Aiptasia Eating Filefish (acreichthys tomentosus)

[jmadden]

I just perchased mine a couple of days ago from the, which I consider to be the best, LFS. Their live stock is top notch. This fish was in a tank, for over a month, where they keep traded in live rock and coral to clear it of aiptasia. After trying Aiptasia-X without much luck and after my skunk cleaner shrimp killed three pepermint shrimp within a day I decided to go for this fish.

I'm looking to see what people's experience has been with this particular filefish and if it lives up to its reputation. Reputation being a sure thing as far as consuming aiptasia and weither or not it is reef safe; not nipping at corals or crustations etc.

 

[29reef]

Most of the time it will eat aptasia; it will also pick at lps and zoas. It is not a good choice for a reef tank as a permanent resident for aptasia control. Most of the posts and experiences reflect this.

Aptasia control seems best with nudibranches or shrimp. It takes time so be patient.

 

[Crawdawg]

I have one that hasn't touched any coral, or aptasia for that matter...I got him because I like the fish, with aptasia being a side benefit. Mine is small, not sure if that effects his appetite for aps though. He seems to really enjoy mysis. I have other fish to feed, so not sure if he'll ever eat aps. Cool fish IMO.

 

[jmadden]

Most of the time it will eat aptasia; it will also pick at lps and zoas. It is not a good choice for a reef tank as a permanent resident for aptasia control. Most of the posts and experiences reflect this.

Aptasia control seems best with nudibranches or shrimp. It takes time so be patient.

My idea was to let it do it's job and pass it on.

I've heard of the nudibranches, but it seems like they do their job 50% of the time. As far as the shrimp go, I would like to try the peppermint shrimp again, but they will need to be of a decent size, so they can stand a chance against my cleaner shrimps.

 

[jmadden]

I have one that hasn't touched any coral, or aptasia for that matter...I got him because I like the fish, with aptasia being a side benefit. Mine is small, not sure if that effects his appetite for aps though. He seems to really enjoy mysis. I have other fish to feed, so not sure if he'll ever eat aps. Cool fish IMO.

Thank you for the quick reply. How long have you had your filefish? How small is small? Mine is 2"+. Mine also enjoys the mysis as well. I have other fish to feed too, so I'm not sure if he will ever get hungry enough to eat aps. He spends a lot of time blowing water out of his mouth into the substrate and then picking and eating small pods. Does yours do this?

 

[jd474]

I placed one for a persistent majano problem in a mixed reef tank about 6 or 7 months ago. It took a couple months for him to start picking the majano, but didn't take long for him to eradicate all pest anemones. So far he hasn't picked at any coral or clam.

If you are just dealing with aiptasia, depending on your tank inhabitants and size, I'd recommend a butterflyfish, instead. Will probably be a safer bet.

Don't bother with berghia. Their success rates are dismal.

 

[jmadden]

I placed one for a persistent majano problem in a mixed reef tank about 6 or 7 months ago. It took a couple months for him to start picking the majano, but didn't take long for him to eradicate all pest anemones. So far he hasn't picked at any coral or clam.

If you are just dealing with aiptasia, depending on your tank inhabitants and size, I'd recommend a butterflyfish, instead. Will probably be a safer bet.

Don't bother with berghia. Their success rates are dismal.

I haven't seen him pick at any corals or my clam. Which butterfly would work? I was looking into the copper banded, but I'm not too sure about how it will fair as I've heard that they can be finicky eaters. I agree with the nudi solution probably being something reserved for a last ditch effort.

 

[jmadden]

So, I just got home from work and it seems that my little filefish has been up to no good! My pair of clownfish have torn fins and the larger female wasn't hanging out in it's frogspawn with the male which it normally does. Upon further investigation there is a whole that has been bitten out around her left gills. As I watched the filefish came over and take a nip! With one quick swipe of the net the filefish was caught.

What's going on here? Has anyone experienced this kind of behavior before? The filefish doesn't act aggressive at all, just sees what it wants and casually chomp. Also the entire sand bed has been tossed. I watched the filefish, prior to him comping my clown, blowing sand around and eating pods like crazy.

