false falcula butterfly?

[gobiefish]

I have a 90 gallon tank mixed reef tank with softies and some hard corals but i also have plenty of pink tip anemones and some majano anemones as well as 1 so far aptasia that i would like to rid of my tank . My question is I have heard that the false falcula is one of my best bets , but will it get along with my current fish stock? fish are as follows , 2 yellow headed jawfish, 1 coral beauty, 1 false true percula, 1 cleaner goby, 3 blue green chromisis, 1 yellow tang . All of my fish have been in the tank for a year plus doing great I dont want to disturb my balance but the missery anemones need to go i have tried pickling lime , lemon juice but they multiplie after injection ! I have even looked for spurila neopalitana nudibranches to rid them but they arte not avaliable so easy .

Any help will would be greatly appriciated! Rocky mountain reefer:eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

 

[greenmonkey51]

Don't trust any butterflies. I just got a true falcula and it picks at stuff all the time. Butterflies and corals don't get along.

 

[snorvich]

amen to that. The only biological way of eliminating aiptasia is berghia nudibranchs. Copperbands are hit and miss from a reef safeness perspective and they may or may not eat aiptasia.

 

[krazeekiddie]

I have a copperband in my tank, he is an awesome fish, one of my favorites actually. His best friend is my yellow tang, they swim together all day. At first, my yellow tang kicked him out of his "cave" but now, they are inseperable!! (Took about a month)

My guy has not bothered my corals at all.....but snorvich is right, it is a hot or a miss with them! I keep mostly LPS, & have only seen my copperband pick at things that should not be there. So I got lucky.

Ever since he was added to my tank, I have not see one aiptasia, he worked perfectly for me! I also keep him very well fed, so he has no need to pick on my corals, but either way you decide to go, make sure you have a plan b just incase! (someone who could take the fish) =) Good luck!

 

[Kolognekoral]

I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but there a many reef-safe butterflies. Every fish is an individual and, when newly introduced, they will often pick at anything edible. I find a quarantine in which the fish are adjusted to the available diet the best methods to prepare all fish for their new home. If you throw a fish into a running reef community, it will be in a panic and eat anything simply to 'fit in' to the reef, or nothing at all!

My best results with Aiptasia eating butterflies have been with Ch. rafflesii, Ch. auriga, Ch. vagabundus (and related, Ch. xanthurus and Ch. paucifaciatus. The aurigas can be tricky as certain populations (Marshall Islands) do eat corals. My Chelmon rostratus and Coradion malanotus show not interest in Aiptasia or corals. They are both just decorative charakters

Generally speaking, the young fish are the best candidates. They are still learning to feed and are not as set in their habits. Another RC thread deals with an Aiptasia eating Heniochus diphreutes. Telling them apart from the sister species H. acuminatus is the tough part, when they are young.

Ones I would stay away from are Ch. lunula, Ch. fasciatus, Ch. quadromaculatus and Ch. ephippium. There may be exceptions, but the stories go against them at this time!

 

[Chooch1]

I am aware of two instances where aquarists are having success with Chaetodon ulietensis in reef aquariums. The Waikiki Aquarium has a C. ulietensis they collected in Fiji many years ago that they keep in their large reef tank with numerous corals and clams. Additionally, Terry Siegel, the editor of Advanced Aquarist Magazine is keeping a C. ulietensis without incident in his reef aquarium. He wrote an editorial about it 3 or 4 months ago. He refers to the butterfly as C. falcula but I know from the pictures that it is C. ulietensis. I went diving in the Solomon Islands and I observed numerous pairs of C. ulietensis and I never once saw them nip at a coral. They were always going for the areas between the corals, probably going after tunicates and such. I would never guarantee it but I would bet that a small C. ulietensis would be a better gamble than most Chaetodons.

 

[reefman8471]

Aiptasia control

Aiptasia control

While it is not a butterflyfish I have a Bicolor Angelfish that eats aiptasia anemones.

James

 

[mrwilson]

My experience with my copperband butterfly has been similar to krazeekiddie's. It took him a little while (nearly a week) to take the frozen mysis I was feeding him, but he now eats that, and really anything frozen and meaty that I put in the tank, including cyclopeeze, Rod's food, etc. (He still won't touch flake or pellets.) However, he was hunting my rockwork for both aiptasia and majanos, and whatever else he could find, immediately. I had a few aiptasia, and they are completely gone now; I had a fair number of majanos, and now they are almost completely eradicated also. I have yet to see it pick on any corals (although I have mainly softies, plus a couple elegance corals and a monti cap.) I've had it for about two-three months.

All that said, these fish are completely hit or fish, as countless threads here on RC attest. I bought mine from a well-known and respected LFS (PhishyBusiness, which is local for me), and I have no doubt that helped to ensure that I had a healthy and eating specimen from the start.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

2 true falcula butterflies are tearing up my corals in my 450 gallon reef. i need to get them out. also my chrysurrus angel is now adult and doing harm also.