orange spot file fish aggressive against its own?

[CTaylor]

Hi,

Now that I know what to feed mine....Are they aggressive amongst its own species? I have a female, so I'd like to get a male, and maybe a few pairs. The only other fish in the tank are 6 neon gobies and 2 red neon gobies. 37 gallon.

Will I find aggressive behavior between them?

TY

 

[Tripod1404]

Not much. Initially there may be some aggression, but they tend to calm down (at least a pair, never kept more than a pair). It is difficult to wean them on prepared foods with another OSFF though. They are easily distracted, which makes it harder to train a new fish with other fish constantly distracting it. Even when I bought them as pair, I weaned the fish to prepared foods in separate quarantine tanks.

 

[CTaylor]

Not much. Initially there may be some aggression, but they tend to calm down (at least a pair, never kept more than a pair). It is difficult to wean them on prepared foods with another OSFF though. They are easily distracted, which makes it harder to train a new fish with other fish constantly distracting it. Even when I bought them as pair, I weaned the fish to prepared foods in separate quarantine tanks.

So another OSFF woutl distract them too much to get to eat food? My OSFF went after the fauna like lightning.. it wasnt even a weening.

 

[Tripod1404]

So another OSFF woutl distract them too much to get to eat food? My OSFF went after the fauna like lightning.. it wasnt even a weening.

Because yours was already weaned by LA. What you did wasnt weaning, it was just introducing it to a new food.

If you get a completely un-weaned fish and put it next to a weaned one. Un-weaned one will be too distracted to realize you are offering food, while other one gobbles it up. Even with two un-weaned ones, they will be more interested about each other than the food you are trying to wean to. So either neither will accept it, or one will wean faster and eat all of what you offer before the other one is weaned. They can also get competitive with food, which makes it harder for the new one to even try.

 

[CTaylor]

It wasnt eating anything.. only thing it does is the Fauna. LA said it was eating regular frozen meaty food. At least in my tank it would taste things and spit out at the best.

Though it makes sense what you are saying. But the OSSF I have now literally speed darted to the Fauna M. It was not weened to it.

Ok, but the orig question pretty much answered.. likely any agression will taper off

 

[MondoBongo]

i would advise against more than a mixed sex pairing in a tank.

i've only kept mine as a bonded pair. they work very well like that.

it's possible a harem (one male multiple females) could succeed, but knowing how delicate and fickle these fish can be, i would stick to no more than a pair. my male tends to harass my female regularly, and i assume that multiple females would also establish their own pecking order. i've had mine going on 4 years now.

this will also make your life easier if they should decide to stop eating at any point (which occasionally happens).

 

[MondoBongo]

there are some good threads around on this too:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2055641

At one point i beleive we had atleast 4 in one tank and more in others but they fought and killed each other off and had to be seperated.

i would *strongly* urge no more than a bonded, mixed sex pair, and be prepared to rehome if they don't get along.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2540008
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1695421

and here is my own log:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2545824

 

[CTaylor]

Hi
Delay in posting in this thread. The male recently died. He had no symptoms. I'm betting it was a large hermit with a large claw. The hermit is now gone. The osffs would sleep, looking almost dead, just in the corner between two tank glass panes easy prey, and close to the sand often. The female is totally fine.

I already replaced the male, nervous he wouldn't eat. He ate instantly after seeing what the female was eating. It was so easy. He may have been weened, tut I just don't think so.

It seems a way to train them is just put one in a tank that's eating, and they train each other (unless somhow mine was weened from LA (live aquaria) -- I say he wasnt :-D )

 

[MondoBongo]

Hi
Delay in posting in this thread. The male recently died. He had no symptoms. I'm betting it was a large hermit with a large claw. The hermit is now gone. The osffs would sleep, looking almost dead, just in the corner between two tank glass panes easy prey, and close to the sand often. The female is totally fine.

I already replaced the male, nervous he wouldn't eat. He ate instantly after seeing what the female was eating. It was so easy. He may have been weened, tut I just don't think so.

