Lets try the right name! Longnose Butterfly Fish?

Bous · #1 04/07/2007, 01:18 PM

A few guestions about long nose angel fish. Are they reef safe? How difficult are they to care for? I currently have a Powder brown tang, a fox face , and two perc. clowns. WIll it get along with these fish. What are other peoples experiences with these fish? Any input welcome.

CeeGee · #2 04/07/2007, 02:54 PM

I have never seen a long nose angelfish.

I have seen a long nose butterflyfish.

Bous · #3 04/07/2007, 04:11 PM

I feel stupid. I mean a longnose butterfly fish.

Bous · #4 04/07/2007, 04:15 PM

A few guestions about longnose butterfly fish. Are they reef safe? How difficult are they to care for? I currently have a Powder brown tang, a fox face , and two perc. clowns. WIll it get along with these fish. What are other peoples experiences with these fish? Any input welcome.

BrianD · #5 04/07/2007, 04:34 PM

Threads merged

Dakota Reef · #6 04/07/2007, 06:06 PM

Bous,

I've had my LNB for about five years. He's my favorite fish. As far as reef safe goes, I'd say for most things you should have no problem. Mine has never bothered any coral in my tank. I have SPS, xoanthids, anemones, xenia, leather corals and ricordia. I don't keep clams or LPS but my guess is some of those would be the riskiest.

His worst offense in my tank is to occassionally knock a snail off the glass but that has been very rare.

If you've got a quarantine setup spend a little extra time getting him to learn to eat prepared foods before he has to compete in the main tank. LNB's aren't particlulary finicky but they are such slow feeders that it can be hard for them to recognize food before the other fish have it all eaten. This can weaken them over time to the point that they succumb to other causes.

Look in my gallery for a picture of my butterfly feeder. Its simply a clear tube with small holes drilled into it allowing him to peck out food in a manner similar to how he would find it amongst the rocks.

I'd expect your Powder Brown Tang may cause some problem for your butterfly if he's been established for a while unless the Tang is smaller. My Purple Tang is also over five years old and he still has to make five or six passes at the butterfly every night before the lights go out.

Good luck with a great fish.

Bous · #7 04/07/2007, 08:40 PM

Thanks for the info Dakota.

reefman8471 · #8 04/07/2007, 09:33 PM

There are 2 species of butterflyfish called longnose. One is Forcipiger flavissimus the second is Forcipiger longirostris. The one I have is the F. longirostris. The major difference in the two is that the latter has a longer snout and smaller mouth. Both are very hardy butterflyfish. My F. longirostris has never touched a thing in my tank and I have LPS, clams, SPS, softies, mushrooms, zoanthids. So as a butterflyfish goes I would say none are more safe in reef tanks. The F. flavissimus is given a safety rating of 4 out of 5 by Scott W. Michael however he may occasionally nip at softies and LPS and clams. As an aside, I know someone who bought the assumed "reefsafe" Pyramid Butterflyfish as they are planktivores in the wild but three of them picked on everything in his tank. With that in mind it depends on the individual to some degree.

James

t5Nitro · #9 04/07/2007, 10:45 PM

I think to try a butterfly in a reef would be to get a smaller one so it may be easier to adapt him on prepared foods and then keep him fat and fed a lot so it doesn't go nip at corals.

CeeGee · #10 04/08/2007, 12:46 AM

Just so you know I was just kidding.

I can't offer any better information than Dakota. I think Dakota covered it pretty well.

Good luck with your fish!