Multibar Angelfish and Three-banded Butterflyfish (Chaetodon robustus)

Yas · Nov 17, 2017

I have a multibar angelfish in my 70 gallon tank now, and I am thinking to add a three-banded butterflyfish (chaetodon robustus or robustus butterflyfish). Does anyone have an idea if those two can get along?

I know a multibar angelfish hates anyone who invades his rock cave territory. I haven't fed robustus butterflyfish before so I'm not sure if it prefers to stay or hide in a rock cave. But if so, it may interfere with a multibar angelfish.

One solution I can think of is to have more rocks to hide so that there are multiple rock cave territories.

I'm also wondering if robustus butterflyfish is SPS safe or not. According to the following web page, it may be safe to put in a SPS reef tank.

http://www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies.php?CritterID=528

My multibar angelfish is totally SPS safe.

Does anyone have a suggestion? Thank you!

Maritimer · Nov 19, 2017

That's a great-looking fish, but I've never worked with them ... @eatbreakfast, or anyone on the #reefsquad - any suggestions?

(Welcome to Reef2Reef, by the way! Had the great good fortune to visit Kyoto some years ago, and Japan is one of my favorite places!)

~Bruce

Yas · Nov 19, 2017

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your reply, Bruce, and for welcoming me to R2R. Wow, you visited Kyoto! That's a nice place. Recently, I took my friend from the US to Asakusa, Tokyo. That's a nice place, too. When you come to Japan next time, please let me know.

By the way, here's my multibar angelfish from Vanuatu. I really love this one.

I've already asked the fish store to tell me when they got robustus butterfly. They said it could be the end of this month, or a few months later if they don't get one this month.

Also, I purchased some extra live rocks so that he can hide himself from the multibar. It's said that one may attack the other if the shape is similar. So I think I just need to have more caves for him to hide. I'm not sure if he picks SPS polyps, but if he does, I'll probably have to add more stony corals so that his targets are dispersed.

Thanks!

Yas