It seems a way to train them is just put one in a tank that's eating, and they train each other (unless somhow mine was weened from LA (live aquaria) -- I say he wasnt :-D )

i keep saying, my best tool to get them eating is the female osff. she's way more assertive with getting food, and way more adventurous trying new things. the male would get angry watching her eat if he wasn't.

i wouldn't be too quick to blame the death on the hermit. i doubt it could have killed a healthy fish. my male died recently too after several years. no idea why? i went away for a few days, came back, and he was hiding, not eating, and eventually expired. it was sad to lose half my pair, but thankfully my female still seems strong and healthy. the male gave no previous indication he was unwell.

do you have any acros or similar structures in your tank? mine prefer to use their little crest to lock themselves in to acro heads while they sleep. if they don't have some good stony corals to sleep in, they will tend to tuck in where they can, but mine have always seemed to be more comfortable in the corals (i base this on the fact that they're not as easy to disturb when sleeping in the coral).

 

[Zionas]

Highly suggested you stay away from these fish unless you’re among the really experienced aquarists with a very well-established system that’s been up and running for a long time without much trouble in any shape or form.

Sure, they don’t get big, but you could find fish of approximately the same size or smaller that are a lot easier to keep. I’d be looking into a pair of Ocellaris or Percula Clowns (maybe Tomato or even Maroon?), or a basslet like a Royal Gramma / Swissguard / some kind of Assessor / Blackcap Basslet, one of the smaller wrasses that only get to 3 or 4”, or a small group of Pajama Cardinals (odd numbered) or the even smaller Cardinals like Orange Lined (?). All beautiful IMO and far easier to keep.

 

[MondoBongo]

Highly suggested you stay away from these fish unless you’re among the really experienced aquarists with a very well-established system that’s been up and running for a long time without much trouble in any shape or form.

Sure, they don’t get big, but you could find fish of approximately the same size or smaller that are a lot easier to keep. I’d be looking into a pair of Ocellaris or Percula Clowns (maybe Tomato or even Maroon?), or a basslet like a Royal Gramma / Swissguard / some kind of Assessor / Blackcap Basslet, one of the smaller wrasses that only get to 3 or 4”, or a small group of Pajama Cardinals (odd numbered) or the even smaller Cardinals like Orange Lined (?). All beautiful IMO and far easier to keep.

thanks for your input, but i've been successfully keeping them for over about 5 years now. lost my male recently, but prior to that my pair spawned pretty regularly, so i think they were pretty happy. they're actually not that difficult to keep, if you understand their care, and are prepared to do what you need to do to get them eating.

als0, none of those fish suggestions are anything close to the OSFF. i was attracted to these fish for a lot of reasons. their stunning coloration and pattern were a large part of that, but just as spectacular is the opportunity to observe how these fish live and move every day.

 

[CTaylor]

I trust mondo's input ! .. But Mondo, the one that died w astotally fine the day before. I hear what you're saying, but mine had no signs of hiding, etc.. zip. And I was already thinking it may havbe been a big hermit (though I havent seen one in tank, as I got them small). But when I cleaned the rocks (they had some cyano), boom a big hermit with a big claw. In past in other tank I had I had fish disappear out of nowhere. that tank had many large - big clawed hermits. I took them out and no one else died /disappeared no reason. All these, incl the osff that have died no reason while in company of big clawed hermits were type to sleep nestelled in something (small blue tangs were one of them before, for example). And the osff same thing, he woudl even nestle on the sand in corner of the tank panels. Easy target IMO. Only time will tell though of a big claw hermitless tank.
TTYY again Mondo!

EDIT I'm hopefully soon goign to get thenm a 'better' tank where I can put in more comfortabble palces to sleep like branching rock or fake acropora branchy coral. My tank now is not easy to accomodate that. It's very tall , it was my prvious seahorse tank. And amazing that you (mondo) got them to spawn as well! .

I will likely just want to keep the one pair, it's more special that way. But they seem to love being fed now even more, they really go nuts when I feed them. I can even point to the feeding spot and if they see my finger drift to it they will go there and seem to wait for food. Sometimes then even try to jump at me. lol .. Lately i been seeing them even picking bits of fallen food from the sand. They are never skinny, always some bulge in their abdomen. they really are my 'prize' fish.