Oxymonacanthus longirostris pair enters a mixed reef environment

He did not make it...I'm afraid.

He did not eat once in the QT tank. Not once. I think something was wrong internally from the copper treatment, though I can't be sure.

He began to decay rapidly as of Thursday and yesterday I made the decision to end the copper treatment one day short of three weeks to try and save him. I ran a poly filter and cuprisorb and carbon after doing a nice 30% water change.

I put him in after a 20 minute acclimation. He swam for a few minutes with his female again before going into a rock structure. I have no seen him since.

I also have not seen the second purple firefish since I introduced it...one of them is becoming more and more confident among the other fast swimmers.

Losing the male file is the low point of my fish keeping career, without a doubt.

I want to try again but I am a little unsure. If I do, I'll order another pair from DD and attempt a trio. My current female is doing great and is eating like a champion. I am pretty bummed since it took almost two months for him to stop harassing her and now she may have to go through it again with another male.

It happens I know...but it doesn't mean I don't still hate it.
 
Dustin, sorry the fish did not make it. I wanted to say that I have learned a lot from your postings and that has translated into success for me and my filefish pair. Now we know to be cautious with copper treatments. You said that losing the fish was a low point for you, however I am confident you will have future success, just be sure to document your future experiences as well as you have your past ones and we will all continue to benefit!
 
Female chasing male!

Female chasing male!

I have never seen the female chase the male and never seen either of them chase like this. As an aside, they were doing some mighty freaky dancing by the algae patch recently. I wonder if I'll ever see them spawn. That would be, well, you know. Anyway, now for the chase!

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I like how the wrasse had to come over and investigate. Peeping tom!

As for the female chasing the male... obviously they got married, the honeymoon is over and she decided to let him know who really wears the pants in the family.
 
a few pics from the other evening

a few pics from the other evening

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So, complete list of foods the OSFF will take.

Prime Reef Flakes
NLS pellets
Sustainable Aquatics Pellets
Frozen brine
Frozen mysis (hikari and pe)
Frozen prawn roe
Frozen copepods
Formula 1 frozen gel
Formula 2 frozen gel
Rods food
Rods roe
 
My guy eats most of the above; plus he scarfs down pieces of silverside which have been tenderized by his cousin, the tassled filefish.
 
Quick aside...

There's a slipper lobster on DD. Does anyone have any experience with these things long term? Do they go after fish? I kept one once, but he was in an invert only tank. That one never bothered his tankmates, but there were no fish with him. I'd like to add the one on DD to my 180g, but would hate to come home and find him eating my OSFF or cowfish.
 
Monkeyfish said:
My guy eats most of the above; plus he scarfs down pieces of silverside which have been tenderized by his cousin, the tassled filefish.
Click to expand...

Mr. Monkeyfish, do you have a picture of your tassled filefish you could share. I'd love to see it.

At the Seattle Aquarium, we have a slipper lobster in a tank with another, more regular looking lobster and a decent sized volitan lion. They've coexisted for sometime without incident. But that's a very particular fish and a big one at that. They sure are cool but I wouldn't be inclined to risk it myself. Especially not with your awesome and established fish population.
 
Thanks Small. I'll probably pass on the Slipper due to the risk. I have a lousy camera, but will try and get a pic of the tasseled for you.
 
3 Months

3 Months

Here is a write I did for my local fish club a few days ago (obviously I learned a lot from you guys!):

October 26th marked the 3 month milestone for keeping a pair of female Beaked Leather Jackets (Oxymonacanthus longirostris, Orange Spotted Filefish). I am not sure how one measures the success of keeping fish, but I consider this experience to be a successful one. They are active, robust and are very interesting fish to watch.

This success is not mine alone. I learned from the experiences others have shared (both successes and failures) in online forums. One of the very first decisions I made was to seek out a pair that had been weened off of a strictly sps coral polyp diet (their natural diet) and onto a varied diet of prepared foods. At the time I did not have the space or resources to attempt the weening process myself. I did not have an extra space or tank to attempt this. So, I waited patiently until there was a pair on Diver's Den. I was quick enough to snatch them before someone else (my first attempt to buy them failed as someone swooped in an bought them while i gazed at their picture for an extra 10 seconds!). Diver's den had weened them onto thawed mysis shrimp and nutramar ova, so that task was done for me!

When introduced into my tank they were a bit skinny and at only nutramar ova. They also picked at the polyps on my Green Slimer Acro, millipora, pocillopora and a bit at my birdsnest. Over the course of time their figured out that sera marin granules, cyclopeeze, flakes and mysis make for good eating as well. I feed the tank twice a day and with each feeding I always include some nutramar ova as that seems to be their favorite. These days they look healthy and plump!

They have picked at sps polyps resulting in polyp retraction for most of the day, but they have not killed or stressed any coral to the point of color loss. If you like seeing polyp extension this fish is not for you!

If you decide to get a BLJ that has not been pre-weened, by all accounts be prepared to spend a lot of time and work to try and ween it onto prepared foods.

A special concern of mine is that these are very active fish with a high metabolism. They need to have food available to them throughout the day. I had read someone elses experience with these fish and they came across a food called Rogger's reef food. It is frozen mixture of all sorts of good seafood that can be put in a Norri clip and will hold together without dissolving in the water over time. It did not take long for the BLJ's to realize that it was food. In the mornings I put a small piece in the clip and they will pick at it throughout the day. In general it lasts them until about 4pm each day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCMuUVeQuQ


While the fish are fun to watch during the day, they are very interesting to observe at night. As the lights dim they retreat to their favorite spots. They will then anchor themselves using their top spike like fin, into a coral or rock, go ridged and disguise themselves to blend in. They then remain very still and sleep there for the night.

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Three months have passed and the Beaked Leather Jackets are as healthy as ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9nyq6i0mRA&feature=related
 
Yes. I can access the "embed" link on my pc, but not on my iPad. I think if you go to the page for the video on YouTube and right click on the video itself, the embed link will be available.

Thanks for sharing your work. Your writing is very good. And your fish look great.
 
Those blood shrimp look awesome. Ive never had the stomach for the price but they sure are purdy.

Also digging your frag stonehenge. Very mystical vibe. :)
 
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