my new addition

well got myself a matted file fish to hopefully take care of an aiptasia problem in my front tank...

the pic aint mine, but my camera sucks.


as he was acclimating...


a small piece of the problem...

i cant wait to see the damage he can do.and if it all work out i would love to rent him as i have a couple tanks that i cannot have peppermints in due to hawk fish.gotta love the hawkfish.oh and sweet fish man the file fish are an interesting type.dont let him get caught in a net as there dorsal spine is good at that.

actually he has been waving that spine at the guppies in the tank to its right, he seems pretty angry at them for whatever reason, the talbot seems fearful of him and the watchman is always hiding anyways...
id be happy to lend him out as soon as he fixes my little problem, but he really is a cool fish, im happy with him.

Those fish are awesome! I have kept several of them for Aptasia control, they do an incredible job. I have kept them with just about every coral out there. A word of warning, they will eat xeniids (xenia, anthelia, etc.) as well as nip at sarcophyton polyps, I have never seen them go after any other corals or inverts. As A side note, they have been bred in captivity. I have been fortunate enough to have had two pairs in various tanks, though have not spawned them yet. Males are differentiated from females by more Cirrhi (raised scales that look hair like in nature) on their caudel peduncle. good luck!

i am very much on the fence on buying one of these guys as i have seen one go after some cloves and i have talked with a couple peoples that said they had a little trouble with theirs but i do believe next time there is one in the local pet shop and i have the money i will be grabbing one.the peppermints havent had the longest life spans with me lately or maybe i have become a less hospitable caretaker so i need a more economical long term solution.either way i need some natural aptasia control that can be bounced between a couple tanks.thanks for the info as i have seen the "hairs" on the dorsal fin you have mentioned so it must be relativly easy to tell when they are side by side.

yes real obvious to tell sexual difference side by side. The main issue with them is when they are freshly imported. They come from sea grass beds, outside of most standard collection zones so they probably have a bit rougher time from the point of collection to being shipped out. Live foods are a great way to get them to start eating, enirched brine, live clam, even sacrificing a xeniid works well. Although, if you have aptasia, thas a perfect live food to get them started.

he has been doing pretty well, he has even eaten some enriched brine shrimps i regularly feed the tank, he has also been eyeing aptasia in the tank and picking at some, so im happy, havent seen him targeting any of my frags yet, but im keeping an eye out for any signs (im pretty sure my galaxia frag has done more damage to my frags than he will, lol). i did water change yesterday and was pleased that he has no fear whatsoever of me, the siphon or seemingly anything, he just goes about his business, ignoring me, i love it...

damn that aptasia looks like it may eat him, i assure its just the angle, lol...

thats sweet that he is already eating and getting acustom to the tank so soon.maybe you could use the calkwasser on the aptasia until he starts to realy go for them.