Fish of the Week: The Long-nosed Butterflyfishes

[Anonymous]

This week's Fish of the week is actually two similar species:
the Longnose Butterflyfish Forcipiger flavissimus
and the Big Longnose Butterflyfish Forcipiger longirostris

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Species ... lavissimus
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Species ... ngirostris

These species are interesting in that they are colorful, hardy butterflies that are reputed to be reef-safe. For some reason, I personally have not seen them kept very often in reef aquaria.

The two can be most easily distinguished by the significantly longer rostrum on the big longnose; if they are not both available for comparison there are also minor differences in the pigmentation of the white area on the throat. In Scott Michael's Marine Fishes handbook he seems to imply that the Big Longnose is more reef-safe, although I do not know if this is true.

What are your experiences with this fish? What are you feeding your fish? Post any pictures and experiences you have had with this fish.

 

[AbbeyRoad]

well since no one else is going first

I have a long nose butterfly-Forcipiger flavissimus
I got him in Jan 03 from another reefer that had him for 3+ years. He needed to get rid of him because he recently got a clam and the butterfly began eating it. Otherwise for the past three years he was reefsafe and ate aiptasia. So i adopted him into my reef. He is very active- deals with my semi bully of a foxface very well(mostly around food). Loves to eat. He eats mysis, bloodworms, squid, CLAM, prme reef, formula one and two, and spirulina cubes and multi flakes and pellets. Even picks at the nori. He has even eaten all of my aiptasia except one big one.

He is quite a character. very funny to watch zoom around the tank. He is constanly picking for food but never at corals. I have not noticed any coral damage. He has left alone the fanworms that were in the tank first, but i put one in after him and he picked at it til it died. He has left the spagetti worms alone as well.

here is a pic of him- it is hard to get a good one cause is always on the move.


hope that info helps-any questions please ask
-Abbey

 

[danmhippo]

Never kept a butterfly in my tank in the past due to mis-information, but, anyone with first hand experiences on their compatibility with cleaner shrimps (or other shrimps for that matter), and clams.

Abbey, do yo think your clam died first then the butterfly finishes him up, or do you think the butterfly actually attacked it first? What you think that make it jumped if you have kept them together for 3 previous years without incidents?

 

[AbbeyRoad]

the butterfly is great with shrimp- he lets the cleaner shrip clean his long nose. I also have two peppermint shrimp and i never see a problem there.

I got the butterfly from the other reefer that recently got the clam. He had the butterfly for 3 years before giving a clam a shot. I think it pecked at it til it got sick and the clam still didn;t recover after the removal of the butterfly. But i don't know the whole story cause it was not in my tank, it was in the former butterfly owners tank.

 

[Virginia Reef]

I have had a Longnose Butterfly for about 9 months. It eats my homemade frozen blender mush, live and frozen brine shrimp, nori, and flake food (everything I have offered it).

The ONLY thing in my reef that it has bothered is one small featherduster worm. It pulled the fans off as soon as I introduced the fish to the tank but has not shown any interest in the other featherdusters since then. I also have cleaner shrimp, zoos, soft corals, and LPS corals.

It is a strong feeder that is not intimidated by my larger yellow or regal tangs. It is also totally non-aggressive toward my smaller fish.