Golden Butterfly Fish / Chaetodon semilarvatus: Info or Experiences Please.

[BlueNWhite]

I am not getting much luck in searching for information on this Red Sea beauty. So I am starting this thread to ask for any of your experiences or any good sources of information on this fish.

Thanks.

[BlueNWhite]

Yesterday at the LFS, I fed the group of them some pellets and one of them showed a lot of interest and even ate a few pieces.

I've always wanted this fish but I've always had some LPS in my tank, that is.... until recently when I think the Moorish Idol took to the zoos first and then the frogspawns. Now I only have a couple of branching hammers left that are untouched so far.

So when I saw these GBF at the LFS along with a bunch of really nice and healthy looking Powder Blue Tangs, I was very tempted to get one of them or each. I finally said no to the PBT because of its susceptability to ich. So I ended up bringing home the GBF that was the best eater.

It's in my tank now and it was eating flakes and some pellets today. The Purple Tang was trying to show him who the boss of the tank was, but no damage. I'll see how it goes tomorrow and if everything is still fine, I am very tempted to go and pick up another one so that they could hang out together.

So my question is:
1) Should I get a second one?
2) Mine is about 4" now. There's one that's about 4.5", one that is about the same, and one that is about 3" but I didn't really see any of the others eating at the time. So which of these should I go with, or should I pick first by which one of them is eating?
3) Does it matter if there is more time in between getting the second one, i.e. waiting for another delivery months later?

More questions to come...

Thanks.

[odro]

Hi
I have a pair for the last 4 yaers
They are XXXL now
Cool fish

[mattsilvester]

odro - any pics?

BlueNWhite - your lucky to be able to get them..... I was under the impression that all red sea imports have been stopped for the foreseeable future.

Matt

[odro]

mattsilvester
I'm not much ot a photographer
Any way here is a picture three years ago

[mattsilvester]

ordo,

not much of a photographer hugh??? Looks pretty good to me
you should see my pics....... now they are terrible.....

great looking fish ...... I would absolutely love a pair of them..... often thought about it, never actually did it.

Any more info on your set up ......up to date pics would be reallly cool!!!

thanks

Matt

[odro]

mattsilvester

If you'd like a pair you have to introduce them together

[mattsilvester]

thanks ordo,
I've done quite alot of research on them actually - and I;ve been on the verge of buying a pair several times..... and backed out at the last minute, mainly because;

1. If I ever decided to get any corals.......
2. My dealer does not get in 'true pairs' although he has volunteered to "pair them up" for me - I still view it as a risk however.

I've sort of been in fish limbo for the last couple of years - never quite deciding to go FOWLR, and at the same time never commiting to a proper reef tank...... the indecision has sort of cripled me with my fish choices, and I have now reached a cross roads in the hobby where I am going to have to commit one way or the other........

Cheers,
Matt

[odro]

Hi Matt
I've been a reefer for several years but can't get rid from the fish mania . so I'm in fo for years now and enjoying every minute.


If you'd like to put some corls you might as well considering again about this fish

[mattsilvester]

Hi Ordo - thats exaclty why I have never tried them......

I had a nice set up last year, with a few nice fish and a couple of hardy corals (sacrophyton, finger leather, star polyps) - I really liked the look of that tank - but it was not #extreme' enough either way for me..... it was a poor excuse for a reef tank and even lesser an excuse as a "fish" tank..... although the whole thing fitted together quire nicely, I must admit, and made a nice "display". But, while the look of a tank is important to me, and while I would obviously prefer the tank to "look" the part, deep down I am not in the hobby because of my interest in the animals and aim more to have a nice "interestig collection of creatures" rather than a "living work of art" as it were - and my previous tank just didn't do it for me in that regard.....

So, I am presently considering one of two options:

1. To hell with the reef, and the corals, and just get the fish I have always wanted. The thing here is that I know, or at least my experience has taught me, that there is no such thing as a stable fish only tank - given time, the compatability of most the fish I'm interested in tends toward zero..... if I go with a fish set up here, and include a pair of semilarvatus, along with my emporer angel, and a couple of nice tangs, maybe even a less aggressive trigger..... eventually, some one is not going to like the other, and war will break out...... and that just does my head in!

- OR -

2. Resist the temptation, conform to the recommended "reef" fish and get a really nice reef tank going, with all the interesting little things that go on in a well maintained "reef" tank. This has been inspired by a recent turn of events. Last week I had an ich outbreak, and haev had to remove all the fish to treat them (its only a 3 month old tank) - but in a week, the amount of life that has erupted from the tank...... my shrimps are constatly out and about, little worms etc are starting to appear, the amount of plankton in the water column is amazing! The water is crystal clear, and I am shocked to find that I am mesmerized by the the "empty" tank...... I find myself staring at it, transfixed......

So...... I;ve got another 4 weeks to decide - do I put the fish back in, and continue down the road of FOWLR - OR - do I bring the fish back, and trade them all for corals?

PS. SORRY FOR HIJACKING THIS THREAD.........I just started typing and couldn't stop..... I'll refrain from further essays!

[odro]

Hi matt
Dont Resist the temptation .
You can have almost any fish without worrying of ich
My semilarvatus share the tank with clown trigger and 6 kind of large angels ...

[odro]

Hi matt
I managed to take a few pic

[Manta]

Hi odro, I take it the shot of the pair was circa. 3 yrs ago and not recently?

[odro]

Hi Manta
I just took this pic a few min ago
Maybe the pic a little delusive
Anyway recommended fish for any marine tank

[ariel47]

I just ordered a golden butterfly from reefhotspot. I had one before that ate like a little pig{from reefhotspot}and my lfs got one in so I bought that one also. Well this one apparently was not as healthy and bought disease in to the system. I loss bought goldens and 2 other fish. The golden butterflys are not reef safe, mine loved to eat frogspawn, and hammers.

[wooden_reefer]

About ten years ago I bought three from Hong Kong. Rather large, 3.5 to 4.5 inches TL Managed to get them into the US. At the airport my heart was pounding, if you could imagine.

They all managed the acclimation.

Just a few days ago I saw a few in a LFS (a wholesale place). Rather small about 2.5 inches TL One of them was feeding. One had bacterial infection in the form of red streak. The other two were nondescript.

Unfortunately I was not ready. I would have bought them all otherwise. My chance will come again I hope.

[mattsilvester]

ordo - nice pics. how big are they?

[odro]

About 18 cm