Big Eye Squirrel fish!

[triggerfre]

Has anyone keep these. I ma looking into one. My local fish store has 2 small ones in, but the owner says they will eat small fish. But everything thet i have found online says they are peaceful. The big eye is only about 2 - 2 1/2 in. I have a sixline and a orange anthias that are about 1 - 1 1/2 in. Do you think he would leave them alone?

 

[sepulatian]

They usually leave small fish alone but will happily swallow any crustaceans that they can fit into there expansive mouths. If you have any shrimp or crabs ect. that you would like to keep then I wouldn't, but they tend to get along with other tankmates (fish) just fine. They are active little guys and should be given 30 gallons per squirell for smaller ones and 50 gall each for larger ones.

 

[ophiura]

My experience with squirrelfish (generally squirrelfish, longspine squirrelfish) is a bit different. Though attractive and hardy once established, these fish get rather large (this one probably 7-10 inches) and they can be quite aggressive at feeding time. I do not recommend most squirrelfish in any tank under at least 100g, with equally large aggressive feeders. I tend to agree with the LFS and I would not trust them with smaller fish or in a community tank...not necessarily because they will be eaten (though I wouldn't rule it out), but just in terms of temperment and food competition.
I think they make an excellent, beautiful and underappreciated addition to either a species tank or an aggressive, semi-aggressive system. They are, by nature, a nocturnal fish and may take some time to acclimate to captive conditions.
These fish are often mislabeled as well, so I would be sure, beyond a doubt, that they are correctly identified. They have very sharp spines, and should be handled carefully. They are one of the groups of fish that are actually quite "vocal" and rather noisy when handled.
For a calmer reef I would suggest flame cardinalfish or something.

 

[jon321]

For what its worth, I kept a bigeye squirrelfish, abour 4-5" long with clowns, damsels, and chromis with no losses. It never grew an inch in the couple years I had it. Oh..and they are jumpers

Jon

 

[ophiura]

Hey Jon -
Did you find this species an active eater? Now that I think of it I had one true "big eye" that was a dusky one - not the standard if I recall. That guy was a pretty eager feeder but no where near as aggressive as other squirrelfish. It wasn't in with anything small...but it wasn't particularly active. Mostly hung out under an overhang.
But other squirrelfish. Yowzers. Nothing else could eat.

 

[jon321]

Yes, basically hungout near the back, in view, but in shaded areas of the tank. At feeding time it would pop out of the rockwork, grab something,then quickly pop back into the shadows. I would never go as far as calling it an aggressive feeder, nothing like puffers or tiggers, thats forsure. Ive only ever kept the one squirrelfish, so I cant comment about the other varieties.
Jon