Pearlscale Butterfly Difficulty?

[JEFFR259]

Was wondering what the difficulty level is of the Pearlscale Butterfly?

I've always been attracted to Butterflies, but never attempted one because the apparently are notoriously difficult (feeding, I believe).

I saw another thread around here on RC about inexpensive, beautiful fish (my kind!) and the Pearlscale was shown....beautiful!

How hard is this fish to keep? Is it rather hardy? A tough fish to encourage eating? A specific diet? Reef Safe?

And if it is a difficult butterfly, any to recommend?

The tank is about 3 months old, very stable, but certainly not matured yet!

THANK YOU!

 

[Chibils]

I tried one once. It died overnight. I don't know why, but I don't think of it as the norm for this species. I was warned that there's a good possibility that it will one day stop eating or simply die, but it's not a guarantee. There are people who have kept these fish for years.

 

[reefman8471]

Pearlscale Butterflyfish

Pearlscale Butterflyfish

There are two species of butterflyfish that are called Pearlscale and both are similar in their hardiness. They are Chaetodon xanthurus and Chaetodon mertensii. The mertensii is supposed to be a little more hardy. I have not kept either one but they are both fairly hardy. Ideally they should not be kept with more belligerent tankmates and if they are kept with corals they should be more noxious soft corals.

James

 

[discusone]

pearlscales

pearlscales

There are actually four species of pearlscales.Besides the two mentioned by Reefman,there is the Redsea variation,C.paucifasciatus.And there is also C.argentatus,basically colored black and silver.There is some debate whether it belongs to the pearlscale group or not.

I had a C.mertensi for about two years,and did very well.I gave him away when i shut down my old 125 a couple of years ago.He lived several months longer in the new owners tank.

Like all butterflys,getting a healthy speciman is important.Be aware of any pinched areas around the forehead of butterflys.The lack of fatty tissue around the forehead of butterflys is bad news!

 

[Chibils]

Interesting... I've always heard pearlscale as C. xanthurum, as it's the only one with true "crosshatched" scales.

 

[WuHT]

Keeping one right now. Observed it 3 times at the LFS .. ate on the 2nd one and thus i picked him up.

Remember to QT for flukes/ich.

 

[discusone]

FWIW, www.fishbase.com.

Go to genus box,and in second box,type in chaetodon,then click search.Every butterfly known will pop up.