butterflies in reefs

Hey Lemon! How are your Red Sea Eritrean Butterflyfish (Chaetodon paucifasciatus) doing so far? As far as them destroying corals, how are they? Do they just nip here and there? Or are they pretty destructive? Also, do you have any clams with your butterfly fish?

Neither made it long term :( And if I recall, they did destroy some SPS in his tank.

I see these fairly frequently at Aquarium Concepts in Dublin, CA. Great prices on them too.

Yes, that comment is pretty old :) I see them on LiveAquaria from time to time too.
 
My lil' burgess x tinkeri hybrid. :)



So far, my regal is doing more damage to my sps and zoas. This lil' guy just waits for me to feed him - which I do often (>6 times a day). He chows down on everything I throw at him. Even pellets!
 
Beautiful reef and butterfly!

Thanks! The little guy put on some serious weight since I got him, so that makes me happy. He's just such an active little bugger. Unfortunately, polyp extension on my SPS corals have been seriously compromised since I got him. Interestingly enough, he only pecks on my blue sps corals.

Was thinking about picking up a Chaetodon quadrimaculatus, but I can't find any info on them. Liveaquaria says "expert only". Why are they so difficult to keep? Also, they are listed as not reef safe. Are they not reef safe as in "no more polyp extension" or "no more corals"?

Would love the hear anyone's experiences with them.
 
OK, I did read though every thing... and since my post here a while ago, my tank was rebuilt... So, now with the 135g, we are looking for some final fish for a mixed SPS/LPS system.

Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish [No issues in the past, a must have again!]
Tahitian Butterflyfish [No issues in the past]

New guys we are looking to try along with the LNB and Tahitian

Latticed Butterflyfish [Really interested in this guy!]
Saddleback Butterflyfish
Orange Butterflyfish [Should be just like Tahitian?]
Black Back Butterflyfish
Falcula Butterflyfish, True [Really interested in this guy!]

Am I asking too much? Would they all get along [No, doesn't mean we're buying them all!] ;)
 
Man, reading this thread has me wanting to upgrade to a bigger tank. I currently have a 90g that is more square than long. I got my first CBB about 9 months ago. At the LFS, he slowly ate mysis and some brine shrimp. Decided to take a risk and purchased him. I had a bad aptasia problem with some as big as a golfball. Within several days, i have never seen another one. He wouldn't take mysis shrimp and brine shrimp even though he ate them at the LFS. So i decided to give him clams and he loved it. Been feeding him clams since.

About a week ago, I found a YLN at the LFS that was aggressively eating. The fish was in their quarantine tank for 2 weeks. Picked him up and he immediately loved my tank. However, he didn't touch the clams. So i feed him mysis which he would chase it across the tank. Surprisingly, so did my CBB. Now, I have stopped with the clams on the half shell and only feed them mysis.

I have hammers, frogspawn, zoas, palys, montis, xenia, GSP and neither have ever touched them. I did introduce a candy cane that was nipped at a couple of times by the CBB, but that was the only time.
 
Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish mine liked to eat the innards of LPS like lobos.
Saddleback Butterflyfish not at all remotely reef safe.
Black Back Butterflyfish loves to eat any and all small polyps.... softies especially.
 
What about these guys,
Orange (Klein's ) Butterflyfish
Would he get along with the Tahitian?
Latticed Butterflyfish
Falcula Butterflyfish, True
 
For those of you that have Acropora with some butterflyfish that's picking at the polyps:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-012-0947-3 . Gobiodon histrio chase butterfly fishes away from their host acros and also release an odor that serves as a butterfly fish repellent. I do not know whether this will work in aquaria, but nevertheless an interesting fact that may make your butterflyfish think twice about snacking on a prized SPS coral. I have Gobiodon histrio in my acro tank, but no butterfly fish due to the tank being too small (50 gallon breeder)....................Jim
 
Ok this last week I just had an acro SPS go full RTN on me... 75% in about 4 days... While the coral was RTN'ing my Yellow Long Nose has been picking in and around the coral. Has any one had their LNB's bother with their SPS corals?

I suspect that the LNB is just "cleaning up", and not the major cause of the damage...
 
Ok this last week I just had an acro SPS go full RTN on me... 75% in about 4 days... While the coral was RTN'ing my Yellow Long Nose has been picking in and around the coral. Has any one had their LNB's bother with their SPS corals?

I suspect that the LNB is just "cleaning up", and not the major cause of the damage...

I would suspect the same
 
Ok this last week I just had an acro SPS go full RTN on me... 75% in about 4 days... While the coral was RTN'ing my Yellow Long Nose has been picking in and around the coral. Has any one had their LNB's bother with their SPS corals?

I suspect that the LNB is just "cleaning up", and not the major cause of the damage...

I'm sure I've mentioned it in this thread before, and/or other threads. But this is my main concern when recommending "with caution" fish in a reef. Sure, everything is great when there aren't any issues. But what reef doesn't have an issue from time to time over the years. That's when the problems start... IME fish like angels and butterflies will eat less than healthy corals.
 
I introduced a 4" copperband this week. The aptasia were eaten within 4 hours. While he's acclimating to my regular feeding of frozen or live brine he's noticed the galaxia but won't eat it or the shrimp.
 
I've got a kleini, and its doing fine in the reef so far.
Aiptasia and Majano eating machine.

I've got a kleins butterfly in my softy reef that does well.

Awesome to hear.

I just got a small Klein's the other day who is bound for my reef but I don't have a ton of coral. He's in QT right now. Really cool fish, inhales pellets like it's his job!

IMAG0178.jpg
 
Some REALLY nice orange Klein's came through QM a few weeks ago. I was tempted!
 
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