Purple Tilefish Tankmates

[cdw79]

So I have a semi-local guy that imports fish himself en masse, like 300+ fish a week type of operation. He charges a premium, but everyone in the area says he's the best around.

I've always thought Purple Tilefish would be amazing to keep, but I know they struggle with swim bladder issues as well as being difficult to acclimatize to aquarium life and foods so I've never attempted it. This importer, though, says he has gotten them to eat pellets and will hold one to make sure it's healthy. So the remaining question is whether it's a good decision to add given the rest of my fish I have currently.

Current setup is a Reefer 300XL (65 display, 15 sump, 3 feet long)

Fish Stock List:
Longnose Hawkfish
Breeding pair of Ocellaris clowns
Leopard Wrasse
Large Bangaii Cardinal
Spotted shrimp goby
Tiny Biota green mandarin
Yellow Assessor

Future additions
Bluespot Jawfish (purchased, coming ~next week when LFS' QT is done)
Labouti Wrasse
Lawnmower Blenny

My biggest concern is the hawkfish. He can be a bit of a bully to the assessor, nothing crazy but still a little angsty. The Bangaii tends to keep him in check, but also will half lung at my leopard wrasse once on awhile. The clowns can also be territorial sometimes, but only if anyone gets too close to their nesting site. I had added a Chromis a few months back and several of the above chased it incessantly, which apparently can happen to smaller chromic, but it's something I don't want to repeat (much less with what will be an expensive purchase).

I know tilefish can be extra skittish, and in an ideal world I would have added it much earlier if I had known this deal could have been done back then. I originally wanted a Sunburst anthias, but after a horror story or two about hawkfish beating them to death, I've begrudgingly decided against it. For what is a pretty darn peaceful tank on a day to day basis, there are definitely some more "assertive" characters in there, so I don't want to leave it to chance. Any idea if it would have a decent likelihood of settling in an environment like this?

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I think ur at a point where u have to choose man. Out goes the hawk and bangii or clown and in goes the tilefish or u keep what u got....
D

 

[cdw79]

So you don't think I could reasonably keep those guys in and put the tilefish in? They're pretty chilled out 95% of the time, but occasionally I've also seen them be less chilled out, lol

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

U have a lid or net top?
D

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I personally wouldn't put a tilefish in with a hawk in a 65. All my hawkfish ended up just getting grumpier as they got older, and went after firefish, chromis, anthias, and fairy and flasher wrasses. Tilefish are just too timid and nice to put them through that.

 

[cdw79]

I personally wouldn't put a tilefish in with a hawk in a 65. All my hawkfish ended up just getting grumpier as they got older, and went after firefish, chromis, anthias, and fairy and flasher wrasses. Tilefish are just too timid and nice to put them through that.

I could see that being the case. That's a bummer though, a Helfrichi filefish was my backup in case the tilefish wasn't going to work out. Any sense eo whether that Labouti would do alright? I know they tend to be a little more boisterous than the average fairy wrasse, which is part of why I was planning to add it at the end.

Also now open to some purple/pink dominant fish editions, so if anyone has some that wouldn't get beat up by this hawk that'd be great. He's such a cool fish, but becoming a bit of a recurring issue now..

 

[Fishfreak2009]

The labouti may do ok, but again, hawkfish can be pretty nasty. With the wrasse use an acclimation box, see how the hawk behaves.

 

[i cant think]

I assume your 65 is 4’ in length right?
If you’re wondering why I’m asking - the fish in my profile picture says it all. I have a 4’x2’x2’ tank with some rather “aggressive” fish and he’s been thriving in there since November 26th.

 

[i cant think]

U have a lid or net top?
D

While lids/net tops work when it’s not feeding time. I have had one unlucky call (Possibly lucky too) where my fish decided to jump out of the tank when I didn’t expect it. I guess this is the lucky part - I noticed it happen instantly but didn’t notice it hit the floor for a few seconds. I got him into the tank within a few seconds too and he wasn’t too stressed afterwards. You can find me explaining this in more detail in my thread “My experience with the flashing tilefish”.

These fish are VERY misunderstood animals. Unfortunately due to this, very few people actually keep them in the hobby. I’m one of those people that own a flashing tilefish - Even less people own this specific species because they’re so unknown to the hobby in terms of care.

 

[Tcook]

I have two purple tiles in quarantine right now. One eats like a rabid dog. The other is timid but getting more assertive every day. I feel that acclimating these fish by themselves for some time is important before putting them in with more aggressive tankmates.

 

[i cant think]

I have two purple tiles in quarantine right now. One eats like a rabid dog. The other is timid but getting more assertive every day. I feel that acclimating these fish by themselves for some time is important before putting them in with more aggressive tankmates.

I completely agree with this. Mine was in my LFS for Atleast 4 weeks - if not 5. And he settled into my tank within 3 days (Including the day I bought him home and acclimated him). If you don’t have an acclimation box and you know your LFS’s water is the same as yours then float acclimation is the best way to go. I did this with my tilefish and the other guys just ignored him.

Low stress introductions are another one of the most important things when it comes to keeping tilefish. Now you may be wondering about why I’m saying this if I don’t have a purple tilefish. Well I have cared for a total of 5 tilefish, 2 purples, 2 starckis and now a flashing. The hardest one to keep so far has been the flashing tilefish.

