Reef-safe Apitasia eating fish

[mantis1437]

I got a 180g softie and LPS tank and I have a few Apitasia here and there but lately more tiny one pop up various places. I know copperband butterflies are good choice but I had no luck with them. I have try about 6 since I have been in the hobby, since 2007. Is there anything out there that is hardy? Please let me know.

Thanks in advance!
Michael

 

[snorvich]

Nothing that is guaranteed to eat aiptasia that is also reef safe.

 

[mantis1437]

Well something that is safer than others. I know there is nothing guarantee in life let alone this hobby...

Thanks for the input.

 

[prop-frags]

I agree with Steve when it comes to fish. The only completely "reef safe" aiptasia eater that I'm aware of is the Berghia nudibranch.

 

[SecretiveFish]

To help with Aiptasia, we got a Matted Filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) from LiveAquaria and it also does not hurt that they look cool anyway. He has been in the tank for ~5 months and has not eaten anything he wasn't supposed to. He is in with deresa clams, assorted polyps, zooanthids, monitporas, frogspawn, hammer coral, clove polyps, caulastreas and a cynaria.

Mileage varies obviously.

 

[prop-frags]

We have had our Tomentosus for over a year in our SPS dominant, mixed reef. He (along with our Regal Angel) does eat zoa's, so we keep them in another tank. Other than that, he has been a model citizen and has kept our tank aiptasia free. Love this fish!

 

[Stumped]

If you choose to go the filefish route, make sure you search RC for threads on them. A lot of members have had mixed results (some were amazing, some were awful). For all the success stories you will see a lot of people that had them decimate zoas, LPS, etc.

 

[snorvich]

I have two of the file fish in two different tanks. Cool fish, but has not, so far, eaten any aiptasia. On the other hand, it has not eaten things it should not.

 

[ALH]

I had a truly huge problem with so aiptasia. My pair of filefish completely obliterated them. They're also taking out my zoas so I'm going to have to move them to another tank

 

[small alien]

I have two of the file fish in two different tanks. Cool fish, but has not, so far, eaten any aiptasia. On the other hand, it has not eaten things it should not.

How long have you had them, Steve?

I have one in QT and it's eaten a bunch of aptasia in there. But I do wonder when I introduce it to the main tank if it will still eat them given the availability of other foods. We shall see. They are indeed cool. Basically anyone with a retractable spike sticking out of their head is cool in my book.:spin3:

 

[jameskb]

I got a 180g softie and LPS tank and I have a few Apitasia here and there but lately more tiny one pop up various places. I know copperband butterflies are good choice but I had no luck with them. I have try about 6 since I have been in the hobby, since 2007. Is there anything out there that is hardy? Please let me know.

Thanks in advance!
Michael

If you have room for either of these, Peppermint shrimp or copperband butterfly fish will do the trick.

 

[snorvich]

Some will, some will not. /\

 

[cside]

Some will, some will not. /\

This is almost always the case with pretty much any fish or invert you can buy except for the berghia nudi's. I have been fortunate enough that every peppermint and filefish i had did not bother my corals but ate up aiptasia. I would just buy pep shrimp and joes juice. Use the joes juice on large nems and the pep shrimp will take care of the small ones. At least if you get peppermint shrimp and they dont go for the aiptasias they arent very expensive