Butterflies with montipora? milliepora?

[homegrowncichlid]

I'm experimenting with coral compatibility with non-reef-safe butterflies, by seeing what can do well with butterflies. So far, LPS like torches are no good, since the base gets picked off, but Blastosmussa welli are fine since the base is protected somehow and the butterflies can't get to it. I also find chalice corals are unaffected and doing well. Along this line of reasoning, most brain/maze corals are OK, but fleshy acans are probably not.

What I don't have currently are SPS and wondering how if anyone has kept montiporas with butterflies? I would guess the polyps would get picked off, so the coral will keep them in (but open at night). I assume millies (and other acros) would also keep their fuzziness closed during the day time.


The difference I guess I'm asking is related to the structure of the skeleton. Monties does not seem to have any defense against pickers, since its just a smooth coral, whereas millies (and some other acros) have scales to protect itself from excessive damage?

 

[James983]

I have a Burgess Butterfly in my SPS dominant 180. He hasn't bothered anything that I can see. Along with my SPS I have a Golden Torch, a clam and a few chalices.

He's been in my tank for 6 months of so.

 

[Aquadicted]

Interesting.. What butterfly are you using? Your theory makes sense...

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Burgess Butterfly are relatively safe, I'm keeping Chaetodon capistratus and ocellatus, but any species of nonreef safe Chaetodon could be considered.


Its not a theory for people with huge tanks and full heads of coral. There's a thread on reefcentral called "butterflies in reefs." started in 2/27/2011 (linked below if you're a member). Here SPS heads are unaffected by pickers, because the head is so big, that butterfly damage is negligible. Of course in the ocean, corals have evolved to defend themselves from pickers and eaters. ie, a spiky birdsnest would be like the cactus of the marine world, whereas a soft digitata would get munched on easily by a parrotfish. The digitata's competitive edge would be fast growth from fragments of the bits and pieces of the crumbs the parrotfish chews up as it swims around. In my limited aquarium, the soft montie or digitata probably wouldn't grow or spread fast enough to keep up with butterflies, but THAT is just my theory. No matter what species of SPS, any small frag would probably not make it, so I'm planning on growing them up to at least a 3" diameter head before placing the new head into the tank with the butterflies. So I'm looking for SPS with the most physical defense, like scaly plating or spikiness or stinginginess that I can introduce.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1983397
So I'm thinking Acropora milliepora is better suited than a relatively smooth A. nana. but I need some feedback from others who have butterflies.

 

[BAD FISH]

I had a pearlscale butterfly he was a monster ate everything under the sun favias chalice. And I feel even if the corals are not fleshy like acros and milles the if the butterfly keeps picking at it and it is unable to extend the polyps it will be unhappy and stressed unable to thrive and eventually die. Unless you have a super large tank with lots of corals where a little nipping here and there is spread out across the reef like the real environment. Any way good luck ill be tagging along

 

[fishywoo]

I found this very interesting from the thread you posted.
This might be helpful to people wanting to keep butterflies in reefs. I have a handout from a graduate marine biology class which puts the genera of butterflies into feeding groups based on gut analysis. This information is presented in a phylogenetic tree. I will list it in order. This means that as you go down the list, you are essentially tracing the development of corallivory in butterflyfishes. I tried to scan the figure but my scanner is not working, I will troubleshoot and try again later.

Noncoralline invertebrate feeders and planktivores:
Amphichaetodon
Chelmonops
Chelmon
Coradion
Forcipiger
Johnrandallia
Heniochus
Hemitaurichthys

Facultative corallivores (15-70% corals):
Roa
Prognathodes
Chaetodon
Rabdophorus
Roaops
Exornator
Lepidochaetodon

Exclusive corallivores:
Parachaetodon
Megaprotodon
Gonochaetodon
Tetrachaetodon
Discochaetodon
Corallochaetodon
Citharoedus

Obviously the fact that Chaetodon is listed in facultative is nothing new and is not helpful for must common butterflies in the trade. But it is interesting to note all the genera in the group which naturally DO NOT FEED ON CORAL.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

@Fishywoo
Oh, one thing I have going for me is that my butterflies were all adapted to frozen food (clams, shrimp, mussels) and finally onto dry pellets, so they are well fed. I posted a youtube clip on how I trained them onto frozen foods. on this thread.
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum...ning-my-butterflies-onto-feeding-station.html
Basically I'm giving them something I would hope is much tastier than polyps.
@Badfish,
if you had trained your butterfly in the same manner that I did, I believe your corals may have been unharmed. Anyway, I'm going to accept that butterflies will keep the corals from extending their polyps during the day time. The trick is to get the coral to grow, instead of surcoming to butterflies pressures.