Do you like Butterflyfish?

[forddna]

Scroll through these. There are some GORGEOUS fish on there!!

http://www.marinelifephotography.com/fishes/butterflyfishes/hawaiian.htm

One of my favorites..

 

[agreeive?fish]

I like butterfly fish but i cannot keep a butterfly alive so i dont buy them i just enjoy them thru pics

 

[petsarenice]

I'm a huge butterfly fan. Unfortunately, there are a lot of butterflies that you just can't keep in captivity. Thanks for the post what a beautiful pic.

 

[philter4]

My favorite fish is the atlantic longnosed butterfly, Prognathus arcuatus, I have several. I also have kept many pacific butterfly such as tinkers and semilavartus. Just try to stay away from the coral eaters and there are several beautiful butterflyfish that are great aquarium fish.

 

[Opsanus]

Now that coral farming has become pretty common, I've been wondering how large a facility one would need to support a coral-feeding specialist butterfly. I know, feeder coral sounds crazy at first, but it seems do-able to me....

 

[philter4]

Not only do you have to get healthy corals to feed, but some only eat specific types of coral, for instance chaetodon trifascialis only eatas table top acrapora, and C ornatipinnis eats the mucas from montipora and its very close relatives. If you were able to research which corals the sp you want to keep and have a constance supply of the correct types you should have no problem keeping butterflies. The problem as I see it is it just isn't cost effective at this point, maybe in the future.

 

[myerst2]

I have always shyed away from butterflys. I have had success with semilavartus, and Aussie Copperbands. i now have a Tinker's that is an absolute pig and from what i have heard from others is one of the best butterflys to keep. As far as corals go I personally don't think any can be completely trusted. The ones I listed will most likely nip at tube worms and other polyps. There is one butterfly that is one of my dream fish but are impossible to get, a Wrought Iron. First pic is a juvi with the angel I'm getting in couple of days and the rest are of the Tinker's I have. Regards, Tim

 

[philter4]

Wroght irons are available from time to time, the last one I saw was on JUST RARE FISH and I think it was around $1000, which I thought was not a bad price for the fish. If I had the tank for one I would invest in one. Nice tinkers by the way, I've wanted one for a while, on my last HI collection trip I dove deep enough, but didn't even see one, I did however collect a 3 inch bandit angel that is doing great, not the most colorful angel, but one of my favorites.

 

[discusone]

Uh,ya.In fact,my 240 is being set up for butterflys.I can honestly say I will forsake tangs/angels for my b'fly setup.

And I can say over the years I have killed my fair share,and have had success also.It all depends on what one desires to keep,and the effort put into it.

They can be fairly easy( this relative to the species of course)or immpossible( for now).

At this time,when i judge the time right with the tank(i.e.maturity/stable water conditions,pods/nitrates) my fish wish list starts with-

Chaetodon wiebli ( japanese masked).
" mesoleucose ( white-faced)
When these two are established/thriving,and not just surviving i will proceed from there.Wish me luck,or LOL.Either way,this has been my dream for many a year.

 

[discusone]

Need to add,your reticulatus pic is great! Also commonly known as the " mailed butterfly",as in medievel chain-mail.

Unfortunatly,classified as difficult to impossibile ( for now) to keep in captivity.

 

[lesleybird]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12632606#post12632606 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by discusone
Uh,ya.In fact,my 240 is being set up for butterflys.I can honestly say I will forsake tangs/angels for my b'fly setup.

And I can say over the years I have killed my fair share,and have had success also.It all depends on what one desires to keep,and the effort put into it.

They can be fairly easy( this relative to the species of course)or immpossible( for now).

At this time,when i judge the time right with the tank(i.e.maturity/stable water conditions,pods/nitrates) my fish wish list starts with-

Chaetodon wiebli ( japanese masked).
" mesoleucose ( white-faced)
When these two are established/thriving,and not just surviving i will proceed from there.Wish me luck,or LOL.Either way,this has been my dream for many a year.

You know that some of the medium sized angels are not too agressive and can do ok with butterflies.....I have a Majestic angel, Scribbled angel, just got a Regal angel and have a yellow butterfly and a Potter's pygmy angel in my 200 gallon. These large angels listed are among the most peaceful of the big angels that max out at about 10 inches, and I don't think that they would bother similarly sized butterflies if you add the smallest and most peaceful ones first. Goldflake angels are also pretty docile and get about 10 inches. My Majestic angel is the most agressive and as long as his place as top dog in the tank is not challenged the most he does is whop the other fish with his tail or very mild chasing for the first week when a new fish is put in the tank. All of these fish also ignore fairy wrasses, blennies and royal grammas. My Scribbled angel and Regal angel are totally non-agressive and these would easily mix with butterfly fishes IMO. Lesley