Tassled filefish eating habits?

[Monkeyfish]

I recently purchased a 3" tassled file fish (Chaetodermis pencilligerus). When I got him home I realized that he was very thin (more so than I had thought at the store), but had no obvious signs of physical injury or illness. He's currently in a 29g QT with an HOB filter with chemipure and a sponge filter that is quite "mature." He floats around and swims over to me when I come into the room (this after only 2 days!)

I've been feeding him a variety of foods twice daily (PE mysis, chopped squid, NLS pellets, frozen forumula 1 and 2 and live blackworms). He devours the blackworms. Everything else seems to get chewed up and spat out. I'm not sure if he's eating part of the shrimp and then spitting out the exoskeleton or if he's just not eating at all. Is this normal for this fish? Are they just messy eaters like triggers? I've been siphoning out the "leftovers" each night to maintain water quality.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[vamaro]

They eat anything and as you already noticed, they will come right to you. However, they look best when you offer spectrum pellets along with other foods. They are great fish. No fighting etc. When well fed they look great and have nice color.

 

[vamaro]

I forget to mention - my first tassled had some problems with his teeth outgrowing his mouth similar to a puffer preventing him from eating well. I did not know what the problem was until it was too late. He eventaully died. I am not sure if this is common with all tassled file fish or if it was just mine.

I have since gotten another tassled file fish, but I make sure that I feed my current tassled filefish some clam on the half shell and calamari a couple times a week. They have to really chew the clam on the half shell.

 

[rayn]

...

 

[Monkeyfish]

I changed his food a bit. Instead of PE mysis I gave him Hikari (they're smaller) and instead of squid I gave him small pieces of silverside. He ate much better with these foods = less waste more consumption (based on observation). Still shows no interest in NLS pellets.