TheFishTeen
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Well the photo isn't all-to-great but I didn't want to post any 'vendor' pics for legal issues. I absolutely love this fish - IMO it is absolutely gorgeous. Do any of you keep it, and more importantly, in a reef?
Prognathodes Aculeatus - Rosy Butterflyfish
- Thread starter TheFishTeen
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michael_cb_125
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This species is found within my favorite genus of butterflies. They have tons of personality and tend go do well in reef settings.
~Michael
~Michael
TheFishTeen
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Do you have personal experience with this genus? I am worried about acclimation and feeding.
michael_cb_125
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I have kept P. aya and P. brasillensis.
Both of the fish that I kept acclimated quite well and at most foods that I offered.
The aya was kept in a full reef setting once out of QT and did not bother anything other than feeding LPS and the brasillensis was kept with primarily macro algaes.
I ran both displays in the low 70s.
~Michael
Both of the fish that I kept acclimated quite well and at most foods that I offered.
The aya was kept in a full reef setting once out of QT and did not bother anything other than feeding LPS and the brasillensis was kept with primarily macro algaes.
I ran both displays in the low 70s.
~Michael
I acquired one from DD a few years back. Until it passed due to an ich outbreak, I had it in a 75 gallon tank with peaceful tankmates. It was fairly cryptic in moving about the live rock. It decimated all worms in the tank and left all corals alone. Definitely a neat fish, but I'm not sure how well it would do with boisterous tankmates.
philter4
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I have collected and kept aculeatus and aya, both are easy and adapted to my tanks really well. The only thing I have never been able to do is keep both species together or in either species in pairs. In the wild they are very territorial and even when I have collected them in pairs, after a short time together the dominant one begins to terrorize the other.
I'm right there with you Michael, this is my favorite genus of butterflies and I love to see them on the reef, although only the aculeatus is found at normal diving depths. I collected aya at 196 ft, and the shallowest I have seen them is at 165 at a site called Hole In The Wall off the West Palm Beach coastline. I have seen P. guyanensis at 270+/- but have never collected them. These dives require special gas mixes and decompression of both diver and fish so the cost of these guys goes up significantly.
I'm right there with you Michael, this is my favorite genus of butterflies and I love to see them on the reef, although only the aculeatus is found at normal diving depths. I collected aya at 196 ft, and the shallowest I have seen them is at 165 at a site called Hole In The Wall off the West Palm Beach coastline. I have seen P. guyanensis at 270+/- but have never collected them. These dives require special gas mixes and decompression of both diver and fish so the cost of these guys goes up significantly.
I've had one in my reef for a little under a year, and yes he's a fantastic little fish. He holds his own against the "bosses" in the tank quite well - anybody that tries to mess with him suddenly has a pile of nasty spines aimed in their direction. 
He's always out cruising the tank looking for bugs, or doing loops in the powerhead streams, and hasn't touched any corals as far as I can tell. My fan worm population is still doing fine actually. My only gripe is that so far all he eats are live blackworms, and frozen brine... heading out to the pet store every week so I can feed live blackworms a couple times a day was a bit more than I'd planned to deal with.
He's always out cruising the tank looking for bugs, or doing loops in the powerhead streams, and hasn't touched any corals as far as I can tell. My fan worm population is still doing fine actually. My only gripe is that so far all he eats are live blackworms, and frozen brine... heading out to the pet store every week so I can feed live blackworms a couple times a day was a bit more than I'd planned to deal with.
TheFishTeen
New member
I've had one in my reef for a little under a year, and yes he's a fantastic little fish. He holds his own against the "bosses" in the tank quite well - anybody that tries to mess with him suddenly has a pile of nasty spines aimed in their direction.
He's always out cruising the tank looking for bugs, or doing loops in the powerhead streams, and hasn't touched any corals as far as I can tell. My fan worm population is still doing fine actually. My only gripe is that so far all he eats are live blackworms, and frozen brine... heading out to the pet store every week so I can feed live blackworms a couple times a day was a bit more than I'd planned to deal with.
Wow! Beautiful! Have you tired NLS Pellets, or frozen Mysis?
Yes, NLS+mysis are what I feed the REST of the fish, and if I mix together brine+mysis sometimes he'll grab a mysis by mistake and spit it out... I don't feed the small-fish pellets very often and he hasn't shown any interest. Either way - a day or two of letting him go hungry to try to get him to taste new foods is all I'm willing to risk with this guy.
TheFishTeen
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How long have you had him?
TheFishTeen
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Haha! So you said he has not touched your corals? Do you keep a large amount of LPS? (Sorry about the questions, Im just taking advantage of the fact I finaly found someone with personal experience with Aculeatus in a reef)
My reef is sps+softies dominated, with just a few LPS (a small chalice, a small favia, a large goni, and some duncans). As far as I can tell he hasn't bothered any corals. Whenever I see him near them, he's always digging around underneath/between/in crevices for bugs rather than interested in the polyps themselves.
TheFishTeen
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Thats great! I am highly considering getting one of these guys. Thanks for the info!
jd474
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I have 4 currently in QT, and all were eating frozen within a couple days. The few people I know that have kept them in reefs said they were very well behaved.
philter4
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Be careful, while stressed or in QT/store systems they may seem to get along, but once a territory is established they don't like each other. I have never seen pairs in the wild except while breeding (one fish, my guess the female, is very fat and probably full of eggs) and I have collected both aculeatus and aya in pairs but after a short time they become very aggressive towards each other. I have lost fish to stress because of this so watch them once they are in the display tank where they will set up territories.
I think he works at a public aquarium...
jd474
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Their tank is 8000+ gal. Me thinks they'll be o.k.
philter4
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:fish1:
If your going to try them in a group that is the tank to do it in!!! Good luck with them and I hope you post some photos, I would love to see them once they are established. As I mentioned, this is my favorite genus of butterflies.
If your going to try them in a group that is the tank to do it in!!! Good luck with them and I hope you post some photos, I would love to see them once they are established. As I mentioned, this is my favorite genus of butterflies.
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