Hey all! New to the SW world

ME_GUY

New Member
Hey! So I'm new to this forum and just beginning to dip into saltwater. I've been looking on this site and many others for months now and decided to make an account. I'm definitely interested in having a FOWLR tank for now. To be honest, I was drawn to SW because of the beautiful butterflyfish. I know, they're very difficult to care for, BUT, I'm up for the challenge and plan to pursue having them. I'm planning to get and set up a Red Sea Reefer Deluxe XXL 750 (160 G).

Looking for any advice from anyone!

I guess the major question is going to be about the Butterflyfish. My plan is to get the tank up and running, cycle it, and get some other easier peaceful fish (thinking like firefish, pajama cardinals, CUC, any other ideas welcome) to allow the tank to age and ensure its stability before getting and adding the butterflies. Good idea?

So what are recommendations for initial peaceful fish?

Also, looking for input and experiences people have had with butterflyfish. The species I'm most draw to are:

Saddleback, Declivis (I LOVE), Raccoon, Lemon, Tinker's, and Pearlscale. I hear the Threadfin is very hardy, but much more aggressive.

Also any other non-butterflyfish that I can house with them in a 160? I'd love to keep the firefish if possible.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys and I'm glad to be finally joining this community!
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
It is possible to do a tank where the main interest is butterflies. However, be sure this is really what you want. Because they are not reef safe, and most of them will feed on corals, they are not as popular as they once were. I suggest you make a tour of all your LFSs and see what is actually available. I suspect you'll find fairly few species. Today, you often see a tank of "mixed butterflies" that contain several different species. Some might be desirable, others may not, for various reasons.

As for them being difficult to keep, this depends on the species and to some extent, the individual fish. Some species are almost impossible, others are easy, most are in the middle someplace. Before you purchase them, do your research. You don't want to bring home something that is going to be difficult to feed or have other special requirements. With most other groups of fish what applies to one fish species usually applies to the others species in the group. This isn't so true with butterflies.

Most other fish will be fine with butterflies. Avoid damsels, which might be too aggressive, and fish that are large enough to consume them. You really have a lot of choices here. Since butterflies are usually considered not reef safe, you can also consider other groups of not reef safe fish such as angles.

Of the species your looking at, I'd consider the threadfin (auriga) and raccoon to be easy. The rest of the others should not be too difficult. However, the declivis has an extremely high price tag, about $380 on Liveaquaria. I'd avoid these, due to the price.

Other species to consider would be a banded butterfly and Heniochus. Both are easy to keep. Until your really sure of yourself, avoid the species that have a long nose like a copperband or yellow longnose. These can be very difficult to get them to feed.
 

ME_GUY

New Member
It is possible to do a tank where the main interest is butterflies. However, be sure this is really what you want. Because they are not reef safe, and most of them will feed on corals, they are not as popular as they once were. I suggest you make a tour of all your LFSs and see what is actually available. I suspect you'll find fairly few species. Today, you often see a tank of "mixed butterflies" that contain several different species. Some might be desirable, others may not, for various reasons.

As for them being difficult to keep, this depends on the species and to some extent, the individual fish. Some species are almost impossible, others are easy, most are in the middle someplace. Before you purchase them, do your research. You don't want to bring home something that is going to be difficult to feed or have other special requirements. With most other groups of fish what applies to one fish species usually applies to the others species in the group. This isn't so true with butterflies.

Most other fish will be fine with butterflies. Avoid damsels, which might be too aggressive, and fish that are large enough to consume them. You really have a lot of choices here. Since butterflies are usually considered not reef safe, you can also consider other groups of not reef safe fish such as angles.

Of the species your looking at, I'd consider the threadfin (auriga) and raccoon to be easy. The rest of the others should not be too difficult. However, the declivis has an extremely high price tag, about $380 on Liveaquaria. I'd avoid these, due to the price.

Other species to consider would be a banded butterfly and Heniochus. Both are easy to keep. Until your really sure of yourself, avoid the species that have a long nose like a copperband or yellow longnose. These can be very difficult to get them to feed.

Thanks for the input @DaveK, I greatly appreciate it. It's definitely something I've been thinking about for a long time, but just recently (past two months) have begun taking the time to research. The threadfin definitely seems like the easiest to begin with so I may start off with that one. I don't want a reef tank at the moment, I'm much more about the beautiful fish over the coral.

Yeah I thought about angels as well, but they are semi-aggressive so I wasn't sure how that would go with the more peaceful butterflies. Any angelfish recommendations?

Yeah the declivis is super expensive. I suppose it only coming from one area in the ocean is the factor behind that. I still love its coloration the most though which makes it difficult haha.

I've been using this website to help with info about the different species.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Goodchaetodon.htm

I went to my LFS the other day and looked around at what they had. They seemed to have just received a shipment of butterflies in. I saw a Saddleback in person for the first time and it was so beautiful! I'd love to have one but can't seem to find much info on their care level. Any thoughts on the saddleback?

Have many do you think I can house in the 160g? Also since they could eat inverts, any input on a safe CUC?
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the site and the reef world we all love :D

I am not familiar with that tank or species of fish, so i am just going to be saying hi and post pics as you go. Welcome!
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
On the various species of angels, most of the dwarf angels (Centropyge sp.) are excellent choices. I like the coral beauty, flame, flameback, a eibli angels. If your going to add more than one, make sure you have an alternative plan in case they don't get along. Your tank is with in the range od size needed for the large angles, but you need to be very careful here. These fish can outclass the butterflies you want, and some of the large angels have very demanding feeding requirements. Do a lot of research on the fish you want before bringing anything like this home.

One of the things you'll find out about butterflies is that many of them have similar care and feeding requirements, but then there are enough other species that don't follow the rules. Sometimes the only option is get the fish and take your chance or skip the fish in question.
 
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