I'm off to bag him up and return him to the store.

 

[Crawdawg]

Thank you for the quick reply. How long have you had your filefish? How small is small? Mine is 2"+. Mine also enjoys the mysis as well. I have other fish to feed too, so I'm not sure if he will ever get hungry enough to eat aps. He spends a lot of time blowing water out of his mouth into the substrate and then picking and eating small pods. Does yours do this?

I've had mine for a few weeks, it's about 1.5 inches or so. And yes it's spends most of it's time "hunting" down pods. I think it even pulls spaghetti worms out of the tubes, and spits them out. I feed my tank well, and this little fish has no fear, racing past dottybacks for food, and i've even seen it remove a piece of mysis from an aptasia.

I read all the threads about them removing aps, but so far none in my tank. My only saving grace, as stated, is that I wanted the fish anyway. Good luck.

I've heard CBB do a good job with aps, but also eat coral.

 

[jmadden]

I've had mine for a few weeks, it's about 1.5 inches or so. And yes it's spends most of it's time "hunting" down pods. I think it even pulls spaghetti worms out of the tubes, and spits them out. I feed my tank well, and this little fish has no fear, racing past dottybacks for food, and i've even seen it remove a piece of mysis from an aptasia.

I read all the threads about them removing aps, but so far none in my tank. My only saving grace, as stated, is that I wanted the fish anyway. Good luck.

I've heard CBB do a good job with aps, but also eat coral.

Definitely agree with the fearlessness. Usually my flame angle and scopus tang have their way with new comers, but not this guy. They just avoided him more than taunt him.

I am actually impressed with the way this fish changes color, almost like the way an octopus does, as it cruises about the tank. Unfortunately for now he has to be moved from my display tank due to misbehavior. Luckly my LFS is willing to hold on to him for me while things get sorted out.

 

[tymux]

I am so cheap when it comes to this hobby I purchased all kinds of great live rock with awesome corals on most of it....bad part was a horrible aptasia outbreak. I took most of the rock that didn't have corals an boiled it in a huge pot.....probably a bad idea, but it was a quick start to killing off the aptasia. Then I went out and got the filefish......I also have about 5 peppermint shrimp, but I had had them in the tank for a few months and didn't see any changes in aptasia population. I didn't think my file fish was doing a damn thing till I realized that instead of 8 peices of live rock with aptasia...I only had 3....then 2....then one....and tonight it appears that all of mine is gone! I am excited enough to get on here to share the news. I have a lot zoas and haven't see any real difference in their population. If I do...the file fish will be out of there....and I will only bring him back if I need to. I love the fish...he is awesome looking, and hasn't picked on any of my other fish....as of yet. I have had several different clowns...and not a problem. Just my two cents.

 

[prop-frags]

We have had our Tomentosus Filefish for over a year in our SPS dominant, mixed reef and he has kept it Aiptasia free. He will eat zoa's, (as will our Regal) so we keep them in another tank.

We feed all of our fish multiple times a day. Our filefish also browses the rock and sand for pods and small snails and loves macro algae, algae sheets, red leaf lettuce and Romaine. We couldn't be happier with him. He is about 3 inches in length now. Here's a pic:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5804894289/" title="DSC_6809 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2698/5804894289_1504a81669_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="DSC_6809"></a>

 

[Froggy]

I have had one of those file fish in my 120 since Dec 2010. It took a couple of months to see any progress but my file fish cleaned out my 120 of over 1,000 aiptasia in about 4 months. He has since eaten most of my zoanthids since the aiptasia's are gone.

Other SPS, LPS, softies and a large Derasa clam have been left alone so far. He loves frozen mysis but will not eat any other commercial food for me.

Joe

 

[tymux]

So I guess my question now is....if I take him out will the aptasia come back eventually? I don't want my zoas or any corals eaten ...... anyone had luck keeping the aptasia gone once a filefish has done its job?

