Filefish picking gorgonian

[fishhuman]

I bought a large blueberry gorgonian yesterday and I am now noticing that it is being picked at a little by my aptasia filefish, what should I do. I would rather not take the filefish out because he is one of the oldest fish in the tank and is reefsafe otherwise. Also I can not get a cup over the gorgonian for protection because it is to big.

 

[fishhuman]

s1277.photobucket.com/user/Thompsky/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps93af8c08.jpg.html]

[/URL] bad iphone pic of the blueberry gorgonian

 

[Betta132]

Not much you can do. The filefish has decided that's an edible thing.

 

[Theoj]

Good luck keeping the blueberry gorg alive anyway, they are NPS and almost impossible to keep, they need daily spot feedings.

 

[formsix]

Hmm, that gorgonian is going to be tough to keep alive regardless. I added a pygmy whitespotted filefish to my tank a few weeks ago and he immediately went to my big photosynthetic gorgonian and picked at a few polyps. However, he also seemed to initially think it was the safest spot in the tank and has since kinda made it his home. After that first night his interest on munching on the gorgonian dropped considerably (I also keep the tank well fed), and he's been just fine. So maybe your filefish just wanted a taste but won't keep nibbling it?

 

[fishhuman]

Filefish stopped picking at the gorgonian he must have just been sampling it, I feed it four times a day with reef chili and phyto plankton, we will have to see if it lives though

 

[Theoj]

how often do you do water changes? thats a hell of a lot of food in what i assume is a smallish system

 

[vashawn]

can I which filefish do u have. and do they eat aiptasia

 

[fishhuman]

how often do you do water changes? thats a hell of a lot of food in what i assume is a smallish system

Not so, I would not say 180 gallons is a small system. The filefish is a matted filefish I think, he was bought by the previous owner to eat aptasia but he doesn't. My kliens butterfly takes care of all the aptasia in the tank.

 

[Theoj]

although its not a small system 4 times daily feedings is still gonna produce a lot of waste.. in my 240G reef i feed my Goniopora every other day and i still have to do large water changes, run a over sized skimmer and carbon dose to keep all algae away.