Orange Spotted Filefish and Quarantine

[MondoBongo]

so just a quick update, the female is now reliably eating the hikari mysis. quite enthusiastically actually. the male isn't showing too much interest in them, however he will sample one here or there as he sees the female eating it. so i'm hopeful that he will start eating them regularly just as part of monkey see, monkey do.

so that's good news. the other good news is that their weight seems to be stabilizing, and i attribute this to the amount of acropora that i've jammed in the cube. i actually haven't put any A. millepora in there yet, but they're happily picking at A. yongei (Bali Green Slimer), ORA Green Scripps (a fast growing type of stag horn), and two different unnamed purple acros that have done well in my tank.

the last two days when i've gotten home they have looked thin, but remarkably less so than when they were in the acro free tank.

both are still gobbling up live white worms like they're going out of style, as well as live back worms, and the occasional frozen blood worm. no interest in PE callanus, PE myses, pellets, granules, flakes, nutramar ova, or cyclop-eeze.

they were doing some stress rubbing the last few days, but that seems to have subsided. typically what they do when they're exhibiting this behavior is facing the glass, "pacing" up and down, rubbing their forehead on the glass. the male had done it so much he appeared to have discolored his crest a bit, but this appears to subsiding, and they are generally seeming more relaxed.

i'm almost to the point where i am considering naming them, i am becoming cautiously optimistic that they will be around for a while, but we will see. we're still very early on in this process, but i'm hoping for the best.

i'm still a bit shocked by just how much direct care and husbandry these guys need, but it seems to be paying off. i've learned an incredible amount about these fish in a short time, and have only scratched the surface. certainly an interesting fish.

 

[MondoBongo]

bump for an update.

they're both eating hikari mysis lke there's no tomorrow. in the last week i've dialed back the white worm feeding to once every other day. which is good, my cultures were starting to be pretty taxed, and with the exceptionally cold weather here in Pittsburgh the last few weeks i haven't been able to safely order more.

i think having the pair has helped me here. the female is more adventurous when it comes to sampling new food items, and when she is eating the male wants to be eating too. so given enough time he starts to catch on to the new food sources.

i'm slowly starting to roll in pellets to their diet, or at least trying. they sampled a few out of muscle memory, but then were very confused why the things coming out of the pipette weren't works of mysis.

i've been using a small pipette when i feed them, so i can dispense small bursts of food, let them eat it, then give another small burst. essentially spot feeding them. their weight has stabilized nicely, and they seem to be doing well with only two or three small feedings a day. i attribute this largely to allowing them a variety of coral to graze on. i don't doubt that they could be maintained on discreet feedings, like a seahorse, but i like them being able to graze as much as they'd like while i'm at work or doing whatever. it gives me a much better buffer for them.

this is my basic philosophy on pretty much all obligate feeders, and it's developed out of keeping dragonets. it's super simple. if an animal is an obligate feeder, give them what they eat. then treat anything else as supplemental. a fairly obvious approach, but one a lot of people seem to ignore.

one last point: biofluorescence.

i've read that these fish posses the pattern that they do to help blend in with their shelter and food source, acropora. i've also read that they actually smell like the corals they eat, probably another helpful way to to keep a low profile.

observing them under the actinic lights on my LED fixtures, they stand out a bit. so i got myself one of the yellow lens filters they use for biofluorescence dives and took a look.

they glow like candles.

it's also my theory at this point that they can also see these kinds of fluorescent displays, and may actually use it to help them identify potential food sources.

i'm trying to figure out a way to validate this, and i've actually reached out to a former aquarist from my local zoo who was working with some aspects of coral fluorescence to see if she had any thoughts or suggestions.

i'm also hoping to actually get this captured on film, so hopefully within the next few weeks one of my friends with a good camera will be stopping by to try to get some pictures of this through the special lens filters.

oh, and i'm still having a real hard time not putting them in to the big tank. i think they would appreciated the additional room, additional food, and i'm dying to see them moving around a reef unhindered. i'm still completely entranced by how they float around the tank. we'll see what tank they end up in.

oh, and now that they seem like solid long term residents they have been named:

Phillip J. Fry
Turanga Leela

 

[MondoBongo]

another shameless bump. they're also starting to eat flakes, still uninterested in pellets though. i've had them on hikari mysis and SeaChem Nutri Diet Marine Flakes for the last several days, no worms.

once again the female is my secret weapon. she samples new things with far greater frequency than the male does, however once he sees her eating, he wants to eat as well, and will begrudgingly sample whatever she has become interested in.

size was also helpful. the pellets i have are .5mm and they're ignoring them pretty well, so i think i am going to try a slightly larger size. similar story with the flakes. they like pick out smaller flakes that they can eat in a gulp or two at the most, so crumbling them up a little before hand is helpful.

if anyone else with these fish, or other fish, are interested in replicating the bioflouresence, i got myself an IkeLite Yellow Barrier filter for a dive mask:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QLI69YG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

however, i just got a new thing today, which was WAY cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HFVWK00?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

it's a big sheet of translucent, yellow plastic, and it gives about the same results as the mask filter. i was curious if the mask filter was anything special, or was polarized, or anything funky like that, it appears that it is not. it really brings out some details on the corals, and it is awesome to hold up the filter and watch the OSFF glow brightly against the background.

the brighter and more intense the blue, the better. i took the mask filter to my LFS tonight and was checking it out on their tanks. T5 actinics produce some effect, but by far a heavy dose of the blue channels from powerful LEDs give the best results. my AI Vegas and the LFS's Radions are pretty nifty.

