Anyone ever have one of these in a reef tank? I’ve seen mixed reviews on if they are reef safe. I am thinking of getting one.
Good fish. Butterflies are hardy fish if they are eating. That’s the first hurdle. Look for good color and a good mouth. If you can, find out where it came from. If it’s from the Philippines, i wouldn’t get it. Make sure it eats in the store before you get it. I forget, you only have the Atlantic blue tang right? There may be quarrels between them. If you have any other tangs, I wouldn’t do it. Also any more aggressive fish may harass it.
As for reef safe, long noses generally are but they may take out worms and feather dusters. Just like a lot of fish out there, there’s always a risk.
Yea I have the atlantic blue and a hippo tang. I don’t care about feather dusters. I do care about my softies, Lps, sps, and a clam.
Not too sure if I would worry about the sps. The clams could be an issue, depends on what the store is feeding them to get them to eat. Lots of times they feed clams to the butterflies because they’re used to sticking their noses in small cracks and stuff. I think as long as you QT the fish, you can ween it over to what the typical foods are you feed your system.
Also - the can get pretty big - 9" max or something like that and the crazy thing about long noses is that they may not look that big from the side, but when you look at them face-on, they have huge pectoral fins and they need some room.
I wouldn’t do it if you have an established system it’s just to big of a risk .
If you want a yellow fish try a yellow tang or yellow coris wrasse they will both be good.
I know some people don’t like multiple tangs togther but I’ve done it plenty of times and they all get along ok just make sure the tangs introduced are big enough to hold there own for a couple days until territory desputes get settled.
If you really want a butterfly get a zoster or pyramid butterfly and if money is an issue some of the atlantic butterfly’s are very inxpensive.
I would say no to the longnose butterfly though I had one in my reef for a little while and it picked at my stuff which then was softies. Just my own experices . You make the decision it’s your tank ! 