Matted Filefish Acreichthys tomentosus [Archive] - Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board

EmilyB

09-20-2009, 05:54 AM

Holy aipatasia eater !!

Got a small guy and he eats mysis as well. My tank was infested with huge aips, and there isn't even one small visible.

Don't know what else they eat, no worse than my butterfly.

Delphinus

09-20-2009, 06:20 AM

Really? Hahahaha my guy has yet to touch one. Colby even was over helping me out a couple weeks ago (tank disaster :cry: ) and he noticed that the tank mine is in is aiptasia hell, he was all "well I guess he isn't doing his job..". What is with me and always getting the ones that don't do what they're supposed to? <sigh...>

At least yours is working out as hoped for. That's awesome.

nanmer

09-20-2009, 06:35 AM

Where are they available in Calgary? I am willing to do just about anything to help me win the aiptasia war!!

fishoholic

09-20-2009, 05:05 PM

Delphinus

09-20-2009, 05:44 PM

Elite in the south regularly has a few in stock. Think I saw some on Friday. I haven't really seen them at any other store. But I don't get out much to the north end so maybe YMMV..

EmilyB

09-20-2009, 11:07 PM

I got mine from Red Coral. They were already eating aiptasia (and mysis) there. It took him a few weeks to make an impact, but I am very pleased.

Does yours look like this Tony?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+2562&pcatid=2562

Delphinus

09-21-2009, 12:33 AM

Yep..

EmilyB

09-21-2009, 05:06 AM

You should write a book Tony...:lol:

Delphinus

10-05-2009, 05:58 AM

Mine must have read the email he got from yours, Deb. In the last week and a half, all of a sudden the aiptasia are disappearing. Not 100% yet but they used to be everywhere, now I have to look for them. And the filefish has gotten bigger. Had him 6 months easily, not a single aiptasia eaten, then this thread comes along and .... poof. So, uh, thanks for asking your fish to tell my fish where it's at. :lol:

EmilyB

10-05-2009, 06:06 AM

Sweet !! It does take a while for the little ones to get going I'm thinking. Do you think we will have a problem when they don't have any more aip to eat?

soapy

10-05-2009, 06:20 AM

Sweet !! It does take a while for the little ones to get going I'm thinking. Do you think we will have a problem when they don't have any more aip to eat?

No problem if the aiptasia run out, they will just start in on your soft corals...

;-)

Delphinus

10-05-2009, 06:21 AM

The thought occurred to me too that I wonder what he'll move onto when the aiptasia is all gone. However, mine eats mysis (in fact, it's the only time I see him: about 30 seconds each day - I put in the mysis, he materializes out of nowhere, chases down each mysis shrimp, zip, zap, zot .... and then poof, disappears again. I can't believe how good he is at camoflaging and hiding). So hopefully that will be good enough to keep him placated..

EmilyB

10-05-2009, 06:24 PM

Yah, mine is a mysis pig as well, and I have lots of soft coral for him to eat, zoos etc. so he should be okay. Very cool fish.

nanmer

10-05-2009, 11:45 PM

Tony, can you please get your fish to forward the email to my file fish? I ran out the next day, after reading the start of this thread, and bought one from Colby. He does not seem to eat the nems at all. He is however one of the happiest little additions to my tank. He ate out of my hand right from the day I got him. He is always waiting for someone to visit him through the glass and gets all excited when someone pays mind to him. Perhaps one day he may grow up and get a job eating nems. For now he is content on being waited on. OMG I think I bought a teenager!!!! (except the fish is happy and the teen is not)

EmilyB

10-30-2009, 04:11 AM

Just wanted to update.

I started feeding some marine cuisine, at first he only went after the mysis bits, but by the third feeding was eating all the red bits too !

Now he even eats prime reef flake.

Oh, and zoos ! :lol:

JPotter

10-30-2009, 05:09 AM

I would love to have something that would enjoy my aptaisia! It is too bad they are not in fashion as a desirable anemone as then my tank would be hard to beat.

Peppermint shrimp 0 : aptaisia 10
CBB ) (dead) : aptaisia 10
Beghia (disappeared) : aptaisia 10

Is that a specific type of file fish and is it safe with corals and other anemones?

Myka

10-30-2009, 01:23 PM

This Filefish is also known as a Bristletail Filefish, and are also known to readily devour Majanos. The nice thing about this particular Filefish is that it only grows to about 5", where some Filefish like the Tasseled Filefish grows over 12". I'm thinking of adding a Bristletail to my reef. I don't have Aiptasia or Majanos, I just think the fish is cool.

Emily and Tony, have you noticed your Filefish going after any corals, anemones (besides Majano), or clams? I have read lots about them, and they seem to be "generally reef-safe", but some have been known to take a liking to Zoas.

Delphinus

10-30-2009, 02:59 PM

Mine lives in a tank with two carpets, two BTA's (one of which is particularly small still), uh, zoanthids, yellow polyps, Duncans, a green bubble coral .. uh .. hmm what else. A poci, some mushrooms, candycane ... I haven't noticed a decline in any of these. One thing on the other hand I have noticed less of is clove polyps but they were a pest encroaching on (and killing) my poci so I kind of didn't mind that (and didn't really question what might be the cause, so it could be coincidental).

Delphinus

10-30-2009, 04:34 PM

I must say that I find this a very fascinating fish. He looks like leaf litter the way he just sort of hovers in one spot. You can be looking right at him and not know it. He looks like a fish who could not handle flow with those little bumblebee wing like fins and yet .. he has no trouble whatsoever remaining perfectly motionless despite currents washing in from the left, then a slack, then washing in from the right, then the back ... etc.

He is so amazingly adept at remaining motionless, and blending in, and hiding in holes, that I nearly never see him. Basically, at feeding time is the only time. I toss in mysis and poof, all of a sudden there is he, buzzing over to the mysis, catches his quota, then poof, he vanishes once again not to be seen until the next day's feed..

Myka

10-30-2009, 11:45 PM

This is good to know, thanks Tony! I almost bought one today, but I can't decide between a Bristletail Filefish or a Multibarred Angel. Someone today told me his friend's Bristletail eats his BTA, and another friend's Multibarred Angel eats SPS. :eek: So now they both worry me.

Myka

04-28-2010, 04:26 PM

Update: I did buy a Tasseled Filefish in November last year. Shortly after my many specie of brains started showing bite marks, I never saw F'ugly bite them though. I had just added an aggressive amount of Zeolites to the tank though, so I came to the conclusion that the damage was caused by too aggressively stripping nutrients from the tank. I removed the Zeolites, and the corals recovered for the most part. In the beginning of April I witnessed F'ugly biting the Symphyllia (not just a nip, he bit it 7 times in a row), and he also took to eating Zoas (Palys were fine). F'ugly ate 5 Zoa frags, and nearly wiped out 7 Zoa colonies before I caught him and banished him to the sump. He is now happily residing in a friend's SPS dominated tank.

JPotter

04-29-2010, 04:24 AM

I have had one for several months now. The aptaisia are no long evident..occasionally I see a tiny one but soon disappears. I think if I banished the file fish the aptaisia would take over again:( It readily eats mysis and other frozen stuff. I have not seen it eat anything else but have to admit my zoas look pruned and certainly aren't spreading like they used to. I really don't want an aptaisia tank again.