Aiptasia Eating Filefish (REEF SAFE?)

[sanchoy]

Acreichthys tomentosus
AKA.. the aiptasia eating filefish/leatherjacket/seagrass filefish..



is this little guy reef-safe from your experience. Most sites have this guy as reef-safe but use with caution. I have some aiptasia that I want exterminated. Anyone with first hand experience.

[dclaassen]

Exact guy worked for me, ate probably 25 or so aiptasia in my 75. He also eats mysis and hasn't touched anything else. With that being said now that his primary natural food source is gone I'm going to make him my clubs pass around aiptasia eater....rent him for a frag and pass him on!

[saix88]

With caution is used because they will eat your shrimp.

[jmaneyapanda]

mine didnt touch shrimop, but ate acans and zoas, in addition to aiptasia. There have been several threads exactly like this recently. Maybe search them, and you'll get better insight.

[happyjack]

Mine was reefsafe when he was confined to an overflow box

[iamwhatiam52]

Mine was reef safe and aiptasia safe.

[kajung2k]

aiptasia safe as in.. it didn't eat any?

[Nihoa]

i bought one of these not for aptasia control but just cus i thought he was so cool looking. eats mysis like a pig and i think the only thing he may have nipped is a dented brain. he picks pods off the glass and rocks alot and i cant tell if he is nipping the brain itself or pods off the rock the brain is on. i dont see tissue loss. hasnt touched sps, clams, snails, hermits, shrimp, coco worm, etc.

[iamwhatiam52]

Originally Posted by kajung2k

aiptasia safe as in.. it didn't eat any?

Yup.

Got it because I'd read they eat mojanos, but it never ate aiptasia or mojanos.
Cool fish anyway.

[Varanus37]

I've had mine for about 6 months now with no problems at all. Ate the Aip's with a vengeance and continues to pick on the little sprouts that come up from time to time. No aggression toward other fish or shrimp. No coral nipping either. They are really kewl looking and I'm very happy with mine.

Bill

[albano]

got 1 a few months ago (mine looks less yellow, more tan/lt. brown)...took out about 100 majanos in a week, no new ones in 2 months...doesn't bother anything (130g DT sps/lps w/shrimp,crabs,snails) that I've noticed, will move him to my new 450g tank.

[mark97r6]

Mine ate acans, trachy,s and frogspawns.
You cant expect something that eats nems to not touch fleshy LPS corals, to the fish whats the difference!
Just like CB butterfly fish, the ones that tend to be reefsafe dont touch nems, the ones that will eat the nems will eventually 9/10 times try coral.

Mark

[sanchoy]

assuming that he does eat aptasia anemone.. He will probably also eat my bubble tip anemone as well? odds are very high.

[goodtimes2]

Had mine in my tank for less than 3 hours before he stated nipping my zoas,

[aquanes]

Mine ate all the aiptasias (>100), I was so happy with that! Now his diet is Green nuclear zoa, blue zoa, etc.... I don't know yet how I am going to catch it, but he is back to the store! Beware, perfect fish for rent , not reef safe unless you are 100% SPS.

[namxas]

IME, they eat appies if you keep them a bit hungry. otherwise, as mentioned, they love mysis and macro tips. ours nipped clam mantles, but never touched what few polyps we kept with it.

[nikon187]

Mine ate zoos and acans before i got him out. Never touched majano

[pleasants9]

just wondering for everyones experience what was the size of your fish? I wonder if the bigger ones start eating coral of vica versa.

[namxas]

our pair was full-grown.

[sanchoy]

wow.. ordered one in.. eats nothing but mysis.. how sorry. little guy will go if he does not do his job.

[namxas]

Originally Posted by sanchoy

wow.. ordered one in.. eats nothing but mysis.. how sorry. little guy will go if he does not do his job.

IME, the fish were pretty "stealthy" when it came to eating appies...it took about a week or so before i noticed the appies slowly disappearing until they were gone.

they're pretty cool fish, regardless.

[pleasants9]

which seems more effective, the aiptasia eating nudibranchs or the filefish? I have a puffer so the peppermint shrimp is out of the question.

[Gotcha!]

Originally Posted by pleasants9

which seems more effective, the aiptasia eating nudibranchs or the filefish? I have a puffer so the peppermint shrimp is out of the question.

The filefish. Good luck if you choose the nudibranches. Mine never helped much but after getting the filefish the problem was solved in a couple of weeks and then brine shrimp and mysis was all it would eat. I lost my filefish reciently, however, after upgrading my system to an elos 120 with aquatop LED. My filefish, Somehow, found its way out the side of the aquatop and landed on the carpet and we all know what happened then. Very sad day. I would recommend this fish for anyones aptasia issues and watch the fish for a while. I used to use Joes juice and things like that and wonder why I ever even did that. These little filefish are great. I will be looking for a pair soon to replace my lost fish yet I have no more aptasia in the system to entice the godly feeding habits these little filefish have and trust me my aptasia problem was real bad until I added this filefish. After that I would recommend this approach as long as you monitor the filefish for a while. They also seem to be super friendly to all other fish.

I also have 2 pepermint shrimp females and they never hardly touched any aptasia. I would not recommend them for control of your problem.

[unbelievable]

I have one that never touched aiptasia but nipped at sps and really munched on some chalices.

[Gotcha!]

Originally Posted by unbelievable

I have one that never touched aiptasia but nipped at sps and really munched on some chalices.

I guess its hit or miss on the fish. I do not have lots of sps yet I do have rare chalices and the filefish never touched them. My fish cleaned up a serious aptasia issue in 2 weeks and then took frozen food like crazy. I guess I would say if the fish is not eating the aptasia trade it in for another and see what happens.