butterfly dom. tank anyone done it?

Devaji · Jan 28, 2019

so after loosing most if not all my coral in the tank upgrade i decided to have a fish only system.
focusing on butterflies. this will not be a reef system. but I might try to do some gorgs for color and moment .
tank is a RS 750XXl so 200 gal.
my goal is to make a nice peaceful community of colorful happy healthy fish.
thinking:
4-5 med. sized butterflies
2 med tangs yellow and kole
2 larger tangs hippo and PBT
2 dwarf angels
2 flasher wrases
3 other wrasses

I know 90+% do reefs just wondering if anyone has any experience with butterfly dom tanks.
wondering how they far with copper QT treatment. mixing issues and order of adding to DT.

ndrwater · Jan 29, 2019

@eatbreakfast ??
There is also a good article in the new Coral Magazine about doing just such a tank.

eatbreakfast · Jan 29, 2019

There is a wide gamut of of hardiness between butterfly species. Some of the hardier species are klein, auriga, lemon, punctatus, double saddle.

Let the butterflies settle before tangs are added.

Devaji · Jan 29, 2019

eatbreakfast said:
There is a wide gamut of of hardiness between butterfly species. Some of the hardier species are klein, auriga, lemon, punctatus, double saddle.

Let the butterflies settle before tangs are added.

yes I was thinking the same start off with the more hardier types them go from there. add all Butterflies before tangs.
how do they do in Cu QT treatment?

ndrwater said:
@eatbreakfast ??
There is also a good article in the new Coral Magazine about doing just such a tank.

i'll try to find it. know if they have it online?

andrewkw · Jan 29, 2019

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2444122

You might find some useful information here, I haven't read this thread for years but it was the one butterfly dominated tank that came to mind to me.

eatbreakfast · Jan 29, 2019

The hardier species do fine with Cu.

Devaji · Jan 29, 2019

andrewkw said:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2444122

You might find some useful information here, I haven't read this thread for years but it was the one butterfly dominated tank that came to mind to me.

perfect thanks I will give that thread a read when I get home tonight!

Devaji · Jan 29, 2019

eatbreakfast said:
The hardier species do fine with Cu.

nice! good to know!

jda · Jan 29, 2019

I had one. Semilevartus were the focus with copperbands and other long noses. They will need reef quality water with stacked rock for hiding places - they will be in the open most of the time once adjusted. Most will not QT well, but you can isolate and make sure that they are feeding. I would keep the tangs away and maybe substitute with some Genicanthus Angelfish which are both beautiful and hardy. Leopards, Fairies and Flasher wrasses are fine ,but have some sand for them - I would avoid the semi-reef-save ones like the Halichoeres species and any of the 4/6/8 lines. Dwarf angels are probably Ok.

They really will appreciate clams on the half shell - you can break them open with a flathead screwdriver. All of mine got to where they would eat pellets after a while, but I also fed black worms, mysis and other meaty stuff. Keeping the reef quality water will encourage a diverse and large pod population which can help sustain some of the pickier eaters.

Devaji · Jan 29, 2019

jda said:
I had one. Semilevartus were the focus with copperbands and other long noses. They will need reef quality water with stacked rock for hiding places - they will be in the open most of the time once adjusted. Most will not QT well, but you can isolate and make sure that they are feeding. I would keep the tangs away and maybe substitute with some Genicanthus Angelfish which are both beautiful and hardy. Leopards, Fairies and Flasher wrasses are fine ,but have some sand for them - I would avoid the semi-reef-save ones like the Halichoeres species and any of the 4/6/8 lines. Dwarf angels are probably Ok.

They really will appreciate clams on the half shell - you can break them open with a flathead screwdriver. All of mine got to where they would eat pellets after a while, but I also fed black worms, mysis and other meaty stuff. Keeping the reef quality water will encourage a diverse and large pod population which can help sustain some of the pickier eaters.

Thanks for the feedback!
Intresting thought on keeping the t angs away and ad a larger angel I just might do that. More research will deff. Need to he done. Are you thinking all tangs or just the oval larger shaped ones like the PBT?

jda · Jan 29, 2019

Genicanthus are not like other large angels...less aggressive and more easy going. A well chosen tang like a Chocolate or Bristletooh would be good - want to avoid the aggressive ones that will want to keep all of the food.

You can do pairs of Genicanthus angelfish since they are sexually dimorphic and the female make the males look better.