Advice Needed - Filefish versus Hammer (1 Viewer)

[CKramer]

Howdy - New here. We recently purchased a house that came with a 150-gallon Red Sea tank that has been established for 5 years with a variety of corals and fish and an Apex Trident system for dosing and monitoring.

We are very new to this hobby and have come to realize the learning curve is quite steep, so apologies in advance for incorrect terminology and general ignorance.

Here's the issue: we've had the tank for nearly a month now and all of a sudden the Filefish has started nipping and eating the Hammer coral that was doing great previously. In the span of about 2 days the Filefish has successfully destroyed a third of the Hammer. I work from home so I have caught him red-handed several times now. I have attached a screenshot from a video I took.

Any advice on why he is suddenly eating the Hammer and next steps?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Seaworthy Aquatics]

This tends to happen when they've run out of other things to eat in my experience. What other fish do you have and how are they doing? You may need to increase feeding and hope that he stops. Unfortunately once they have a taste for coral, it can be near impossible to stop them in the future. You may need to decide between the Filefish or the coral.

And welcome to Marsh!

 

[MurseJB]

Howdy - New here. We recently purchased a house that came with a 150-gallon Red Sea tank that has been established for 5 years with a variety of corals and fish and an Apex Trident system for dosing and monitoring.

We are very new to this hobby and have come to realize the learning curve is quite steep, so apologies in advance for incorrect terminology and general ignorance.

Here's the issue: we've had the tank for nearly a month now and all of a sudden the Filefish has started nipping and eating the Hammer coral that was doing great previously. In the span of about 2 days the Filefish has successfully destroyed a third of the Hammer. I work from home so I have caught him red-handed several times now. I have attached a screenshot from a video I took.

Any advice on why he is suddenly eating the Hammer and next steps?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome man!

That is a heck of an inheritance you got! As for the file fish, seems like he's developed a taste of coral, and unfortunately this can happen and once it does, there is no real way to stop them besides removal of the fish or forego fleshy corals in the tank. I've increased feeding in the tank when a fish has gone rogue before, and it didn't stop the behavior in my own experiences.

 

[MurseJB]

This tends to happen when they've run out of other things to eat in my experience. What other fish do you have and how are they doing? You may need to increase feeding and hope that he stops. Unfortunately once they have a taste for coral, it can be near impossible to stop them in the future. You may need to decide between the Filefish or the coral.

And welcome to Marsh!

jinx!

 

[gregg]

Howdy - New here. We recently purchased a house that came with a 150-gallon Red Sea tank that has been established for 5 years with a variety of corals and fish and an Apex Trident system for dosing and monitoring.

We are very new to this hobby and have come to realize the learning curve is quite steep, so apologies in advance for incorrect terminology and general ignorance.

Here's the issue: we've had the tank for nearly a month now and all of a sudden the Filefish has started nipping and eating the Hammer coral that was doing great previously. In the span of about 2 days the Filefish has successfully destroyed a third of the Hammer. I work from home so I have caught him red-handed several times now. I have attached a screenshot from a video I took.

Any advice on why he is suddenly eating the Hammer and next steps?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome!! Sell the filefish!

 

[RR-MAN]

Yeah filefish are hit or miss. Find it a new home.

By the way, welcome to Marsh!

 

[CKramer]

This tends to happen when they've run out of other things to eat in my experience. What other fish do you have and how are they doing? You may need to increase feeding and hope that he stops. Unfortunately once they have a taste for coral, it can be near impossible to stop them in the future. You may need to decide between the Filefish or the coral.

And welcome to Marsh!

Thanks! The other fish and creatures (listed below) seem to all be doing great, except the Birdsnest and mentioned Hammer.

-5 Green Chromis
-2 Black & White Chromis
-2 Clowns (1 is black)
-2 Pajama Cardinals
-1 (large) Purple Tang
-1 Lawnmower Blenny
-1 Filefish
-1 (large) Coral Banded Shrimp (who lost a claw before we moved in, but has it back again)

-7 (at least) Urchins
-3 Brittle Stars
-an assortment of blue leg and halloween crabs

Corals:
Green Polyp Umbrella Leather
Birdsnest - previous owners talked about losing a very large one, our current one is medium sized but seems to be bleaching...
Bubble
Hammer - very upset
Zooanths
Red Candy Cap Mantiporals
Green Star Polyps
Button Polyp
Lots of Torches
Bubble Tip Torches

I think there a couple more that I haven't identified yet.

 

[CKramer]

Welcome!! Sell the filefish!

Thanks - I just noticed him starting on the other side of the Hammer...UGH. If we can catch him, is it okay to put him in the sump tank until we find him a new home, also, how much would he go for?

 

[gregg]

Thanks - I just noticed him starting on the other side of the Hammer...UGH. If we can catch him, is it okay to put him in the sump tank until we find him a new home, also, how much would he go for?

you could put him in the sump till you find it a home. Also most all of the local stores will give you store credit for it, but not a whole lot. Start a thread in the for sale section and im sure it will sell quickly if priced right.