Filefish

ScooterBlenny · 05-29-2008, 02:40 PM

It's my first post, so nobody make fun of me

I'll spare you the drama of how I became so attached to the in-law's filefish which is now totally neglected in a grossly overstocked tank full of cyanobacteria and other yuckiness and give you the short story: I'd like to bring him to my house.

With the uncertainty surrounding his reef-safety, he can't go in my reef tank, and my 10 gallon FOWLR is certainly too small. I'd like to set up a tank specifically to suit his needs. What I'm having trouble determining is if he needs the wide-open swimming space, like a Tang, or whether a smaller setup with lots of crevices and hiding places would be more suitable.

There is not an abundance of info out there, and I feel like I've researched pretty thoroughly, as well as asked around at oodles of aquarium shops. I get answers from "they like to hang out in small places and in seaweed" to "Holy cow, he's gonna get HUGE!!!" This picture is the closest thing to him that I have found NOAA Ocean Explorer: Planehead filefish . So maybe he is a planehead?

Anywho, since I am setting this tank up JUST for him (his name is Spike, by the way) I can leave it kind of wide open, or go with a smaller tank, or anywhere in between. Does anybody have any idea whether this type of fish is a swimmer or a "hanger outer"? In his current tank, he seems to be somewhere in the middle - he swims around a bit, but not frantically like the Tang did when they put him in the 55

**Amphibious** · 05-29-2008, 06:50 PM

Hi Scooter,

Go here - Plain Headed File Fishes, look at the picture, then click on it, look at that series of pictures. Then post here if that is what you have. Or if it's not, too.

Dick

ScooterBlenny · 05-29-2008, 09:09 PM

Picture 1 looks EXACTLY like him. The other pictures (the lighter color) are very similar - he does change colors:-)

**Amphibious** · 05-29-2008, 09:33 PM

It's interesting how "cute" ugly can be in the eyes of a lady. Oh, I'm digressing.

He gets to about 10" in length in the wild. How big is he now?

ScooterBlenny · 05-30-2008, 08:00 AM

Hmm about 3". They got him last summer, and he was maybe 1.5". I saw a ginormous tassled filefish at the LFS a while back, and thought "Ooooh boy, he'd better not get that big."

**Amphibious** · 05-30-2008, 08:54 AM

Spike, is a swimmer who, when/if frightened will go into the rock work. What I would do is, get a minimum 35 gallon tank (because his adult size is so much bigger than his current size), 55 would be better. Set it up as a FOWLR with sand substrate and about 1 lb of LR per gallon. This will give enough LR for cover and creating the nitrogen cycle. This set up will allow you to add a tank mate or two. Be aware that Spike will eat some invertebrates but will probably leave soft corals alone.

Let us know what you decide and post pictures, please.

Dick

ScooterBlenny · 05-30-2008, 09:00 AM

Thanks, dude. I've been cruising Craigslist looking for another 55 gallon. He hasn't messed with the few soft corals in his current tank, but I have lots of inverts in my reef tank that I don't want to endanger.

If the lil booger will ever hold still, I will try to get a good picture. I've tried on many occasion and have ended up with blurs.