I love butterflies & I've had a few butterfly dominated tanks before.
I tried Long Nosed, Big Long Nosed, Raccoon, Copperband, a few B&W Heniocus (both Acuminatus & Diphreutes), & Pyramid in a mixed reef. When they got larger they all, baring the Pyramid, started to bother my hammers & clams.
I added a Saddleback & Auriga to that particular set up and they were both fine with clams for a while & only nipped at SPS occasionally. Then all of a sudden they decided to really go to town on the clams & one of the sylos (no LPS at this point) so had to be moved.
At the moment the only ones I trust in a reef are the Pyramid, Raccoon & Big Long Nose (Cooperbands too maybe, but they seem too delicate & finicky for me to try again). They can occasionally annoy my smaller clams but generally leave everything else alone if well fed.
But having said that, I have in the past, had both 'turn' & attack clam mantles & SPS after living peacefully with them for a while.
One problem with Butterflies is that they are very finicky. It sometimes takes a while to find one that settle in, eat well & live a long time. A lot don't make it past 6 months & pass on for no apparent reason, whilst others just stop eating after a couple of weeks or months & die. Cyanide perhaps in many cases?
One observation - the non-reef safe butterflies seemed to be able to adjust to tank life somewhat better than the reef safe ones I've had. Maybe the more 'reef safe' they are, the more picky they are about food.
The Raccoon & Pyramids seem to be exceptions to this & are generally hardy with one thing to note. Don't buy Raccoons that are too small. I've never had one bought at less than 2" last more than a few months.
Another observation, my Raccoon completely ignored any nori I clipped to the side of the tank until I got a Naso Tang. Now they fight each other for it!
Anyway, fascinating fish & some of my favourites for sure.
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