Aiptasia eating butterfly fish

[fishoholic]

I was thinking there are a few different butterfly fish that are known aiptasia eaters. Copperbands for sure being one of them, however CBB's are notoriously tricky and while I have had some success with them I'd rather find a hardier aiptasia eating butterfly for my 80g. I had a filefish which was eating the aiptasia but he slowed down with eating them after awhile and is presumed dead now since it's been well over a month since I last saw him.

I have mushrooms and maxi mini anemones in my 80g, so I'd like to eventually get a butterfly that eats aiptasia but not maxi minis. While doing some research I found or have heard that these butterflies (other then CBB's) will eat aiptasia:

Raccoon
Klein's
Threadfin
Burgess
Latticed
Longnose
Saddleback
Pyramid

The problem is some people say the above do, and some people say they don't. So I'm not sure what to believe. Also read the some of the above will eat aiptasia but also will eat mushroom anemones (I'm assuming they mean maxi minis) Anyone have any ideas or experiences? Please share thanks :biggrin:

[monocus]

bannerfish

[BlueTang<3]

Every fish is going to be hit or miss whether or not they will eat aiptasia or pick at corals. I used to have a sailfin tang that loved aiptasia. I have heard next to the copperband the kleins are the most successful. Why don't you get Doug to throw a butterfly in a tank with mushrooms and aiptasia at work and see if the fish eats it. Aquarium illusions threw my cooperband now into a tank with corals and aiptasia and left it for a weekend for me. What I have also seen is people calling any mushroom, mushroom anemones. Seems to be a common thing especially in the states.

[fishoholic]

bannerfish

I didn't think bannerfish ate aiptasia? Did/do you own one or know of one that did?

Every fish is going to be hit or miss whether or not they will eat aiptasia or pick at corals. I used to have a sailfin tang that loved aiptasia. I have heard next to the copperband the kleins are the most successful. Why don't you get Doug to throw a butterfly in a tank with mushrooms and aiptasia at work and see if the fish eats it. Aquarium illusions threw my cooperband now into a tank with corals and aiptasia and left it for a weekend for me. What I have also seen is people calling any mushroom, mushroom anemones. Seems to be a common thing especially in the states.

So true about hit or miss, I just thought I'd see if it was more of a hit with some then others.

Makes sense about the mushroom comparison since they are similar. I don't really care about my plain mushrooms but there are some nice ric's in there that I don't want eaten and of course my maxi minis.

[Delphinus]

Laurie, I think pretty much any butterfly except for the 2 or 3 reef safe groupings (pyramids and their cousins, bannerfish, and CBB's and their cousins) are going to be a reasonably sure thing for aiptasia .. it's just that when they say a butterfly might anything ... it truly is the case. You never know what they'll develop a taste for. What I've observed of keeping a few butterflies out of that list so far is that tentacles is where it's at. If it's got tentacles, a butterfly will want to sample said wares. Whether they just sample or decimate after that is pretty much a crapshoot.

Even my pyramids, who are mostly plankton feeders, occasionally nip at my two gigantea carpets. That said they leave the maximini alone.

My ulietensis butterfly (had 2 but down to 1 now) will destroy any aiptasia and majano he sees but I had to put him in a FOWLR because he just did too much damage to everything else. LPS, SPS, gorgonians .. only thing he never sampled were clams and again I think this is due to the fact that clams don't usually show tentacly/dangly bits. That said both were model citizens while there were lots of aiptasia to go around and it was easily 6 months before the other damage started becoming evident. So if a temporary arrangement is OK for you (with a FOWLR in the picture after that), I'd totally recommend these as they are awesome fish.

Other butterflies you should look into - Pakistani or redtail, semilarvatus, and yellow long nose. I'm pretty sure all 3 of these will eat aiptasia while being a 50/50 on the "everything else" part. Actually I think the longnose are supposed to be about the same as a CBB, quite safe in a reef usually. Never tried one myself though.

