be a "normal weirdo."

 

[bureau13]

Looks like I spoke too soon. I haven't seen him in three or four days now, and while it would be pretty easy to lose him in the rockwork, I suspect he didn't make it. Ugh...

Of course, these "stay alive for 8 days" warranties are mostly useless. Nothing smallish that dies in my tank is ever seen again. My cleanup crew is pretty good at its job...

 

[phillyb614]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[minus9]

For future reference, don't hesitate to put a fish in a display or QT when they have very little or no water in the bag. There's no reason to temp acclimate a fish with no water. Stress is the number one killer of fish and they can handle temp swings just fine, but they can't handle being out of water for very long. Sorry to hear, but they can be cryptic, so hopefully it's hiding out?

 

[bureau13]

That's a good point actually...water was more important than anything at that point I would think. That being said, he did seem to recover and act...well I don't know that it was normal, lol. It's definitely possible he's hiding in the rocks, but he didn't immediately do that, so...I don't know. I fear the worst, but I'll hope for the best!