Butterfly fish in Reefs

Aquaph8 · Dec 28, 2011

R2R really needed a Butterfly thread. Please post your experiences with Butterfly fish in a reef.

Heres a pic of my lone Butterfly but theres more to come.

Chelmon muelleri

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The only thing that he's nipped so far is my Purple Stylo but he doesn't really do any damage. He's my favorite, I wouldn't kick him out if he did eat it.

swannyson7 · Dec 28, 2011

Beautiful fish Brett!! Did you have any difficulty getting him to eat? Do you have any feather dusters or clams? I've always been weary to add a butterfly because I'm afraid my coco worms & clams will become dinner

btkrausen · Dec 28, 2011

Where I don't have a reef, this is my first experience with a butterfly outside of a copperband. Its a Spotfin Butterfly from LiveAquaria. He did pick on my sea fans that I had in there and they really never opened up much after that so I took them out. He eats mysis and other frozen food really well, but not pellets. He's one of the few fish that utilize the cleaner shrimp very often...actually, I credit him to getting the cleaner shrimp cleaning in the first place, as he would float around them forever until they finally started doing their thing.

Aquaph8 · Dec 29, 2011

swannyson7 said:
Beautiful fish Brett!! Did you have any difficulty getting him to eat? Do you have any feather dusters or clams? I've always been weary to add a butterfly because I'm afraid my coco worms & clams will become dinner

Thanks, he was a little tricky at first. It took me a few weeks in QT before he would eat much more than live black worms. I trained him to eat from my hand and now he begs like a puppy. My home made food is a big favorite with him now along with any type of worm. He would most likely eat coco worms but I think clams might be alright. I don't keep either though so I'm not positive.

Aquaph8 · Dec 29, 2011

btkrausen said:
Where I don't have a reef, this is my first experience with a butterfly outside of a copperband. Its a Spotfin Butterfly from LiveAquaria. He did pick on my sea fans that I had in there and they really never opened up much after that so I took them out. He eats mysis and other frozen food really well, but not pellets. He's one of the few fish that utilize the cleaner shrimp very often...actually, I credit him to getting the cleaner shrimp cleaning in the first place, as he would float around them forever until they finally started doing their thing.

Beautiful fish Bryan.

Acropora52 · Dec 29, 2011

Gorgeous fish! I'm thinking about eventually adding a trio of pyramids but haven't tried any other butterflyfish.

marinelife · Dec 29, 2011

I have Pyramids in my tank right now. I have not had any issue with them

Acropora52 · Dec 29, 2011

Gorgeous! How many do you have?

Aquaph8 · Dec 30, 2011

Marinelife your pyramids are beautiful, I see a zoster in there too!!!!

Aquaph8 · Jan 14, 2012

Lets keep this going, show me your Butterflies.

Brad Syphus · Jan 14, 2012

Although he is very common, and often overlooked, he is the maintenance man in my reef. He literally wiped out every aptasia and manjano I had in there. Wouldn't trade him for anything.

Kleins.

reefknight · Jan 14, 2012

Personally I would love to include a butterfly in my reef display, but am looking for one that is safe with mainly SPS & LPS. I only keep a few soft corals, couple of mushrooms and zoos/ palys. Any recommendations or thoughts would be appreciated. Current inhabitants are a Magnificent Foxface, pair of B/W clowns, male Pylei & male Pink Margin wrasses and a trio of Bartlett anthias. Future fish will be a blonde Naso tang, 2-3 more Bartlett s, a Mandarin, and a blenny/ goby of some sorts. (Haven't decided)

Aquaph8 · Jan 14, 2012

Bill, while I wouldn't call any of them 100 percent safe, copperbands and longnose are among the safest.

reefknight · Jan 14, 2012

I've read that in the past, along with Pyramid's. Attempting to get the Pyramid's though has been really difficult, almost impossible with local suppliers.

Aquaph8 · Jan 14, 2012

Pyramids and Zoster are also good choices. By getting through, do you mean keeping alive?

reefknight · Jan 14, 2012

Just acquiring them seems difficult. None of the LFS that I frequent never stock them and have been unable for over a year to obtain them as well. I have no idea why, as I didn't believe them to be that scarce. I haven't kept a butterfly since the late 90's in a FOWLR display. I had a Lineatus Butterfly that I loved and was healthy until the addition of a Flame Angel. Stress brought on ich and wiped out most of my display. Had the Butterfly for over 2yrs, what a loss.