Long-term success with corallivorous butterflyfish?

[HK180]

I've seen short-term successes (1-2 years), but has anyone kept a corallivorous butterfly (or other fish) for a longer period, like 5+ years? If so, what did you feed (or do you suspect that your fish nipping occasionally at coral polyps led to long-term success)?

 

[Snoopy 67]

I don't think so.
There was an article a while back , I think by Matt Peterson on keeping them in Coral Magazine.

 

[awwinterfall]

Will be attempting the triangle butterflyfish. Keep you guys updated

 

[Zionas]

The only way I can see this work out in “numbers” is putting them in very large or huge SPS dominant tanks where the corals have been growing for many years or even decades. Where the rate at which they eat the corals is managed by the growth of the stony corals. This means a lot of care and time will have to be put into replenishing Calcium, Alkalinity, and maybe some trace elements to optimize the exoskeleton growth and replacement. This means the core to sustaining such species is having to become a phenomenal SPS dominant / SPS only reef keeper before one can even consider such fish.

Maybe one day we will be able to harvest their larvae or very small juveniles and wean them onto captive diets, or even better, captive breed them so that aquarium diets are all they’ve ever known.

 

[awwinterfall]

Triangle butterflyfish didn't make it out of the airport

 

[Zionas]

That sucks. Sorry to hear that.

 

[awwinterfall]

I might try ordering another one (last attempt on triangle butterfly)

 

[Zionas]

They’re beautiful fish but if you like butterflies, I’d highly suggest going for an easier species. Are there any other species you have in mind? I just don’t think it’s a good use of time and money trying to condition a fish that likely won’t live.

 

[HK180]

The only way I can see this work out in “numbers” is putting them in very large or huge SPS dominant tanks where the corals have been growing for many years or even decades. Where the rate at which they eat the corals is managed by the growth of the stony corals. This means a lot of care and time will have to be put into replenishing Calcium, Alkalinity, and maybe some trace elements to optimize the exoskeleton growth and replacement. This means the core to sustaining such species is having to become a phenomenal SPS dominant / SPS only reef keeper before one can even consider such fish.

Maybe one day we will be able to harvest their larvae or very small juveniles and wean them onto captive diets, or even better, captive breed them so that aquarium diets are all they’ve ever known.

But do they need to eat coral polyps to survive? Or can they subside off of other food sources (algae, oysters, etc)? Can we meet the nutritional requirements by feeding alternative food sources?

Younger/smaller individuals are generally easier to transition onto different diets. My copperband was ~2" and transitioned from pecking on the rockwork to an oyster within 4 days. Could a young corallivorous fish who is frequently fed/given non-coral foods for grazing thrive long-term?

 

[HK180]

They’re beautiful fish but if you like butterflies, I’d highly suggest going for an easier species. Are there any other species you have in mind? I just don’t think it’s a good use of time and money trying to condition a fish that likely won’t live.

I have a copperband (now 1 year old and very fat). I am interested in tackling more challenging species--ONLY if it can be done appropriately with a high chance of survival. There are definitely some species that should stay in the ocean, and I'm questioning whether this is also true for corallivorous fish.

TSM and NY Aquatic sell Chaetodon larvatus, and I believe a reefer kept one for 2-3 years? But IMO if butterflyfish live 5-10 years in the wild, success in captivity should be defined as a comparable lifespan to that in the wild (or greater).

Transit and diet is the first challenge, which could be tackled by 1) picking up the fish at the airport from a wholesaler, 2) immediately offering coral frags, 3) weaning fish onto Masstick-covered skeletons and rock, and 4) offering alternative food sources. But is that sustainable long-term? And even after training onto a new diet, would the fish revert back to its original habits upon introduction into a reef tank?

 

[Esox]

Not a whole lot of info in this article: Interesting Ecology Shift of Blacktail and Orangeface Butterflyfish, but it points to evidence that the obligate corallivores may not be so obligate after all.

 

[NoLarvatusplease]

I have a copperband (now 1 year old and very fat). I am interested in tackling more challenging species--ONLY if it can be done appropriately with a high chance of survival. There are definitely some species that should stay in the ocean, and I'm questioning whether this is also true for corallivorous fish.

TSM and NY Aquatic sell Chaetodon larvatus, and I believe a reefer kept one for 2-3 years? But IMO if butterflyfish live 5-10 years in the wild, success in captivity should be defined as a comparable lifespan to that in the wild (or greater).

Transit and diet is the first challenge, which could be tackled by 1) picking up the fish at the airport from a wholesaler, 2) immediately offering coral frags, 3) weaning fish onto Masstick-covered skeletons and rock, and 4) offering alternative food sources. But is that sustainable long-term? And even after training onto a new diet, would the fish revert back to its original habits upon introduction into a reef tank?

There is no justifiable reason for taking any of the Larvatus species off the reef.Its a death sentence and a struggle for reefers that is a lose lose proposition.Your egos say I can pull this off and the fish are caught in a game of Russian Roulette.Plenty of other fish in the sea to enjoy.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I've seen short-term successes (1-2 years), but has anyone kept a corallivorous butterfly (or other fish) for a longer period, like 5+ years? If so, what did you feed (or do you suspect that your fish nipping occasionally at coral polyps led to long-term success)?

I've tried a few different species now with no success over 2 years in captivity. Latest few tries have all been less than 3 months, though condition of the fish on initial purchase played a LARGE part in that.

There is a whole group dedicated to just these fish on Facebook called the Corallivore Challenge, definitely worth a look. A few people on there have had there fish for 5+ years, and have pretty good success. Honestly though, getting a fish that isn't half dead to start is the hardest part (just about impossible IMO). They seem to all come in mostly starved, with either Vibrio infections, Uronema, velvet, flukes, or at least 2 of the above diseases, and are usually stuck in bare tanks with fish that bully them. Doesn't work out well.

 

[i cant think]

There is no justifiable reason for taking any of the Larvatus species off the reef.Its a death sentence and a struggle for reefers that is a lose lose proposition.Your egos say I can pull this off and the fish are caught in a game of Russian Roulette.Plenty of other fish in the sea to enjoy.

Yet, if we behaved that way with Copperbands we wouldn’t be seeing success like we do now