Butterflyfish with Corals

Fishfreak2009 · Apr 15, 2022

So whodunnit? Gonna try a pearlscale with some of the more noxious LPS and softies (Favias, Platygyras, Mushrooms, leathers, Rock Flower Anemones, and photosynthetic gorgonian). I can move anything the butterfly decides to sample to 4 or 5 other tanks if it comes to that. Hoping it's an occasional nip and nothing more since I'm avoiding the acans and zoas that everything seems to love.

I've kept them with leathers, mushrooms, sebae, and bubbletip anemones without issue in the past, so here's hoping. Wife fell in love with it today, so it came home with some other goodies. Now it just needs to get through quarantine.

blaxsun · Apr 15, 2022

I'm tempting fate with an emperor angel in my mixed reef. Hope it works out with the butterfly - that's a gorgeous species!

Fishfreak2009 · Apr 15, 2022

blaxsun said:
I'm tempting fate with an emperor angel in my mixed reef. Hope it works out with the butterfly - that's a gorgeous species!

Plan on feeding 4-5x daily like we currently do for all our tanks, so hoping that cuts down on nipping as well. Hungry fish = nippy fish. Fat fish = happy fish and happy corals

The Lumpster · Apr 15, 2022

I tried the same thing with a pearlscale as you are going to. Mine did not work out well. I only had mushrooms, a couple of acans, and a small lobo. The second I released the pearlscale from it's acclimation box, it made a beeline for the superman mushrooms. He was picking at them relentlessly. I put a piece of eggcrate in to separate him from the mushrooms and he then went for the lobo. I got nervous and took him back out. It was a shame because he would have been a beautiful addition to my reef. He did real well in the FOWLR tank. Pearlscales are my favorite butterfly.

Fishfreak2009 · Apr 15, 2022

The Lumpster said:
I tried the same thing with a pearlscale as you are going to. Mine did not work out well. I only had mushrooms, a couple of acans, and a small lobo. The second I released the pearlscale from it's acclimation box, it made a beeline for the superman mushrooms. He was picking at them relentlessly. I put a piece of eggcrate in to separate him from the mushrooms and he then went for the lobo. I got nervous and took him back out. It was a shame because he would have been a beautiful addition to my reef. He did real well in the FOWLR tank. Pearlscales are my favorite butterfly.

No acans or lobos here. I've had one in the past with green hairy mushrooms, red discosoma, blue discosoma, a leather, and some anemones, so we will see how he does in here. Basically just going to grow whatever he doesn't eat. Maybe I'll throw in an SPS frag or 2 to try as my corals in the other tank get large enough to frag.

livinlifeinBKK · Apr 15, 2022

I don't know the specific habits of pearlscales but I do know a good bit about other butterflies and can say it's definitely hard to break that instinct to nip coral...I tried with a Peppered Butterfly which is a facultative corallivore that had been eating only other fresh foods for months in a fish only tank...he wasn't getting along with another fish so I moved him to a tank with SPS. The first day he was just fine, the second day he slowly started getting a taste for SPS and no matter how much I tried to feed him he kept nipping... they're not really nipping because they're hungry, it's just their nature to constantly graze all day...if you give it a try, good luck though!