Aiptasia eating butterfly fish

[VFX]

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

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.

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[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]

Originally Posted by 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)

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

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

[Myka]

Originally Posted by fishytime

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

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