Klein butterfly constantly nipping at sps

[bobnicaragua]

I bought a klein butterfly fish for my sps dominant reef. He's ignoring the zoas, which I expected him to go after, and he's constantly nipping at my acros and montipora.

I've got a fish trap on the way. Feeding twice a day with an auto feeder and once a day with frozen.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I bought a klein butterfly fish for my sps dominant reef. He's ignoring the zoas, which I expected him to go after, and he's constantly nipping at my acros and montipora.

I've got a fish trap on the way. Feeding twice a day with an auto feeder and once a day with frozen.

Second one I heard now. I have three (one in each tank) which bother nothing. Place it in sump when you catch it for aptasia defense. Add more frozen to diet. Its obviosuly in search of something to eat

 

[Coralsdaily]

sorry it's happening to you, I think of fish as human, just because we can eat stake isn't stopping people from choosing chicken instead. So your kleini prefers sps polyp over softies, might just need to rehome this guy and find the next one with a sweeter tooth.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I'm going to rehome him for sure. I've been feeding pretty generously since I got him trying to discourage coral munching, but he basically goes from one coral to the next.

I might try a pyramid or copper band in the future, but not another Klein!

 

[Coralsdaily]

maybe next fish you get, try to throw in a couple coral branches (not sure how abundantful your coral situation is) to see if the fish will "go after it" while still in quarantine.

 

[pcon]

Is the nipping actually damaging the SPS? I have seen my butterflies nip at everything but never seen them do any damage, but I also don't have or trust klines.

The pyramids are supposed to be completely safe, with the occasional exception of xenia. Copper Bands are also generally safe-ish but harder to get eating/conditioned. Worthy of consideration are the Roaops, and Prognathodes.

 

[KrisReef]

Such a disappointment. Good luck in rehoming the little nipper.

 

[Coralsdaily]

Is the nipping actually damaging the SPS? I have seen my butterflies nip at everything but never seen them do any damage, but I also don't have or trust klines.

The pyramids are supposed to be completely safe, with the occasional exception of xenia. Copper Bands are also generally safe-ish but harder to get eating/conditioned. Worthy of consideration are the Roaops, and Prognathodes.

I actually got a pair of pyramd recently specifically to take out the xenia in my tank. years ago they were cool but now they are just weed to me. unfortunately the pyramids I have so far are too reef safe to touch anything yet.

 

[pcon]

I actually got a pair of pyramd recently specifically to take out the xenia in my tank. years ago they were cool but now they are just weed to me. unfortunately the pyramids I have so far are too reef safe to touch anything yet.

yeah I hear mixed reports on that, sometimes go for it sometimes don't. sounds like more often they don't go for it, but figured I should include the warning just incase.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I don't really know if he is harming the sps. My forest fire digi is completely retracted so you only see green and brown, before it was all red. The acro's polyps are also fully retracted.

He's definitely damaged a favia, but I was expecting that.

 

[pcon]

I don't really know if he is harming the sps. My forest fire digi is completely retracted so you only see green and brown, before he was all red. The acro's polyps are also fully retracted.

Yeah, that's sorta expected, daytime polyp extension is pretty uncommon on natural reefs because of butterflies, angels and such. polyps being retracted during the day is not always a sign of poor health for SPS. but if you are going for max sps polyp extension the benthic feeding butterflies and angels should probably be avoided.

 

[Lawpoke87]

Does anyone have an sps dominate reef with no daytime polyp extension due to nippers? I had a flame angel who quickly developed an appetite for sps. Over a period of two weeks every sps in the tank stopped daytime polyp extension. Colors began to suffer especially in corals such as the Walt Disney, Home Wrecker, etc.. and alk uptake significantly slowed.

 

[pcon]

I have a mixed reef with a good amount of sps, IDK if it crosses the line to SPS dominated reef. I have minimal daytime polyp extension on my montipora and acropora. the polyps go crazy at night and I have an auto feeder setup to feed coral foods in the middle of the night for them. I get good growth out of my corals, been this way for almost two years due to angels or butterflies in the tank.

 

[Coralsdaily]

yeah I hear mixed reports on that, sometimes go for it sometimes don't. sounds like more often they don't go for it, but figured I should include the warning just incase.

haha for my purpose I hope they do. But I always believe there are no "True" reef safe fish, as I have had even some of the most "reef safe" fish like tangs and rabbit fish either nip at clams, or take a nibble off corals from time to time.

 

[Lawpoke87]

I have a mixed reef with a good amount of sps, IDK if it crosses the line to SPS dominated reef. I have minimal daytime polyp extension on my montipora and acropora. the polyps go crazy at night and I have an auto feeder setup to feed coral foods in the middle of the night for them. I get good growth out of my corals, been this way for almost two years due to angels or butterflies in the tank.

Makes sense. My reef is in my office lobby so I only feed during the day. With minimal food available at night it makes sense why some of the sps appeared to deteriorate. It’s taken my WD over a month to return to pre flame angel polyp extension.

 

[bobnicaragua]

The Klein is still in the tank. He's pretty much lost interest in the SPS, but their polyps are still retracted all day. I think he's gotten used to the auto feeders and nightly frozen.

 

[Coralsdaily]

might take the sps a few days to regain their confidence in polyp ext

 

[Tired]

I would definitely agree that no nipping, grazing fish can be trusted to be 100% reef safe. It's always possible they'll decide something is a good snack. I would, however, say that fish like frogfish and most gobies can. Fish that go after moving targets only, or food dropped in front of their face, and have no instinct to pick at things.

 

[Coralsdaily]

I would definitely agree that no nipping, grazing fish can be trusted to be 100% reef safe. It's always possible they'll decide something is a good snack. I would, however, say that fish like frogfish and most gobies can. Fish that go after moving targets only, or food dropped in front of their face, and have no instinct to pick at things.

Can't agree more, even tangs will accidentally nip at corals at times. And fox face will definitely nip at softies, and clams. Even though both of these fish groups are commonly labeled "reef safe"