Ultimately, it's a risk no matter what, but it can be a calculated risk.

[fishoholic]

I only have mushrooms, ric's and maxi minis in my 80g no other coral. Thanks for the info Tony.

[VFX]

I read your title I thought "wow! that must be one hell of an aiptasia! isn't it usually the other way round?" :lol:

Ok, joking aside, it's almost, but not quite 'hit or miss' when it comes to butterflies.

In my experience Raccoons are a decent bet with long nose & some heniochus other safe bets, but generally, the more 'reef safe' the butterfly fish are said to be, the less chance that they'll quickly & effectively tackle your aiptasia problems.

I've kept Raccoons, Various Heniochus, Raffesi, Auriga, Red Tail, Chevron and various Saddlebacks all in reef environments and they've pretty much all eaten aitasia/majano without harming my clams or mini-maxi's. Like Tony says, this is probably due to lack of protuding dangly bits.

The degree of 'reef safe' the butterfy you choose could potentially be directly related to just how badly or quickly you want your aiptasia gone and how much you're willing to risk the other stuff in your tank in the process.

.

[Myka]

As others have mentioned, any fish is hit or miss when it comes to Aiptasia, and I think your tank at 80 gallons is too small for any Butterflyfish anyway. I would rather suggest you try out 4 Peppermint shrimp. Try to get them from at least two different sources. Peppermints are hit or miss too, but at least they are only $10-15 each and don't add to the bioload so much. ...Or is there a Lionfish in this tank?? (looking at your sig)

[fishytime]

As others have mentioned, any fish is hit or miss when it comes to Aiptasia, and I think your tank at 80 gallons is too small for any Butterflyfish anyway. I would rather suggest you try out 4 Peppermint shrimp. Try to get them from at least two different sources. Peppermints are hit or miss too, but at least they are only $10-15 each and don't add to the bioload so much. ...Or is there a Lionfish in this tank?? (looking at your sig)

lionfish.......her and her dumb arse "cant add this cuz of this and cant add that cuz of that" fish:razz:......sorry babe couldnt resist:wink:

I agree with Mindy (and you know this already).....80g is too small for a flutterbye.....

swap the rock over to the 230g and let the copperband do his thing:wink:

[Myka]

swap the rock over to the 230g and let the copperband do his thing:wink:

There's an idea. :mrgreen: Call it a "Feeding Station" and then it will be cool. ;)

[daniella3d]

My copperband does not touch aiptasia with a 10 feet pole. Never.

And I know a few who have the same so don't ever buy a fish just for the purpose of it eating something because it is unlikely that he'll do what you want.

I suspect aiptasias to be toxic anyway..often you hear about a copperband eating all the aiptasia and then dying. I am glad mine does not eat that crap. Get some peppermint shrimps instead and take care of the larger aiptasias with Aiptasia X or something similar.


I was thinking there are a few different butterfly fish that are known aiptasia eaters. Copperbands for sure being one of them, however CBB's are notoriously tricky and while I have had some success with them I'd rather find a hardier aiptasia eating butterfly for my 80g. I had a filefish which was eating the aiptasia but he slowed down with eating them after awhile and is presumed dead now since it's been well over a month since I last saw him.

I have mushrooms and maxi mini anemones in my 80g, so I'd like to eventually get a butterfly that eats aiptasia but not maxi minis. While doing some research I found or have heard that these butterflies (other then CBB's) will eat aiptasia:

Raccoon
Klein's
Threadfin
Burgess
Latticed
Longnose
Saddleback
Pyramid

The problem is some people say the above do, and some people say they don't. So I'm not sure what to believe. Also read the some of the above will eat aiptasia but also will eat mushroom anemones (I'm assuming they mean maxi minis) Anyone have any ideas or experiences? Please share thanks :biggrin:

[fishoholic]

I have a fu man chu lionfish so peppermint shrimp are out. Every single piece of rock in my 80g has a few aiptasia on it, way to much rock to swap around. Some butterflies only get around 5" max so they should be ok in an 80g.

