orangespotted filefish in sps tank

[carnavor]

has anyone had any sucess with keeping a orangespotted filefish (oxymonacanthus longirostris) in there large sps tank?
and how much damage to the sps from feeding?

[leveldrummer]

ive only seen one person keep a pair, it was a huge tank though, so damage wasnt really noticed.

[carnavor]

thx level , id love two have a pair in my 180 sps tank and was just wondering about damage thx again

[gasman059]

Suitable for reef tank that does not include small-polyped stony (SPS) corals, unless that's what you want to feed it, because that's what it eats!

[glassbox-design]

tanu does... with enough sps you can "spread" the damage.

[Greg Hiller]

This question seems to come up every few weeks in one place or another. Here's what I said the last time:

FWIW, my fish is still going strong...still never eaten anything other than coral. Tried adding a mate for it a few months back, but the domiant fish chased it into a hole and it never came out. Must have been the same sex. I understand that Joe Y. has managed to get a mate for his, though I think he tried quite a few times. I think that with the types of success with SPS tanks that people are now having, there will be more and more people keeping this fish. FWIW, my pair of golden angels do a lot more damage to my Acros.

[gasman059]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10558343#post10558343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Greg Hiller
This question seems to come up every few weeks in one place or another. Here's what I said the last time:

FWIW, my fish is still going strong...still never eaten anything other than coral. Tried adding a mate for it a few months back, but the domiant fish chased it into a hole and it never came out. Must have been the same sex. I understand that Joe Y. has managed to get a mate for his, though I think he tried quite a few times. I think that with the types of success with SPS tanks that people are now having, there will be more and more people keeping this fish. FWIW, my pair of golden angels do a lot more damage to my Acros.
tyvm for the information.

[Tanu]

I do have one, I bought it somewhere in 2005. My tank has a little more than 160 G, and it is pretty loaded with sps. It DOES damage the corals, but like said before: it is about spreading the damage. I must say, the corals seem to spend much of their energy in repair, instead of in growth, I don't need to prune as much as I needed in the past.

As far as I know, many of these fish come in with irreparable damage to their organs, so even in a LARGE (I would say 200 G full loaded sps for 1 fish) sps tank, succes can't be guaranteed.

They pick mainly at Acropora. Stylophora, Seriatopora and Pocillopora are picked on as well, but not as much. Polyp extension on Acropora will only be visible at night, most other corals keep their polyps open.

I understand the wish to have such a fish, but to be honest: I'm not sure if I would buy this fish again, especially when buying new corals which don't 'know' not to open their polyps at day, the stress this fish causes to the corals might have cost me some colonies, although they were probably damaged before anyway...

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10558343#post10558343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Greg Hiller
This question seems to come up every few weeks in one place or another. Here's what I said the last time:

FWIW, my fish is still going strong...still never eaten anything other than coral. Tried adding a mate for it a few months back, but the domiant fish chased it into a hole and it never came out. Must have been the same sex. I understand that Joe Y. has managed to get a mate for his, though I think he tried quite a few times. I think that with the types of success with SPS tanks that people are now having, there will be more and more people keeping this fish. FWIW, my pair of golden angels do a lot more damage to my Acros.

Just to qualify this, Greg has a 400g tank, with a TON of coral.


IE, dont try this at home.

[jmaneyapanda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10559770#post10559770 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Just to qualify this, Greg has a 400g tank, with a TON of coral.


IE, dont try this at home.

I agree. I think his success rather exudes some false hope about this species. Unless you have Acros that grow unmanageably thick in a very large tank (which the vast majorty of us DO NOT HAVE), this fish should be left in the ocean.

[Greg Hiller]

>Just to qualify this, Greg has a 400g tank, with a TON of coral.<

And just to clarify again....I had this fish in a 110 for about a year, and it was fat and plenty happy. Now...the 110 also had lots of coral in it compared to some tanks.

>They pick mainly at Acropora. Stylophora, Seriatopora and Pocillopora are picked on as well, but not as much. Polyp extension on Acropora will only be visible at night, most other corals keep their polyps open. <

That is exactly my experience as well. Also seem to snack on Hydnophora. I cannot however say that I see any significant damage. If you have corals that have colorful polyps, and you want to SEE the colorful polyps, then this fish is for sure off your list. They ignore Montipora genera, FWIW.