Orange Spotted Filefish and Quarantine

[MondoBongo]

They're still gorging themselves on everything in the tank. Lol

 

[MondoBongo]

it's been about a week, so i figured i would give another update.

a little background first: i got this pair last december from LA/DD. ran them through TTM and held them in my grow out system for about 3 weeks. they moved them in to a 35 gallon cube that shares a sump with my main system, containing a decent amount of mini-acro colonies. there they stayed until about a week ago i decided to finally transfer them to my main tank, with all my acros, about a week ago.

both osff appear to be doing great. initially they were in an acclimation box for about 24 hours. started in the evening and then held them there till the next evening. none of the other tank residents really gave them a second look, and they were eating nicely, so i cut them loose.

they went straight for the closest colony of acropora and started feeding. lol. for about the first 36 hours that they were free in the main system all they wanted was to eat coral as fast as they could get it. truly cool to watch because now their body shape, color, pattern, method of movement all make sense when you see it in context. they like to glide over the colonies face down and pick, and in the larger ones they sometimes slighter through the branches to get to the inner polyps.

after about the first 36 hours the female started coming up during feeding time and picking at a few hikari myses as they fell in, but without the usual vigor that they would eat them in the smaller tank they were in. the male would not take any of the food (previously he had been eating it well).

the female is my trump card. she has always been more adventurous about sampling new foods, and the male watches her. when she is feeding and he is not, it irritates him. sometimes he will give her short little charges. what usually tends to happen is that when the female finds something new that she likes to eat, she will sample it, he will get irritated. this goes on for sometimes 2 - 4 days, until finally the male gets tired of watching, and starts sampling some for himself.

i don't know why this is, but this has been a pattern with them for each new food i've introduced them to, and sometimes after drastic changes to their environment like moving tanks.

so gradually over the course of the last couple days the female's feeding response has increased each day, and finally within the last two days the male has started to again reliably take the frozen food. in fact they are now both becoming fans of the larger PE Myses that they previously weren't too keen on, most likely because of size.

they still continue to pick at the corals, though not as hard as the first few days, and there isn't an acropora in my tank that has any day time polyp extension any more. the large Montipora capricornis that i have are also picked at, as is my Monitpora setosa, however my birdsnest, Monitpora digitata, and LPS remain untouched. especially hard hit are the millepora and the Bali Green Slimer, however night time polyp extension seems fine on all of them.

 

[Ssteve]

Aren't you worried about all your acros? Seems rather risky for two fish.

 

[MondoBongo]

Aren't you worried about all your acros? Seems rather risky for two fish.

Nah not really. They never hurt them in the cube. Just the polyp extension.

Besides, seeing them in context is worth it.

 

[Tripod1404]

Nah not really. They never hurt them in the cube. Just the polyp extension.

Besides, seeing them in context is worth it.

After introducing one to a tank with acros I can verify that the damage the cause to the acros are minimal. Mine nips the corals but I observed no tissue loss. Plus, she seem to not exclusively target polyps, most of the time she goes to the regions in between. I am more inclined to think they are sucking up mucus more than the tissue it self. As a comparison, when a dwarf angel nips SPS corals, you can see them tearing up tissue and polyps. With this fish corals look healthy. You lose polyp extension during the day but corals do not open up their polyps in wild during the day anyway (dived many times in red sea, never seen any acro having extended polyps.). If you acros are already stress, it might cause more damage but in a healthy system, acros can handle it quite well.

Aside from corals I have seen the pick up pineapple sponges, bunch of copepods from the glass and suck up some vermetid snails and tubeworms. In addition to grazing on these she eats flake food mysis and brine shrimp.

 

[MondoBongo]

After introducing one to a tank with acros I can verify that the damage the cause to the acros are minimal. Mine nips the corals but I observed no tissue loss. Plus, she seem to not exclusively target polyps, most of the time she goes to the regions in between. I am more inclined to think they are sucking up mucus more than the tissue it self. As a comparison, when a dwarf angel nips SPS corals, you can see them tearing up tissue and polyps. With this fish corals look healthy. You lose polyp extension during the day but corals do not open up their polyps in wild during the day anyway (dived many times in red sea, never seen any acro having extended polyps.). If you acros are already stress, it might cause more damage but in a healthy system, acros can handle it quite well.

Aside from corals I have seen the pick up pineapple sponges, bunch of copepods from the glass and suck up some vermetid snails and tubeworms. In addition to grazing on these she eats flake food mysis and brine shrimp.

this is where i am at with this too. i am convinced they're after the mucus, and that any polyps they get are more or less incidental.

mine will also eat nori from the clip, and i've seen them attack floating clumps of hair algae. i've never been quite sure with the hair algae if they were going after it, or something hanging out in/on it, but i found that behavior very interesting.

