Aiptasia Eating Filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) Breeding

[OctoReef12]

I recently picked up an Aiptasia Eating Filefish to combat some Aiptasia. And through a comedy of errors, ended up with a second one as well. My initial thought was take one back to the LFS for a credit, but these two hang out all the time. Quite similarly like my Clownfish hang out. It got me to thinking can these be captive breed from a hobby aquarium. I know they are breed professionally, but I can't find anything online about how this is done or how to garner success. So I'm starting a thread to see what people think, what people have done, or if it's even possible. Likely I will still end up taking one of them back, but in the meantime, it's always good to further educate myself (and others) about our different creatures.

 

[KrisReef]

I’m not an expert on this subject but I do recall the answer that someone gave when a similar question was asked by another person who wanted to get their fish to start mating. The first thing is to chop up some raw oysters and then you play some Barry Manilow music softly and dim the lights cause lots of fishes do it at dusk.
I’ve never tried it but I do chop up oysters for my fish and they like that for sure
Anybody else got a better idea about how this is done?

 

[OctoReef12]

I’m not an expert on this subject but I do recall the answer that someone gave when a similar question was asked by another person who wanted to get their fish to start mating. The first thing is to chop up some raw oysters and then you play some Barry Manilow music softly and dim the lights cause lots of fishes do it at dusk.
I’ve never tried it but I do chop up oysters for my fish and they like that for sure
Anybody else got a better idea about how this is done?

Who knew Barry was an aphrodisiac to fish as well?!

 

[KrisReef]

Who knew Barry was an aphrodisiac to fish as well?!

I’m hoping he can help get some filefish mating so that the op can support the hobby with homespawned tank raised babies that can be used in the trade and lower pressure on the wild stock. I’m certain Barry would not press for royalties in this situation.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It's possible, but how to do it successfully would likely take some trial and error because the rearing information is likely considered proprietary info for the aquaculture companies breeding them.

That said, for first feeds, you'd probably want to try Parvocalanus crassirostris pods (as if they accepted rotifers for their first feed, these would probably have been bred by more than just ORA and Biota by now).