heniochus butterfly fish

Hbohi

Hbohi

New member
So I've had a tank up and running for about 2 month now. The water quality is great I test it every other day to make sure everything is ok. So I added 3 heniochus into the tank with my black clown and my Ocellaris clown. Within 24 hours they all died one after another. Would anyone know why? I heard they are a pretty hardy fish.
 
no I did not. I don't have the set up at the moment I am working on it... I drip them to get them acclimated. They were doing fine, swimming peacefully and eating and bam they died.
 
How big is your tank. Heniochus butterflies are usually fairly large even when they are young. Depending on your tank size, adding 3 at once to a tank that has only been up for 2 months is probably a large bioload on a system. Are you sure your ammonia level is at 0? These guys are usually very hardy.

My new baby in QT
IMG_3309_zps78464c56.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
 
Hbohi said:
So I've had a tank up and running for about 2 month now. The water quality is great I test it every other day to make sure everything is ok. So I added 3 heniochus into the tank with my black clown and my Ocellaris clown. Within 24 hours they all died one after another. Would anyone know why? I heard they are a pretty hardy fish.
Click to expand...

These are hardy for butterfly fish; but butterfly fish are not a hardy fish compared to what I would consider beginners fish. I wouldn't get another fish until you have a QT set up. This may have nothing to do with anything that a QT could have helped and the normal water tests we do don't catch a fraction of what could have killed them. I wouldn't recommend any Bf fish to a beginner with a tank that's only two months old. My best educated guess would be that your bio-filter wasn't ready for such a jump with 3 larger fish added to a young tank. You basically multiplied the bioload by (pick a number) maybe 6+ times. Clowns are much hardier than any butteryfly fish, so they could handle the resulting ammonia. Butterfly fish do not handle ammonia well at all. Your DT ammonia reading at the time the BFs were introduced certainly increased enough to cause ammonia poisoning.
 
my tank is 45 gallons and let me rephrase I had one originally then it died then when my water was right again I added two because I thought the first dies because it didn't have a buddy. my ammonia was 0, when testing it was never green, it was a cloudy white, and nitrites and nitrates where all low that the test was barely pink so it read 0 as well
 
What test kit were you using?

And yes, 45g is way too small for heniochus. They get very big (8-10") and need at least a 6-foot, 125g tank. Your tank is only suitable for small fish that don't get bigger than 4".
 
the test kit i use is Nutrafin Master and every 2 weeks i go to a local fish store to get it tested
 
my tank is 45 gallons and let me rephrase I had one originally then it died then when my water was right again I added two because I thought the first dies because it didn't have a buddy. my ammonia was 0, when testing it was never green, it was a cloudy white, and nitrites and nitrates where all low that the test was barely pink so it read 0 as well
Click to expand...
The fact that you have nitrites means your tank tank hasn't finished cycling or adding the butterflys caused a cycle. Clowns are damsels and a re very hardy so they could more or less handle this, but butterflys are delicate fish and this will pretty much kill them
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

newlifeolsen
Mix of fish for my 150 saltwater fish only tank
Replies
0
Views
797
newlifeolsen
newlifeolsen
Q
Can multiple heniochus be added to same tank?
Replies
10
Views
1K
Oldsalty56
O
JeannineC
Fish suggestion
Replies
19
Views
2K
rwbroadnax
R
M
20 gallon stocking ideas
Replies
9
Views
2K
MC Blowfish
M
LJA
Fish addition order
Replies
2
Views
444
OrionN
OrionN
Back
Top