Oxymonacanthus longirostris ( Orange Spotted Filefish )Primer

[gemini aquarius(t)]

One of my all time favorite fishes, and I recently acquired one from my LFS that was MAC certified, so I have high(er) hopes for chances of success.

Please post any information, stories, ideas pertaining to the captive care of this species.

Thanks

 

[Fishfirst]

Is it eating out of the water column?

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

It picks freeze dried cyclopeeze out of the water column, but doesnt look at pellets, flake, mysis, or frozen cyclops (H2O brand)

 

[rssjsb]

Try nutrimar ova. That's what Liveaquaria starts them on.

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

I am trying to get my hands on some of it! My LFS doesnt carry it, and shipping is ridiculous.

 

[Fishfirst]

After dealing with hundreds of these fish, nutramar ova is definately one of the best foods to start them (and keep them) on. I vary my personal fishes diet with NLS flake, spirulina brine, and mysis shrimp... but it took time to get him to eat it. I sold a pair of them that ate everything including pellets and gel food. I also offer it frags of sps on occasion, when i can get them cheap enough. Getting these fish from a good vendor is the most important part here. Minimizing transit time increases success to nearly 75% in store to sale. I always keep them at the store a minimum of a month before sale and always sell ones that are not pinched at the top or bottom.

customer success seems to be rather high as well as long as they do as instructed and have good water quality.

 

[namxas]

Ours eat NLS pellets, frozen mysis (Hikari), BS+, shaved salmon, flake, etc. They never really cared for ova of any kind. I should mention that our fish were weaned from "ground zero" by my wife at home (I've never seen her work harder)...since we didn't get "pre-weaned" fish, our experiences will likely be different.

We've had them close to 3 years now.

 

[rssjsb]

That's a good point, Greg. Mine were already on ova when I got them from DD about six months ago. Now they eat anything that's small enough to cram in their tiny little mouths, including chopped frozen foods - shrimp, squid, scallops, mysis - and small NLS pellets.

 

[Monkeyfish]

I've had my OSFF for about one year. He eats Cyclopeeze, Nutramar Ova, any Ocean Nutrtion frozen food (the gel cubes), NLS pellets and will sometimes take mysis and squid.

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

I am still experimenting with foods. I noticed he will eat a good amount of the cyclopeeze but he spits it out, sometimes multiple times to the same piece. I am getting worried because he is getting very skinny.

Also, how do you sex these guys?

 

[pr12]

Mine will eat almost anything, except the instant ocean gel foods. They also spend most the day picking at the rocks and small patches of algae. I noticed when I got rid of the algae patches before I had to feed more often to keep them fat, now I let it grow and they almost constantly have nice full bellys.

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

Are they eating the algae, or little pods in it?

 

[mtcoins123]

wetwebmedia says that all six species eat fairly simmiliarly i would bet they are eating pods small worms etc in the alage they seem to be all meat eaters my green ones eat little bugs and pests worms (picking at algae and rock)etc... and of course pest anemone i love my file fish great fun to watch

 

[Monkeyfish]

wetwebmedia says that all six species eat fairly simmiliarly

Huh?

As far as I know the only species of Oxymonacanthus longirostris is Oxymonacanthus longirostris. They were initially thought to be obligatory coral eaters, but we've obviously put the kibosh to that.

In regards to sexing - the males have orange stripes/patches on their pelvic fin and females do not.

 

[Fishfirst]

Male's have blue dots on the pelvic spine females do not. It seems to me that your fish has not taken to cyclopse and needs to switch foods... have you tried ova yet? Another way to get it to try new foods that it might like is to take an dead acropora skeleton and mash food onto it let it dry for a few hours and put it in the tank. OSFF should be fed multiple times a day (3 times minimum) because of their "grazing" nature.

LOL yes Monkeyfish, I was going to comment on the "species" post and thought they might have been confused. The oxymonocanthus genus have two species not six though.

 

[pnavarro170]

I just got one, i think im on 3 weeks or so. Havent gotten him to eat out of the water column at all, got him some corals to munch on, the best success i have had is getting gel food and attaching it to a sps skeleton, with the gel the food can stay there longer for him to peck at it. since all i have found is instant ocean gel formula that lacks in nutrition i mix rods and n ova into the gel food so that way he has to be getting some nutrition. not really that skinny just gonna be a real pain if i cant get him to eat out of the water column .

 

[rssjsb]

They will also pick at food that settles to the substrate, so you may want to turn off your pumps for awhile after you've fed them. Mine did this with pellets long before they started taking them from the water column.

 

[pr12]

Are they eating the algae, or little pods in it?

I assume that they are eating little pods and worms but I cant see what they're getting. What ever it is it keeps them fat and happy and that keeps me happy.

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

True that. I am thinking that I am going to have to catch this guy and put him in the 120 soon if I cant get him eating. There are a ton of pods and worms and sps he can pick at if he wants too.

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

How much damage do they do to the corals?