Semilarvatus Butterfly

[yukonblizzard]

I finaly found a Semilarvatus buterfly at the lfs! Beautiful coloration and nice and plump. And at a good price! I placed him on hold so I could get all my supplies ready.

Anyone have experience with this species. What foods are best to entice feeding? Any special things I should know about? There isnt too much info on this species.


I plan to use a 30 gallon qt. It hasnt been cycled though, any problems there? There is a cycled refugium that is next to it should I plumb them together? Or would I be okay to take some live rock out of the DT to put in the QT and lots of water changes?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

THanks

 

[jnc914]

I have a pair of Golden Butterflies that I just added to my DT. They were purchased from Diver's Den at LiveAquaria. They were in a 20 gallon long QT for 3 weeks while i observed and treated for fluke. They pretty much ate right out of the bag. I fed Hikari Mysis and Brine soaked in selcon. As for your QT, you can add Seachem Stability for 7 days to decrease cycle time. It has worked for me with all of my QTs. Good luck, they are beautiful fish.

 

[yukonblizzard]

Thanks for the help!

 

[yukonblizzard]

Forgot to ask, but did you treat your pair with prazi pro. I heard that it is necesary with butterflies, but I cant find any near me. I do have MELAFIX made by API but I am not sure if it would help.

Once again thanks

 

[jnc914]

Definitely treat with Prazi-Pro. Melafix and Pimafix are "snake oil" treatments IMO, ineffective against any parasitic infestation. Prazi is actual medication and is very effective against fluke. Ideally you should do two treatments back to back to ensure that flukes and any eggs that may have hatched have been killed off. Normally I use Prazi with Cupramine, but avoided copper because they were Diver Den specimens and they did not exhibit any ich or velvet.