Success with the Harlequin Filefish, Oxymonacanthus longirostris

By Jake Adams on Jan 12, 2010

We are pleased to present another inaugural post today on Reef Builders, this one is by Tim Morrissey, a fish breeding aquarist who is attending the Florida Institute of Technology where he studies reef fish ecology and reproduction.

oxymonacanthus-longirostris

Harlequin filefish, Oxymonacanthus longirostris, are an exquisite species of reef fish who’s captive success has eluded many advanced aquarist since their primary food source in nature is corals. Andrew Berry of Boulder Colorado has managed to keep his harlequin filefish alive and happy for over a year now! Matthew Pederson and him have both gotten their pairs to spawn for them. Andrew wrote a nice article on his new website about the trials and tribulations of getting them to eat frozen food. His favorite food to feed them is Nutramar Ova, but the fish are now accepting a variety of foods. This development is exciting and very cool that now a second person has spawning, fat, and happy Oxymonacanthus. Hopefully this added success bodes well for other coralivores, and progress can be made with these tough to keep fish. It should be noted these fish are definitely not a beginner fish and lots of care needs to be put in to achieve success with this species! Andy who is better known as Ummfish on the BBs has gone one step further and written an article to document his successes on his website, Ummfish.com. Also as seen by the above picture, there was recently a pair for sale on liveaquaria’s Diver’s Den section, they have already sold though, so hopefully the new owner will have the same success with these awesome fish!

Joost’s reef

Very beautiful fish,
Someone at world wide reefers has one for six weeks, it’s eating prepared foods
Joost’s reef

Very beautiful fish,
Someone at world wide reefers has one for six weeks, it’s eating prepared foods
Brian Blank

I love these fish, they are so strikingly beautiful.
Brian Blank

I love these fish, they are so strikingly beautiful.
Matt Pedersen

Sorry, but gotta plug my article on the spawning and first successful REARING of them in captivity – March/April 2009 issue of CORAL Magazine. I don’t want anyone to get the illusion that somehow this fish became easy. It is still, as a wild caught specimen, extremely EXPERT ONLY.
Matt Pedersen

Sorry, but gotta plug my article on the spawning and first successful REARING of them in captivity – March/April 2009 issue of CORAL Magazine. I don’t want anyone to get the illusion that somehow this fish became easy. It is still, as a wild caught specimen, extremely EXPERT ONLY.
http://LiveAquaria.com Melissa

Here’s a link to the LiveAquaria.com Diver’s Den, where Tim got his fish from.

We love seeing stories about the fish we’ve sold, and even more-so when an experienced hobbyist has been able to breed them! This is wonderful. Keep it up!
http://LiveAquaria.com Melissa

Here’s a link to the LiveAquaria.com Diver’s Den, where Tim got his fish from.

We love seeing stories about the fish we’ve sold, and even more-so when an experienced hobbyist has been able to breed them! This is wonderful. Keep it up!
http://LiveAquaria.com Melissa

Oops sorry, I didnt mean “Where Tim got his fish from” – I just meant, where you could see more of these fish, as shown by the photo used. Thanks!
http://LiveAquaria.com Melissa

Oops sorry, I didnt mean “Where Tim got his fish from” – I just meant, where you could see more of these fish, as shown by the photo used. Thanks!
Rich Ross

I have 5, 2 male 3 female in a 200 gallon cube at work for almost a year. Eating mostly pellet food. I think its working because there is a pinnacle in the tank providing lots of 3 dimensional space for them to not see each other all the time.
Matt – babies yet?
Rich Ross

I have 5, 2 male 3 female in a 200 gallon cube at work for almost a year. Eating mostly pellet food. I think its working because there is a pinnacle in the tank providing lots of 3 dimensional space for them to not see each other all the time.
Matt – babies yet?
Matt Pedersen

Well Rich, babies are yes and no…at the end of the CORAL article, I had 2 babies alive. One JUMPED (#@%@#%!!@!!) and one got killed by Amyloodinium. As you know, since the first CORAL article I’ve done a lot more work with them, and increased numbers of early survivors. My hope is that 2010 brings saleable quantities of CB Filefish about. Keep the fingers crossed!
Matt Pedersen

Well Rich, babies are yes and no…at the end of the CORAL article, I had 2 babies alive. One JUMPED (#@%@#%!!@!!) and one got killed by Amyloodinium. As you know, since the first CORAL article I’ve done a lot more work with them, and increased numbers of early survivors. My hope is that 2010 brings saleable quantities of CB Filefish about. Keep the fingers crossed!
Matt Pedersen

Oh, and for the record, the oldest juvenile made it to about 1.25″ and was around 6 months old before getting hit with the velvet. Took it out FAST.
Matt Pedersen

Oh, and for the record, the oldest juvenile made it to about 1.25″ and was around 6 months old before getting hit with the velvet. Took it out FAST.
Bobby Ortiz

It is great to see people like Matt doing research in this area! I work at a LFS and we got a male and female in. I was able to pair them up and have had them eating frozen, flakes, and pellets for just over 5 months now. They are doing great and hopping to do further reading and follow Matt’s lead in trying to get these guys to breed!

Fingers crossed and good luck this year with this beautiful fish Matt!
Bobby Ortiz

It is great to see people like Matt doing research in this area! I work at a LFS and we got a male and female in. I was able to pair them up and have had them eating frozen, flakes, and pellets for just over 5 months now. They are doing great and hopping to do further reading and follow Matt’s lead in trying to get these guys to breed!

Fingers crossed and good luck this year with this beautiful fish Matt!
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