butterflies in reefs

[LemonLemon]

Scientific Name: Chaetodon (Roaps) declivis [subgenus roaps)
Common Name: Declivis butterflyfish/ Marquesan butterflyfish
Difficulty: Easy
Housed with: SPS, LPS, clams, shrimp, soft corals
Unsafe with: -
Diet: Mysis, blended seafood, pellets, flakes
Aggression: Peaceful, but may be aggressive towards other butterflies, especially from the same subgenus.
Notes: This guy does not even bother any of my corals. However i've had one that ate my favia before. additional note : this is a potentially harmful species toward LPS corals. they are however, considered one of the safer butterflies and are about as safe as a dwarf angel. but do take caution
Picture:

 

[LemonLemon]

Scientific Name: Forcipiger flavissimus
Common Name: Yellow longnosed butterflyfish
Difficulty: Easy
Housed with: SPS, LPS, clams, shrimp, soft corals
Unsafe with: -
Diet: Mysis, blended seafood
Aggression: Very peaceful
Notes: This guy doesn't even take a second look at anything other than liverock and frozen food. additional note : this is one of the safest butterflyfishes out there. the chances of them taking to corals is extremely unlikely but not impossible.
Picture:

i lack a proper picture but here's one of it with the declivis being fed.

 

[LemonLemon]

Scientific Name: Chaetodon semeion
Common Name: Semeion butterflyfish/ Dotted butterflyfish
Difficulty: Moderate. Finicky feeder. needs time to train.
Housed with: SPS, LPS, clams, shrimp, soft corals
Unsafe with: so far, nothing.
Diet: Mysis, blended seafood
Aggression: Very peaceful
Notes: Loves nipping on SPS. does not apparent damage, probably nips at slime. At times may nip a tentacle or two from millepora, but unable to extract the entire polyp. SPS is safe. addition note: This is considered to be not reef safe with LPS. However i'm not one to care about reef-safeness and so far, it's behaving itself! don't follow my example unless you really do not mind!
Picture:

this is a juvenile. as adults, they develop a streamer and a brilliant blue forehead.

 

[LemonLemon]

Scientific Name: Chelmon marginalis
Common Name: margined coralfish, marginalis butterflyfish
Difficulty: easy-moderate
Housed with: SPS, LPS, clams, shrimp, soft corals
Unsafe with: -
Diet: Mysis, blended seafood
Aggression: Very peaceful
Notes: ignores everything except liverock, tubeworms and prepared food. addition note: This is considered to be one of the safest butterflies. but there are exceptions to the rule.
Picture:

unfortunately, not with me anymore.

 

[aquaph8]

Nice. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Can you guys share your QT process? If you do anything special with butterflies, meds used, etc..........

 

[djkms]

Thanks Lemon! If SDGuy or anyone else for that matter decides to post their specs I will get them on a list ASAP.

I have been looking at the Mitratus and Saddleback, probably 2 of my favorite butterflies.

 

[aquaph8]

DD's is about to drop a tinkeri pair

 

[SDguy]

Thanks Lemon! If SDGuy or anyone else for that matter decides to post their specs I will get them on a list ASAP.

I have been looking at the Mitratus and Saddleback, probably 2 of my favorite butterflies.

Hopefully this weekend when I have more time to compose the information.

 

[Amoore311]

What are my chances of success mixing butteflies with a Yellow Tang in a 180 Gallon SPS dominated reef?

Furthermore, I understand these butterflies in question (and many more I'm sure)... will nip at SPS corals but not that actual polyps. This can lead to reduced polyp extension, but is evidently harmless to the colonies itself.

How would sps frags do?


Reason I ask is because I lost 90% of my corals in a tank move, and am working to rebuild. I'd like to go the butterfly route, but am not sure how the Yellow Tang would be, and how sps frags would fair to the nipping from the butterflies.


In regards to the Yellow Tang, he is a very passive fish. He was always "low man on the totem pole" in my set up. I had a Powder Blue tang that I unfortunately lost in the move. The powder blue kept the yellow tang under lock and key for the most part.

Other fish in my tank include lyretail anthias, a small bluejaw trigger, pair of clowns, and a watchman goby.

 

[ptan]

Hello Lemonlemon and other reefers... just want to ask if anyone of you have experience in taking care of Burgess' Butterfly (Chaetodon burgessi)? if anyone can shed experience with this fish... planning to buy one and put it inside my reef tank... i have lots of lps and zoas... as per liveaquaria it has a taste for anemone and lps... but its a beauty... seen it in one lfs here... thanks again guys... this thread gives me courage to put butterflies inside my reef tank...

 

[small alien]

Great thread. I appreciate all of you.

 

[SDguy]

What are my chances of success mixing butterflies with a Yellow Tang in a 180 Gallon SPS dominated reef?

Furthermore, I understand these butterflies in question (and many more I'm sure)... will nip at SPS corals but not that actual polyps. This can lead to reduced polyp extension, but is evidently harmless to the colonies itself.

How would SPS frags do?


