Oxymonacanthus longirostris pair enters a mixed reef environment

Here are a couple craptastic little videos of my pair interacting at "dusk".

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I was feeding flake food last evening and as I watched my female leopard wrasse suck down a piece, I was so struck. None of my other fish would take flake until they learned it was food from my filefish. So, I've got this impossible to keep, obligate coralivore training my other fish to eat flake and pellet food. That blows my mind.
 
Just curious about their interaction with other fish. How competitive are they when it comes to feeding with other fish around?
 
They are very spunky. Not at all shy or delicate at feeding time. Though I do have a very peaceful tank. They are not wimps at all and definitely take their share. I think it is key that they be able to pick food off the substrate for a while after feeding, which means "extra food" and no flow for 15-20 minutes.

For me so far, they are just really fantastic aquarium fish. Active and out. Beautiful. Interesting behaviors. Hardy eaters. They're simply amazing.
 
yeah I've only kept mine with skittish cardinals and a tailspot blenny that shows no interest in meaty foods... but he has no problem chasing after his food and has learned to bite my arm, hand, turkey baster - anything that looks like it has food in it.

and x2 on letting them pick food off the substrate!
 
I just received a pair yesterday, and they would not eat for me. Today they would not eat for me either, and then I noticed they looked a lot fatter and I didn't have any PE on my millepora or sunset monti. Also, one of my trumpet corals has a big gash in it. Diver's Den listed them as eating mysis, but I'm assuming that's only if coral aren't around ;)
 
I think you are correct. I think having mine in a coral free qt helped reinforce the feeding that DD began. Mine still don't really eat mysis or brine with any real vigor. I usually have PE mysis which is too big for them really. But even Hikari which is smaller goes largely unnoticed.

Get some nutramar ova prawn roe. That's what got mine going and it's still their favorite food. Also try cyclopeeze. Finally, try some prime reef flakes flake food broken up into very small pieces. Let the food fly around for a bit and then turn off the flow so they can pick from the substrate. I'll bet you dollars to donuts they go for the roe. No fish can resist the roe!!!

Good luck and do keep us posted.
 
small alien said:
I think you are correct. I think having mine in a coral free qt helped reinforce the feeding that DD began. Mine still don't really eat mysis or brine with any real vigor. I usually have PE mysis which is too big for them really. But even Hikari which is smaller goes largely unnoticed.

Get some nutramar ova prawn roe. That's what got mine going and it's still their favorite food. Also try cyclopeeze. Finally, try some prime reef flakes flake food broken up into very small pieces. Let the food fly around for a bit and then turn off the flow so they can pick from the substrate. I'll bet you dollars to donuts they go for the roe. No fish can resist the roe!!!

Good luck and do keep us posted.
Click to expand...

Will do. I've tried PE Mysis, Rod's Food, and blackworms so far. Everything else goes nutty for blackworms, I figured they might pick up on it. I was just excited to see how fat they were... even it is from eating my coral.
 
Do yours sleep somewhat... awkwardly? One is wedged on my frag rack with its file extended, the other is laying on the sand with its file extended. I thought they were dead last night when I was looking at them.

Also, do they chow down on LPS? I'm wondering if they really chewed into that trumpet coral or if a large amount of damage was done through... well I don't know what else would do it.
 
Yes, they do! :lmao:

Mine generally wedge themselves into a corner of the tank and appear to lock their dorsal spine into the silicone.

I did remove my favorite fungia after I saw them nibbling a different one and I removed my favorite lobo after they started taking little tiny bites out of it.

I do plan to reintroduce those corals at some point, perhaps rearrange the rocks a bit and see if I can get them to ignore the corals.

Also, I have no PE on my Montipora spongodes, though the coral continues to grow well.

I think it's kind of the price you have to pay to keep the coolest fish in the world.:dance:
 
Just bought a OSFF from a LFS and put him in a 12g nano with a quarter sized hippo tang for observation. The OSFF has only been in the tank for about 6 hours. He was out and exploring immediately after acclimation. I've watched him pick at the rocks and substrate, but have not actually seen him eat anything - I've fed hikari mysis, NLS pellets and spirulina flake. So far I haven't seen him ingest anything though he may have eaten a piece of mysis of the rock (couldn't tell for sure due to his location.)

Tomorrow I'm going to add a large frag of digitata. If I can find some cheap acros I'll throw those in too. I have a 75g SPS reef, but am hesitant to put him in since most of the corals are still small.
 
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Smear some gel-based food onto a coral skeleton, let it set up in the fridge and add it to the tank so the fish can develop a taste for other foods. Since you have a reef, it should be easy to rotate cheap SPS in and out of the OSFF setup.
 
He's constantly picking at the glass, sand and rock, but I have no idea if he's actually eating anything. Tried Rod's food and spirulina - no dice. I'm going to add the digitata, brine shrimp and some gel food (mashed ontothe rocks and a piece of coral skeleton). Hopefully he'll eat something. Even the coral. I'd like to fatten him up some.
 
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Haven't been able to find any locally. If s/he doesn't start eating soon I'll have to order on-line.

How do you tell the males from females?
 
Males have pectoral fins that are black with white spots. Females, they're just kinda orangish. Maybe someone else has a better description. Can you post a pic of yours?
 
Well, she didn't touch the digitata or the Instant Ocean Marine blend gel. Tomorrow I'm going to try some gel food on an acro skeleton and some live acro.
 
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