 

[sc50964]

I have had many attempts with tiles, & currently own a few. I can say that they are generally quite bold even with much larger and aggressive fish but need a large tank that has plenty of spaces to swim & hide to make that work. While they are bold, they are also more sensitive & can be the first one to come down with something all of a sudden. If a tile isn’t coming out to eat aggressively & darting from one spot to the next to chase after food during feeding, then something is wrong. They don’t need sand. Acclimation box is a must for them.

 

[cdw79]

Thanks for all the thoughts on this!

I assume your 65 is 4’ in length right?
If you’re wondering why I’m asking - the fish in my profile picture says it all. I have a 4’x2’x2’ tank with some rather “aggressive” fish and he’s been thriving in there since November 26th.

My tank is in fact 3 feet (36 inches), it's a reefer 300xl so it's 36x24x24. I like the deeper look to it personally, but given I live in a small apartment I couldn't get anything longer.

I completely agree with this. Mine was in my LFS for Atleast 4 weeks - if not 5. And he settled into my tank within 3 days (Including the day I bought him home and acclimated him). If you don’t have an acclimation box and you know your LFS’s water is the same as yours then float acclimation is the best way to go. I did this with my tilefish and the other guys just ignored him.

Low stress introductions are another one of the most important things when it comes to keeping tilefish. Now you may be wondering about why I’m saying this if I don’t have a purple tilefish. Well I have cared for a total of 5 tilefish, 2 purples, 2 starckis and now a flashing. The hardest one to keep so far has been the flashing tilefish.

So my equivalent will be my distributor holding him for however long it takes to settle in, take to eating pellets / typical frozen food like mysis and Rod's, etc. so I'm confident it will be acclimatized to aquarium life by the time I get it in. The only less than ideal part is he's a few states away, so it will still have to be shipped.

But assuming all goes well (he's told me he will replace if it doesn't settle due to any complications from shipping or otherwise), I'm just questioning what the hawkfish would do. He's had a bit of a gripe with slender bodied fish before to varying degrees (chasing the crap out of a chromis vs a little lunge at my assessor every now and then). But in theory the tilefish will have at least an inch on him (he's about 2.5 inches, maybe 3, and purple tilefish seem to usually come in at at least 4 inches), so maybe that would put it off from being aggressive?

I'm confident that once it hypothetically can settle in it would do well- this tank is pretty relaxed 95% of the time, and the assessor (probably the most passive fish I've ever kept) thrives pretty well. So I'm on the fence at the moment

 

[i cant think]

Thanks for all the thoughts on this!



My tank is in fact 3 feet (36 inches), it's a reefer 300xl so it's 36x24x24. I like the deeper look to it personally, but given I live in a small apartment I couldn't get anything longer.


So my equivalent will be my distributor holding him for however long it takes to settle in, take to eating pellets / typical frozen food like mysis and Rod's, etc. so I'm confident it will be acclimatized to aquarium life by the time I get it in. The only less than ideal part is he's a few states away, so it will still have to be shipped.

But assuming all goes well (he's told me he will replace if it doesn't settle due to any complications from shipping or otherwise), I'm just questioning what the hawkfish would do. He's had a bit of a gripe with slender bodied fish before to varying degrees (chasing the crap out of a chromis vs a little lunge at my assessor every now and then). But in theory the tilefish will have at least an inch on him (he's about 2.5 inches, maybe 3, and purple tilefish seem to usually come in at at least 4 inches), so maybe that would put it off from being aggressive?

I'm confident that once it hypothetically can settle in it would do well- this tank is pretty relaxed 95% of the time, and the assessor (probably the most passive fish I've ever kept) thrives pretty well. So I'm on the fence at the moment

Size will work however, with it being bigger the hawk may think of the tilefish as an issue/competitor.

 

[cdw79]

So by that do you mean there's still likely to be aggression, just in terms of competition versus dominance? If that makes sense. Those initial couple of days it's acclimating are my main concern

 

[i cant think]

So by that do you mean there's still likely to be aggression, just in terms of competition versus dominance? If that makes sense. Those initial couple of days it's acclimating are my main concern

There is still likely to be aggression from the hawkfish thinking the tilefish is a competitor for being most dominant. Once the two sort it out they should be just fine though - once settled a tilefish can deal with mild aggression. Anything worse than a Ctenochaetus tang’s aggression could stress it too much though.

 

[cdw79]

Well the hawk is definitely the "most" aggressive of the bunch, so that sounds good then. Hopefully the fish getting acclimatized to aquarium life ahead of time with my distributor friend will help it be more equipped to manage those initial days. Any tips for their success? I usually feed twice a day, once with pellets and once with either mysis or Rod's blend, and my stock list is above (to include the "future additions" eventually in theory. I know labouti wrasses can be a little boisterous sometimes, but hopefully it being added last will help

 

[Tchung23]

I had a purple tile fish. He was pretty easy to take care of. The only problem was when he got scared he would hide in my jawfish’s burrow and crush the little guy. In fact he broke my jawfish fin so I had to rehome the tile fish. He was a beauty!!

 

[cdw79]

What were its tankmates? Are you pro or anti hawkfish being an ok tankmate lol

 

[Tchung23]

2 hawdish
1 Helfrichi
2 yasha
1 mandarin
1 ruby red
Personally I think hawk fish would be fine.