The Butterfly Lover's Thread

[Louis Z]

I have seen those bare tanks and wonder how the fish sleep at night. Diving at night I always see the fish find places to sleep rather than swim in the open ocean . They gotta sleep . At night the nocturnal fish come out and swap places

 

[LaloJ]

I have seen those bare tanks and wonder how the fish sleep at night. Diving at night I always see the fish find places to sleep rather than swim in the open ocean . They gotta sleep . At night the nocturnal fish come out and swap places

To be honest, I wonder the same thing; they probably take some corner of the tank to "lie down," although there isn't much to do so.

 

[Louis Z]

Coral cover gives a fish a place to get out of current also so they can sleep . Do they turn off the pumps at night ?

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Currently have a new batch in quarantine. Bought a group of 3 locally, and got 4 online.

Local:
Chaetodon kleini
Chaetodon melannotus
Chaetodon xanthurus

Online:
Chaetodon mertensii
Chaetodon pelewensis x2
Chaetodon auriga

Xanthurus died within 72 hrs. Never came out of hiding in the PVC, just rapidly lost weight and died. It was barely 1" long, and I think the stress of shipping etc was too much for it. The other 2 the same size the LFS got in also died around the same time frame.

Melannotus and kleini are doing well. Eat just about everything, even small NLS pellets.

As for the online fish:
One pelewensis arrived in really rough shape and passed overnight. Remaining pelewensis has a small red wound on the side, but seems to be improving with daily dosing of Nitrofurazone and acriflavine. Negative for Uronema on a scrape. Starting to come out of the PVC and rockwork, and nibbled at a little mysis this morning.

Mertensii arrived with a damaged rostrum, which ballooned into a rotting bright red mess that rapidly ate away at the face. Dead in 48 hrs.

Auriga came in excellent shape, eating everything and hanging out in the water column with the kleini and the melannotus.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Oh my, that's a mixed-bag, health-wise. I'm rooting for your fish to make it to the DT... Best wishes; keep us posted. By the way, what was your online source?

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Oh my, that's a mixed-bag, health-wise. I'm rooting for your fish to make it to the DT... Best wishes; keep us posted. By the way, what was your online source?

All 4 online came from Petco.com which can be hit or miss. But honestly, no different than any other on WYSIWYG online retailers I've tried, just with a better warranty

 

[JumboShrimp]

I have had excellent results with Butterfly Fish from Reef Beauties, FYI.

 

[code4]

Here is mine. Have had him 4 years. I do like to give him an extra feeding after the wrasse hit the sand bed. He follows me when scraping the glass. Silly guy likes to scoop up any bristle worms that are stirred up with the sand. Personally I would never put him in a bare bottom tank. I also took a chance and only observed him in a fully established tank. With corals and a clam. After 2 years he realized there was a clam in the tank. Yep, after nibbling repeatedly on my crocea he was evicted into my display tank.

 

[MrsBugmaster]

For butterflies I have started buying only pre-quarantined. Over the years I’ve killed more than kept alive in quarantine otherwise.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Looking to add 1-2 butterflies to our tank in the future (it's still fairly new, so this is more of a future planning question than a "I'm going to buy them tomorrow" question). Tank is six feet long (125 gallons) mixed reef w/ a dedicated sump plumbed into a DIY 10 gallon refugium (for pod production and nutrient export). Planning to keep mostly LPS and easy SPS, along with some gorgonians.

Stocking is currently just 2 ocellaris, with a red firefish, engineer "goby", and orange stripe prawn goby as the next QT batch.

Planning to later add a royal gramma, melanurus wrasse, some lyretail anthias, tomini tang, and longnose hawkfish.

In an ideal scenario, we'd love to add a copperband and a yellow longnose (flavissimus). I recognize these are both hit or miss depending on sourcing, plus they can be tricky to get feeding. I'd like to add them earlier on in the stocking list to give them a better chance at establishing good feeding habits with less competition.

When the time comes, is it better to add both to QT simultaneously, or would it be too stressful for them to be quarantined together? In the latter case, since the yellow longnose is more peaceful (as per the aggression chart in this thread), would it be better to add the longnose first? Realistically, which of these species tends to take feeding training better?

Do you agree with adding these earlier on in the list?

