pearlscale butterfly reef safe or not? please help

[murphreef]

what do u guys think about adding a pearlscale to a full reef tank with everykind of coral available??

im havin some issues with aptasia spreading and too many for joes juice and peppermints dont work cuz my pink tail trigger and fuzzy dwarf lion make lunch oout of them

what do u guys think?>?

thanks!

 

[JamesJR]

I wouldn't do it. The pearlscales are pretty destructive.
There are actually about 4-5 (not sure exactly) butterflyfish that look pretty similar to the pearlscale. I doubt any of them make good reef tank inhabitants. There are other butterflyfish that make much better reef candidates.

 

[Cove Beach]

Look into a Copper Banded Butterfly, its as close to reef safe as they get.

 

[JamesJR]

Copperbands are pretty difficult fish to keep. with a 180 ever considered the pyramid butterfly? One of the easiest butterflys to keep and even has a shape more akin to the chaetodon butterflys.

 

[DrBegalke]

A pyramid won't touch aiptasia.

Any butterfly that will, has the tendency to also eat some of your corals.

 

[murphreef]

so it seems like the general consencus is that butterflys are not good for an sps dominated tank?>?

ive tried various approaches to ridding the aptasias with limited success so my last resort before having to remove rock down the way was to get a butterfly

would ones best bet be to try a copperbanded then??

would they even eat the aptasias??

and how destructive are these guys??

thanks for everyones insight!

 

[818]

Justin Gabriel has a copperband butterfly in his 300g SPS dominated reef. Hes a fat little sucker! Doesnt bother a thing including his clams. You can go by text posted on the net, or experience. I know many more people that keep them in their reefs as well. Me being one.

GL

Sam

 

[glenns]

I've read that Klein's Butterfly fish will eat Aiptasia. They're supposed to adapt well to tank life. However, my first attempt was yesterday and it is already dead.

 

[JamesJR]

copperbands are pretty safe in a reef tank. They are dellicate fish though.

 

[wayne in norway]

I used a Kleins for this purpose, and it was very good, and seems quite hardy too. They can be hard on softies tho', depending on where they're collected. Doesn't touch my admittedly few sps

 

[Mont67]

Try a MAC certified Kleins butterfly, they're pretty hardy and supposed to be reef safe