Butterfly in a Reef?

TChristman

TChristman

Premium Member
I just want to hear if people have had success with Butterfly fish in a reef? I know the Copperband is the most favorable of the family for a reef. I have had an ongoing battle with majano for the better part of three years. Hard to completely get rid of it when you have 250+ pounds of rock in a tank.

A fairly knowledgable fish store owner recommended a Raccoon Butterfly but I have not read anything that would indicate that it is reef safe and I have several nice SPS and LPS corals. I have a few softies as well but actually would not mind a little mushroom munching.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing your experiences.
 
TChristman said:
I know the Copperband is the most favorable of the family for a reef.
Click to expand...

How do you know this? They are not necessarily reef safe, and they may or may not rid you rock of any pests

TChristman said:
A fairly knowledgable fish store owner recommended a Raccoon Butterfly but I have not read anything that would indicate that it is reef safe and I have several nice SPS and LPS corals. I have a few softies as well but actually would not mind a little mushroom munching.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing your experiences.
Click to expand...

Raccoons are excellent for ridding your reef of pests as well as some of your prized corals.
 
I was taken back by the owner recommending the Raccoon for a reef tank. I had never heard such a thing. I am not for the Raccoon at all.

I should say that I know several people that have had success with the Copperband in a reef tank.

I am trying to find out if anyone has any success with Butterfly fish in a reef. Horror stories are welcome to since I tend to lean away from the one rare case of success.
 
I believe the Hemitaurichthys genus are some of the most reef safe you canget. The Yellow Pyramid Butterfly (Hemitaurichthys polylepis) is one of the more popular ones.
 
They won't eat pests though, and the raccoon although it will eat pests will likely eat other coral. You will be hard pressed to find a butterfly that will eliminate the pests without eliminating your LPS. Your best bet in this situation would be a copperband or one of the similar butterflyfish such as Chelmon muelleri or Chelmon marginalis.
 
i am pretty new to all this stuff and don't have a lot of coral and such in my tank yet. I do have a double saddle butterfly in my tank right now a long with a few corals. Namely a frogspawn, favia, brain and now some xenia. so far he has been really good. Mind you the corals have only been in the tank for about 6 days to this point. I also added the butterfly a good while before the corals in the hopes that he would learn the feeding routine and eat when fed rather than munching on things i don't want him to eat. so far its gone well. i also would like to get a raccoon but undecided if i will.
 
Why don't we hear more about yellow longnose butterflies in reefs? Just guessing, but that snout sure doesn't look like it's designed to eat corals...
 
i have a copperband, and a pyramid in my reef, both with no issues. the copperband will eat cocoworms, however. he eats aiptasia, but does not touch majano. the pyramid i have not seen eating anything off the rocks. just as many mysis and pellets as he can get in his mouth.
 
i have a yellow longnose in tank. I only have a duncan coral, a couple leathers some star polyps and a favia. He has no interest what so ever for any of those. He wants the mysis that I put in the tank. he is a hungry little bugger. He was tough to get to eat but once I got him eating, man he is taking food out of my Atlantic Blue tangs mouth.
I think w/ the the long nose and the copperband, if you keep them well fed (3 times a day) you will be okay w/ corals. Can't say anything about clams.
 
my copperband does not mess with my clams. but he does get fed 3-5 times a day, who knows what he'd do if i starved him.
 
I have a yellow long nose(6months) with sps and some lps and it is a perfect inhabitant. Now clearly 6months is not long enough to jump to long term conclusions. Also from what I have encountered looking for reef safe angels it appears that it also comes down to the individual fish you get.
 
I've personally seen butterflies in large reef before.

You just never know. I have purple tang that devoured and open brain and some frogspawn.
 
double-saddle (C. utiliensis) is one that doesn't get much attention, but usually does an excellent job at pest removal, and more times than not won't bother any corals. currently keeping 2 in mixed reefs without any issues. copperbands are also a good bet, but won't touch majano. stay away from raccoons if you like your corals (unless only sps).
 
As I write I have a Klein's Butterfly next to me, waiting to be put into display...unfortunately a while back I lost my last one to ich...

I had fought aiptasia and majanoes for 3 years...with everything tried, more than 10x, I was at wit's end...I had gone through 2 copperbands with also no luck...I put a Klein's in the tank and it ate all 300+ anemones in less than a week...picked at corals for a few days then lost interest...ate whatever food I put in tank...

Thank you God for creating the Klein's butterfly fish...

DrMerle
 
jd474 said:
double-saddle (C. utiliensis) is one that doesn't get much attention, but usually does an excellent job at pest removal, and more times than not won't bother any corals. currently keeping 2 in mixed reefs without any issues. copperbands are also a good bet, but won't touch majano. stay away from raccoons if you like your corals (unless only sps).
Click to expand...

that is what i have. the double saddle, he is behaving well so far. I have heard of success with raccons as well though.
 
SDguy said:
Why don't we hear more about yellow longnose butterflies in reefs? Just guessing, but that snout sure doesn't look like it's designed to eat corals...
Click to expand...
Combo of things, mostly gets left behind. The price, most are probably from Hawaii. The result is the guy who says "pretty fish" happens to buy a Butterfly will spend less $ on an Indo species B/F instead of the Longnose. The aquarist looking specifically for a Butterfly whose not put off by the price, probably wants something a bit more unique/unusual.
 
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