New Fish
 

I picked up this fish from my LFS and put it in my SPS reef tank. Anyone by chance know what this guy eats?

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...h/DSC_1694.jpg http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...h/DSC_1695.jpg

The tilefish? It eats SPS polyps...sorry to say. Or at least the other less colourful tilefish do.

I've forgotten the latin id of that guy, so I'm having a hard time googling it to confirm - but if that guy is who I think he is, I think his diet is essentially exclusively SPS polyps..

Ah yes here we go. Oxymonacanthus longirostris : Beaked leatherjacket, harlequin filefish, yellow spotted filefish ..

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fi...sh/olongir.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/filefdgfaqs.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fishfish.htm
http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/fil...ottedfilefish/

Good luck! Such a pretty fish..

Absolutely beautiful!

I put one in my tank awhile back not knowing that it eats sps polyps!! big mistake it took me a week to catch him out, thankfully the store took him back as they gave me misleading info, a fabulous fish but I will never buy another.

ooooohhhh bad choice. yes, major predator on SPS. Get that beauty out

this ladies and gents is why impulse buys are BAD. ...and why putting a fish on hold until proper research is done is good.

LOL...sorry, maybe not so funny I guess but I couldn't help but laugh when you specifically said you put him in your SPS reef and then asked what he eats!

Too bad he will have to go...such a beautiful fish!

Is it April Fools again already?? :biggrin:

What a wry sense of humour!

Yeah I was just having a little fun with you guys :biggrin:. I know the fish only feeds on SPS polyps and I special ordered it in. My LFS wouldn't normally bring these in.

I wanted a mated pair but didn't think I had enough SPS for two of these guys. Hopefully this guy will do good and spread out his feasting so impact is minimal. I've waited a long time for my SPS to grow out to the point where I'm pretty sure this fish will be sustainable, but time will tell.

Another Picture
 

Got to give you credit for trying it out even with the sps, I too have always liked that fish, my reason for not getting one is that my other fish in the tank would eat it.

got a fts? reason I ask is because I am unconvinced that anything smaller than a 75g heavily stocked with Acropora sp. would be able to support one of these guys. depending of course on how fast your coral grows.

Aw, sweet memories of SPS with polyp-less holes...:lol:

It's a 130 gallon, 90% SPS corals, fully stocked with good growth. I'm not 100% sure how things will turn out but I'm wanted to try.

I think that is a really cool idea. In fact, it sounds a lot like the kind of thing I would like to try as well. Make sure you keep us posted on how it goes.

I think it would be really interesting to find out what effect this has on your coral and how much coral is consumed in order to keep the fish healthy.

ah well then just keep that camera handy :) Do you think there's any way you could quantify how much coral the guy eats over a period of time?

Do they eat anything else other than sps's?

I don't think they eat anything else but will let you know if they do.

I will take pictures of the corals I notice him eating the most, continuous pictures of those corals should tell whether a sustainable food source is present.

What do you plan to do with the fish if you find it is seriously damaging your SPS?

Nice Fish Steve. he could always go into you Refugium that you have there.

Not sure, not really planning for the worst, just the best.

You could always send him to me, I already have someone picking at the polyps of my acros. He could eat to his hearts content :lol:

Makes me wonder how big a tank one would need fully stocked with corals to make a couple of those beautiful coral eatting butterflys alive without slowly killing off all the corals in the tank

That by far is the most beautiful fish I have ever seen. Good luck!

Well maybe you should have thought about it before you ordered her.
But, lets hope for the best.

I think he got a male.

.

I should work if the fish eat frozen food to. The fish looks petty small, he should do just fine. How much do you think he will eat.
I have a juv Emperor and if I feed 2-4 an day the fish dosen't pick at the sps.
I did see him pick at the anemone a couple of times, I think he leard his lesson the hard way.:lol:

That matters? :neutral:

I don't think fish are disposable either, sorry.

ahah I don't think the worst case means flushing it down the toilet... if it starts to cause too much damage I'm sure he'll find a new owner

I love all you fish huggers, you're either in this hobby or you're not. It's a little hypocritical to say purchasing a this tilefish is wrong but it's OK to buy a firefish, even though it has a good chance of jumping out of a tank even with covers, or a mandarin or pretty much any fish since none have a 100% chance of survival or sustainability, so where's the line? I think this fish has a very good chance of survival and sustainable impact on my corals.

sphelps

Pretty much all of us are fish huggers.

We mourn the loss of the little wrasse that jumps out of our tanks.
We spare no expense to provide the optimum conditions for the pets we keep in our tanks: expensive lighting , skimmers, RO/DI units, test kits not to mention food.
We struggle with providing for fish that get sick in our care and mourn their loss.
We feel quilty when we fail them, or take a risk with a fish and lose it.

If that makes us a fish hugger, I guess we all wear that badge.

Whoa, who said anything about disposable? The "male" comment was poking fun at Naesco, who always says "her." Steve called his fish "guy" severable times... haha, funny? Guess not...

I don't think there's much more a person can do than grow out a whole tank of SPS for a single fish. Seems like he put plenty of thought into this - to accuse him otherwise is petty. He's doing his best, as we all do.

Yes that makes him a serious fish hugger.

Good job, and good luck. And thanks for posting - takes some serious balls around here.:biggrin:

Or none at all :razz:

Well, if someone asked me about these fish, I'd say don't try it unless you're willing to grow a tank full of SPS to feed it. He has, so let's give it a shot. If damage is minimal to SPS, then we may find we CAN keep these fish long term in large SPS tanks. This is how we learned to keep what we can now. He's made an informed decision and believes he can provide the food, so great!
I'm anxious to see the results.

Doesn't sound like a huge fish, also wondering how much of a impact they would have on a tank.

Agreed, but some take it to another level accusing others of being irresponsible but by their reasoning we're all monsters, hypercritical. That's all I was saying.

thats a beauty. I think they are like mandarins in that, if you are prepared to meet their needs then you should be fine.

I just find it funny how everyone is so concerned about how this may be potentially cruel to the fish... but what about all those poor corals that are about to get eaten?? and nobody cares ahahah

I thought corals we're animals too so why is no one hugging them...?? oh its ok if it's the cycle of life... and yet personal enjoyment does not fall in to that cycle?? ahah I'm amused

Nice Fish!

We don't hug corals because they're sharp!