Heniochus Butterfly

[kbaker721]

I know as a rule, butterfly fish are not reef safe. I was wondering about the Heniochus (banner fish) butterfly fish. Can it be kept in a reef tank. I really like that fish and would love to have one in my 120 tank, but I am also in the process of making it a reef tank (primarily soft corals)..... don't want to mess that up... Thanks

[sjfishguy]

ask this question in the reef fishes forum, you will get a better response.

[kbaker721]

will do... thanks

[ahullsb]

They are supposed to be ok but in my experience they are not. I had one that began nipping at polyps and lps corals all day. I got rid of him immediately.

[bertoni]

There are a number of species of Heniochus. One is supposedly okay, but telling the difference is difficult.

[old salty]

I had a really nice one for a year and was a model citizen. One day, it just decided that it wanted to eat corals and decimated an entire hammer colony. Then it just kept going at the clams until it was removed. Hard decision to make, but it had to be done.