Multiple Aiptasia Eating Filefish

[paal]

My 100g's aiptasia problem is starting to worry me a little. I keep hitting them with Aiptasia X, but it only seems to make them close up for a few days; not kill them. I have 100+ at this point.

I have tried peppermint shrimps, but unfortunately my captive bred orchid dottyback pair kills them within minutes. :|

I am now considering trying a filefish, but I've heard they are hit or miss. My closest fish store is 400km away (one way) and express shipping costs about 100USD, so I was thinking I should order 2-3 of them right away just to increase my chances and not having to pay for more than one shipment.

Would more than one be trouble in a 100G? Are they a "fight to the death"-type of fish?

Latast pic I have of the tank:
(one of the shrimp killers far back in the middle )

 

[sacremon]

I think most any "natural solution" in a tank that size is going to be hit or miss. People seem to focus on copperband butterflies for another fish that might eat aiptasia, though they are difficult to keep. I have to think there are other butterflies that would happily eat it, but people seem to focus on the cbb.

Live Aquaria describes the filefish you are likely looking at, Acreichthys tomentosus, as a shy species that might go for your corals as well.

 

[Fish4udog]

I tried aiptasia eating file fish only thing he ate on was my LPS bought a cbb once acclimated he started picking at them I have had him for a little over two years but like stated before it's hit or miss you never know but the cbb dont munch on my LPS

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[Scotch_c]

Either remove the dotty backs and then use those shrimps or get Nudibranch to clean them up.


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[OrionN]

They are ugly looking fish. I would just get one. I have aptasia in my 320. Have one CBB and one file fish. I cannot tell which eat them but I no longer have any in my tank. It will take a while for them to eat your aptasia. 6 months in my tank.
I recommend CBB. They are such beautiful fish.

 

[McPuff]

Nudibranchs will be able to get the aiptasia that are in cracks and other hard to get places... where fish cannot hunt. The best approach is probably a mix of all species that will consume the aiptasia. Try about a dozen peppermint shrimp and nudibranchs. The latter will also proliferate in your tank.

 

[paal]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

The dottybacks are always darting in/out of the rocks, and never staying out in the open. Catching them would be very hard. I would probably have to remove all my rockwork first. Doable I guess, but would require a lot of work.

The CBB is one of my favorite fish ever. Aiptasia or not; I would love to have one, but would feel terrible if he died while I am fully aware of the overall low success rate. If my not so local fish store wont be able to get the filefish and one of these are available I will probably try it though.

The nudiebranchs: is it possible to keep these in a tank with leopard and yellow coris wrasses? I've heard about these from various online threads, but never actually seen them available around here. If they indeed are wrasse-proof I will definitely start asking around for them.

 

[R1ant04]

Wrasse will definitely eat the nudis if they can.

 

[pfan151]

I’ve had good luck with the filefish. Bought one of the ORA captive bred ones. It was eating aiptasia at the store and had wiped them out of my tank in just a few weeks. I didn’t have a ton though. Maybe a dozen. That I could see at least.

 

[coralreefjunkie]

May I suggest an oldfashioned way? I would take small rubble rocks and lightly glue them on top of the aptaisia. in about 2 weeks, the aptaisia would move onto the rubble rock. you can simply take the rubble rock off and toss it. i find this works for me about 90% of the time.

I still have 2 that I can't get to, as the rock has too many crevices and they wouldn't climb onto the rubble rock.

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