 

[MondoBongo]

related to that, i did find some interesting papers on the nutritional content of coral mucus:

https://www.researchgate.net/public...rrier_and_particle_trap_in_the_reef_ecosystem

http://biodiv.sinica.edu.tw/~ceegl/Allen Chen's Coral group/Chinese/class file/mucus.pdf

 

[Maddlesrain]

Read through this thread; very good read and helpful information!

I think I'm going to try my hand at one of these fishes next chance I get. I wanted a pair, but after doing a little reading decided maybe it would be best to just try the one. Any thoughts on whether the pair dynamic or single could be better in any way?

 

[MondoBongo]

thank you, glad you found this thread useful!

if would either do a single female or a mixed sex pair.

my female, and others i've read about, seem to be better about sampling new foods, which is a very important characteristic for keeping these guys long term. females also seem to be able to hold body weight better than the males.

with the pair you have the potential upside of the female helping to entice the male to eat, but you also have to figure out twice as much food. so that's a trade off.

 

[WLachnit]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Kremis got me thinking about whether or not I should try a pair for a Softie only tank and having the pair be the highlight of the tank. Based on the posts, it seems like these fish are already eating foods other than Acros when you get them from DD?

 

[MondoBongo]

mine were, yes. your mileage may vary.

the live white worms were the ONLY thing they were eating for quite a few weeks. i relied heavily on those. they turned they nose up at everything else i offered for quite some time. so keep that in mind. the more potential food options you have, the better chance you have of getting them to eat.

now they will pig out on most things i put in the tank. most frozens that they can fit in their mouth, and a couple different kinds of flake food i like to rotate in.

keeping your water quality impeccably high is a must for assisting their appetites.

 

[nanoreef heaven]

Would love to see an update on these lovely fish. :inlove:

it's been about a week, so i figured i would give another update.

a little background first: i got this pair last december from LA/DD. ran them through TTM and held them in my grow out system for about 3 weeks. they moved them in to a 35 gallon cube that shares a sump with my main system, containing a decent amount of mini-acro colonies. there they stayed until about a week ago i decided to finally transfer them to my main tank, with all my acros, about a week ago.

both osff appear to be doing great. initially they were in an acclimation box for about 24 hours. started in the evening and then held them there till the next evening. none of the other tank residents really gave them a second look, and they were eating nicely, so i cut them loose.

they went straight for the closest colony of acropora and started feeding. lol. for about the first 36 hours that they were free in the main system all they wanted was to eat coral as fast as they could get it. truly cool to watch because now their body shape, color, pattern, method of movement all make sense when you see it in context. they like to glide over the colonies face down and pick, and in the larger ones they sometimes slighter through the branches to get to the inner polyps.

after about the first 36 hours the female started coming up during feeding time and picking at a few hikari myses as they fell in, but without the usual vigor that they would eat them in the smaller tank they were in. the male would not take any of the food (previously he had been eating it well).

the female is my trump card. she has always been more adventurous about sampling new foods, and the male watches her. when she is feeding and he is not, it irritates him. sometimes he will give her short little charges. what usually tends to happen is that when the female finds something new that she likes to eat, she will sample it, he will get irritated. this goes on for sometimes 2 - 4 days, until finally the male gets tired of watching, and starts sampling some for himself.

i don't know why this is, but this has been a pattern with them for each new food i've introduced them to, and sometimes after drastic changes to their environment like moving tanks.

so gradually over the course of the last couple days the female's feeding response has increased each day, and finally within the last two days the male has started to again reliably take the frozen food. in fact they are now both becoming fans of the larger PE Myses that they previously weren't too keen on, most likely because of size.

they still continue to pick at the corals, though not as hard as the first few days, and there isn't an acropora in my tank that has any day time polyp extension any more. the large Montipora capricornis that i have are also picked at, as is my Monitpora setosa, however my birdsnest, Monitpora digitata, and LPS remain untouched. especially hard hit are the millepora and the Bali Green Slimer, however night time polyp extension seems fine on all of them.

 

[MondoBongo]

Would love to see an update on these lovely fish. :inlove:

hey, they're doing great, thanks for asking!

they eat like hogs, a mix of PE and Hikari Myses, as well as two different kinds of SeaChem Flake food. i usually feed twice a day with the myses, and work in at least one feeding of flake food.

they also both like to pick nori off the clip.

my SPS are all doing great. haven't seen polyp extension for months, but everything keeps growing and the colors look excellent.

 

[nanoreef heaven]

hey, they're doing great, thanks for asking!

they eat like hogs, a mix of PE and Hikari Myses, as well as two different kinds of SeaChem Flake food. i usually feed twice a day with the myses, and work in at least one feeding of flake food.

they also both like to pick nori off the clip.

my SPS are all doing great. haven't seen polyp extension for months, but everything keeps growing and the colors look excellent.

