Matted firefish for aptasia control

[100gallonreefer]

Does anyone have experience with matted filefish in reef tank for aptasia control. Do they work and any damage to coral?

 

[amps]

I just added one of the ORA captive bred filefish to my 180. Little frigger has been nipping at my corals, snails and eats any food I put in the tank. WILL NOT touch the aiptasia. I tried putting it in a breeding basket with a bunch of the aiptasia in it and the thing didn't even look at them in three days. He's currently allowed to swim around in the tank but I don't have many hopes.

Maybe I've had bad luck.

 

[Scopulum Zombie]

Ive heard that results very from fish to fish. I got an ora matted filefish about 7 months ago. So far so good, it takes care of the aptasia and leaves my corals alone.

 

[Labridaedicted]

I've heard they do an alright job with it. They will probably nip corals, too, especially once the aiptasia is gone. Why not use peppermint shrimp and aiptasia-x/ majano wand? I used the majano wand and some peps and it took care of them fairly quickly.

Typically using an animal for pest control is a crap shoot, though. With the exception be obligate feeders like harlequin shrimp and blue velvet nudis. I don't know of a reef safe obligate for anemones.

 

[Kentech5]

I've heard they do an alright job with it. They will probably nip corals, too, especially once the aiptasia is gone. Why not use peppermint shrimp and aiptasia-x/ majano wand? I used the majano wand and some peps and it took care of them fairly quickly.

Typically using an animal for pest control is a crap shoot, though. With the exception be obligate feeders like harlequin shrimp and blue velvet nudis. I don't know of a reef safe obligate for anemones.

The reef safe obligate for aiptasia are berghia nudibranches. The only problems with them are if you have fish or inverts that think they're tasty. Theyll breed in your tank but die off when the aiptasia is gone.

 

[100gallonreefer]

I've had peppermint shrimp but these haven't touched aptasia but have acquired a taste for Acans! Maybe I'll look into nudis. I have used aptasia x but some aptasia is growing on edge of corals and don't want to damage them