Oxymonacanthus longirostris (Orange Spotted Filefish)

[Psyire]

So I've seen this fish in various stores from time to time but never bought one due to having read that they are very hard to keep. Well I couldn't pass up the 2 that were available in a store last week, they both looked quite healthy and active. After doing much more research I was able to get both of them eating pellets on day 2, and now they are really chowing down on them as opposed to just 'picking' for the first few days. I've now had them for 7 days and they are doing very good, stomachs are plump and they are not intimidated in any way by my other fish. I'm hoping I'll be able to ween them onto frozen food, but no luck so far. They also won't eat pellets out of the water column, so I have to put them onto the rocks for them to pick at.

They pretty much spend all day hovering around the rocks and picking on algae and probably small pods too. I didn't know how to sex them at the store so I ended up with 2 males but they seem to be getting along just fine. All in all, so far I'm really happy with these fish.

[Psyire]

[Myka]

That's great you have been able to get them to eat, that's the part that makes them difficult. They also have a tendency to suddenly go downhill out of nowhere (maybe because of unnatural diet?). They are certainly very beautiful fish.

[George]

Nice looking OSFF. Keep feeding them as much as they can eat. They look a little thin (shoulder area is where fish store their fat). They should fat up in no time if they are eating.

[FWC]

Nice !! I saw that pair week, and was really debating getting one, however every fish I have bought from that store has had velvet, and as such I would rather burn my money then run the risk of dealing with velvet again

All velvet aside, congrats on the fish !! I love OSF and my female I had was a charm, ate flakes and whatnot and was overall a perfect fish. Out of interest, how did you get them feeding, just by dropping pellets onto the rocks, or by "pasting" them over the rock ?? Also what size/brand of pellets ??

[Skimmerking]

sweet score mango. those are SPS eaters and love to eat the polyops of the SPS. that is their diet. I think Steve Sphelps had one to try out in his tank.. he loved the fish too. if you have them eating other foods that is awesome. maybe try brine and blood worms

[naesco]

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.

The above is from wetwebmedia.com. I think it also appears in Fenners book "the Conciencious Aquarist"

In my opinion this is one fish that should never be imported but should be left in the ocean.
The LFS is not doing a good service to our hobby by doing so.

I agree with the earlier poster that the fish are thinning.

Please let us know your success or failure of keeping this fish.


Wayne

[andestang]

I really like these fish. I just was reading a thread on RC on how someone was/what feeding them. He was having good success with a certain dry food. Search for the thread and I'll see if I can find it again. Good luck with them.

[ScubaSteve]

This is pretty cool. Good work so far. Let see if we all can't help you be successful.

There is a great article here on getting picky angels to eat. The guy who wrote the article has weened some of the most difficult fish (mostly angels) to frozen using this technique. Basically the idea is to make a mush for foods and then freeze it onto whatever the fish normally eats. For instance he froze it onto empty clam shells; naturally, the fish would pick at it and start to eat. As the frozen food thawed, it would start to float into the water column and eventually they'd get used to eating right out of the water column during normal feeding time. I used the same trick to get my Potter's Wrasse to start eating and now have the fat bastard fully trained onto frozen. There is a famous collector in China who uses the same technique to acclimate all of his rare angels (like the $1000+ kind).

I wonder if you could try the same trick with bare/dead acropora skeletons until they get used to frozen?

[Psyire]

Thanks for the comments! So far I'm having some good luck with these two, they are eating NLS pellets and Fauna Marin Pellets. They also started eating Cyclopeeze out of the water column yesterday, so that's awesome. I've noticed they are starting to grab the odd pellet out of water column as well, but for the most part I have to put the pellets onto the rocks so they can peck them off. If I don't do this my other fish usually end up with the pellets as they are so used to feeding this way they are better at it than the filefish.

I would agree that these fish may not belong in a LFS, BUT one could say that about a lot of fish in the stores.. The fact that there are numerous reports of people having these fish live years in their aquariums tells me it's possible for some people. Much like a Copper Band or Moorish Idol I suppose, to the credit of the LFS, they did have 'expert only' listed beside these guys. 12 days and going strong..

Thanks for the tips on how to get these guys eating, I'm definitely willing to try anything. Ideally I'd like them to be eating Pellets, PE Mysis, and Cyclopeeze as these are the mainstay's of my aquarium. (all out of the water column) I'm close but definitely not out of woods as they are not putting on weight very fast, but I'm confident it will come.