The Butterfly Lover's Thread

[Raul-7]

Honestly, some of the most beautiful reef fish come from this family of fish. Now show us those butterfly fish!

 

[i cant think]

Honestly, some of the most beautiful reef fish come from this family of fish. Now show us those butterfly fish!

Here’s my current and past butterflies, currently I have a Forcipiger flavissimus and previously I had a 4 year old Chelmon rostratus.

 

[Raul-7]

I know there must be a lot more Butterfly lovers. Don't be shy..

 

[areefer01]

Short video of my Biota Milletseed Butterflyfish (Chaetodon miliaris). My Copperband is also in the mix which at the end you will see it eat aiptasia. Interesting enough the Milletseed is also eating it. These two always hang out together.

 

[Raul-7]

Please let's keep this alive.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Not very good pics since it's my quarantine and I just did a water change, but here's my current group:

Chaetodon capistratus
Chaetodon lunulatus
Chaetodon ephippium
Chaetodon xanthurus
Chaetodon kleini
Chaetodon pelewensis
Chaetodon citrinellus

Previous butterflies (some of these pics are from as far back as 2003). Species previously kept include:
Chaetodon lunula
Chaetodon ulietensis
Chaetodon falcula
Chaetodon decussatus
Chaetodon auriga
Chaetodon triangulum
Chaetodon miliaris
Chelmon rostratus
Forcipiger flavissimus
Heniochus acuminatus
Heniochus diphreutes
Heniochus varius
Chaetodon mertensii
Chaetodon semilarvatus
Chaetodon paucifasciatus
Chaetodon melannotus
Chaetodon collare
Hemitaurichthys polylepis
Chaetodon punctatofasciatus

 

[exnisstech]

My one and only

 

[Cichlid Dad]

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Honestly, some of the most beautiful reef fish come from this family of fish. Now show us those butterfly fish!

FINALLY THIS THREAD WAS MADE! Give me one month and share a photo of a pyramid butterfly pair. Right now they are not in my possession

 

[Raul-7]

Not very good pics since it's my quarantine and I just did a water change, but here's my current group:

Chaetodon capistratus
Chaetodon lunulatus
Chaetodon ephippium
Chaetodon xanthurus
Chaetodon kleini
Chaetodon pelewensis
Chaetodon citrinellus



Previous butterflies (some of these pics are from as far back as 2003). Species previously kept include:
Chaetodon lunula
Chaetodon ulietensis
Chaetodon falcula
Chaetodon decussatus
Chaetodon auriga
Chaetodon triangulum
Chaetodon miliaris
Chelmon rostratus
Forcipiger flavissimus
Heniochus acuminatus
Heniochus diphreutes
Heniochus varius
Chaetodon mertensii
Chaetodon semilarvatus
Chaetodon paucifasciatus
Chaetodon melannotus
Chaetodon collare
Hemitaurichthys polylepis
Chaetodon punctatofasciatus

Gorgeous!

What's the secret to keeping them and how did you get them to eat? Did any of them live past 1 year?

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Gorgeous!

What's the secret to keeping them and how did you get them to eat? Did any of them live past 1 year?

About 50% lived past 1 year. Finding initially healthy specimens is extremely important. Unfortunately butterflies are prone to bullying by more aggressive fish (most other FOWLR fish), prone to ich, velvet, flukes, uronema, and secondary bacterial infections due to trauma from shipping. Unfortunately a LOT of butterflies arrive with damaged mouths and those are basically doomed.

I think part of the problem with butterflies is also due to their high metabolism. Few people feed them frequently enough, and often times they arrive so skinny/starved from shipping and sitting unfed throughout the whole collection and shipping process that they are doomed from the day they get to the home aquarium. If you get a healthy butterfly, try to feed it 3x daily or more, as these are fish that eat all day long in the wild. This is why most of my angels, tangs, butterflies (really almost all my reef fish) are fed 4-6x daily.

Butterflies are also still commonly collected with cyanide (one of the most commonly collected families of fish using this method), and those are also usually doomed. Buying fat butterflies that are at least interested in food, with known collection locale (to avoid areas that still commonly use cyanide), and without any obvious signs of trauma or disease, then quarantining for at least 30 days (both to eliminate risk of disease and to train onto prepared foods/acclimate to captive life), leads to the highest chances of success in my opinion.

I quarantine mine with plenty of rock to pick at, and lots of food options fed throughout the day (mysis, brine, clam on the half shell, nori, NLS pellets, rods, frozen fish eggs, homemade frozen blend, live Caulerpa, and masstick). I usually keep other fish that eat well but are not overly aggressive or pushy around food in with them to help train them as well (mollies and cardinals work really well for this). All my butterflies now go through 30 days of cupramine, 3 treatments of praziquantel, at least 7 days of metronidazole, and 5 days of ruby reef rally pro, along with a 5 minute freshwater bath before entering into quarantine.

 

[Raul-7]

This is one of my dream butterfly fish.

 

[i cant think]

This is one of my dream butterfly fish.

I love them, and the Chaetodon baronessa. Maybe one day we will be able to keep those guys thriving long term.

 

[Raul-7]

I think part of the problem with butterflies is also due to their high metabolism. Few people feed them frequently enough, and often times they arrive so skinny/starved from shipping and sitting unfed throughout the whole collection and shipping process that they are doomed from the day they get to the home aquarium. If you get a healthy butterfly, try to feed it 3x daily or more, as these are fish that eat all day long in the wild. This is why most of my angels, tangs, butterflies (really almost all my reef fish) are fed 4-6x daily.

I agree.

Andrew Sandler has a good amount of success with them; could be due to the sheer amount of coral they have available to nip at.

He also feeds 4-5 times per day around 1lb each time.

A lot of people underfeed fish; they require frequent portions.

 

[MBruun]

My gang of Hemitaurichthys polylepis and the Copperband.
Been in my tank for +2 years, eating all kind of frozen food (copperband didn't touched frozen the first year or so) and never picked on my corals

 

[dennis romano]

My copperband is four years old. Here are the others.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I love them, and the Chaetodon baronessa. Maybe one day we will be able to keep those guys thriving long term.

So far my Chaetodon lunulatus is picking at the rockwork eating algae, eating some mysis and brine, even the occasional NLS pellet off the bottom. Also seems very interested in nori and clam on the half shell. Not bad for 24 hrs into quarantine. Just threw a batch of Repashy Spawn and Grow into the refrigerator on coral skeletons, hoping it likes those. Also hoping it learns from the other butterflies in quarantine with it, that are devouring just about everything in the tank.

Hoping to try another Chaetodon baronessa/triangulum at some point. Love both and wouldn't mind either. Lost the last one to Uronema, which is a shame considering it was eating Masstick.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Repashy Spawn and Grow on a coral skeleton was a big hit! Nori and clam on the half shell weren't snubbed either. And the pelewensis, citrinellus, kleini, and ephippium are devouring NLS, the capistratus and the lunulatus will eat one every once in a while.

 

[Raul-7]

Repashy is awesome; had a period where it was everywhere but now it's seldomly mentioned.

Not sure why?

 

[awwinterfall]