Bristletail Filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) - In a reef?

[rishma]

Anyone keep these fish in a Reef? My 4 year old is facinated by them. Not exactly the eye candy I normally favor, but my son has never asked for a fish before.

Any experiences you can share are appreciated. Did they gobble up your corals?

[Freed]

If you have mejanos and/or aptaisa snatch that sucker up quick before it gets away. Supposed to have a sweet tooth for those and should be reef safe.

[jmaneyapanda]

My pair nearly destroyed all my zoas and acans before I moved them to the sps reef, where the male hunts bristeworms.

[RichK]

I was trying one for aiptasia. It seemed OK. Never got the chance to witness the aiptasia control aspect of the fish though. A couple days after I got it, it went into the overflow, clogged the drain, and turned my 75G RR into a zero edge tank. Thank goodness for tile floors.

[rishma]

I dont have any aptasia issues, but I do have some zoas in my reef.

jmaneyapanda - do you feed heavily? I wonder if that would keep them from eating zoas.

[racerw]

I have one in my reef tank. I started out with 3, 2 of them liked LPS corals....zoas, brains ect. The 1 I have now does not touch any corals and loves majones. I know they are not a pretty fish but there is something about them that makes them a cool addition IMO

[jmaneyapanda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15602262#post15602262 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rishma
I dont have any aptasia issues, but I do have some zoas in my reef.

jmaneyapanda - do you feed heavily? I wonder if that would keep them from eating zoas.

I feed every 15 seconds....

Well, maybe not that often, but I feed a LOT and feed heavy. They just detroyed the acans, and every zoa was closed. About a week after the fish were removed, everything was opening, and the acans were healing. It may have only been one of them, since I never witnessed it, but it was thone of the two, if not both. My male just swims around with his bristleworm beard now. It makes me laugh every time.

[prsammons]

Will they bother clams?

[rishma]

Well, I can tolerate a nipping fish but I only keep one reef and its mixed so destroying acans and zoas is not an option for me. Oh well......maybe I should start another tank.....