The Butterfly Lover's Thread

[Fishfreak2009]

@Fishfreak2009 Given your experience with a variety of butterflies, have you found corals that are generally ignored by most?

Healthy Acropora did fine with a lot of them, but if they're stressed or beginning to STN, they rapidly get consumed. Just don't put Acropora you care about with something like any of the obligate corallivores.

Pocillopora, Montipora, Stylophora, Seriatopora, and pretty much everything else I tried (including torches, frogspawn, hammer, galaxea, and various other softies/LPS) were readily consumed. Photosynthetic gorgs survived, but only opened polyps at night, and didn't really grow. Large, healthy, established photosynthetic anemones (long tentacles, bubbletips, sebae, etc) with established clownfish living in them did fine as well, but again, if it moves and the foot gets exposed, the butterflies (in my case the kleini especially) will tear at it until they kill it.

And some are worse than others. Kleini are supposed to be one of the safer butterflies for a reef but mine devours anything and everything coral.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Leathers?

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Leathers?

I have large angels that eat them, but my old Chaetodon ulietensis and my old Heniochus varius both ate Sarchophyton

 

[Bronco765]

Added a new butterfly to the crew. Came with the new tank. Moved the fish home so I can drain and move the tank and all equipment. Upgrading my 240g to a 900g!

Really nice Chaetodon semilarvatus! Threw in a few other pics with the other butterflies as well.

What fish is this and where did you get it?

 

[Fishfreak2009]

What fish is this and where did you get it?

Chaetodon argentatus - picked it up at one of my LFS