Experiment to see if certain corallivore butterflies can be kept in reef aquarium.

[Zionas]

Nice! What’s your total plan for fish?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Nice! What’s your total plan for fish?

Which one? I have a fish only that I have the Bennetti in right now and I have a reef tank I'll move him over to after training him on a new diet so he won't eat my coral or very little of it.

 

[Zionas]

Your fish only, but hey would also love to know for your reef.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Your fish only, but hey would also love to know for your reef.

My reef tank for a while has been fishless due to a fallow period die to ich and I haven't added any fish back yet even though it would be ok now. Like I said, I want to train the Bennetti to be reef safe or at least with caution and place him in there and I'm also a big fan of leopard wrasses and dragon wrasses. Maybe one more small fish but that's all because I want the focus to be on the corals.
The fish only tank will have the Peppered Butterfly and I love boxfishes and would like to add one. Possibly a dwarf angel and probably I'll eventually add another obligate corallivore butterfly and keep him in there.

 

[i cant think]

My reef tank for a while has been fishless due to a fallow period die to ich and I haven't added any fish back yet even though it would be ok now. Like I said, I want to train the Bennetti to be reef safe or at least with caution and place him in there and I'm also a big fan of leopard wrasses and dragon wrasses. Maybe one more small fish but that's all because I want the focus to be on the corals.
The fish only tank will have the Peppered Butterfly and I love boxfishes and would like to add one. Possibly a dwarf angel and probably I'll eventually add another obligate corallivore butterfly and keep him in there.

How big are the colonies?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

How big are the colonies?

50 and 75
Bennettis stay pretty small and that's actually plenty big according to sources I looked into

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

How big are the colonies?

I wonder if two young Bennettis would fight...in nature they usually are in pairs

 

[Zionas]

We don’t really know for sure, but generally the consensus seems to be that butterflies don’t change sex unlike other families of fish. If they do pair, I would assume that they pair when small / very small.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

We don’t really know for sure, but generally the consensus seems to be that butterflies don’t change sex unlike other families of fish. If they do pair, I would assume that they pair when small / very small.

Well they are pretty small but there are no distinguishing features between male and female so it would be risky

 

[A Young Reefer]

any updates?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

any updates?

Unfortunately my other fish weren't getting along with him well so I had to take him back but in the future I'd still like to try this with different tank mates... apparently (and surprisingly) Bennettis don't eat any Acros in the wild so it would be very interesting to see if it were possible to keep one in a tank with acros although they do eat other types of SPS corals

 

[A Young Reefer]

That's unfortunate to hear, good luck next time you try it.

 

[Zionas]

That sucks man, hope to see you try again soon. What are your other fish?

 

[i cant think]

Unfortunately my other fish weren't getting along with him well so I had to take him back but in the future I'd still like to try this with different tank mates... apparently (and surprisingly) Bennettis don't eat any Acros in the wild so it would be very interesting to see if it were possible to keep one in a tank with acros although they do eat other types of SPS corals

It would be amazing to see a bennetti in a tank with acros.
I wonder if you can keep all butterflies in a reef but I bet the colonies of coral need to be large and well established (as with any other RSWC fish).

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

It would be amazing to see a bennetti in a tank with acros.
I wonder if you can keep all butterflies in a reef but I bet the colonies of coral need to be large and well established (as with any other RSWC fish).

To support a butterfly with the SPS coral exclusively yeah I'd imagine that the corals need to be well established...my idea was to get him eating on a healthy diet of oysters, live worms, and other foods first and then introduce him

 

[i cant think]

To support a butterfly with the SPS coral exclusively yeah I'd imagine that the corals need to be well established...my idea was to get him eating on a healthy diet of oysters, live worms, and other foods first and then introduce him

I hope in the future you attempt this species again. Was there a specific group of fish that didn’t like the bennetti?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I hope in the future you attempt this species again. Was there a specific group of fish that didn’t like the bennetti?

I definitely plan to...It was primarily due to him being slower having trouble making the food adjustment at first partly because the other fish already knew the drill and didn't want to share... Bennettis are pretty docile so next time I try I'm going to come up with a special quarantine method for it...I purposefully didn't QT because I was concerned the copper might be even more stressful for him and I was hoping that the more natural surroundings would help the adjustment as opposed to an empty tank