I'm keeping a few others in mind as "falback" options in case one or both of the above species don't work. Just being realistic. Looking at Heniochus diphreutes (fits well with my mostly planktivorous feeding guild) or Chaetodon kleinii, as I've heard both adapt to captivity better than the CBB and longnose.

Thanks in advance!

 

[JumboShrimp]

Due to their similar 'snouts', I'd think the Copperband and Yellow Longnose would each size up the other fairly quickly as food-competition. That being said, if you wanted to try having both in your 6' long tank (with lots of rock work to break up lines of sight, and good front and back 'swim lanes'), then I think ideally you would want to get a 40-gallon long as a QT tank and divide it in half with an eggcrate type divider. Then now only will they get used to on another, but they will see each other eating in close proximity. (Sharing is caring! LOL!)

 

[Louis Z]

40 gal good idea . I used 20gal for multiple and was too small . There seems to be domination by one . And if they are delicate species , one will impair the feeding of the other . You need both to be eating without interference . Live food is a plus with butterfly fish have a supply ready . Grindal worms , blackworms , micro worms etc… . Something that twitches on the way down . Then you can introduce small amounts of frozen blood worms or other frozen food , with the live to transition over . Make sure you control ammonia . I hate wasting a lot of water when tank transfers are done. I do smaller tank( less wasted water) with preference to individual species . I had done multiple species in a 20 and eventually had to separate. 20 long for small fish that need swimming space . 10 gal for fish that swim little .

 

[Louis Z]

One other thing is to be careful when qt fish from different vendors or batches . They may be infected with different parasites . You don’t want to introduce another parasite to a fish that is already infected with a different parasite . You are setting it up as a faster way to weaken the fish .

 

[Michael Hughes]

I'm currently running a 20 long for QT. I guess what I'm trying to decide is whether to set up a 40 breeder to try both species at once (as suggested above), or to QT them one at a time in the 20 long and then introduce the second to the DT with an acclimation box. What do you guys think? If the latter, which species should go into the tank first?

As a side note, I'm also toying around with the idea of a captive bred multibar angel at some point, as one of 2-3 centerpiece fish for this display... maybe I'm too ambitious with these trickier fish, but I'm taking this whole build process slowly and hopefully will be able to design success. Still weighing options. Thanks again for your input!

 

[Louis Z]

I would qt them one at a time . Treat with prazi after they have begun eating . I too wanted a Copperband . But was worried about the feeding and acclimation so I bought some other butterfly fish to do trial run . Now I love them . So if you have never had butterflies before . I would suggest trying some easier feeding ones first before doing the Longnose type species . Look for captive bred when you can as well as companies that Qt . Yes more expensive but in the long run they are cheaper if you loose them

 

[Michael Hughes]

I too wanted a Copperband . But was worried about the feeding and acclimation so I bought some other butterfly fish to do trial run . Now I love them .

Which others did you try? One of my main considerations is that they be at least reasonably safe with corals.

I would qt them one at a time . Treat with prazi after they have begun eating .

This is what I'm leaning towards at the moment. In terms of aggression, I presume the yellow longnose may be more laid back (as per the compatibility chart earlier in this thread). So I'm thinking if I do them separately, it makes sense to try the yellow longnose before the copperband.

 

[Louis Z]

Which others did you try? One of my main considerations is that they be at least reasonably safe with corals.

I have FOWLR . Can’t tell you which are safe with corals . Went with black backed which seem very brave and boisterous . But they sure run from the red collar Pakistani . He is the boss of them . They all make way for the juvenile blue face and the 9in emperor angelfish I plan on more Pakistani in the future .

 

[Jasonak]

I have CBB and the Yellow longnose in my SPS dominant tank I do have LPS in there also. There will be a CBB for sale at fish hotel being released tomorrow.

https://fishotel.com/shop/quarantined-fish/copperband-butterflyfish/

Which others did you try? One of my main considerations is that they be at least reasonably safe with corals.


This is what I'm leaning towards at the moment. In terms of aggression, I presume the yellow longnose may be more laid back (as per the compatibility chart earlier in this thread). So I'm thinking if I do them separately, it makes sense to try the yellow longnose before the copperband.

 

[Michael Hughes]

I have CBB and the Yellow longnose in my SPS dominant tank I do have LPS in there also.

Good to hear. Did you add them at the same time?

 

[Jasonak]

Good to hear. Did you add them at the same time?

no added at different times.