"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
My plebius pair are still entirely fine together.
Pairing butterfly fish
- Thread starter SDguy
- Start date
Congrats. Honestly, in a 480g tank, I'm pretty sure my saddlebacks would have been fine 
Even though my yellow long noses were fine together, I still never saw them as a "pair"... maybe what I want to see doesn't happen in a home aquarium of a certain size.
Even though my yellow long noses were fine together, I still never saw them as a "pair"... maybe what I want to see doesn't happen in a home aquarium of a certain size.
Big E
Premium Member
Sounds like the larger one has matured. I stand by what I have suggested many times. You have to use a group & let them pair off on their own & then remove ones that don't fit.
Sometimes you can get lucky like "umm fish" but the percentages are against it.....................and if I recall I think he started out with 3.
I'd love to see updated pics of these guys. I was wondering how they were doing? How much have they grown?
Yeah, Ed, sorry, I agree with that to some extent (with some species only). I should have been more clear in my statement.
Dr Colliebreath
New member
I know butterflies tend to take a live and let live approach to most other fish beyond occasional chasing at feeding time. Do you think a pair is more likely to pick on other fish? If one of a pair takes a dislike to a third fish, it would be natural for the other fish of the pair to join the fray. Also, I wonder whether pairs are generally more aggressive to other fish in the confines of our aquariums (breeding time aside).
rachenbrazil
Member
Trying to pair up kleini butterflyfish .... From 6 small fishes in lfs 6 months ago got The 2 last ones. They started sharing together same tank The bully one was removed and sold one after until 2 left.... After another month they start to chase each other so they were separated in different tanks...but lately I notice that both fishes shape and size were different... Packed both and now trying to pair up in a 210g tank ( only a small lamarck angel inside) by now no true chasing...some circle swiming behaviour but even with huge space they keep swiming close to each other... So hoping that maybe they would pair up... Smaller one is 1,6 inches, the bigger one os sightly over 2 inches.... So anyone keeping any butterflyfish pair now ?
Ambition
New member
I've been looking into butterflyfish social behaviors the past month or so, as well as delving into breeding in general. I've learned several things which might be why pairs are not successful long term.
Butterflyfish are gonochorists, meaning they have a predetermined sex from hatching. Fish like this are typically harder to pair, but many FW species are gonochorists and are paired in a similar way these fish should be paired. Going off of this sole part of information, the ideal way to pair would be to get a group of JUVINILE butterflies (not extremely common) and look for the odd ones out of a pair. This is great in theory and in FW species, but SW species are more aggressive/territorial than their FW counterparts. This makes things a bit tougher for pairing.
Secondly, some species of butterflyfish become sexually mature at a fairly small size compared to full grown size. I remember there being mention of C. rostratus being sexually mature at about 2" in length. I personally have not seen many that are sub 2" myself. Going off of this you need to find individuals that are not sexually mature, which can mean sub 2" butterflyfish. With their tiny mouths, feeding may be difficult. I've come to find in Matthew L. Wittenrich's book The Complete Illustrated Breeder's Guide to Marine Aquarium Fishes, that many species of butterflyfish form a pair bond at around 1.5" in size. That means you are gonna need some very tiny butterflyfish to get a pair theoretically. Remember these pair bonds in the wild are thought to be lifelong as many of the species are monogamous.
I have not personally attempted pairing butterflyfish yet, but I do have plans to attempt this in the next several months with some copperband butterflies if I can find ones that are small enough.
Butterflyfish are gonochorists, meaning they have a predetermined sex from hatching. Fish like this are typically harder to pair, but many FW species are gonochorists and are paired in a similar way these fish should be paired. Going off of this sole part of information, the ideal way to pair would be to get a group of JUVINILE butterflies (not extremely common) and look for the odd ones out of a pair. This is great in theory and in FW species, but SW species are more aggressive/territorial than their FW counterparts. This makes things a bit tougher for pairing.
Secondly, some species of butterflyfish become sexually mature at a fairly small size compared to full grown size. I remember there being mention of C. rostratus being sexually mature at about 2" in length. I personally have not seen many that are sub 2" myself. Going off of this you need to find individuals that are not sexually mature, which can mean sub 2" butterflyfish. With their tiny mouths, feeding may be difficult. I've come to find in Matthew L. Wittenrich's book The Complete Illustrated Breeder's Guide to Marine Aquarium Fishes, that many species of butterflyfish form a pair bond at around 1.5" in size. That means you are gonna need some very tiny butterflyfish to get a pair theoretically. Remember these pair bonds in the wild are thought to be lifelong as many of the species are monogamous.
I have not personally attempted pairing butterflyfish yet, but I do have plans to attempt this in the next several months with some copperband butterflies if I can find ones that are small enough.
H.reidi.MN
New member
hey SDguy have you learned anything about sexing these species? They mostly are in groups in the wild no?
H.reidi.MN
New member
Lol take the easy way out 
I don't keep any corals with my butterflies.
Peter,
How has your experience been with your tinkeri pair? Do you have any videos of them? I bought a tinkeri pair that were supposedly caught as a pair. I've had them in qt for a few weeks now and most of the time they swim together, but then occasionally will act aggressively towards each other. Just trying to see if this is normal or if they are not really a pair.
How has your experience been with your tinkeri pair? Do you have any videos of them? I bought a tinkeri pair that were supposedly caught as a pair. I've had them in qt for a few weeks now and most of the time they swim together, but then occasionally will act aggressively towards each other. Just trying to see if this is normal or if they are not really a pair.
In my experience butterflies in general, even when paired, there is a bit of chasing. Unfortunately with my tinkeri pair, only one made it out of QT
In my experience butterflies in general, even when paired, there is a bit of chasing. Unfortunately with my tinkeri pair, only one made it out of QT
Oh no! Sorry to hear about that. From disease or fighting?
I guess with mine, I'll just have to wait and see.I'm hoping that it's just a space issue and once they make it to the DT it will be better.
Anyone have any luck with a two copperbands? I have hand one in my display for about a year. A few months ago a LFS had a really small sickly looking one that they let me take for $10. Surprisingly, it has turned around and is now very healthy. Only problem is that it’s in a small 30g tank and is growing quickly. My only options are to try two in the display or sell it since it’s starting to look pretty out of place in the 30g
