Need any info on a scribble file fish!

[Bulletsworld]

My LFS after giving up my shark is trying to sell me this scribble file fish. I cant find any info on this fish? Anyone know if this fish would go in with a cowfish or a tang?

Need info before I get this guy? Any thoughts? Anyone have or ever had one?

Your thoughts and or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Bulletsworld]

this picture is the only one I could find on the net
at the LFS of course he is really small

[joetbs]

I'd say no. They get very large. If you want a filefish there are many better options. Fantail, Tassled, Leopard. Make sure you don't confuse the leopard with the Orange Spotted(blue & orange), as those(orange spotted) are the ones to avoid.

joe

[agilis]

Your LFS probably is referring to a member of the Alutera genus, a fish usually called the Scrawled Filefish. These and the related Orange Filefish get fairly large, too big for most aquaria. They tend to swim in a head down tail up position, angled at least 45 degrees, suggesting a constant focus on feeding off the bottom. They can be very pretty when large, with lots of blue spots, etc.

I had one for about a year. I caught it while slowly ascending a think rope attached to the bottom as a marker for a dive site in Jamaica. It was small, less than 2 inches long, and had obviously settled on the heavily encrusted rope when it was a barely post larval juvenile, since the rope was the only structure around for miles, between the surface and the bottom over 100 feet below. It tended to be an excitable and nervous fish, not well suited to an aquarium. It ate almost anything, and grew to more than a foot long in less than a year. I do not reccomend them.