Foxface nipping SPS

Badnade · Oct 25, 2020

So I recently got a foxface. It has decided to start nipping at a walt disney frag and a small colony of stylophora.

It appears he's trying to eat the polyps that are moving in the current.

Should I go ahead and get rid of them or hope for some reason that it stops doing it?

It's nipped at almost every corallite on the walt disney.

cshouston · Oct 25, 2020

I’d banish it from my tank in a heartbeat. Maybe you can trade it into your LFS for credit and try a different one.

Badnade · Oct 25, 2020

cshouston said:
I’d banish it from my tank in a heartbeat. Maybe you can trade it into your LFS for credit and try a different one.

That's what I may try to do, I'd just hate for another one to do the same or worse and attack my lps or soft coral.

Are any of the bristle tooth tangs less susceptible to nipping?

cshouston · Oct 25, 2020

Yeah. I’ve had several different types of bristletooth tang over the years and never had one nip at coral.

mattzang · Oct 25, 2020

how much do you feed it? foxfaces are known to nip at coral if underfed. usually they go for lps tho

Badnade · Oct 25, 2020

mattzang said:
how much do you feed it? foxfaces are known to nip at coral if underfed. usually they go for lps tho

Multiple times a day. Seaweed gets left in the tank daily. He looks fat and happy but still nipping for some reason.

najer · Oct 26, 2020

I doubt it will stop so I would take it back.

40g Nano · Oct 26, 2020

I would try to gorge it with food and have seaweed on a clip the whole day

RMS18 · Oct 26, 2020

It needs more food and a variety of food. I have a foxface in a sps dominant tank. He is feed 3x a day, no issues with him eating corals. He did nip at a stylo and a leather coral when I cut back on feedings while battling cyano. Once I kicked up feedings he stopped nipping.

Badnade · Oct 26, 2020

I feel like he is eating something that gets stuck on the coral or on the polyps. I have lps and softies in the tank that would be a much easier snack if he truly wanted to eat corals. Otherwise he would've decimated the acro and the stylo in my opinion.

vetteguy53081 · Oct 26, 2020

After 3 different types, NO MORE foxface for me

jda · Oct 26, 2020

Rabbitfish nor tangs are coral safe. Any and all kinds have been known to nip at corals, especially if underfed. I got Black tanks for free that once at a friends prized acans (remember when acans were $100 a head?). I currently have a large chocolate that nips a bit just to remove the slime, I think, and I have decided to live with it.

I have never had a problem with a fox face eating coral, but I do feed them enough that they outgrow my tank in a few years. Fat and happy. However, they don't eat any algae either, so they are pure freeloaders.

thatmanMIKEson · May 19, 2022

jda said:
Rabbitfish nor tangs are coral safe. Any and all kinds have been known to nip at corals, especially if underfed. I got Black tanks for free that once at a friends prized acans (remember when acans were $100 a head?). I currently have a large chocolate that nips a bit just to remove the slime, I think, and I have decided to live with it.

I have never had a problem with a fox face eating coral, but I do feed them enough that they outgrow my tank in a few years. Fat and happy. However, they don't eat any algae either, so they are pure freeloaders.

Mine chomps corals and red turf algae but basically he's a freeloader, the best thing about him is the color it adds to the tank and the waste it produces, beautiful fish and pretty good at getting along with a community as the last fish added.

i cant think · May 20, 2022

Badnade said:
So I recently got a foxface. It has decided to start nipping at a walt disney frag and a small colony of stylophora.

It appears he's trying to eat the polyps that are moving in the current.

Should I go ahead and get rid of them or hope for some reason that it stops doing it?

It's nipped at almost every corallite on the walt disney.

I had a similar thing with my blenny and a RD Joker. He hasn’t gone for any other SPS that are doing well though. If they’re the only two SPS that he’s nipping then they may not be doing well anyway.

i cant think · May 20, 2022

As for reef safe, I have kept 2 foxfaces and neither of them went for coral. Both were owned for 2 years and one of them is still with me.
If you’ve only ever tried a LO Foxface or a One Spot Fox then if possible, try go with a Magnificent. Both times I’ve had success with foxfaces was with a magnificent and I have heard so many other people have more success with a magnificent than the One Spots or LO’s over here.

Waters · May 20, 2022

Like angles, I think they are a gamble. I have one now that hasn't touched anything in over a year.....but I have had to remove one in the past after an angel taught him how to eat coral :-(