Kessil

Orange spotted filefish! :)

i should also mention that I also keep my back glass dirty for similar reason... the OSFs are already picking at the bits of algae and whatever else grows on that glass
 
funny enough, they're also picking on the spectrum flakes i decided to try as an experiment... i rarely feed flakes anymore. hopefully they'll take to the micro pellets i use...
 
GHA, baby! @ashburn2k
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So far, they are way too slow for pellets and flakes unless I flood the tank... but they are doing a great job cleaning the micro algae off the tank walls...

I did see a nip or two at my monti though... seems like acros are preferred but not always


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NanoCrazed said:
So far, they are way too slow for pellets and flakes unless I flood the tank... but they are doing a great job cleaning the micro algae off the tank walls...

I did see a nip or two at my monti though... seems like acros are preferred but not always


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You need to turn all the pumps off and the return on the tank when feeding them. I'd use small pellets (ground up slightly more between my fingers) and then put the pellets just under the water line an inch or so. They will pick off the top, but they aren't really built for it. They are slow feeders and will not get enough to eat if they have to compete with flow and other fish.
 
The problem is they are hanging in the corner with my clowns...who will attack any food without regards...

Might have to separate the OSF from the rest of the tank for awhile... thankfully they're picking off the walls that the other don't care for

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The problem is they are hanging in the corner with my clowns...who will attack any food without regards...

Might have to separate the OSF from the rest of the tank for awhile... thankfully they're picking off the walls that the other don't care for

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Well, having oddball fishes seem to be a constant with me... Despite published research on OSF only preferring very specific acros, and that they were eating flakes, GHA, and pods... my pair decided that my montis and pavona are choice snacks...particularly my pavona... tsk
 
Looks like my OSFs are finally fully settled in... they're happily chasing pellets! Hopefully this is a sign they will leave my corals alone!

Only challenge is other fish are faster than them with bigger mouths so sometimes they literally get food taken out of their mouths...
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Try grinding the pellets to a smaller size or buying some that are appropriate for the mouth size. If the food is too big these guys will often spit it out and then keep trying to eat the same one or another one that's too large. While that's happening the faster fish will consume all the food and the Filefish will never get enough. It should be sized appropriately so they can grab a piece, eat if and then move on quickly to the next one.
 
Also while they will try to eat off the top of the water they really aren't built for it. They are designed to eat perpendicular with their mouths down. So they can grab a small amount off the top but generally they miss -- again slowing down how much they eat. Try submerging some or wetting it down first so it slowly falls.
 
No coral loss yet... though montis, hydnos, etc are all closed up. They don't constantly pick on a specific type or individual coral despite research stating that OSFs will only eat a specific acro and much rather die than switch it up. Only thing really stressed is the lept -- will suck if that dies off since i finally have it covering the whole top of a rock...rather like the look.

My pair will pick on anything... algae off glass, pellets, rocks, etc. I actually think they are quite omnivorous and hoping they will settle down on the corals.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
Try grinding the pellets to a smaller size or buying some that are appropriate for the mouth size. If the food is too big these guys will often spit it out and then keep trying to eat the same one or another one that's too large. While that's happening the faster fish will consume all the food and the Filefish will never get enough. It should be sized appropriately so they can grab a piece, eat if and then move on quickly to the next one.
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the omega one micro pellets have a mixture of small sizes, may of them seem to fit in their mouth... some are a bit larger. so for now, I just over feed with my auto feeder to give everyone an opp. Usually the pellets drop onto the circulating ripples which pull it into the column where they seem to have no problems getting to.
 
BTW -- i did try to grind some up previously based on your suggestion but the OSFs didn't quite get with the program so I resigned myself to let them eat whatever they eat.
 
NanoCrazed said:
Well, having oddball fishes seem to be a constant with me... Despite published research on OSF only preferring very specific acros, and that they were eating flakes, GHA, and pods... my pair decided that my montis and pavona are choice snacks...particularly my pavona... tsk
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I saw a pair of these in a large aquarium exhibit and they seemed to be picking one or two polyps off a plating monti and then moving on to the next monti. It’s like they know if they take too much off any one coral, it will die, and then they won’t have any more snacks. I watch the snails pave a wandering path through the algae on the glass and wonder if they’re following the same ideology. Same with pod eaters, they don’t clear a whole rock or area of pods, they just pick off a few here and there. So if there was any weird behavior it would be if they fixated on eating only one of the corals?
 
Chromis said:
I saw a pair of these in a large aquarium exhibit and they seemed to be picking one or two polyps off a plating monti and then moving on to the next monti. It’s like they know if they take too much off any one coral, it will die, and then they won’t have any more snacks. I watch the snails pave a wandering path through the algae on the glass and wonder if they’re following the same ideology. Same with pod eaters, they don’t clear a whole rock or area of pods, they just pick off a few here and there. So if there was any weird behavior it would be if they fixated on eating only one of the corals?
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There was a scientific study on these fish that strongly suggested that they will only eat a very specific type of acro and that many would prefer to starve than try different sps. Based on this research was why I felt ok getting them...

...lo and behold, these guys will eat anything that looks tasty. Great for the fish...so happy about that but just hoping they don't freak my corals out too much to the point of detriment.

That being said, they don't care for stylos. So I have a fall back plan should I ever need to restock. :)

To your point, the fish don't really pick on a specific coral constantly... but revisit often enough that the polyps stay retracted, except for when lights go out and the fish "sleep"

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Ugh... one of my OSF died... not from malnutrition but from ich. One of my tangs (re)contracted ich so I took it out along with a boxfish into hypo QT. Came back after my trip and noticed a few spots on fin of the smaller (female?) OSF but didn't look that bad so was gonna watch it and then QT if it didn't improve.

looked fine before lights out last night at 2AM. stuck to overflow with significant ich spots all over this morning when I woke up. ugh.

Gonna QT the other one just in case...
 
Ugh. My bristletail just went.

Seems like today is a damned if you do, damned if you don't kinda day. I put the the bristletail straight into my hypo QT. All the others seemed find with the transition but the bristletail struggled.

Now not sure of it was the stress of being chase with a net and captured and / or the immediate transition into hypo. Seemed fine after 10 minutes but then was inactive when I got home. :/

But leaving it in the DT didn't seem like the right thing either...as it kept flicking at the surface and hanging out at the surface in the back corner, which is atypical.


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