harlequin filefish

[litmus]

My LFS just got one of these guys in. He's amazing looking with the blue coloring and orange dots.
Anybody have experience with this fish? I found a little bit of info on the web that seems to indicate that they primarily eat coral polyps, are are hard to keep alive in an aquarium.

 

[von_rahvin]

can you post a pic sounds like a really cool fish!! I was looking into gettng a tasseled filefish, but this may be something different

 

[brooklyn johnny]

Baron is right, and I'll go as far to say that they are much tougher than mandarins in that they feed exclusively on coral polyps like certain butterflies and I have never heard of them adapting. Stay away from them.

 

[saltylake]

baron your photo did not work please show another photo because i am really interested in seeing this fish

 

[fmarini]

Hi:
the fish is prolly called an orange spotted filefishOxymonocanthus longirotris . It has a terrible track record in the home aquarium.
This fish is supposedly an obligate coral feeder. Supposedly, it eats the fleshy polyps of SPS corals. Its one of those fish which should NOT be collected for the home aquarium
good luck
frank

 

[litmus]

The fish in the store is the fish in the pictures.
Thanks much for the info! Fortunately, I didn't buy him.