Klien's Butterfly and aiptasia

[Reefski's]

i know a tank maintenance guy that says they are fabulous for aiptasia control. do you have any experience with them in a reef tank? what desirable invertebrates will they also eat. do they really eat aiptasia? if so why haven't i heard of this?

i now have one in my QT tank with an aiptasia rock. i can't tell if it is eating any of the aiptasia. i have only had it a week. it is eating the food i put in the tank. it is a little hard to see in the video.
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l...sciatusKliensbutterflyinQTfeeding11-11-10.mp4

Carl

 

[chefb_5]

sometimes you have to put the fish food in the aiptasia so the fish goes for the food then in a week or so the fish will catch on. Also peppermint shrimp love to eat it and they don't go after coral and the buttefly could go after GBTA OR RBTA's thats all I know they go after so far. I have aiptasia and i'm getting 3 or 4 peppermint shrimp they seem to go after it more. I read that peppermint shrimp love it like it's candy.

 

[kingfisher62]

Yeah, It is real hard to see the video! I think something is wrong with the link.
I have never heard this about kliens butterflies but I heard they are one of the easiest to keep.
I am tagging along because I have always wanted one and I do have some aiptasia.

 

[kingfisher62]

It is working now, nice fish. Let me know how it does!

 

[chefb_5]

The copper band also eats it. I never heard of tha kind of butterfly eat it only the copperband butterfly.

 

[roktsintst]

I've heard the same thing but I've never tried it. I need to do something because my aptasia is getting pretty bad... What about the aptasia eating file fish?

 

[Reefski's]

i have a very healthy copperband that i have had for about four years. as far as i can tell it does not eat aiptasia. i have never seen it eat them and i have a few in the tank with it.

i have also tried without success the peppermint shrimp.

 

[sugartooth]

I've heard they eat aiptasia as well as majanos too, but not safe for LPS(?) and polyps. I've kept copperbands and a filefish that are confirmed aiptasia eaters. Good luck!

 

[Trichome]

I had one. It cleared my tank of aptasia in about 2 weeks and i had huge amount of aptasia. It might take it a little while to start clearing your tank.

 

[kingfisher62]

Trichome, do you hav a reef tank and if so ,did it bother anything?

 

[twiggyb]

I just talked to someone last night that said theirs ate all their aiptasia too. He said it took him 2 weeks to get settled in and then cleared half of it in one day. He also said it goes for some of his zoas. My peps did a good job in the beginning, but if you overfeed your tank, they'll just scavenge whatevers laying around and leave the aips alone.

 

[jt_milstead]

Ive had experience with all the animals mentioned in this thread. The Copperband is a good choice, but doesnt have a high survival rate. I know many LFS that wont even carry them. Peppermint shrimp are hit and miss, and depending on the size of your tank you could need quite a few of them to put a dent into the issue, and as mentioned, they will eventually stop eating the aiptasia, and will only eat left over food from feedings . Kleins are a much hardier fish than the CBB. I have had them wipe out an entire 6ft 125 gallon tank of all aiptasia, but he then start to eat on some Zoanthids.

 

[Trichome]

Yes I hadit in a mixed reef and for the most part it was well behaved. I might have gotten lucky though. Unfortunately I lst him in my move 6 months ago.

 

[seafansar]

I had one in a QT tank and tested him out. He ate aiptasia great, but also loved zoas too! So I never put him in my reef. Got a CBB instead who has taken care of the aiptasia for me. *Note: I did try a couple of CBB's that didn't make it before finally waiting and only getting one that would eat at the LFS. My CBB leaves everything alone except for the tentacles on my acans, so they are in a different tank now.
Like my CBB eating aiptasia and yours not, I'm sure Klien's butterflies are the same way. Hit or miss. Just keep him in the QT tank and test him out with different corals.

 

[Reefski's]

thanks all. i think the aiptasia on the LR in the QT tank is disappearing. that is good news.

i do want to have some acans in my tank too. also anemones. what to do?

Carl