butterflies in reefs

Yep! Picked it up off DD a few months ago. Pretty much leaves the other fish alone, will chase my chromis around a bit at feeding time but nothing major at all.
 
I've had a starkii for years. It is the most easygoing damsel I have ever kept.

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Anyone have any thoughts on this article.
It says the lack of polyp extension is ok.
I'm wondering if anyone has left their BF in their tank long enough to see if the SPS will survive.
http://glassbox-design.com/2009/polyp-nipping-and-sps-its-only-natural/


I think its fine with some fish. With minimal damage from some butterflies (the ones that don't rely just on coral polyps to survive), and Angels for that matter the corals do fine but having enough large corals and not just a couple frags so they can spread it out is probably a good idea. As far as the polyp extension goes, they tend to open more at night for me anyways so I would assume they can still eat kinda on a reverse schedule. Also a great deal of the corals nutrition is from the zooxanthellae and the feeding from PE is really secondary as long as proper lighting is provided.
 
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Here's my new guy still in QT, I e always wanted one of these guys but I won't be completely happy till I replace my muelleri. Unfortunately they don't pop up for sale too often.

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Has anyone successfully kept ornamental clams with their "reef safe" butterflyfish? I'm hesitant to purchase one with my Muelleri, who I feed littleneck clam to. I don't want this addition to remind me of the time years ago when I put a cleaner shrimp in with my hawkfish.

I'm interested in hearing responses to this as well.
 
My copperbands and long nose butterfly have been in my reef for decades and I always have clams also. They never bothered them.

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What happened to your Muelleri?

That is a beautiful Mitratus

I bought some snails from a guy tearing his tank down and two days later my fish were looking bad, I'm not sure if it was velvet or just some nasty ich. Whatever it was copper wouldn't touch it. Finally after almost 3 months I beat it with quinine sulphate. By the end I lost probably 2/3 of my fish including my beloved muelleri. Probably the closest I've come to quitting the hobby in 12 years. Moral of the story, QT inverts too.
 
My long nose doesn't bother my clam. I have kept pyramids and copper bands with clams, too.

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I bought some snails from a guy tearing his tank down and two days later my fish were looking bad, I'm not sure if it was velvet or just some nasty ich. Whatever it was copper wouldn't touch it. Finally after almost 3 months I beat it with quinine sulphate. By the end I lost probably 2/3 of my fish including my beloved muelleri. Probably the closest I've come to quitting the hobby in 12 years. Moral of the story, QT inverts too.

Man that sucks. Did you cry? I picked up a Muelleri on DD last July after seeing yours, he's my favorite fish. I bet more will show up in the next few months.
 
I bought some snails from a guy tearing his tank down and two days later my fish were looking bad, I'm not sure if it was velvet or just some nasty ich. Whatever it was copper wouldn't touch it. Finally after almost 3 months I beat it with quinine sulphate. By the end I lost probably 2/3 of my fish including my beloved muelleri. Probably the closest I've come to quitting the hobby in 12 years. Moral of the story, QT inverts too.

I've introduced ich with snails before. I've also introduced disease with caulerpa in the past. You just can't be too careful with anything wet! The mitratus is beautiful!
 
He doesn't like the tape measure coming at him, but from what I can gather he's roughly 7" from beak to tail, quite large. Not sure how large they get in captivity. I keep a really good eye on the fish's width, I feel it's a good indicator of health and so far so good. Eats blackworms daily and enjoys the caves in the tank, doesn't nip at the clam or corals, but ate the pom poms off my pom pom crab and will pick at vulnerable snails. Gets occasional HLLE symptoms or those lympo bumps, but nothing serious and clears up within a few days.

For those of you that have introduced parasites with inverts, did you swish them in separate tank water before placing in the tank? That's always been my theory, but not sure it's good enough.
 
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