Hardy Reef Safe Fish for Aiptasia Control?

todda5914 · Nov 5, 2017

Put a file fish in 40 gallon to help with Aptasia. Ate all my Xenia then ignored the Aptasia. Ended up getting enough nudibranchs to reproduce. That worked.

CoralReefer1019 · Nov 5, 2017

todda5914 said:
Put a file fish in 40 gallon to help with Aptasia. Ate all my Xenia then ignored the Aptasia. Ended up getting enough nudibranchs to reproduce. That worked.

lol hope that doesn’t happen to me and he eats just Aptasia the fish store I got him from said he was eating mysis shrimp

saltyhog · Nov 5, 2017

No personal experience since my CBB took care of the problem but I'm a member of a fairly good sized reef club and a bunch of members have tried them. Just my impression is that they are comparable with the CBB as far as reef safeness but as noted above hit or miss as to whether they eat aiptasia.

dirtdobber06 · Dec 9, 2017

The yellow wrasse will eat the baby nudibranches and they won't be able to reach the numbers needed to rid the aiptasia. I am raising the nudibranches in a different tank and am planning on trapping the yellow wrasse and temporarily putting him in a fuge.

CoralReefer1019 · Dec 9, 2017

dirtdobber06 said:
The yellow wrasse will eat the baby nudibranches and they won't be able to reach the numbers needed to rid the aiptasia. I am raising the nudibranches in a different tank and am planning on trapping the yellow wrasse and temporarily putting him in a fuge.

I really enjoy Wrasses but they can be really good hunters in the reef. I ended up going with a matted file fish and so far it hasn’t really eaten the Aptasia it’s been about a month now some say it takes a long time and they will eventually eat it. I have been treating still with Aptasia X

Adele · Dec 9, 2017

saltyhog said:
No personal experience since my CBB took care of the problem but I'm a member of a fairly good sized reef club and a bunch of members have tried them. Just my impression is that they are comparable with the CBB as far as reef safeness but as noted above hit or miss as to whether they eat aiptasia.

What is CBB? Still getting used to abbreviations. [emoji5]

CoralReefer1019 · Dec 9, 2017

Adele said:
What is CBB? Still getting used to abbreviations. [emoji5]

Copper Banded Butterfly

Adele · Dec 9, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Pretty sure my blue pigmy dwarf angel is taking care of my Aptasia.

He is the bully of the tank full of peaceful fish though.

Mine is a little Butthead too. Goes after my emerald crab to the point I never see him anymore.

CoralReefer1019 · Dec 9, 2017

Adele said:
Mine is a little Butthead too. Goes after my emerald crab to the point I never see him anymore.

does yours eat Aptasia

CoralReefer1019 · Dec 9, 2017

pic of my filefish

Adele · Dec 9, 2017

CoralReefer1019 said:
hello everyone ended up getting a matted Aptasia eating file fish let’s see how this goes with my Softies and Zoas

I got one and he Loved aptasia. Unfortunately he loved my plates, hammer and frog spawn (anything with flowing tentacles). He left my Zoas, candy cane and brain alone. That was until..... DUH , Duh, Duhhhhhh....he ate
My alveopora flower pot. Didn’t realize it was him till to late and I saw him chowing down on my Zoas. Figured it was now a free for all and now he’s in the Fuge.

Adele · Dec 9, 2017

CoralReefer1019 said:
does yours eat Aptasia

Knock on coral...I don’t have any.

IKD · Aug 25, 2018

Hi, I just came across this thread. Has anyone looked at Scat's for Aiptasia control? I've heard they are reef safe and do well with eating Aiptasia

Here is a current article in Reef Hobbyist magazine on it.
http://reefhobbyistmagazine.com/
See page 12 of the Q3 2018 issue

Mallycious · Nov 4, 2021

IKD said:
Hi, I just came across this thread. Has anyone looked at Scat's for Aiptasia control? I've heard they are reef safe and do well with eating Aiptasia

Here is a current article in Reef Hobbyist magazine on it.
http://reefhobbyistmagazine.com/
See page 12 of the Q3 2018 issue

Interesting article and worth a read. Apparently the author purchased a freshwater scat, acclimated it via drip to saltwater, and then watched it eat all the Aiptasia but leave corrals alone. We just identified the very first, tiny glass anemone growing in our tank, so we're weighing our options: peppermint shrimp, nudibranch, or scat.