dumb filefish

[jdavid]

My filefish is dumb. Okay so he is kind of cool actually. Only thing is he won't touch aiptasia. Also he is really slow. He does change colors though, which is kind of cool. Sometimes he is brown or tan, but most of the time he is anywhere from greyish green to lime green.

He just hangs out by the filter. Sometimes he ventures a bit further out into his small tank. His eyes dart back and forth like he is really nervous when I am near the tank. I have never seen him move quickly.. He is very very slow. I'm scared to ever put him in a tank with another fish for the fear of him being beat up. He doesn't seem to like rocks. He likes equipment and corners. A lot of the time he has his "nose" down and tail up. I thought he was sick from acclimation at first but now I think he just does that.

I havent seen him eat anything yet. I have tried several foods. I think I am going to pick something new up for him tomorrow, hopefully he will find it appetizing. He wont eat brine shrimp, cyclop-eeze, seaweed blend, marine flakes, or granules. Maybe he does eat after I'm not watching anymore. He is really shy. Maybe it's a she actually.. Idk.

Edit: Wow I just looked up and it did a lap around the tank at a slightly less incredibly slow speed. It was almost exciting.

 

[jdavid]

woohoo he ate some cyclop-eeze.

 

[tbryan]

i have a clown that always hangs out in the top corner,sometimes in the morning i have a hard time figuring out whether hes dead or not since he floats on his side when he sleeps.

 

[butch]

tbryan;866792 wrote: i have a clown that always hangs out in the top corner,sometimes in the morning i have a hard time figuring out whether hes dead or not since he floats on his side when he sleeps.

All your fish have bets to see if you are going to grab the net to get him out. Its all a joke that fish play on their owners!

 

[picoreefguy]

try some entice to make the food a little more appetizing.

 

[jdavid]

He is now accepting food, both cyclopeeze and brine shrimp. He might be eating pellets and flake too I've been putting a bit in with each feed. I've noticed he keeps picking at my snails. I can't tell if he is eating algae off the shell or going for the flesh. He is swimming around the tank too. Maybe he will work up the courage to take on an aiptasia soon. He is growing on me. I'm going to test him out when my reef tank gets up and running, but I don't think he will be okay with my neon dottyback. The dottyback can live in my frag tank, but Mr. Filefish won't get his own little tank forever

 

[midas]

Sounds like typical behavior, had mine for years and it behaved much like yours does now. Because it was slow and easy to catch, I would move the filefish from tank to tank - and although I never saw it eat aiptasia, within a month or so of being introduced to a tank all visible aiptasia would be gone. It is an odd, but very cool fish.