 

[horseplay]

I got a single female a week ago. Simply one of the most amazing fish I have seem. In one week she has been eating hikari mysis, LRS frozen food and formula crushed flakes. She learned how to eat these larger food with her very small mouth. She has gained considerable weight and compete well with other fish well for food, including a very fast rock beauty angel. When I first introduced her to the tank she immediately started picking at the few acros in the tank but now she just hanging out in the front corner of the tank waiting to be fed. I feed the tank as many times I can possible can, but only one time frozen the rest flakes. When she eats frozen her belly seems ready to explode. She does not pick at the acros that much any more. However she does sleep wedged between acro branches or in the corner of the tank. Very happy to have her. I hope I can find a male for her since I see in these videos they always hang out together.

 

[MondoBongo]

I'm still completely entranced watching mine swim. I've decided they need more room than my 35 cube though, so I'm planning to migrate them over to my big tank in the next couple weeks. I'm excited to see them move around a reef unhindered.

I love the way they sleep too. Hard to get a picture because my cell camera stinks in low light, but they're way cute. I love how they use their crest to anchor themselves in the branches.

 

[horseplay]

can't see picture. must be private.

 

[MondoBongo]

 

[MondoBongo]

i was trying to copy the links from mobile before, must have grabbed the wrong ones. do they show up in the second post?

 

[Sapelo]

I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to share all of this. It's a great read and awesome information. I dont know that I'll ever be brave enough to attempt these beauties, but I am loving sharing your journey.

 

[MondoBongo]

I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to share all of this. It's a great read and awesome information. I dont know that I'll ever be brave enough to attempt these beauties, but I am loving sharing your journey.

cheers! thank you.

these fish have definitely been a challenge, and pushed my knowledge (or lack thereof) of husbandry far out of my comfort zone. so it has been quite a lot of work, but also an incredibly rewarding experience.

hopefully the mistakes i've made and other things i've learned will help make life easier for others in the future.

 

[horseplay]

no still don't see the pictures. I have noticed some of the online photosharing sites are not as easy to use as before.

One thing I notice of my OSFF is that she only eat one out of the three type of flakes I have tried, even after a few tries of the failed ones. One of the failed ones has very similiar color and she does not even sample it. This leads me to believe that this fish a very keen sense of smell and one eats the food that smells good.

 

[LargeAngels]

Many fish are also more selective on food in the beginning. Once established they don't seem shy or afraid of other fish. It's funny to see them swimming with a 9" emperor while feeding or going after the same piece of food as a powder blue tang.

 

[MondoBongo]

so just wanted to bump this with an update.

they're still doing well in the cube. i've been stalling on the move to the main tank for various reasons, not wanting to upset what appears to be working being the biggest one.

i was cleaning out the cube this past weekend, and since i run it essentially as a display fuge it was covered in various kind of filamentous algae.

i've read before from others that they may like the occasional algae based snack, but was kind of surprised when a large lump of algae went tumbling away in the current and both my OSFF attacked it.

now i'm not 100% sure they were taking the algae and not something living in the algae, but it appeared they were after the plant material. they were actually very gregarious while i was in there cleaning, picking at algae and all kinds of other things that got stirred up.

so that was a nifty little observation, thought i would share.

cheers.

 

[kimyatingi]

Nice journey man!I also have oxymonachanthus longiroistris and it was very hard,but interesting to make him to eat something but acros.Now my filefish eats everything,frozen artemia,baby nauplies of Artemia,mussels,flakes,even Nori.Nice to see someone else,who has such a beautiful fish!

Отправлено с моего SM-G850F через Tapatalk

 

[Ssteve]

update?

 

[Kremis]

I had an orange spot filefish in my 28 gallon tank with seahorses, it lived a good 8 months till it got some sort of internal infection, link here - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2590202
Mine ate almost everything i threw in to the tank. I will note though, i had some montipora digitata in the tank, and after a few days of the filefish being in the tank, the polyps never extended again. It slowly browned, then died. He was one of my favorite fish, also from liveaquaria DD. Good luck with yours! They are awesome fish to watch

 

[MondoBongo]

You know it's funny, I was going to post some pictures I just took.

Everything is still going well. They're both awesome and still in the cube.

 

[MondoBongo]

The acros in there are still growing quite well. No polyp extension to speak of. I have a Bali green slimer frag in there with them. After removing it from their tank it took several weeks to start seeing polyp extension again.

 

[Kremis]

I miss mine yours look great though!

 

[MondoBongo]

So... I did a thing.

After nearly a year of deliberation I finally moved them to the big tank with all the acros.