Orange Spot Filefish, uh oh.

[sugartooth]

Hello,
I saw, and impulsively bought an orange spot filefish and was told as long as I didn't have small polyp inverts I would be okay to have this fish in my 24 gal. nano. I have quite a few inverts in there, open brain, leathers, x-mas, candy cane (?), frogspawn, feather dusters, xenia, etc. I am also a beginner, having the reef for only about one year.
I put him in my nano, and I went and looked him up on google, only to find out every mention of an orange spot filefish follows with "Never get this fish". I am now very worried and I can't seem to find out exactly what the requirements of this fish is, and I am certainly not willing to sacrifice my reef for this fish. (there were some mentions that they will pick your reef apart)
Can anyone offer advice short of taking it back to the store? I would want to try my best to make this work, but I don't want to ruin my tank, or kill this beautiful fish because of my purchase.
There were several of them in the tank from the store, and they were in a fish only environment. The person never mentioned any special needs and said it would be great for a nano.
A couple of hours after putting him in the tank, he is picking at my large soft coral (which has retracted as much as it can)
Any advice would be much appreciated. If I have to take it back, I will, and eat my $50 as a lesson learned.
Thanks!

 

[Greg129]

Eat your $50 as a lesson learned. This is from Scott W. Michael's Marine Fishes - "Difficult to feed. An obligatory coral feeder, it specializes on the polyps of Acropora. Will occasionally be coaxed into eating live brine shrimp, but this rarely meets its nutritional needs. This little beauty should be avoided by the vast majority of aquarists because it rarely accepts aquarium fare." The Orange-spotted Filfefish was also rated a 1 out of 5 meaning "These species are almost impossible to keep and should be left on the reef." Next time research before you buy.

 

[sugartooth]

Hi Greg,
Thanks very much, he's going back tomorrow. I'm quite sad that this happened and the poor fish most likely will not have a long life.

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Impulse purchases almost always turn out badly. I've made a few in my day and regreted every one for one reason or another. Glad to hear you are taking the fish back (sorry but this fish is probably doomed) but I would be finding another LFS if I were you. No responsible store would ever stock this species and I would let them know in no uncertain terms their advise stinks. I have researched every fish I have bought in the last 10 years (wish I started researching sooner), and have had very few problems with livestock.

 

[mjdlonghorn]

It really isnt the LFS fault. The wholesalers send them what ever they have in stock. A lot of times the LFS get stuck with fish like this and they have no control over what they get. It is just he luck of the draw.

 

[Greg129]

Your welcome, sugartooth. Like everyone else said, just research next time. You're right, the fish is probably doomed. It will most likely die in the fish store.