Reef safe butterflies

[BestMomEver]

I LOVE several of the dwarf angels, the pygmy being one of my favorites, but just not willing to roll the dice now. ;NailbitingMy reef is still so new and most of my corals are just now established and growing. Maybe when they are all a year older, it won't bother me as much if something nips at a thriving colony. Until then, 100% reef safe for me. There are so many different species I would like to keep that are not reef safe, it has me considering a FOWLR set-up in the future.

Haha! Me too! Problem.... hubby, so no time soon.

 

[WMR]

Atlantic longnose butterfly, schooling bannerfish, butterflys from the subgenus roaops like burgess tinkers etc and longnose and copperbands are all decent candidates but it still totslly depends on the individual fush

I agree with you 100%

 

[Bradley Keck]

Haha! Me too! Problem.... hubby, so no time soon.

Yip. I'm pretty sure if I made that suggestion, I would be living in the tank too.

 

[Larry L]

Marginalis butterfly (Chelmon marginalis) look and act a lot like Copperbands but from what I've heard they are hardier and much easier to get eating than a Copperband. They're more expensive too, but from everything I've seen (and experienced myself) with Copperbands it's basically a crap shoot as to whether you get lucky with a Copperband that survives or just end up throwing your money down the drain.

 

[pcon]

No species of Chaetodontidae nor Pomacanthidae are 100% reef safe. All butterflies and angels have some chance of eating coral. Most of the major reefing publications have run articles specifically addressing the reef safe butterflies. Reef-builders, reefs.com as more recent well done articles.

I am personally quite partial to the Roaops butterflies, such as the Burgess. I trust them slightly more than copper bands and long noses, but that’s purely gut feel and experience.

Ultimately with any butterfly you will first need to decide that you are okay with it maybe eating any coral or invert in the tank with it. I saw my coperband flip and devour a fighting conch, after that I realized it’s totally down to the individual butterfly.

 

[Elgringodiablo]

There is a really good Macna talk about it: I have a bandit angel and a declivis butterfly in a reef tank, I see them pick occasionally, but not enough to do any real damage. That said, I have forgone zoanthids and most LPS in that tank, knowing full well they might get eaten. I think the pickers tend to be less of an issue with SPS.

 

[jpas]

I have a declivis butterfly, Queen Angel, French Angel and emperor angel in my reef.

I also have a Morish Idol, who started a feeding frenzy on a rock that was completely covered in zoas, it was stripped in around 6 hours.

Other than that and a maxima clam, they have been pretty good.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Its a game of luck. Have copperband in each tank- No issue. Had a Pakistani that went after everything.

 

[Steve Fast]

You might want to check out the thread:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/poll-how-many-reefers-have-successfully-kept-a-butterfly.543544/

Check out @ReefTeacher posts there as well as mine... Quick answer and more later is that I've been successful with all of the following in my reef tank. The only items they get are the frogspawns and oddly enough there is a single frogspawn they have left alone. Second qualifier, they are fed well: chopped scallops and shrimp in Vitachem and Selcon plus chopped clams on the halfshell. Contrary to a previous post on the above thread, lately have had problems introducing new fish and have noticed some subtle and not so subtle aggression towards new additions (Yes @Devaji was right!). Here is a video of them eating

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KWoTADvWicdhxUcy7

Indian Ocean Vagabond Butterflyfish - Chaetodon decussatus
Pebbled Butterflyfish - Chaetodon guttatissimus
Lemon Butterflyfish - Chaetodon miliaris
Spotband Butterflyfish - Chaetodon punctatofasciatus
Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish - Forcipiger flavissimus
Double Saddle Butterflyfish - Chaetodon ulietensis
Latticed Butterflyfish - Chaetodon rafflesi
Klein’s Butterflyfish - Chaetodon kleinii
Pearlscale Butterflyfish - Chaetodon xanthuru
Pakistan Butterflyfish - Chaetodon collare
Singapore Angelfish - Chaetodontoplus mesoleucus

 

[ReefTeacher]

Over the years I have had many butterflies in reefs, but I usually restricted my corals to softies, so I played it fairly safe. I have had too many to list, even if I could remember them all; but some stories worth note:

Chaetodon auriga; a very hardy and beautiful butterfly, but it ate every polyp available, even green star polyps! I have no experience with this in an SPS tank.

I have had several pearscales, Chaetodon xanthurus (my personal favorite) safe with soft corals and SPS, but I had a trio suddenly and viciously turn on an elegance coral and reduce it to a skeleton in a short time.

I had a Chaetodon decussatus eat the Aiptasia from between the branches of a large Acropora, but never harm the coral.

I have had the greatest success with Copper bands using worms. Blackworms when they are available, but with my latest one, homegrown whiteworms have done wonders. Now he eats everything!

 

[OrionN]

How can you not love a CBB in a reef?

 

[OrionN]

 

[Bleigh]

I’ve seen photos of butterflies kept in SPS dominant reef tanks and am interested in learning about which species are less likely to nip at corals. I know that pyramid and zoster species are planktavores, not coralavores. But, I’m sure there are others that are appropriate for an SPS tank. What do y’all recommend that isn’t as likely to eat my corals and is not too difficult to keep?

I was googling this earlier today. Following for the info.

 

[twotangs]

I had this Klein for years. I had to remove my frogspawn but everything else it left alone. I would get another one.

 

[tdlawdo]

Definitely getting one for my reef..debating between be CBB Which can be hard to feed or the pyramid also beautiful fish.


.

 

[suta4242]

I also have a Morish Idol, who started a feeding frenzy on a rock that was completely covered in zoas, it was stripped in around 6 hours....

I take this to mean the others joined in? If so, I think this is common behaviour in the wild, especially in groups of butterflys.

A male colins angel buddied up with a declivis and together they were fabulous to watch, but periodically naughty. I had some tiny tuxedo urchins come in with live rock. An inch sized one was on the glass one day and the angel was showing a lot of interest in it. The butterfly was now also interested and opened it up with a few direct hits from his snout. Then the angel pulled the first of the flesh out which went flying around the tank while these two grabbed pieces greedily. This event cemented their friendship and the two remained inseparable.

I then promptly removed a large maxima from the tank...

 

[JMM744]

I have a teardrop, Klein’s and saddleback in my 180 so far. Corals in the tank are large grandis colony, large chalice, a rock with leftover sps that encrusted before moving, a couple small frags of encrusting corals and a large blueridge coral as well as two nice bubbletip anemones.
I see the Klein’s pick at the chalice once in a while and the teardrop has eaten some of the edges of a nice montipora but very little. Know that these corals are expendable in my mind so if the fish eat them that’s fine by me. As I add other butterflies who knows what will happen but the fish are my prime objective.
I see good polyp extension on the blueridge most days and I figured the saddleback might pick on those but so far it has not.
If I place a rock with aptasia in the tank though look out. They will strip that rock in very little time. My guess is Zola’s would be short lived in the tank. As my zoo colonies grow I will add some to the tank just to see.
I do keep these fish well fed with homemade frozen so maybe that helps, don’t know though. I also keep nori in the tank which they shread in no time.