Reason I ask is because I lost 90% of my corals in a tank move, and am working to rebuild. I'd like to go the butterfly route, but am not sure how the Yellow Tang would be, and how SPS frags would fair to the nipping from the butterflies.


In regards to the Yellow Tang, he is a very passive fish. He was always "low man on the totem pole" in my set up. I had a Powder Blue tang that I unfortunately lost in the move. The powder blue kept the yellow tang under lock and key for the most part.

Other fish in my tank include lyretail anthias, a small bluejaw trigger, pair of clowns, and a watchman goby.

I'm not really sure about the whole "not eating the actual polyps = not harming the coral" idea. While I understand the concept, I can't say for certain that fish named for their brush-like teeth rasping at a coral won't hurt it ; Especially new, small, adapting corals. But anyway, that's a whole other thread.

There are many nice butterflies out there that are pretty safe, like Chelmon, Forcipiger, Hemitaurichthys, Prognathodes, even the Roaps species. I'd say definitely QT first, not only for disease, but to get them eating well, prior to adding them to the display. The tang is always a variable...should be fine in that size tank, but have a backup plan just in case (ie get the tang used to eating in a trap in advance in case you need to get him out temporarily, at least).

 

[SDguy]

Scientific Name: Forcipiger flavissimus
Common Name: Yellow longnose butterflyfish

Difficulty: Relative to butterflies, easy. I actually have another larger one in my FOWLR that even eats pellet and flake.

Housed with: SPS, acans, chalices, favias, gorgonians, euphyllia, goniopora, mushrooms, lobophyllia, sinularia, etc. I have a very mixed reef.

Unsafe with: Nothing to date. Even coco worms were not touched (though they have been great at slowly dying off on their own )

Diet: Frozen meats like shrimp, scallop, mysis, and live blackworms. Won't eat dry or prepared foods.

Aggression: Totally passive. Pays no attention to other fish, and other fish don't even notice it. It's almost strange how well it fit in with the other fish.

Notes: I've had this fish since Dec '09, and it lived in my FOWLR until recently, so it is well established to captivity. Yet, it still has/had a very hard time catching food in my high flow reef.

Pictures:

 

[SDguy]

Scientific Name: Chaetodon ephippium
Common Name: Saddleback butterflyfish

Difficulty: Relative to butterflies, moderate. Can be troublesome to first start feeding, but IME they'll eventually eat anything you give them. I've kept 3 in the past 20 something years, and all three acclimated the same way.

Housed with: SPS, acans, chalices, favias, gorgonians, Euphyllia, Goniopora, mushrooms, Lobophyllia, Sinularia, etc. I have a very mixed reef.

Unsafe with: Nothing to date, but it hasn't been that long. So far I've seen it try a green branching psammocora and acan lord. Didn't appear to like either, and hasn't tried them since.

Diet: LOVES NLS pellets!!! Can't get enough of them, and getting them to him in a high flow tank isn't easy. Frozen meats like shrimp, scallop, mysis, and live blackworms are also accepted greedily.

Aggression: Moderately aggressive. Holds his own (read dorsal spines UP!) against my two tangs.

Notes: I've had this fish for about a year in my FOWLR so it was well established to captivity prior to being tossed into the reef.

Pictures:

A bit beaten up thanks to the tangs:

 

[jonnybravo22]

double

 

[jonnybravo22]

Hello Lemonlemon and other reefers... just want to ask if anyone of you have experience in taking care of Burgess' Butterfly (Chaetodon burgessi)? if anyone can shed experience with this fish... planning to buy one and put it inside my reef tank... i have lots of lps and zoas... as per liveaquaria it has a taste for anemone and lps... but its a beauty... seen it in one lfs here... thanks again guys... this thread gives me courage to put butterflies inside my reef tank...

good fish overall. mine became a bully when i introduced a mitratus butterfly a few months after him. it was essentially "his tank" prior to that though, because the only other fish are 2 clownfish who never leave their anemone.

he has not done any damage to the corals (nor has the mitratus).

i've been using the "mirror trick" which has helped to reduce the aggression.

 

[ptan]

good fish overall. mine became a bully when i introduced a mitratus butterfly a few months after him. it was essentially "his tank" prior to that though, because the only other fish are 2 clownfish who never leave their anemone.

he has not done any damage to the corals (nor has the mitratus).

i've been using the "mirror trick" which has helped to reduce the aggression.

thanks for your inputs johny... if i may know what kinds of corals you have? thanks

 

[djkms]

Thanks for taking the time to do the info pages. Should I compile them into one post on this thread or do another thread?

 

[aquaph8]

Butterfly's in a reef primer?

 

[LemonLemon]

i'm in china now for 6 weeks so i can't update on my butterflies. i only hope they do well while i'm gone..

i'll be tracking the arrival of 2 C. paucifasciatus (red sea pearlscales) next week so stay tuned [like finally! after god knows how many years]! also, a gramma linkii will be arriving with them.

i've just received an email asking if i'm interested in Cirrhilabrus sanguineus and Paracheilinus picsilineatus from my LFS, but i'm too poor to afford.