butterflies in reefs

[aquaph8]

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

My bad, it was C. Semeion that you had. Do you still have these?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

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

too generic a question. Some butterflies will bother those inverts and other species will never blink twice at them. For example: Threadfin (Auriga) Butterflyfish will eat the tube feet of Echinoderms. Copperbands aren't known to do this.

smorgasboard?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

fwiw

fwiw

I've had a CBB and Klein's in my reef aquarium for several years now. I'd like to pair my Copperband up with another. Sexing Chelmon rostratus is (apparently) not easy.
If anyone can help me pair up Chelmon rostratus I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[LemonLemon]

the semeion died a few weeks ago

my declivis decided that it did not like the semeion out of a sudden and killed it. a shame, because i really liked it!

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

The CBB doesnt touch corals and eats everything I put in the tank. Since they are a continous eater, I jam bits of food into rocks that he likes to pick on so he can eat throughout the day 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.

Would you please elaborate on this? What types of food do you use, how much, how big is is the rock, how do you get the food to stick to the rocks, etc.? Thank you.

 

[aquaph8]

the semeion died a few weeks ago

my declivis decided that it did not like the semeion out of a sudden and killed it. a shame, because i really liked it!

Sorry to hear that, beautiful fish.

 

[reefsic]

First off, great thread...very helpful and encouraging indeed!

Does anyone here keep their BF's in a reef with clams? If so, have you seen any nipping at all?

 

[LemonLemon]

i have 3 maximas. no nipping on all so far

 

[reefsic]

i have 3 maximas. no nipping on all so far

Sweet, thx Lemon.

I'm debating very hard on adding a pair of Philippine Pearlscales which I believe are Chaetodon Xanthurus. My reef is SPS dominant, with one Lobo, Duncan and a large Deresa clam.

I think I may give it a go. Somewhat hesitant, because I had previously attempted a black back BF (Chaetodon Melannotus) which nipped at every SPS in the tank

 

[SDguy]

Interesting development with the saddleback. It has stopped bothering the euphyllia. Still eats prepared foods like a pig, so I'm content

 

[KDS 71]

copperband.

100% safe with SPS
almost 100% safe with LPS

the odds are greatly in your favour

i agree ive never had a problem with one...and great for riding of aptasia..

 

[rnscross]

Interesting development with the saddleback. It has stopped bothering the euphyllia. Still eats prepared foods like a pig, so I'm content

so would you recommend a sadleback to someone else? im already gambling with angels, why not butterflies as well.

 

[SDguy]

Would I recommend it? I can't say my experience is nearly long enough or representative of the species as a whole.

 

[reefsic]

Just sharing my experience...I added a Pearlscale BF to my SPS dominant reef and he behaved for the first 2-3 days; has been in the DT for a little over a week. Doesnt care for LPS, zoas/palys, or clams but nearly wiped out my Red Monti colony and Pink Mille mini colony! Not as destructive as when I dropped in the Blackback BF, but still nipping away!

So far, 0 for 2 on successfully keeping BF's that behave, in a Reef

 

[SaraB]

I was pretty excited when I found this thread as I had a Marginalis planned for my new rimless tank. Unfortunately the Marginalis had decided after a week of picking at my rocks in the display that my acan collection was delicious. I quickly removed all the acans from the display and within an hour it was picking around the new clams shell. It then ate prepared food and lights out. The next day it was going full bore on the clam, so the fish was netted out and placed in my 45G cube until I decided what to do with it. I "persuaded" my friend Gary to give it a try in his NPS tank since he really likes butterfly fish, so that is where it went about a week and a half ago. Hopefully it adapts quickly to another tank and enjoys the flood of food it will get!

I know the odds were 50/50 when putting it in, but I was encouraged by this thread. Maybe thinking about trying another down the road and seeing if my odds increase

 

[SDguy]

Sorry to hear that, Sara. I would have thought you had better than 50/50 odds with a Chelmon species butterfly...

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

despite appearances in this pic, Kleins shows no aggression towards Forcipiger. Chelmon is another story

 

[SDguy]

Nice Gary, is the YLN new?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

new and still skinny

new and still skinny

now working on getting it old and fat

 

[SaraB]

Sorry to hear that, Sara. I would have thought you had better than 50/50 odds with a Chelmon species butterfly...

I was hoping the same after reading this thread actually. I'll give another one a shot as it was a beautiful fish to see in my reef! I'll keep my eye on Divers Den!