Aiptasia eating butterfly fish

[fishoholic]

I have a fu man chu lionfish so peppermint shrimp are out. Every single piece of rock in my 80g has a few aiptasia on it, way to much rock to swap around. Some butterflies only get around 5" max so they should be ok in an 80g.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

Some butterflies only get around 5" max so they should be ok in an 80g.

It's not the size of the Butterflyfish that matters though Laurie...

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Myka

It's not the size of the Butterflyfish that matters though Laurie...

I temperally held a very small CBB in a 30g (2 months) and he seemed fine in it, however I remember when I did the same with a 1" tang (was in a 30g for 2 months) it was a different story. I should add that the butterfly and the tang were not in the 30g at the same time. You could tell that even at only
1" the 30g was way to small for the tang and he seemed cramped for space whereas the butterfly seemed fine the whole time he was in there. From that observation I figured butterflies didn't require as much space.

I admitly don't know as much about butterflys/bannerfish as I do about other fish are there certian types that require more space then others? Obviously an 80g would be to small for a 9" butterfly, but I thought it would be ok for one that got to be 5-6". That being said it would probably be 2-3" when I get it and I'd either upgrade the tank or re-home it if it outgrew the 80g.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by VFX

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

I had wondered after I posted if it would be taken the wrong way, but by then it was to late to edit and change it.

Originally Posted by marie

Just for the record I'm reasonably sure aiptasia did not kill these fish. My copperband eats aiptasia and is still alive and well in my tank after 4 yrs

+1