Who's picking at my zoas?

Donna357 · 04/21/2015, 11:55 AM

I have a 24g Nanocube reef aquarium with LR, LS, one pink watchman goby, one pajama cardinalfish, 2 caudern's cardinalfish, 2 clownfish, 1 whitespotted pygmy filefish (captive bred and according to liveaquaria they did not observe nipping), 2 anemones, one coral banded shrimp, one blood red fire shrimp, some hermit crabs, a few snails, and a few sea slugs. I have noticed that my zoas and some of my palm tree polyps are getting nipped. Who is the most likely culprit? Anything I can do to prevent this from happening?

KAMIKAZE0214 · 04/21/2015, 12:30 PM

Filefish

Donna357 · 04/21/2015, 12:33 PM

the goby seems to want to decorate his "den" with the nipped pieces. How about the hermit crabs? Do they pick at polyps?

thedasher · 04/21/2015, 12:37 PM

I had a filefish but got rid of it because I caught it eating a whole colony of zoas.

whosurcaddie · 04/21/2015, 01:37 PM

Its without a doubt the filefish. They are used a lot for aptaisa control. Zoa's are just as good to them though.

CafeReef · 04/21/2015, 01:42 PM

absolutely your filefish, I will say that is quite the bioload for a 24g, might be related to there not being enough room for him to stretch

04/21/2015, 11:55 AM	#1
Donna357 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 11	Who's picking at my zoas? I have a 24g Nanocube reef aquarium with LR, LS, one pink watchman goby, one pajama cardinalfish, 2 caudern's cardinalfish, 2 clownfish, 1 whitespotted pygmy filefish (captive bred and according to liveaquaria they did not observe nipping), 2 anemones, one coral banded shrimp, one blood red fire shrimp, some hermit crabs, a few snails, and a few sea slugs. I have noticed that my zoas and some of my palm tree polyps are getting nipped. Who is the most likely culprit? Anything I can do to prevent this from happening?

04/21/2015, 01:42 PM	#6
CafeReef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Elkhorn, NE Posts: 1,405	absolutely your filefish, I will say that is quite the bioload for a 24g, might be related to there not being enough room for him to stretch __________________ 50 Gallon cube

04/21/2015, 12:30 PM	#2
KAMIKAZE0214 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Waukesha, WI Posts: 119	Filefish

04/21/2015, 12:33 PM	#3
Donna357 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 11	the goby seems to want to decorate his "den" with the nipped pieces. How about the hermit crabs? Do they pick at polyps?

04/21/2015, 12:37 PM	#4
thedasher Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Dearborn, Michigan U.S. Posts: 389	I had a filefish but got rid of it because I caught it eating a whole colony of zoas.

04/21/2015, 01:37 PM	#5
whosurcaddie Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 2,354	Its without a doubt the filefish. They are used a lot for aptaisa control. Zoa's are just as good to them though.