butterflies in reefs

[SDguy]

Boooo! The saddleback is a total euphyllia muncher Not a genus of coral I am willing to give up in this tank. Time to break out the trap before he moves on to the orange aussie hammer...

 

[travismcgee]

my declivis immediately ate my elegance, but has never touched my hammers or frogspawn..he also looked hard at my chalice every time he swam by, but never took a bite.

 

[LemonLemon]

Boooo! The saddleback is a total euphyllia muncher Not a genus of coral I am willing to give up in this tank. Time to break out the trap before he moves on to the orange aussie hammer...

that sucks!

i always thought that euphyllias were the safest corals with butterflies.

 

[SDguy]

He eats the tissue on the sides at first, not the tentacles or the centers. But eventually as the coral recedes, he eats more and more. On a side note, he's developed a taste for majano I might try waiting out the euphyllia problem just for this development!

 

[reefsic]

haha nice one there gasman.

anyway updates on my paucifasciatus pair! both are eating pellets and frozen food greedily.

Lemon...such a beautiful photo! Its even more admirable knowing that its a home aquarium, just stunning!

Can I ask, what Camera/Model/Lens? Care to share ISO/Apperature(F-stop)? I assumed higher ISO for lower light; looks as if the pic was taken under actinics! Either way...beautiful Tank, beautiful Photo!

 

[travis32]

I'm getting a copperband from Live Aquaria tomorrow. I went with the medium from the Philippines. I'm taking a risk since I have an RBTA. But I'm hoping the 1/2" aiptasia are more tasty than the 5 -6" RBTA.

Any reccomendations for acclimation, first few days things to monitor, how to get it to feed, etc?

I'll be feeding a mix of selcon soaked brin, mysis, krill, and other frozen foods. I try to soak them all in RODI water and Selcon for 15 -20 minutes before feeding.

I usually leave powerheads on as more food gets distributed to corals and other harder to get places that shy fish hang out in.

Let me know tried and true things to make this a successfull addition to my 125g reef.

Thanks!

 

[SDguy]

that sucks!

i always thought that euphyllias were the safest corals with butterflies.

I'm still rolling the dice. I haven't had the time to even find the trap in the garage But, he doesn't decimate the euphyllia, and several heads are looking much better. I'm not sure if this means it was a "phase" for him, or what?

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Has anyone had a problem with butterflies bothering your cleanup crew - hermit crabs, cucumbers, brittle stars, shrimp or the like?

 

[rholguin]

Any updates on Lemons butterflies???

 

[zukharla]

I have a CBB in my Reef with a Navarchus Angel. I'm really tempting fate, arent I? Haha. Both have been in there a long time with no issues. The Angel loves brains but doesnt touch any other coral. The CBB doesnt touch corals and eats everything I put in the tank. He's a fiesty little bugger. He'll even steal food right out of the Harlequin Tuskfish's mouth! Since they are a continous eater, I jam bits of food into rocks that he likes to pick on so he can eat throughout theday when I am not there. If there is ever anything left when I come back home at night (very rarely), I throw the food out so as not to pollute the tank.

 

[Perched Urchin]

Fisrt off, let me say that I love this thread and have followed along since Lemon's first post. I appreciate all the time and effort put into providing information and updates.

Lemon - based on your last post, I think you are back home now and spending time with your beautiful pair of paucifasciatus. How is it going? New pics to share?

Gasman - how are your mertensii doing? I can't remember if you mentioned the corals you are keeping in the system with them. Any significant munching on their part? I have been considering trying one of these along with a CBB and a YLN, but would like to know what corals may be in danger if I go with it.

Finally, can any of you speak to experience with either a falcula or a semilarvatus butterfly with corals? I have seen both of these categorized as "reef safe with caution", but understand that it varies from fish to fish as well as it depends on the corals/inverts in the system as well.

Beyond the CBB and YLN, the mertensii, falcula and semilarvatus are the three that intrigue me the most because of their beauty, availability and price (the semi is a stretch, at that). If I could get my hands on a marginalis, I would probably jump on that, but they seem very scarce in the trade in the US.

 

[Lemonlemonn]

sorry everyone for my lack of postst. I lost the username and email and password for my other account (lemonlemon). i know, this forum is not idiot proof . i've PMed the mods trying to see if they could recover my account but no reply. guess they're busy.

here's my new account. shouldnt be too hard to find me.

anyway i'm very happy that this thread has garnered so much attention and more reefers are keeping butterflies in reefs now. i've seen the same in my country when a pair of tinker's butterflies were snapped up within seconds upon arrival! very happy!

the paucifasciatus pair is doing well! chowing on pellets and frozen food like bacon and cheeseburgers.

here's a photo of one of the two munching on my dying milliepora coral. i'm not sure if everyone knows this, but butterflies and angels are extremely attracted to dying or injured corals. if your coral happens to be damaged, they will attack with much vigor. the milliepora here was stung by my hammer and was receeding. the paucifasciatus took turns ripping it to shreds.

if the coral is otherwise healthy and problem free, they should leave them alone. so always make sure your corals are not damaged!

 

[aquaph8]

Lemon, can we please get some picks of the Semi's. Please!!!!!!

 

[Lemonlemonn]

what's a semi?

 

[aquaph8]

Sorry C. Semilarvatus, you had a pair didn't you?

 

[BrianD]

Lemon, I sent you a PM.

 

[LemonLemon]

I'm back!

Thanks BrianD for the help in getting my account back!! yay! i'm very happy!

and to aquaph, i do not have a pair of semilarvatus. those are too destructive.

 

[bradleyj]

Great to see you back Lemon. Did you write down your password? LOL

 

[SDguy]

here's a photo of one of the two munching on my dying milliepora coral. i'm not sure if everyone knows this, but butterflies and angels are extremely attracted to dying or injured corals. if your coral happens to be damaged, they will attack with much vigor. the milliepora here was stung by my hammer and was receeding. the paucifasciatus took turns ripping it to shreds.

if the coral is otherwise healthy and problem free, they should leave them alone. so always make sure your corals are not damaged!

Yup, very true. It's an imporatnt factor to consider when planning additions like angels and butterflies to a reef. Sure, a big healthy problem free reef will be mostly fine, but who doesn't have an off month every few years?

I happen to add my saddleback just before my acros went down hill due to a stupid decision on my part (trying cheap new salt). Luckily, I only lost a couple pieces, but the saddleback found them and poilished them off VERY quickly.

 

[LemonLemon]

bradley - this time the password is VERY VERY...VERY easy to remember. :S

peter - Absolutely. My 2 colonies of milliepora were finished off within half a day.