[marie]

......

I suspect aiptasias to be toxic anyway..often you hear about a copperband eating all the aiptasia and then dying. .

Just for the record I'm reasonably sure aiptasia did not kill these fish. My copperband eats aiptasia and is still alive and well in my tank after 4 yrs :lol:

[Oilers]

Laurie,
Berghia nudibranch worked for me. I got 4 from monocus and they wiped out all my aptasia within a few days.

[The Grizz]

Laurie,
Berghia nudibranch worked for me. I got 4 from monocus and they wiped out all my aptasia within a few days.

Lucky you! The ones I got dissapered completely & didn't touch any of the apitasia.:sad:

[Delphinus]

1) Likely those CBBs died from causes other than eating aiptasia.

2) IMO I would say most butterflies get too big for an 80g, but not all. Threadfin (C. auriga), double-saddleback (C. ulietensis), raccoon (C. lunula), Pakistani (C. collare) strike me as a couple that ought to do OK in a tank that size (depending on tankmates and if you get them small enough). No worse than many other species of fish we keep at any rate.

[daniella3d]

I am more suspecting an aiptasia only diet to be bad. But that was just my impression after reading a lot of these stories. Maybe the fish also ate all the aiptasia and died because it was not eating anything else, not sure.

Just for the record I'm reasonably sure aiptasia did not kill these fish. My copperband eats aiptasia and is still alive and well in my tank after 4 yrs :lol:

[fishoholic]

I had originally thought threadfin but then read they get up to 8" so then I was thinking Klein's would be better because they get to 5-6". However someone earlier mentioned trying a bannerfish and I've wanted one of those horned ones for awhile now and then I read this on live aquaria :mrgreen:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+25+2896&pcatid=2896

Phantom Bannerfish (Heniochus pleurotaenia) it is :mrgreen: I will order one when the time is right. I will have to wait a bit as I might be putting some of Doug's corals in there when he moves up, and will need to move Doug's yellow tang out of the 80g first.

[Reef Pilot]

I have Pearlscale butterfly fish, and they totally cleaned up my aiptasia problem. They also taught my Copperband to eat aiptasia. If well fed, the Pearlscales won't eat my coral, but if hungry (not fed well), they will pick at my mushrooms and palys/zoas. They leave most of my other corals (soft and LPS) alone. I don't have any SPS, so not sure what they would do to them.

[Myka]

Some butterflies only get around 5" max so they should be ok in an 80g.

It's not the size of the Butterflyfish that matters though Laurie...

[fishoholic]

It's not the size of the Butterflyfish that matters though Laurie...

I temperally held a very small CBB in a 30g (2 months) and he seemed fine in it, however I remember when I did the same with a 1" tang (was in a 30g for 2 months) it was a different story. I should add that the butterfly and the tang were not in the 30g at the same time. You could tell that even at only
1" the 30g was way to small for the tang and he seemed cramped for space whereas the butterfly seemed fine the whole time he was in there. From that observation I figured butterflies didn't require as much space.

I admitly don't know as much about butterflys/bannerfish as I do about other fish are there certian types that require more space then others? Obviously an 80g would be to small for a 9" butterfly, but I thought it would be ok for one that got to be 5-6". That being said it would probably be 2-3" when I get it and I'd either upgrade the tank or re-home it if it outgrew the 80g.

[fishoholic]

I read your title I thought "wow! that must be one hell of an aiptasia! isn't it usually the other way round?" :lol:


:lol: I had wondered after I posted if it would be taken the wrong way, but by then it was to late to edit and change it.

Just for the record I'm reasonably sure aiptasia did not kill these fish. My copperband eats aiptasia and is still alive and well in my tank after 4 yrs :lol:

+1