butterflies in reefs
 

I can't get enough!

i started out like everyone. a stereotypical reefer who would cringe at the very sight of a butterfly, fearing for my corals.

soon i started taking risks, and learning more and learnt that there are many reef safe ones.

then i took the first bite. a longnose butterfly. which has been with me ever since. i like it more and more! so i got a marginalis, which is not with me anymore :(

now i'm hooked so deeply i can't get out. i'm a fan of butterflies and even bigger fan of them in reefs. i take time sharing about butterflies in reefs to my friends in my local forum about reef safe butterflies from the genus forcipiger, chelmon, prognathodes, hemitaurichtys and i'm glad to see that some of my friends have taken the chance too!

i now have a declivis, mitratus, longnose in the display, and a semeion in QT. the semeion is a tough nut to crack!

i love butterflies and reef safe is beyond me now. in a SPS tank, the damage done is quite minimal. and i'm even keeping some LPS too! so much so that i got myself a semeion and i'm getting a paucifasciatus soon. i cannot wait for it to come! it's been years since they were made available!

that should fill my quota..for the number of butterflies in one tank.

so to the wind with reef-safeness i say!

any butterfly in reef tank lovers here? i know there are some!

Well, to be practical, not much has changed with respect to the butterflies that have been commonly available for years and years. Most are still pretty destructive in a reef, depending on the coral. There is still no way I'd drop a threadfin or pearlscale into my reef. And, personally, my collare and blackback proceeded to clean out my FOWLR of any few random corals and polyps I had.

I don't think longnose types were ever said not to be reef safe.

The roa complex types are newer on the scene (well, compared to when I started), as are the zoster/pyramid.

Now, all that said, I am tempted to try a saddleback in my reef :D :D

in my country, people are afraid even of longnose and copperbands. and would kill them with a stake and garlic cloves. that's how backward the situation is.

well yes i agree! pearlscales and the like are way too destructive but i can't help it.

i threw in a semeion, which is quite closely related to saddleback (they do hybridise in the wild) and so far so good. nipping on my SPS but nothing much.

i would love a saddleback too. they're gorgeous aren't they? but will sacrifice this for something else.

i'll wait for my red sea pearlscale and then throw that in too.

granted there are some that are really not safe to the fullest extent. like ocellicaudus and mellanotus. these 2 eat soft corals in the wild even the untasty sarcophyton. LPS too. collare is also quite destructive.

Pfft, good luck finding the red sea pearlscale. Been years I've been wanting one.

I have a gorgeous saddleback. He is only 3" or so, but has full adult colors...streamer...purple belly stripes, faded eye band... stunning!

dejong marine has 3 in stock now. my LFS manage to secure one piece and is bringing it in for me upon request.

i've been waiting for it for eternity already but it's not completely unobtainable... just super rare to the nth power.

So jealous. I don't know about putting it in reef though. Maybe you should send it over to my FOWLR ;)

well perhaps it's just a dream and too good to be true. red sea peralscales were thought to be gone as with the red sea regals. for some unknown reason i would like to know why.

but if it does ever come, then i'll be so happy. it can chew on anything it wants. if i do ever get it, i'll be sure to update you on it's behaviour.

i know you want one alot. i've searched paucifasciatus and you mentioned it in a thread you created.

let's not pop the champagne yet :P not until it arrives that is. :lol:

i have a mitratus and a burgess in my tank with sps and an anemone. seems to work ou fin. i'm very happy with these fish because they're gorgeous and add a lot to the aesthetic in my opinion. wish my burgess wasnt so aggressive against th mitratus at feeding time though!

nice! 2 beautiful roaps butterflies in your tank.

your burgess is nasty towards your mitratus during feeding time? that's interesting. i've read many accounts on mitratus being very aggressive

I'll keep it chilling just in case though :D

So, can you expand more on what the semeion does/eats?

Oh, and to keep this thread on track :D :D:

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...IMG_9205-1.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...IMG_9146-1.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...IMG_9121-1.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...IMG_9122-1.jpg

that longnose is gorgeous! so fat!

what are you feeding it and what's your feeding regime?

the semeion is very very very finicky. it only nibbles on floating nori for now. it's only been a week..

i've spoken to my friend who kept this species. apparently very shy and skittish, even in the wild. but his fed after 2 weeks and is living well ever since!

anyone ever had luck with the raccoon butterflies?

This YLN is the smaller of the two that I had in my FOWLR. It never ate flake or pellet like the larger one, so I decided to move it into the reef, since the anthias get all sorts of frozen foods anyway. He gets scallop, shrimp, mysis, and occasionally blackworms.

demonclownfish - raccoons are like threadfins and are quite destructive in reef tanks. especially towards small anemones. bubbletips included. as well as aiptasia :D i saw a soft coral dominated TOTM once with a threadfin in it though. seems doable, but again, depending on your choice of corals. in a tank full of meaty LPS, i don't think it's a good idea.

SDguy - how may i address you btw? and you manage to get one of them to eat pellets and flakes? that's impressive!

I'm Peter. Yes, I was pretty surprised to see the larger YLN eat pellets. You think the little one is fat, you should see him!!

Hi peter.

mine takes a bite at pellets once in awhile. i guess it feels left out that everyone is eating this hard biscuit and he's all alone. but then he can't get it into his mouth. perhaps i should try smaller ones or pre-soaking them first.

keeping the body mass on YLN is not as easy as other fishes i find, due to their skinny nature and tiny mouths. i feed mine 3 times a day with frozen if i'm at home, or 2 times if i'm not at home.

pellets would definitely help in keeping it robust though.

I do pre-soak them. He really prefers the ReaSea brand over NLS though :o Do I just continue to call you Lemon?

yes you can call me Lemon :D most people call me by that name.

i'll try soaking pellets tomorrow to feed my YLN and update here. fingers crossed!

yeah the burgess was there first and is just slightly larger so he is the aggressor at feeding time. but other times they can be swimming together.

i love the body shape of these butterflies. and the color / patterns make them very attractive IMO.

lemon what country are you from?

Hi. yah i like the shape of those butterflies. i have a mitratus and a declivis. i like the spike that hangs out from the anal fin!

i'm from Singapore. butterflies are difficult to obtain here because they are unpopular. marginalis has only appeared once. for butterflies like tinkeri, i have to request for it to get it. but the others do come occasionally or rarely.

i do sometimes catch copperbands from the beach. they are very common and hand caught ones with only a 30 min travelling time from sea to my house are very hardy! they eat very well.

cool. by the way, i got these guys from Diver's Den (liveaquaria) and they eat everything. flakes, rod's food, pellets, i think they even munch a little cyclopeeze when i drop that in.

i wish i could get fishes from liveaquaria too :(

i cannot. so i subscribe anyway and ogle and beautiful fish pictures daily :P

How are saddleback butterflies(cheatodon ephippium) with SPS? I tried searching and couldn't find much. Liveaquaria says they eat "hard corals" but isn't specific on what types, I figured they probably eat LPS.

Peter, is that a "big" longnose or the more common flavissimus?

It's just the regular one. While people have commented to me that the long longnose isn't uncommon, I personally have never seen one.... and I look ;)