Scrawled filefish
- Thread starter jd474
- Start date
philter4
New member
I have kept small ones in a soft coral reef, they pick at everything and I mean everything. They will eat any shrimp or crabs, if they can't eat them outright they pick and tear them apart until there is nothing left. They pick at the open polyps of all of the octocorals I had in the tank prompting me to remove them (I had 3 juveniles) and put them in a fish only tank.
When they are young they are common in the floating sargassum weed and we commonly found small ones that were 2 to 3 inches. If we needed them for sale we would take the boat out to the weed line and just dip net them out, we could catch 100 or more in about an hour if there was fresh weed coming in. Along with them we also caught tiny porcupine puffers, slender files, lots and lots of seahorses, along with some really interesting fish such as small flying fish, pilot fish, juvenile dolphin fish (mahi mahi for those of you on the west coast) sargassum fish, and a whole bunch of different pipefish. Most of the other fish were very cool but not aquarium fish, not only did they not do well but there are size limits on fish like the dolphin fish so you couldn't take them.
When they are young they are common in the floating sargassum weed and we commonly found small ones that were 2 to 3 inches. If we needed them for sale we would take the boat out to the weed line and just dip net them out, we could catch 100 or more in about an hour if there was fresh weed coming in. Along with them we also caught tiny porcupine puffers, slender files, lots and lots of seahorses, along with some really interesting fish such as small flying fish, pilot fish, juvenile dolphin fish (mahi mahi for those of you on the west coast) sargassum fish, and a whole bunch of different pipefish. Most of the other fish were very cool but not aquarium fish, not only did they not do well but there are size limits on fish like the dolphin fish so you couldn't take them.
Last edited:
jd474
New member
That's what I was guessing. We have had this one for a little over a year, and I can't believe their appetite, and growth rate. He was about 7-8" and paper thin after shipping, and he's over 20" and a garbage disposal now. Guess he'll have to go into a FO. Very neat fish, though.
Monkeyfish
Active member
That must be some tank. These fish get to be about 3 feet long.
