I believe
@areefer01 has one!
I do have one, yes. Thank you for tagging me. I am happy to answer any questions for anyone.
Does anyone have experience with Biota's Milletseed butterfly fish? I'm planning soft corals and I have lots of little crabs that I'd rather not see murdered. Thanks!
Just curious, ever find an answer to this question?
Sorry I did not see either asking about or for an answer. I added it on 8/23/2023 and it was purchased directly from Biota. It arrived pretty small maybe the size of a US $0.50 piece. Light in color but full belly with the start of the seed pattern on its body. No sooner than I placed it in the display it was out and about hugging the reef rock structure. My Pink Square Anthias, the dominate one, would constantly dive bomb it so it would use the reef structure to shield it. Later it would shadow my Copperband Butterfly for protection. Pretty neat to observe really.
Here it is as after arrival:
It is in a 210 gallon mixed reef that is about 8 years old. Larger colonies of LPS and SPS but not many soft corals. I have two small patches of zoas and some green paly things but everything else is larger sized colonies such as hammers, frogspawn, torches, mushrooms, and acropora. I had a 4" maxima clam for a while with it and it didn't bother that either. Unfortunately for an unknown reason I lost it overnight a couple months back. I think carbon/gfo related but just my opinion.
It eats all of the food I put in the display. Dry pellet mix, frozen, and I feed heavy houly dry between the hours of 0830 and 1830 with one or two frozen. Frozen I rotate through LRS reef, fish, prime reef, and a few others. All small portions. Feeding more to me makes me feel good, leads me to believe they are less likely to nip at things they shouldn't, and less aggression. I have nothing to back this up just how I view it.
Again I don't have many if any soft corals. I used to have Xenia in my display to plague proportions but it has since been cleared out by both my Zoster and Pyramid butterflies. I am guessing here but if I had any left I would say it would nip at it. I'm not sure but just what my gut tells me.
I am biased as this is one of my favorite fish. On my daughters first scuba dive after certification we entered a lower part of a reef in Hawaii and a bunch of these swam towards us. After the dive back on the boat she couldn't stop talking about them. So to be honest it could nip or eat all of the corals in my display and I wouldn't care two ways to Tuesday. However I am lucky in that it is, for the most part, a model citizen in our reef.
I'm sort of all over the place here but let me know if there is anything more specific I can help. I can try to get a more current video or picture tomorrow if it helps. I know three other reefers I talk to regularlly and they are also owners of the fish and enjoy them. In my opinion they are a hidden gem.
Here it is again looking for aiptasia and other things in the macro algae I feed the tang and rabbit:
Another one of it looking for aiptasia
Lastly here is a short display shot of it to give you an idea of the other corals. 2024 - not sure I have anything current. My apology.