 

[jmadden]

I am so cheap when it comes to this hobby I purchased all kinds of great live rock with awesome corals on most of it....bad part was a horrible aptasia outbreak. I took most of the rock that didn't have corals an boiled it in a huge pot.....probably a bad idea, but it was a quick start to killing off the aptasia. Then I went out and got the filefish......I also have about 5 peppermint shrimp, but I had had them in the tank for a few months and didn't see any changes in aptasia population. I didn't think my file fish was doing a damn thing till I realized that instead of 8 peices of live rock with aptasia...I only had 3....then 2....then one....and tonight it appears that all of mine is gone! I am excited enough to get on here to share the news. I have a lot zoas and haven't see any real difference in their population. If I do...the file fish will be out of there....and I will only bring him back if I need to. I love the fish...he is awesome looking, and hasn't picked on any of my other fish....as of yet. I have had several different clowns...and not a problem. Just my two cents.

Thanks for sharing. It's good to see that you along with others are have having great results by using this fish as a means to control nuisance aiptasia.

The filefish wasn't overly aggressive, just mellow. I'm not sure why it was literally picking at my clowns. I think my fish was a bit of a rouge, you know that one exception to the rule.

 

[jmadden]

We have had our Tomentosus Filefish for over a year in our SPS dominant, mixed reef and he has kept it Aiptasia free. He will eat zoa's, (as will our Regal) so we keep them in another tank.

We feed all of our fish multiple times a day. Our filefish also browses the rock and sand for pods and small snails and loves macro algae, algae sheets, red leaf lettuce and Romaine. We couldn't be happier with him. He is about 3 inches in length now. Here's a pic:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5804894289/" title="DSC_6809 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2698/5804894289_1504a81669_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="DSC_6809"></a>

Glad to hear that your tomentosus has been a good citizen and excepting such a variety of foods. That's a great picture by the way. Definitely a good looking fish. It's nice to watch them change colors as they cruise the tank. I suppose that this fish would make for a more permanent resident in an SPS dominated tank as opposed to a mixed reef.

 

[jmadden]

I have had one of those file fish in my 120 since Dec 2010. It took a couple of months to see any progress but my file fish cleaned out my 120 of over 1,000 aiptasia in about 4 months. He has since eaten most of my zoanthids since the aiptasia's are gone.

Other SPS, LPS, softies and a large Derasa clam have been left alone so far. He loves frozen mysis but will not eat any other commercial food for me.

Joe

Thank you for your contribution to this thread.

Wow, sounds to me that you definitely got your money's worth out of that fish. For someone is the situation you described I couldn't see any other practical way to get control of that huge of an infestation.

How long have your been aiptasia free? I'm curious to know if once the aiptasia are gone will the fish turn to other foods to supplement it's diet since it is only eating mysis.

 

[jmadden]

So I guess my question now is....if I take him out will the aptasia come back eventually? I don't want my zoas or any corals eaten ...... anyone had luck keeping the aptasia gone once a filefish has done its job?

That's a good question. I know that if even a small bit of an aiptasia is left behind it can regenerate into another or multiple aiptasias.

 

[prop-frags]

Glad to hear that your tomentosus has been a good citizen and excepting such a variety of foods. That's a great picture by the way. Definitely a good looking fish. It's nice to watch them change colors as they cruise the tank. I suppose that this fish would make for a more permanent resident in an SPS dominated tank as opposed to a mixed reef.

Although our tank is SPS dominant, we do have a large colony of Paly's and several ricordeas. We also have several LPS colonies (Blasto's, acans, favia, pavona, and chalices to name a few) and all have been untouched by our Filefish.

In our experience, multiple small feedings and offering some "greens" (which we have to do anyway since we have Angels, Tangs and Wrasses) has been key in keeping our Filefish (and our Regal Angel) happy and less likely to pick at our corals.

Every once in a while, I'll find an Aiptasia in the sand bed of our refugium and I'll drop it in the DT. Our Aiptasia Assasin will dart across the tank in an instant and demolish it, LOL. :lmao:

 

[tdwright1971]

Mine never touches aiptasia, or any of the coral for that matter. Also he looks a bit different than the one in the photo. I wonder if its the same species.