Opinions on Filefish.

[N1Husker]

I have read on many websites that sell fish that Filefish are not good inhabitants for reef aquariums, yet I see many people have Filefish in their reef aquariums with no problems. I have never heard of anyone having to remove a Filefish because it is eating corals. Can anyone tell me why they don't recommend Filefish for a reef aquarium. Do they eat inverts, corals, or are they aggressive toward other fish?

 

[Reeferdude56]

big coral nippers. they may eat your aptasia though so there is a trade off.

 

[Aquaph8]

Depends on which file fish, what corals you keep and also the individual fish.

 

[650-IS350]

I had those Aiptasia eating file fish before. took care of my big aipt issues. but right after that, I started noticing large amounts of frags and mini colonies strated to disappear, eaten to the rock. after a couple weeks finally caught the bugger red handed. But only after he decimated most of my collection of Z's and P's and of course at the most highly prized and expensive ones that I had LOL. I guess he wasnt that satisfied eating frozen brine, mysis, cyclops, etc.

anyone that wants a file fish and has a Z's and P's collection, buyer beware.

 

[Mike&Terry]

Acreichthys tomentosus (Matted Filefish) is the one sold for aiptasia control.

DSC_6809 by terryl93, on Flickr

+1 to aquaph8's reply.

Our first one was with us for several years and was an Aiptasia Assassin. He (as well as our Regal Angel) had a taste for z's and p's, as well as some fleshy LPS. He was okay with healthy Blastomussa and acan lord's, but if damaged, he would be drawn to them. He would occasionally nip at SPS that had been damaged, but left healthy SPS alone. We found nori on a clip to be an easy distraction for him.

We moved most of our LPS to a separate tank about 3 years ago, but still keep a rather large Blastomussa merletti colony, as well as several chalices in our SPS dominant reef. Our current Filefish has been with us for over a year and has never paid attention to any of the corals in our display. Would he go after z's and p's? If he didn't do it right away, we know our Regal Angelfish would train him pretty quickly, LOL. :bigsmile:

 

[N1Husker]

Thanks. I have a mixed reef with lots of lps and z's and p's. Two of my paly colonies are quite large and I would be very upset if the fish would tear it up. I don't have any angels for that very reason. I fortunately don't have a big problem with aiptasia and the ones I do find that I can handle them with RS Aiptasia X. i bought a large bottle of it from Amazon so I can keep refilling the small bottle, so I will keep doing that. I have tried Peppermint Shrimp, several times, but they would hide and didn't even put a dent in my aiptasia. I also have two wrasses who would be very interested in any new shrimp. Thank you for your help and responses.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Hey Earl, like others have stated above the Matted Filefish is the one to get IF you do not have any or an attachment to Z's and P's. The one I borrowed a couple of years ago did a phenomenal job on Mojano's and Aiptasia but once gone decimated several $100's in Z's And P's one colony at a time before I could capture it. I did find it to be very fascinating Fish though and would definitely consider one in a primarily SPS tank.

Cheers, Todd

 

[N1Husker]

Hey Earl, like others have stated above the Matted Filefish is the one to get IF you do not have any or an attachment to Z's and P's. The one I borrowed a couple of years ago did a phenomenal job on Mojano's and Aiptasia but once gone decimated several $100's in Z's And P's one colony at a time before I could capture it. I did find it to be very fascinating Fish though and would definitely consider one in a primarily SPS tank.

Cheers, Todd

I really at maximum fish right now, I was just more curious, plus I don't have a real aiptasia to speak of. Have you moved to Hansville yet?

 

[Kehaulani]

I had mine for two months and he ate all my turbo snails, blue legged hermits and picked on my leather corals