pyramid butterflyfish?
 

Anyone keep these fish with SPS without trouble? I've seen a few articles saying they'll likely leave SPS alone.

Brad, if I remember correctly Greg (Snappy) had several in his SPS tank.

That's what I was told when I was looking for a reef safe butterfly, but it just didn't appeal to me so I never got it.

I've got a group of 3 on hold, I think they'll make a nice addition to the tank. As long as they don't eat the coral :)

I'll be adding them to the 90 next week, so if they're trouble in there, I can catch them when I move to the 180 in a few weeks.

I was just reading Greg's thread on that other forum, and from what I read he didn't seem to have any problems with them. Good luck with them. I hope they work out.

I think Doug (fishytime) had a few as well with no problems. there a nice looking fish

They are widely known to be the most reef safe of butterflies..

from what I have been reading they are difficult to keep, will leave corals alone if well fed, don't do well if there are aggressive fish present, and ugly turning very ugly as they mature. :mrgreen: yellow changes to brown.

Steve

I've read that they're easy to keep once settled in, same on the feeding, my most aggrssive fish is a clown, and I think you made the last part up :)

I thought the faces turn brown but the tails stayed yellow. Not 100% sure on that though.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/...t-wandell.html

Yep, only the face turn brown and it's not ugly at all with the brown face, kind of make a contrast over the yellow. Here is a pic of 2 wild:

http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/m...olylepis).html

I think to qualify them as ugly is a bit extreme. Matter of taste but I think they are pretty.

nope, still ugly to me. its not just the yellow/brown thing, but the white coleration.. for my tastes just plain ugly, but some one else might think its beautiful.

as for the brown I have read a few sites saying just the face then a few sites saying the whole body that was yellow goes brown as they age.
so who knows

Steve

Easy enough to verify, try to find an all brown and white pyramid butterflyfish. No such thing even in the wild. I have seen a black sort of mutant but nothing that show what you describe.

So I picked up a pair of these last night, so we'll see how they do. They're in my 90 for a couple of weeks, so if they develop a taste for acros, I can pull them when I transfer to the new tank. Originally there were three, but one went missing at the LFS, probably due to a large lobster in the same tank!
If these work out, I'll look for 3 more..

Cmon Brad... you know the rules.
Pics or it didn't happen. :razz:

Soon. They went right into hiding last night, so once they settle in, we'll have some pics

Well, these guys are great fish, they don't touch anything they shouldn't. I had the opportunity to pick up three more, so now have a school of 5. One had pop-eye for the first week, but it's recovered nicely.
Now to get them into the new tank!

Update - of the 5 of these, I've lost 4. 3 were recent imports, and after moving to the new tank a week into having them, one a day for 3 days died. Tonight, one of my established ones died, it's tail was rotting off and it started rolling, I pulled it and put it down. The 5th is doing great, and shows no sign of weakening, so my assessment of these fish is "if" they settle in, they're great and easy to keep. Big "IF"...

All other fish in the tank are doing great, so I don't have reason to think it's new tank related.

sorry to hear Brad, I was looking forward to seeing these :cry: Will you try more in the future?

I still have one, and it looks stable. As for more, I might, but not straight off the boat. Oceanic has one in one of their tanks which looked great, and others have kept them long term, so I would consider it.

I picked up one on Boxing Day from J&L. They had it for a few weeks prior to when I bought it. It is doing well. Has not touched any of the corals that I have seen. Eats like a pig. I will let you know how it makes out in my tank.


Chris

Thanks Chris. All mine ate very well, but quickly just faded over a couple of days. My remaining one though, does look physically in better shape.

Was out at Oceanic today saw the Pyramid they have out there . Believe it to be the same one I saw a month and a half ago. Looks healthy but price seemed a little high. I have seen them in at J&L periodically ($35) and Island pets ($40) (Big Als ) use to get them in every so often as well.

Chris

I paid $60 for each of mine at 2 different stores...

Wow, all but one died? Are they that hard to keep, what happened?

No, I think they're easy, once acclimated to captivity. But that I believe is the tricky part. They all fed as soon as the hit my tank, and swam as a school, but one a day of the freshly imported died, then a week later, one of my longer established ones died. The remaining one seems fine. To buy another though, it would need to have been in the tank for at least a month before I'd buy it.

Sorry to hear. I bought a bunch a year ago and none made it through 2 weeks in quarantine.

To me this is unfortunately pretty typical with butterflies - those that make it do well, many don't. I think a number of them come in with parasites. If/when I do some more, pyramid or other, I'm going to QT them and prazipro them regardless of symptoms. Unless it has already been done by the LFS.

sorry to hear....
I did try two..... one was shy and didnt last a week.....the second was a little bolder and ate really well.....my three resident tangs kept it on its toes and I think it never really settled in.....it lasted two months then was gone suddenly.... definitely a tricky fish.......

why? what did they died from? parasites? bacterial infection?

I have a copperband butterfly in quarantine and wondering if I should treat it with prazipro just as a precaution. The fish is eating like a pig PE mysis and white worms but I find it a little on the skinny side.

The guy who sold it to me (store had it for 3 weeks) said the fish was eating 3 mysis per day and I thought that was too little food. I originaly wanted a pyramid but was advised to go with a copperband to solve those large amphipods that are eating my zoanthids in my tank.