Are Butterflyfish in reef tanks misunderstood?

[jacrispy516]

A few weeks ago I made a post asking if there were any butterflyfish in the genus Chaetodon that were safe with coral. I've read many posts about some of my favorite species like the Klein's, Threadfin, Bluelashed, Latticed and Raccoon, where one was added and soon enough coral was eaten. Now I'm wondering are we going about adding butterflyfish the wrong way?

It's obvious a small frag would be a quick snack for a chaetodon butterflyfish but what if instead of a reef packed with tons of smaller colonies, there were only a few colonies of coral where each was the size of your head or larger? Basically colonies so large they would dwarf the butterflyfish.

So for an example question let's say a 300 gallon with monster sized colonies of acropora, stylophora, porites, montipora, seriatopora and sarcophyton. A pair of threadfin butterflyfish are added and you feed 4-5 times a day. Assuming even with multiple daily feedings they just can't resist snacking on coral, but in this case the coral is so large they barely put a dent and the coral can recover. Will they still end up decimating the colonies even if they are massive?

 

[Eastside reefer]

I want one in my anemone tank

 

[jacrispy516]

I want one in my anemone tank

That would probably have an even better chance at success if they're splitting a lot and clownfish are protecting them