seahorsedreams
New member
Has anyone kept one? I would love to hear your experiences.
Skunk Tilefish (Hoplolatius marcosi)
- Thread starter seahorsedreams
- Start date
seafansar
Active member
I have not kept a skunk tilefish, but I have a purple tilefish and my dad has a dusky tilefish. My dad's hid for the first week in a hole and would not eat. After that it got used to the tank and now is the boss of the tank. It will eat mysis, brine, some frozen, and pellets, but not flake food. He's had it for about a year now.
My purple one would not eat for the first week, but did not hide. It almost acted like it couldn't see the food. My guess is that it was getting used to the bright lights. Now he'll eat anything I give it: frozen, flake, or pellets. It'll even eat out of my fingers! It's finally dug a hole to sleep in after a couple of months; don't know why it took it so long. It does bob its head out of the water a lot; don't know if it thinks there's food at the surface, wants to see what's there, or wants to jump. I have a screen top so it can't jump out. Very pretty fish. I've had it for about 3 months now.
If you get one, make sure it's not really skinny since it takes them a while to start eating. I ordered mine from BlueZoo, so I took a chance. If you have trouble getting one to eat, try clams. Mine LOVES to eat clam!
My purple one would not eat for the first week, but did not hide. It almost acted like it couldn't see the food. My guess is that it was getting used to the bright lights. Now he'll eat anything I give it: frozen, flake, or pellets. It'll even eat out of my fingers! It's finally dug a hole to sleep in after a couple of months; don't know why it took it so long. It does bob its head out of the water a lot; don't know if it thinks there's food at the surface, wants to see what's there, or wants to jump. I have a screen top so it can't jump out. Very pretty fish. I've had it for about 3 months now.
If you get one, make sure it's not really skinny since it takes them a while to start eating. I ordered mine from BlueZoo, so I took a chance. If you have trouble getting one to eat, try clams. Mine LOVES to eat clam!
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
related thread in link:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1442343&highlight=marcosi
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1442343&highlight=marcosi
seahorsedreams
New member
Thank you both.
Do they typically get along with other species? I was looking at the flashing and the skunk.
Do they typically get along with other species? I was looking at the flashing and the skunk.
seafansar
Active member
Just a little update. I put the purple tilefish and dusky tilefish in the same tank, a 125 gallon. They are still getting used to the new tank, but so far they seem to just ignore each other. The dusky is more worried about hiding every time he sees someone walk into the room and the stupid tilefish keeps jumping into the overflow. I need to cover it with sometime, because he jumps in at least once a day.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
congrats, Sara!
can you rubberband or twist tie some screening or netting on the overflow?
do you keep any Tridacna clams in the aquarium with these Tilefish?
can you rubberband or twist tie some screening or netting on the overflow?
do you keep any Tridacna clams in the aquarium with these Tilefish?
seafansar
Active member
I used some stiff plastic mesh (?) I guess you could call it and zip tied it around the overflows, so he'll just hit it and fall back into the tank.
They were both originally in tanks with clams in them and neither messed with them. I have given the purple tilefish clam on a half shell and he went nuts over it. But he never bothered the crocea in the tank with him.
They were both originally in tanks with clams in them and neither messed with them. I have given the purple tilefish clam on a half shell and he went nuts over it. But he never bothered the crocea in the tank with him.
