Silly filefish...acropora are for reefers

[Stevenmi]

Today I was browsing at the lfs and the owner approched me and started up a conversation about my tanks and what I was keeping. I told him that I am trying to decide on what to keep in my 20 long with respect to a fish. He mentioned he had gotten something interesting in that was ordered by mistake, however, it is a very difficult fish. So free to me came A small Orange Spotted Filefish (Oxymonacanthus longirostris).

The kink here is that this fish only eats acropora in the wild, and while a very few have been sucessfull in providing a diet that will sustain this wonderfull fish, most all fail.

I decided to give it a shot, I wish I had an acropora forest for this little guy.

Today he did eat some mysis, cpleeze, a few micro star arms, a few pods, and even took some bites of a hydro, but did not go near the 3 sacrifical acropora frags I now have... I am going to get a little nori and some green food for him today and see if he is interested.

Anyone with any suggestions please feel free to chime in.

So here is "simon"

 

[Gina]

I've never seen a fish like that before. He's cute!
Good luck with it!

 

[Woodstock]

Wow.. neato looking fish. I've never seen one much less tried to keep it. It sounds like it is off to a great start since it is eating a variety of foods! Good luckwith it and keep us updated on its status.

 

[BoomerD]

From WetWebMedia:

Genus Oxymonacanthus:
Rarely live for any length of time in captivity. Obligate corallivores.
Oxymonacanthus longirostris (Bloch & Schneider 1801), the Harlequin Filefish or Orange Spotted Filefish in the aquarium interest. The most commonly offered member of the family... and rarely alive for more than a week in captivity. In the wild almost only eats Acropora polyps."

Yet another fish that should not be collected, as it's chance of survival is very poor.
Good luck.

 

[lcstorc]

Beautiful fish!
Good luck to you and the fish.
Hope he makes it.

 

[BHinAK]

I just was reading the same about this fish, ditto to boomerD's post.

The Petco up here gets them all the time, they get less then $10 apiece for them.

 

[Stalwart]

That is, to say the least, a very interesting looking fish. Sounds like a tough keeper, but if it is eating a variety of foods, hopefully you will get some longevity from this guy/gal.

Keep us posted.

 

[Kensn]

I have seen them for sale before. I have done my research on them, and everything I have read pointed to failure with them. I think they are fantastic looking fish, keep us posted on how it is doing.

 

[Stevenmi]

Thanks for all the words of encouragement.

I share the ill feeling in my belly about the pet trade yanking these fish damn well knowing they have almost "zero" chance of survival.

Wife thinks its an excuse to get a larger tank with sps corals...

Steve

 

[reefjitsu]

Try to find it a better home before it dies. It has zero chance in a 20 gallon with only a few acro frags, but in a larger tank with more food, someone else might be able to keep it alive. I doubt you will find anyone that will take it, but it is worth a try.

 

[cheeks69]

I believe Greg Hiller has one...he has written several articles for Advancedaquarist.com and is a member of the BRS club.

http://www.greghiller.com/

 

[Cartman89]

Wow. I have never seen that fish before. Best of luck!!

 

[R.yumaDaddy?]

Atlantis Aquarium has one in the 20,000 gal reef. They are definetly one of my top favorites. I love how they buzz about the reef. Good luck & keep us posted.

 

[Cougra]

Unfortunately with obligate feeders even if they do pick at other foods they can still starve to death as their digestive systems is highly specialized to get the nutrients they need from the specific foods they eat, in this case acropora. I hope that it settles down soon and regonizes the frags as food but you may find that it'll be difficult to feed it enough to keep it alive.

I wish you all the best. In cases like this it's best to leave the fish at the store and let the store loss the money instead. Maybe next time it wont be "accidentally" ordered!

 

[Stevenmi]

I have learned that:

Cantherines Pullus also shares a "common name" of Orange Spotted Filefish.

Cantherines Pullus is a wonderfull choice for a tank inhabitant.

I have a lead to a guy with a 280g sps dominated tank and a "large" frag grow tank who has told a friend he will take him, just waiting for the call.

In the mean time he has been nipping the acropora frags, continues to pick at the hydno, zooplankton, pleeze, artic pods, and has even gone for Seaweed Selects "Red marine Algae" on a clip.

belly looks full....hopefully he can digest a little to keep him going.

Steve

 

[Stevenmi]

Well...the big tank guy backed out, I did all I could think of. He passed today with a full belly(I was feeding him 5 times a day)...RIP.

So sad...sigh..not the way to get into sps, but I do now have 5 small acro frags that are opening up and looking good now that they are not being picked at.:smirk:

Steve

 

[lcstorc]

Sorry to hear.
You certainly tried to give him a good home.
And now at least you have some cool acros for your tank. Best of luck with them.

 

[Cougra]

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of this fish. I know a lot of people tend to think that because it picks at other foods that it's getting all the nutrients it needs then wonders why they still die for "no apparent reason" because it always had a full belly. It's a shame that these fish are still offered for sale.

Thank you for being honest with everyone about it dying with a full belly. Hopefully other people will read this and learn a bit more about obligate feeders and avoid them in the future.

Again, I know you did the best you could for it. I'm sorry it wasn't enough.

 

[Vanquish]

It's also known as a Harlequin Filefish... surprisingly, I saw one in a softies tank doing very well... there were no SPS around, but the little guy survived.... still, I believe in a SPS tank, its natural instincts would kick in and the guy would munch on SPS polyps.... else I would have added one long ago...