My thought is that I feel I have the right to kill aptasia, or majanos or flatworms, and do so without remorse, but this fish......I'm afraid I might have sleepless nights if I do something drastic. Why do I feel this way and where is the line between pest and favor? I guess It's all about behavior....if you behave well you'll be ok in my world, but if you don't I'll treat you like a lousy brown anemone. Does that sound fair? I mean, given the fact that we go into this knowing these creatures are programmed for whatever they are, and generally, can't be "taught" something else.
My view ..... As you've stated the file fish is only doing what file fishes do .., it's not the file fishes fault that you put him into an environment that Causes him to act naturally and maybe nip at the corals . I really understand where you are coming from and it's a real difficult situation ... Somehow you gotta try and capture that little stinker and relocate him ... Not quite sure how you're going to do this but I'm sure you'll figure something out ... There's gotta be a way to get em outta there safe and sound
But along those lines reasoning, the same applies to the animals we consider "pests" and eliminate without a second thought, even though they are merely doing what they were designed to do.
The difference between the two types of animals actually has little to do with them, but rather us and our recognizing behaviors vaguely similar to ours, we assign "emotions" to them and in that way develop a bond of empathy for them. The more we anthropomorphize an animals behavior, the more empathy we can feel for them.
everything and everyone is a mirror.
As you move higher up the evolutionary line you see this ability to elicit empathy from others develop higher and higher to the current state where we can read volumes about another person simply by body language alone.
Empathy is a very useful evolutionary tool for the survival of a species.
sorry, I tend to go off on these type of topics
....LOL
but back on point, we do it to ourselves by trying to keep a "reef", you're right. in the wild he would take a bite here, take a bite there and move on and no one coral would be totally eaten, most likely.
I wouldn't kill him without trying to trap him first.
Greg's idea of slowly corralling him sounds good if it's feasible with the décor and other fish.
The idea of possibly having to tear down my tank has me really puzzling on how to finally decorate it before the corals are fully settled in.
As it is I'm gonna have to dismantle the rockwork to get my wrasse out, so I sympathize. Luckily my corals are all infants and easy to move around.
but if push comes to shove, I'm with others in going in favor of the corals as you have much more blood, sweat and tears invested in them than you do the orphaned filefish.
