matted filefish

[mbd521]

ok, so the other day i was at my LFS and saw a matted filefish for the first time! I had seen pictures of them but, thought they were just an ugly fish. when I saw on though, I was just mesmerized by it! Ugly, but what an interesting fish!! reminded me of a triger mmixed with a puffer and then crossed with a tang!! Anyways, i came home and looked it up and didnt really find out alot of information on it, every site through google is basicly cut and pasted from eachother.. can anyone help me out by answering a few questions for me.

1. would one get along with a flame angel?
(kinda think the angel might be to aggressive)

2. everywhere said to wait until the tank was "well established"... what do they mean by that? Im thinking they are meaning something along the lines of like a mandarin or scooter blenny needing a good population of 'pods. am I correct?

3. what about ornatmental shrimp? would it make lunch out of my 40$ skunk cleaner shrimp (dont actually have one yet though)

4. can you point me to websites that may have a little more info on them than the ones i found through google search?

5. i understand that they will eat aptasia and mojanos, but what if I wanted like an RBTA or something of the likes would it pick at that? not really planning on corals anytime soon but i understand that they might munch on some of them.

6. throw out some experiences and maybe some requirements that you guys have found regarding them.

Thanks in advanced for any and all information!
Brett

[treylane]

1) Most likely. Matted files are slow moving and not too interesting to most feisty fish.

2) Make sure your tank is cycled and healthy, but they should start eating frozen food within a few days. Some algae in their diet is probably a good idea as well.

3) The fish maxes out at ~4" and so do skunk shrimps. And skunks are faster. Get a decent sized skunk and you should be fine.

4) *shrug* ... google's a good place to start. try http://oceanaquaristic.blogspot.com/2010/08/acreichthys-tomentosus.html

5) They're patchy as far as coral safety. Get some clownfish to guard your rbta and they'll make sure the filefish keeps a safe distance. They ARE easy to catch once the lights go out, so if you need to move one to a FOWLR as you convert to reef, it's simple.

6) wysiwyg -- the behavior they show in the store, slowly wandering the tank with eyeballs constantly moving, checking everything out, is what they do most of the time. They peek into crevices and take their time grazing bugs/algae/whatever off the rocks. They're fairly smart for small fish though, and will learn to recognize you as The Almighty Food Bringer and greet you when you get close to the tank.

[mbd521]

Thanks treylane for the info and the link! Its definately appreciated! Jury is still out as to me getting one or not. if I do though it willl be a while though! Im going very slowly right now! Its just too expensive to go fast! lol

[SaltyPaws]

I am picking one of these up today to deal with my majano infestation...I hope he will eat them!

[prop-frags]

We have had our Matted Filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) for at least 3 years in our reef. He does take care of nuisance aiptasia for us and we move him to our prop-tank on occasion to cleanup there as well. We also keep a resident clownfish and rbta's in the prop-tank and our filefish has never bothered them.

He will however, eat zoanthids and some fleshy LPS (as does our Regal Angel). Rather than tempt either of them, we keep those in a separate tank.

We keep 3 very large skunk cleaners in our reef and he has never paid any attention to them, nor has he ever bothered our Golden Coral Banded Shrimp that resides in our prop-tank. He does spend most of the day scouring the rock work for food and pays no attention to any of our other fish. He loves algae on a clip and will eat out of our hands.

[SaltyPaws]

Great info, prop-frags. I picked mine up yesterday, kept him in a cooler on the way home. I was kinda scared when I got home and took a look at him...he looked so still, I thought he was dead. I had to look really close to make out his gills moving. I was glad to see he is doing great today...some of the majanos look like they're missing some tentacles, so I am happy! The existing fish are getting along fine with him, too. His huge eyes looking all over the place really crack me up.

[mbd521]

thanks guys for all the experiences, and the information! It is greatly appreciated, I just may be getting on of these fish. I find them very intrigueing an interesting. I think that if I do it may actually be the next fish I get. which again will be a long while (unfortunately for me) but probably great for him considering my tank is still pretty new!

[MJT82]

I'm reviving this thread... I am curious about the long term results of those who were about to or had recently gotten a Matted Filefish... Good results?

[RayL]

I have had one for about 10 months now, he is in a tank with gobies, tangs, an angel, and a couple clowns and he is doing great.
I bought him because he was so interesting to look at, not because I needed him to perform any job. Quickly he became one of my favourites, great fish and I would strongly recommend him

[small alien]

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn4/smallalien/2012-06-03_19-10-47_683.jpg


I have a m/f pair. Very cool fish. Can change color shade and pattern in the blink of an eye. Not quite reef safe but safer than my OSFF trio. Wouldn't do one if I was a big lps guy probably not that I have an bad experiences to report. I just wouldn't risk valuable lps. Euphyllias go untouched. Oh, and my tank is aptasia free other than one they can't seem to get to. Need to nuke that one as its getting big.

[GrendelPrime76]

how would 1 do in a macro algae tank? i have aptaisa sprouting up all over the place and wanted to give 1 a shot but i dont want my macro to get consumed in the process

[small alien]

I bet it would do awesome. I believe another name for them is Seagrass Filefish.

[mdbtropiano]

I have had a filefish for close to 2 yrs now. Though he took care of the apstaia that coated the majority of my tank...he also ate my clam all my corals and snails....now I am basically back to square one....but at least my rocks are clean

[mdbtropiano]

I have had a filefish for close to 2 yrs now. Though he took care of the apstaia that coated the majority of my tank...he also ate my clam all my corals and snails....now I am basically back to square one....but at least my rocks are clean :rolleyes:

[braden]

I just picked up one of these over the weekend. About 2" long. Color was good and he was quite active in the store.

The tank is a 30-gallon "half moon" that I intend to become a clown/anemone tank. I set it up last summer with some very good Indonesian live rock. The tank has really just been maturing on its own since then; this fish is the first addition. The 2½" sandbed has a nice population of worms in it; and there's a bit of macroalgae growth from the rocks. Nuisance algae has largely come and gone at this point.

But, what started as three or so Aiptasia when I put the rocks in the tank is now…very many (of course). So, this fish is my first attempt at resolving the problem before proceeding further with my plans for the tank.

As I've seen others report with this fish, he is skittish. He tends to hide behind the rocks when I approach the tank. (Though, he's also excellent at hiding in plain sight against the rocks). Generally, his behavior and color seem fine. But I am a bit concerned as I have not seen him eat in the tank yet. I offer a bit of frozen food twice daily; though there should be plenty for him to graze on in the tank, as well (worms, macroalgae, and, oh yeah, Aiptasia). It is possible he's nibbling at things when I'm not looking.

Any tips on getting this guy settled in? Any recommended tankmates (ideally, ones that would still be good inhabitants in a clown/anemone tank)?

[Sk8r]

Mine's in with a very dominant 4"+ golden domino damsel. She ignored him, now begins to get curious as to what he's found to eat, but friendly curiosity. He's been a good citizen with euphyllia corals, hasn't bothered or been picked on by another fish.

[xxsevxx]

I have a whitespotted pgymy filefish and he has recently started picking at my duncan and my toadstool. I have a flame angel and 5 other fish and none of them even care that hes in there. on day 1 he was eating both pellets and mysis. Heres a vid of my tank with everyone getting along. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iQ2f5lbPg4