Originally Posted by
jrod4u
http:///forum/post/3227626
Ya know I have to say, I really have not bought much at *****, an anemone, a goby, and that was over year ago and although I lost the goby, damn aptasia, LOL, the anem is doing great. I am not condoning ***** because that is all I have bought there, but sometimes ya just have to give them a chance. You might be surprised.
By no means am I saying not to buy this fish simply because it's at *****. They are one of the most difficult fish to keep in the hobby. We know very, very little about them. 90%+ die in captivity in less than one month. They're very difficult to get to each prepared food, in the wild, they only eat SPS polyps and to try to keep up with the amount they eat in a home aquarium is close to impossible if you can't convert them. I have one now and I'm lucky enough to have it eating meaty foods, but it was still close to starvation when I bought it and its mate did die. Cranberry also has one and she had a heck of a time getting it to switch over and she lost one in the process as well. They're also almost impossible to breed in captivity (I think only 2 people have been successful) so all specimens available are wild caught, which means they eat SPS and don't know what frozen food is.
I have a thread going about my adventures with my filefish, if anyone really wants to keep this fish or even know more about it, read through my threads (just search Orange Spotted Filefish and Harlequin Filefish - Cranberry and I are the only ones that have them that are active on this board) or google them.
They're expensive because of the care involved with taking care of them. They're a big expense to a fish store to keep.
