Butterflyfish reef safe ?

SouL_Shaker · Nov 11, 2015

Are chelmon butterflyfish , long nosed butterflyfish reef safe ? What are the cautions ? What can they eat ? Sps corals or softs ? I have a reef safe flame angel fish on my tank.

gacolt · Nov 11, 2015

no butterflys are 100% reef safe.just like your flame is not 100% reef safe.both species can start eating corals at any moment or not.But if you want to take the chance i say go for it.It's always fun to push boundries and take risk.

SouL_Shaker · Nov 11, 2015

gacolt said:
no butterflys are 100% reef safe.just like your flame is not 100% reef safe.both species can start eating corals at any moment or not.But if you want to take the chance i say go for it.It's always fun to push boundries and take risk.

Will they eat entire sps corals in short term if they wanted to ?

gacolt · Nov 11, 2015

more lps not so much sps they also love eating anemones and feather dusters.i had one that didnt pick at anything and i had one that ate a favia colony.
they also dont do well in aquariums they need a very well established with lots of micro life to pick at.

SouL_Shaker · Nov 11, 2015

gacolt said:
more lps not so much sps they also love eating anemones and feather dusters.i had one that didnt pick at anything and i had one that ate a favia colony.
they also dont do well in aquariums they need a very well established with lots of micro life to pick at.

I bought mandarin fish when tank was 3 days old. It's been 10 months . It still keeps living. What are the difficulties?

gacolt · Nov 11, 2015

SouL_Shaker said:
I bought mandarin fish when tank was 3 days old. It's been 10 months . It still keeps living. What are the difficulties?

the biggest problem with copperband butterflys is getting them to eat prepared food consistently.

SouL_Shaker · Nov 11, 2015

gacolt said:
the biggest problem with copperband butterflys is getting them to eat prepared food consistently.

I regret buying one in this case.

gacolt · Nov 11, 2015

if you do have any problems getting him to eat try live blood worms every cbb i had would eat them if nothing else.What i did was feed live blood worms and live brine shrimp and feed frozon brine and he slowly started eating frozon food.

vic5hands · Nov 11, 2015

That is all my Butterfly eats is Aiptasia.

gacolt · Nov 11, 2015

vic5hands said:
That is all my Butterfly eats is Aiptasia.

Thats why most people buy them but alot of the times they never touch them.

eatbreakfast · Nov 11, 2015

SouL_Shaker said:
Will they eat entire sps corals in short term if they wanted to ?

They are usually safe with SPS, I have never encountered one that touched SPS. I have seen some go after clams, feather dusters, and pipe organs.

I have had my best successes in getting them to eat in very laid back tanks, no aggressive eaters, subdued lighting, and grazing opportunities, I used live clam on the half shell, once acclimated to captivity and greedily eating, they can be quite hardy in reefs.

4FordFamily · Nov 11, 2015

gacolt said:
the biggest problem with copperband butterflys is getting them to eat prepared food consistently.

And it's not uncommon for them to seemingly stop eating for no apparent reason after eating well a few months to a year.

eatbreakfast · Nov 11, 2015

3FordFamily said:
And it's not uncommon for them to seemingly stop eating for no apparent reason after eating well a few months to a year.

In my observations there is usually a specific precursor to this. 1) another deep bodied fish is added that upsets the social dynamic, such as an angel, tang, or another butterfly, 2) another fish is added that brings with it disease/parasites, or 3) stressors around the tank, such as renovations or a prolonged power outage.

StikHedRon · Nov 11, 2015

Read this about butterflyfish compatability.

https://orphek.com/butterflyfish-compatibility-with-corals/

4FordFamily · Nov 11, 2015

eatbreakfast said:
In my observations there is usually a specific precursor to this. 1) another deep bodied fish is added that upsets the social dynamic, such as an angel, tang, or another butterfly, 2) another fish is added that brings with it disease/parasites, or 3) stressors around the tank, such as renovations or a prolonged power outage.

Yes this is valid. I would say my experience is in line with this.