tilefish and reef

[bamf25]

My LFS had a tilefish available today, that the salesperson was suggesting. She warned me heavily that they love to jump, and were also sometimes difficult to get to eat. So, I read this as a harder to keep fish. She claimed this fish had eaten flake from day one (which she said was rare for them). She also said it had been in the store for about 4 weeks so they knew the fish fairly well. Salesperson seemed knowledgable, and has given me fairly solid advice in the past. I almost took a risk on the Fisk, but it was a little pricy for me based on my experience. Has anyone had good experiences with these fish?

 

[BFG]

I've experienced with the flashing tilefish as well as the purple tilefish. Try not to get them when they are just brought in the lfs. Most might have decompression issue and always stay afloat near the water surface and can be seen struggling to swim downward. Watch for sunken stomach and color loss at the tip of their 'snout'. Color loss on their 'snout' could mean that fish has injuries on that particular area. They don't always recover from sustaining injuries to their body as they do not have scale or have but are quite small.

Fed mine exclusively with Hikari's Mysid shrimp, which they eat with gusto. They are out in the open snatching food from my fairy wrasse, not a shy fish imo. They will stay in a burrow during lights out and swims out in the open during light on period. 1 of the 4 flashing tilefish that I previously have sometimes does the roll-over thingy, just like a dog roll over trick.

Be sure to identify their sleeping area as you need to know if your tilefish will be in the tank or not. Start to look around the tank if it does not comes out during lights on period or feeding time. Extremely passive and does not pester other fish so it need to be in a peaceful fish setup. They are confirmed jumper, lost all of mine that way.

 

[bamf25]

The LFS (so I take it with a grain of salt, but the salesgirl is very knowledgable and once worked for divers den) said it is one of the better adjusted tilefish they have had in a long time. They had him eating flake Amon other things. I think it was a purple filefish already about 6 inches long, and seemed to be floating very comfortably in one spot. No obvious trauma or damage, no apparent ick. I decided against taking him because was heavily warned most eventually die via carpet surfing, and he was more that I wanted to spend yesterday.