butterfly fish reef?

[atlantisaquari]

always wanted to do a reef tank with assorted butterflys (pakistan ,semilarvatus, long nose, copperband .wrasses, and large angelfish. etc.) and obviously corals that they are less likely to eat.

just wondering if any of you have ever seen or had success with this, thanks

 

[jimroth]

I keep the copperband and yellow longnose with every kind of coral. No trouble. Another candidate is the pyramid, maybe the kleini. The heniochus that DOESN'T eat coral. If you have a bunch of cash, the declivis, banks, and Atlantic longnose are reputed to be coral-safe. From there on it gets a little dicier with fish like Utiliensis, on through probably-eat-your-coral fish like the Raccoon and Auriga, but I think there are people who have kept some individuals of those with coral. You can always, to paraphrase Scott Michael, keep the more noxious soft corals.

It's been a dream of mine for a long time!

 

[atlantisaquari]

thanks for the reply. does anyone have experience with the semi larvatus (red sea)or pakistan with corals?

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Semilarvatus are going to be pretty bad with coral. But with a fish like that, who needs coral!

 

[Jacob D]

I had my semilarvatus in QT for about 9 weeks eating mysis, blackworms, and flake... and they still nipped at corals when introduced but they didn't do much harm. Keeping them well fed should help but I wouldn't trust them around LPS and clams.

 

[SDguy]

I haven't seen long term success with common Chaetodon species outside of VERY large reef tanks. Eventually the nipping just gets to be too much. Granted, I obviously haven't seen every tank, there may be exceptions

Our local club recently had Joe Yauillo of Atlantis Aquarium come and speak to us about his 20,000g reef. My question to him was which, if any, fish he regrets putting in. He only mentioned butterflies. I think he currently still has a pair of semilarvatus. Again, 20,000g reef

 

[LovinReef]

Copperbands or pyramid butterfly are the safest IMO...

 

[~reefchik~]

I recently had to re-home my Klein's after she ate all the aiptasia. She then began attacking my LPS (totally ruined a nice Candy Apple acan and was working on a new candy cane frag). She was fine around softies and SPS though so it depends on what else you plan to have in there.

 

[AuroraDrvr]

Chaetodons don't mix with reefs. Oil & Water.

Now, if you're looking at other genus of the Chaetodontidae family. You might be on to something.

 

[reefsic]

^^^
AuroraDrvr...love your Avatar :lol::lol::lol:

I love butterflies myself, but have heard too too many horror stories of different species just devouring LPS and even SPS.

Based on my own experience, I've kept a CB in a reef in the past and it behaved pretty well but again, every fish is different. I have friends that have success with Klien's and Pyramids as well! I've heard the Pakistans, Declivi, Longnose etc. are not quite reefsafe at all!

Any-hoo, GL!

 

[Eric the half-bee]

Ive tried 4 or 5 CBBs over the last 16 months with 0 success. Getting them to eat was always the problem. I have had a longnose in my tank for 6-7 weeks and he's behaving well and eating well.