Fisst off ill lik to say hi and thankyou for reading this and responding to it.... SO heres my first question.... what is considered a reef tank and what is the structure of it...??? next is it posible if i put a Longnose Butterfly, Heniochus Butterfly, and the copperhead butterfly. of course i would only put one of them in the tank but would i be able to put them in a reef tank????....
Certain fish for reef tank
- Thread starter FlipIconic010
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A reef tank is basically a SW tank with live rock, and corals. The problem with butterflys is that they have a tendency to pick at corals. I wouldn't risk putting a butterfly in a reef tank. If its the tank in your signature, the butterfly would make short work of all 8 of your small purple anemonies, and they would probably require more than 30g. So in short, no, butterflies are not reef compatable.
THe heniochus will for sure eat a bunch of things you don't want it to in a reef type aquarium. THe long nose and copperband aren't as bad about eating desirable inhabitants but often eat small inverts (polyps, feather dusters, etc.)Many people include Long Nose & coppeeband butterflys in thier reef tank for removal of aptasia anemone's.
Non of these fish belong in a 30 gallon......
As per "what is considered a reef tank", I believe this will very from one person to the next. By and large, I think most people would agree that it is a system that includes live rock & live corals but much past that, the defination of a "reef tank" may have many opinions.
My defination of a reef style aquarium is a system that mostly relies on live sand, live rock and other naturally occouring organisims that mostly perform the water processing function. I other words, I don't rely on man made filtration systems to maintain my reef tanks other than a protien skimmer. THis is a very large subject that would be very lenghthy to cover in this forum. If your truly interested in doing a microcausim get a good book on the subject. There are many available, I'm partial to Dr. Walter Addey's "dynamic aquaria" but several other are good reading too.
Joel
Non of these fish belong in a 30 gallon......
As per "what is considered a reef tank", I believe this will very from one person to the next. By and large, I think most people would agree that it is a system that includes live rock & live corals but much past that, the defination of a "reef tank" may have many opinions.
My defination of a reef style aquarium is a system that mostly relies on live sand, live rock and other naturally occouring organisims that mostly perform the water processing function. I other words, I don't rely on man made filtration systems to maintain my reef tanks other than a protien skimmer. THis is a very large subject that would be very lenghthy to cover in this forum. If your truly interested in doing a microcausim get a good book on the subject. There are many available, I'm partial to Dr. Walter Addey's "dynamic aquaria" but several other are good reading too.
Joel
I dont think the butterflies would "fly" (haha) in a reef tank....If you dont want to add coral, then you could try it. Most butterflies will pick at corals and some inverts, and you should watch out for the anemones...they could be a quick lunch for a butterfly
let me tell ya!!! you need to get this book i call my fish bible. its "marine fishes - 500+essential-to-know aquarium species, by SCOTT W. MICHAEL. I DONT BUY A FISH WITHOUT IT. it is especially great if you have a reef tank