anyone keep Chaetodon sp. butterflies with SPS

[Detritivore]

hello,

i was wondering if any SPS keepers have Chaetodon sp. butterfly fish with their SPS. i know, that some have kept Chelmon(copperband) and Forcipiger(longnose) species successfully, but i think some of the Chaetodon are quite beautiful as well. i am also aware of the b-flies from the tinkeri complex(deepwater), but they are usually quite expensive.

thanks.

 

[Detritivore]

for example, here is a chaetodon ocellicaudus, which supposedly feeds exclusively on soft corals (sacrophyton, sinularia) and according to WWM, is one of the "good" butterflies:

photo from edge-of-reef.com

 

[Amphiprion]

I am not sure about wwm's advice, but it is not one of the better butterflies. As you said, it feeds exclusively on soft coral polyps and will NOT do well with a substitute.

 

[woodywoo]

well i had a semilarvatus butterfly Tear up some sps's. So I can say Semi's aren't SPS safe!

 

[IMPERATORFAN]

That's a shame ... semilarvatus are beautiful

 

[Redfish]

I have kept Goldens (semilarvatus) in my sps tank. They must start small and must be eating mysis before thry go into the sps tank to have a better chance.

 

[dougc]

Lemons (C. Miliaris) are a possibility. The Waikiki Aquarium has four in a reef exhibit and, according to Charles Delbeek, they don't bother any corals. The only caveat is that the exhibit is a Hawaiian biotope, so it can not be said for certain that they won't bother corals from other places.

 

[Detritivore]

thanks for all the replies. anyone else have experience w/chaetodon and SPS?