My Orange Spotted AKA Harlequin Filefish :-)

jaxfishgirl

jaxfishgirl

Active Member
Originally Posted by BTLDreef
http:///forum/post/3225475
Thanks :) If I can keep this one alive, in a few months I will definitely get another one.
Years down the road when I have some exp under my belt, I would love a pair. Good luck with her. She is gorgeous
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Originally Posted by JAXFishGirl
http:///forum/post/3225491
Years down the road when I have some exp under my belt, I would love a pair. Good luck with her. She is gorgeous

I've been planning for one for awhile. I just happened to luck out and find one that already accepted prepared foods.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3225659
Last night mine had shaved salmon... she loves shaved salmon.
I've never fed any of my fish (or coral and inverts) fish of any kind. I think I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyways, what exactly is shaved salmon? how do you go about doing it? Where do you get the fish from? I'm in NY so local fish markets aren't that great in the winter, I don't think I trust grocery store fish.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
I get fish from the market or the pier. I use a mini garlic grater... it's a 2" high version of a cheese grater.
Not my pic...

I get a frozen chunk and shave off some. How big the pieces are depends on how hard you grate.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Sounds easy enough. I'll give it a try. Any other fish you'd recommend?
I actually already do thus w/ squid, never even thought to do this with fish.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
I do it with absolutely anything saltwater... and then salmon. They really REALLY love the salmon not to give it to them as a treat every now and then. It has some great fats in it too.
It's so easy to feed all fish this way. You don't even have to wait for it to thaw. By the time you grate a little bit of the frozen block, it's thawed and room temp because it is meer shavings. All the anthias go nuts for this. They do have they're likes/dislikes however.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Thanks. I was able to pick up the mysis tonight. Then I was told to get home because my husband took me to dinner :) ... If we don't get hit with the snow they're claiming we're going to get tomorrow, than I'll go get some salmon and try it out.
Tonight was the first time I saw this fish take in food and spit it out, but she ate this morning 2x and this afternoon. My husband said that he thinks that it's just full, but I don't know, because if it wasn't hungry, would it even attempt to take in food and then spit it out? I'll probably be up half the night worried about the darn fish now
It is looking better though.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
When mine gets a little picky, I change some water even if the parameters aren't saying anything is off..... it always seems to work.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3226205
When mine gets a little picky, I change some water even if the parameters aren't saying anything is off..... it always seems to work.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya.
I've been doing daily water changes of 2-4 cups. Seems fine now and ate like a pig this morning.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Picked up some SFBB Mysis shrimp which are 1/2-1/3 the size of PE Mysis and the Filefish is devouring them!
Seems a lot calmer about putting my hands in the tank as well. I tried feeding some corals this morning and it stole almost all the food out of my fox coral!
It will eat PE Mysis, just keeps attacking a piece until it's gone, but my Tail Spot Blenny tries to steal it and the Filefish gives up.
It "sleeps" very oddly and I'm wondering if this is normal:
At night, it goes up to the return pump and basically lays on it (belly on the top of the pump), nose against the glass and the little horn thing on the top of its head (please give me the real name for this thing) sticks straight up.
So far the preferred food is still the Brine, but it will pick on ArctiPods and Mysis. As soon as the blizzard stops, I'll buy some salmon and try that as well.
Absolutely refused squid (chopped really fine, so size wasn't the issue).
Another thing I've noticed, it does not eat as much if I don't soak the food in vitamins. This seemed odd to me.
So, when it's full, it still tries to eat, but just spits it out. This only seems to happen after it's ate quite a bit. I guess since it was starving, it still tries to take in as much as possible, even if it's body can't handle it?
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Originally Posted by BTLDreef
http:///forum/post/3227058
It "sleeps" very oddly and I'm wondering if this is normal:
At night, it goes up to the return pump and basically lays on it (belly on the top of the pump), nose against the glass and the little horn thing on the top of its head (please give me the real name for this thing) sticks straight up.
Yup, that's how they sleep.
If she fattens up, I wouldn't worry about. But it takes awhile for them to recover.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
ahh, okay. I knew you'd have a better name for it. Someone on another site keeps calling it their dorsal fin
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
She's still alive. (although I still haven't quite figured out if she is really a SHE).
Eats like a maniac!
4-5 feedings a day of the following mixed together w/ vitamins:
PE Mysis Shrimp cut in halves
SFBB Mysis
SFBB Spirulina Brine
SFBB Brine
SFBB Cyclops
It stopped eating the ArticPods. I think it has figured out that there's better food. It will only eat the arcti's if I didn't get home during the day to give it any extra feedings and it only got fed once in the AM and next feeding is later at night. (I hate doing this)
It loves salmon, but I've only fed it twice. It's hard to find fresh around here this time of year and I just don't trust the super market. Fish markets aren't really open in the winter, and the ones that are don't have much in them. The one fish market near me that has wild salmon is so dirty I wouldn't dare buy anything from them

It hasn't touched any corals in my tank and leaved the clam alone. The Tail Spot Blenny tried bullying it the other day and quickly learned to not try that again. LOVE this fish!
I have a new fascination with all filefish now and my husband tries to hide them from me at the fish store now by pullying me out of aisles where he knows they're kept
I wish I could have a tank of all different filefish

So one month down and all is going well
 
runn3rb3an

runn3rb3an

Active Member
That's great to hear how your fish is doing so nicely! Have you spoken to the lfs where you got it about more?
 
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