Just lovely. I recently acquired a pair. Call myself "saving them" from dying in a fish store. I am trying to fatten them up and have them eating prepared foods but have no acros or sps. Worried if I can fatten them up and get them healthy without any acros in my tank. Any suggestions or tips to help to get them nice and plump? [emoji41]

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[MondoBongo]

make sure they're getting meals every few hours.

figure out what they will eat. different OSFF have different preferences, but often can be gotten on to flake/pellet with a little encouragement.

they tend to be picky and skeptical about new foods, but once they start eating something they tend to stick with it. it took several weeks of trying the flakes on mine before they would really start taking them. i would feed them flakes as their first meal of the day, when they were the hungriest, to try to entice them. if they didn't take them i would immediately follow up with frozen.

live foods are always good too. mine LOVE live white worms (i have yet to meet a fish that doesn't) and they will also scarf down live blackworms. while neither of these is an ideal long term food source, they're both useful for bridging the gap or fattening them up.

these fish lose weight fast if they're not being fed and don't have acros to graze on. that's why i like having them in an SPS dominant reef. they have plenty to snack on. it's not enough to keep them fat, but it helps even out their feeding schedule.

i typically try to feed them every 3 - 4 hours when i'm home. i like to be able to see a small bump in their bellies, as pictured above.

food size matters. they strike more akin to seahorses and like to take food in one gulp. hence why i mix in hikari myses with my PE myses. the smaller size makes it easier for them eat them, and once they got used to taking the hikari, they started figuring out how to tackle the larger PE myses, but that took time.

bottom line, get your hands on every single type of live/frozen/prepared food you can find, and keep introducing them to stuff. keep your water quality pristine. their appetites crash quickly with dirty water.

 

[nanoreef heaven]

Thanks so much for the advice. I definitely am trying to make sure I am feeding several times a day. I have the automatic feeder going when I am at work. Good thing is they eat flakes and pellets some while at work and I feed lobster eggs and spirulina brine shrimp once I am home at least 3 times before I go to bed. trying to keep with the consistent feedings and am trying to find some cheap acro colonies just to help them in between feedings (I have no sps in my tank currently). I definitely will get my hands on more options of frozen and will need to get my hands on live worms. Going to try my best to fatten them up.

make sure they're getting meals every few hours.

figure out what they will eat. different OSFF have different preferences, but often can be gotten on to flake/pellet with a little encouragement.

they tend to be picky and skeptical about new foods, but once they start eating something they tend to stick with it. it took several weeks of trying the flakes on mine before they would really start taking them. i would feed them flakes as their first meal of the day, when they were the hungriest, to try to entice them. if they didn't take them i would immediately follow up with frozen.

live foods are always good too. mine LOVE live white worms (i have yet to meet a fish that doesn't) and they will also scarf down live blackworms. while neither of these is an ideal long term food source, they're both useful for bridging the gap or fattening them up.

these fish lose weight fast if they're not being fed and don't have acros to graze on. that's why i like having them in an SPS dominant reef. they have plenty to snack on. it's not enough to keep them fat, but it helps even out their feeding schedule.

i typically try to feed them every 3 - 4 hours when i'm home. i like to be able to see a small bump in their bellies, as pictured above.

food size matters. they strike more akin to seahorses and like to take food in one gulp. hence why i mix in hikari myses with my PE myses. the smaller size makes it easier for them eat them, and once they got used to taking the hikari, they started figuring out how to tackle the larger PE myses, but that took time.

bottom line, get your hands on every single type of live/frozen/prepared food you can find, and keep introducing them to stuff. keep your water quality pristine. their appetites crash quickly with dirty water.

 

[Chooch1]

I have a number of nice Zoanthids in my 180 gallon mixed reef. Does anybody know if they will nip at the Zoanthid tentacles or otherwise nip at the Zonathids and cause damage?

 

[MondoBongo]

I have a number of nice Zoanthids in my 180 gallon mixed reef. Does anybody know if they will nip at the Zoanthid tentacles or otherwise nip at the Zonathids and cause damage?

i doubt that they would nip at zoos, but i don't keep z's or p's so i can't say with absolute certainty.

they've never bothered any of my LPS or my ricordias, and truth be told they've never seemed to hurt any of my SPS, just irritate in to keeping its polyps hidden.

 

[MondoBongo]

just passed my two year anniversary with these two crazy kids. still captivated by them, still enjoying keeping the "unkeepable".

the buckets of acros i have traded in to my LFS in that time would also suggest to me that they have no adverse effects on coral growth, only polyp extension.

 

[WLachnit]

Wow...that's great. Any recent pics?


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