Orange Spotted Filefish

[isseym328]

Oh yeah the male was poking around at some of the acros, but the bigger one did not seem interested in eating. I fed some live brine and fish flakes but nothing yet. Better luck tomorrow!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Don't worry about getting a macro. I can ID them from a regular ol' photo as long as I can see the vents.

Try Nutramar Ova. If they take it you can get weight on them in good time with that. Remember, whatever they finally decide to eat (if they do), four times a day with that and then add in other stuff, too.

Good luck!

 

[isseym328]

So you can id them from the vents? That is great I'll try to get some close shots tonight so you can perhaps ID them for me.

Where do I get Nutramar Ova?

Wow 4 times a day. Right now I'm feeding my fishes 3 times a day...so hopefully that's enough. I feed before I go to work, and twice after I get off from work.

The two were alive in the morning when I got up. Good sign. I'm always nervous the night I get in specimens...afraid they going to kick the bucket overnight.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Feed them as many times as possible and watch them. You can see when their bellies are sunken. If their bellies aren't a little distended then feed them more often. But, yeah, for the first couple of months I'd feed them 4x/day.

So you can id them from the vents? That is great I'll try to get some close shots tonight so you can perhaps ID them for me.

Well, the vent covering is what I meant but I forget the term. Just a regular, full-fish side shot will do.

 

[isseym328]

Thanks for the tip Andy. Really appreciate it.

Any chance you can tell me where i can buy Nutramar Ova?

 

["Umm fish?"]

I'm sorry. I forgot to address that. I had my LFS store order it in (took less than a week and they pay the shipping). Get several as the packages have gotten smaller. Other than that, I think Marine Depot has it in stock, too, but their site's not loading for me right now.

 

[isseym328]

Hey Andy,

No pics yet, but one of them has started feeding on the nutramar! I was pretty much using the nutramar to target feed some of my corals every other day, and then dumping what's left for the rest of the tank. Well today when I dumped the rest I was paying attention to one of the filefishes..and it was eating! Pretty sweet to see it feeding on something other than the acros in my tank. i was looking at the other filefish but it didn't look too interested. I've only had the fishes for about a week and a half, but since I know i have acros in my tank I know they won't go hungry. But I'd be relieved when they move over to frozen food so that my acros can get a break from their nipping.

 

[Hellaenergy]

My oldest pair literally eats everything i give them. Here's one eating some home made food out of my hand:

 

[flying_dutchman]

^ very cool, any success breeding them?

 

[Hellaenergy]

^ very cool, any success breeding them?

Not yet. Working on it. I'll be moving those two into a 40B pretty soon to concentrate on that effort. :thumbsup:

 

[seahorsedreams]

That's awesome!

 

[MarkGrant]

After reading this thread I decided to give an OSF a try. I took the knowledge gained in this thread and tried to apply it with a small twist. After reading all of your posts I decided to put a small birdsnest frag in my nano right off. I smeared in some Instant Ocean Marine gel and then coated it in New Life Spectrum Thera + Small Fish Pellets (0.5mm). The pellets look like polyps on the acro and my male OSF began eating them day one. This allows for natural feeding throughout the day without the need for so many manual feedings. I've only had him a week now so it's way too early to declare this a success, but I'm heartened that he started eating right off. I want to fatten him up for now, but any ideas how to eventually remove the frag?

 

[curlykid]

i don't know much about these fish but feeding in general. You should try introducing these foods free-float along with the frag, and take the frag out sooner and sooner each day during feedings until it's completely gone. then just feed the foods in the water column.

 

[Monkeyfish]

i don't know much about these fish but feeding in general. You should try introducing these foods free-float along with the frag, and take the frag out sooner and sooner each day during feedings until it's completely gone. then just feed the foods in the water column.

Good advice.

 

[MarkGrant]

Came home tonight to find my OSF's tail sticking out of my mini carpet anemone I read earlier in this forum, somewhat jokingly I thought, about someone who said they didn't trust this fish near their anemone (is there any merit to this?). The OSF seemed to be doing fine and eating very well up to this point.

 

[Monkeyfish]

Ouch!

 

[small alien]

Bummer. I have 2 RBTAs and a couple mini carpets. From what I've read, regular carpets are prone to munching fish. So hard to say what happened in a situation like this. Sorry for your loss.

 

[namxas]

Yeowch. That sux...esp. since it sounds like you weaned your OSFF yourself.