Acropora safe butterflyfishes?

[Uhyun]

hi all, i'm thinking about put 1~2 butterflyfish in my 100gallom acropora only tank

i'm keep some fishes and this is list

Yellow tangfish(2years)
3spot angelfish(newly added)
scribbled angelfish(6month)
Bimaculatus anthias(6month)
yellow coris wrasse(newly added)


i remove PBT and other fishes cause he grown too big to fit in 100gal (i give him to my friend who has bigger FOWLR tank then my SPS tank)



So.. i need 1~3 fish to sustain proper nutrient level(with fishpoop)for my acroporas again

anyone did keep butterflyfish successfully with SPS? as i know some butterflyfishes can be keep nicely with Softcoral only or SPS only tank

i'm thinking about choice one from this list

Vegabond butterflyfish
marcella butterflyfish
Threadfin butterflyfish
Rafflesii butterflyfish
CBB
Pyramid butterflyfish

Any reccomend is all welcome!

thanks you for reading

 

[Anirban]

The only one which will possibly not touch your acros is the copperband. I have one and generally they can do occasional nipping but nothing serious.

 

[KevinC]

A lot of people also keep pyramid in their sps tank. Farmerty is one of them.

 

[MtlReef25]

I've put an Auriga 2 weeks ago to battle aiptasias. So far, even if he is a constant nipper, he hasn't destroyed anything but the pest anemones. I was not afraid for the SPS, but I thought the hammers will make a good snack! I know when aiptasias will be gone I will be at risk if the little guy isn't well fed! But he is a beautiful fish!

 

[Mr Fishface]

I have heard pyramid are the only guaranteed (or very nearly?) To not touch corals. Could be wrong but I know someone with a few in his tank. Very very pretty fish and I want one some day too. Seem to be really hard to find in stock though.

 

[Miami Reef]

Pyramids only eat xenia, anthellia, and maybe even aiptasia.

I have 3 in my tank with acros, clams, and LPS and they are completely reef safe. I recommend them.

 

[MtlReef25]

I have heard pyramid are the only guaranteed (or very nearly?) To not touch corals. Could be wrong but I know someone with a few in his tank. Very very pretty fish and I want one some day too. Seem to be really hard to find in stock though.

Yeah, Pyramid are probably the most reef safe BF. And beautiful fish too! Just impossible to find one. Auriga was the only readily available and I wanted to give it a try.

 

[areefer01]

I keep both a Copperband, Zosters, and a Pyramid in my mixed reef.

• Copperband leaves everything alone
• Zosters eats Xenia and similar soft corals. Nips constantly at green palythoa. Leaves my smaller zoas alone
• Pyramid eats Xenia and similar soft corals. Nips constantly at green palythoa. Leaves smaller zoas alone

More or less they cleared out all of my Xenia and Blue Cespitularia. Palythoas seem to be able to manage the constant nipping. Fleshy LPS corals like hammer and frogspawn are fine. Doesn't seem to bother any of my stalk corals like kenya tree nor cabbage. As far as other fish go with the exception of my copperband the Zoster and Pyramid are fast swimmers and aggressive eaters. They will crowd food drop areas and get large as they mature. So if you have shy fish be aware you may need to spread food or feed heavy until everyone is aware.

I keep a rather large gold lined rabbit, scopas tang, and the rest of my fish are small. I do have 4 pink square anthias that are still maturing but somewhat shy as they are captive bred. So that is why I noted about the butterfly feeding habbits. They are so fast and large that they startle the anthias even after several months in the same display. So I feed multiple times a day and heavy...

In any case these butterflies will mostly comeback reef safe and in some cases reef safe with caution. I feel feeding a lot helps mitigate random nips but of course every display is different.