Long-nosed Butterflyfish
- Thread starter nerdwolf
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nerdwolf
Active Member
I guess I'll be more specific... I have a small reef tank, 57 gallons, with a current population of:
1 blue tang
2 A. Oscillaris (pair, probably not mated)
1 tailspot blenny
2 pajama cardinals
1 fire shrimp
Some hermit crabs, a turbo snail, a couple nassarius snails round out the main cast. Also have a rock flower anemone and an rbta, a couple hundred nuclear green palys and assorted other buttons, a couple LPS and a few SPS. Everything but the palys are frags.
Given this info, are there any red flags? Not the blue tang, already know it needs a bigger home someday, but it came with the tank. I mean, will the butterflyfish bug my snails, corals, or shrimp? Will it get too big? I would greatly appreciate any first hand advice you can give me.
1 blue tang
2 A. Oscillaris (pair, probably not mated)
1 tailspot blenny
2 pajama cardinals
1 fire shrimp
Some hermit crabs, a turbo snail, a couple nassarius snails round out the main cast. Also have a rock flower anemone and an rbta, a couple hundred nuclear green palys and assorted other buttons, a couple LPS and a few SPS. Everything but the palys are frags.
Given this info, are there any red flags? Not the blue tang, already know it needs a bigger home someday, but it came with the tank. I mean, will the butterflyfish bug my snails, corals, or shrimp? Will it get too big? I would greatly appreciate any first hand advice you can give me.
nerdwolf
Active Member
Doesn't sound good... knew some butterflyfish did that, but thought this was an exception.
p woodard
Valuable Member
This is the only Butterfly I would trust Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Schooling Bannerfish and even at that I would watch closely I like my sps alot
rcmike
Valuable Member
There are some people having great success with some butterflies in reef tanks. I have kept longirostris and copperband and neither nipped at anything enough to cause any damage. It all depends on the individual fish. Of course some are a lot more likely to nip at corals than others. I have always been one to experiment though.
nerdwolf
Active Member
From what's being said it sounds like all of them are somewhat untrustworthy in a reef tank, with some species being less destructive than others, varying by each individual. Based on that, I'm going to steer clear of them at least until I have a larger tank with well-established colonies that can sustain the occasional nibble. Thanks for the input guys.
jwatkins
New Member
We've had two copperbands, about a year apart. One of my favorite fish by far!!! Graceful, elegant, beautiful! Neither picked at corals (we didn't have much, so it'd clearly be noticed). One picked at small bristleworms and the picked at pods. Of course we feed them well...a variety of types maybe 6 out of 7 days a week. Both died, though, so that says something. We introduced new fish which brought in ich, so the first one died of ich. The second one remains a mystery as to why he died. Parameters were great.
In our experience with Blue Tangs, they are bully fish. Both our Tang and a friend's Tang ran our tanks when we weren't looking. The dynamics changed drastically when the Tang was removed (for the better). Since yours is clearly the biggest and most aggressive in your tank, I would not recommend you trying the butterfly until you get the tang out.
In our experience with Blue Tangs, they are bully fish. Both our Tang and a friend's Tang ran our tanks when we weren't looking. The dynamics changed drastically when the Tang was removed (for the better). Since yours is clearly the biggest and most aggressive in your tank, I would not recommend you trying the butterfly until you get the tang out.
pickupman66
5000 Club Member
Really? Problem is they are often mistaken for a similar onenthat will nip. I have had a copperband and will have another once the weather stabilizes. I currently have a. Yellow pyramid and they are extremely reef safe planktonavores.
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nerdwolf
Active Member
Yellow pyramids and copperbands are both beautiful fish. My clowns are the most aggressive fish in my tank. I think my tang thinks he's a clownfish too - they were the only fish in the tank for the last 4 years, and they hang out together most of the time - they even share a cave or overhang when they sleep at night. I added a tailspot blenny last week, and it's settled in nicely - I've never seen them show any aggression towards it. That said, the male clown started hosting the RBTA I got last week, and ever since then they've been acting more and more like the damsels they are. They nip at my hand if I spend more than a minute moving rock or frags, no matter where I am in the tank. If they have the guts to go after my hand, I imagine they're going to make life pretty tough on whatever I add from now on unless I take them out first.
pickupman66
5000 Club Member
Clowns can do that. especially in a tank your size. FWIW, the Yellow pyramids are swimmers like Tangs. your tank is WAY too small bot both the blue tank you currently have and a butterfly. I know mine swims constantly from one end to the other.
nerdwolf
Active Member
I've always known the blue tang would outgrow the tank, but it's about 4-5" long now, no signs of HLLE or anything, and is pretty active as you mentioned. I know the longnose is a smaller fish at adult size, but I have no plans of keeping both. I'm actually kind of bummed out for the tang, because for the first time, the clowns are treating it like an outsider. They aren't getting real rough or anything, just a little push or peck on the side when the tang gets too close to the bottom of the cave where the rbta is. Maybe they're finally getting comfy enough to consider mating and don't want it around anymore because of that, who knows. But I always kind of liked how they were all like brothers from another mother.
