We have a group of pyramids and zoster in our 90,000 reef. I tried adding five more pyramids and they chased them until we had to remove them. Completely unexpected.
If you look at exporter's stocklists you'll see something interesting - they'll list like 20 coral beauties, 120 yellow coris and then 3 pyramids. It seems they come in, but in dribbles. Have you tried Live Aquaria? I also think that some of the prequarantined vendors can order fish for you. More expensive, but well worth it with this species if you typically don't quarantine yourself.
Yeah, I've never seen a "potbelly" on my pyramids. I wonder - since they are open water plankton grazers, and feed sporadically throughout the whole day, maybe they just never overeat? Think of a grazing sheep - always looks the same, but a predatory lion gets a huge belly after a kill.
Are Pyramid Butterflyfishes Right for your tank?
2020-09-30 stevenliu9
Thank you for joining me today on this discussion! Steven here.
Love to chat about Pyramid butterfly fish with everyone. Have you had them? Are they on your stock list?
What are your experiences with them?
Please feel free to skip the reading if you prefer watching video:
Currently the butterflyfish family consists of three main groups divided into 12 genus. At one point the butterflyfish were all considered part of the angelfish family. Overtime scientists separated the two by a very specific feature- the gill spine. Those with the spine remained within the angelfish family, and those without, are migrated into the butterflyfish family.
Gill spine illustrated here on a blueface angel
With the exception of those in the genus genicanthus, almost all angelfishes are labeled as “NOT reef safe” as their varied diet may include many crustaceans, soft or large polyps stony corals, or even sometimes small polyp stony corals. That said, many hobbyists have success keeping angelfish in mixed reef tank with very minimal harm to their corals and inverts.
Butterfly fish on the other hand, are almost all guaranteed to nip at your precious corals and pick on inverts. Except for one- the pyramid butterflyfish.
The pyramid butterfly fish, hemithaurichthys comes in two different color morphs, the species zoster has the black head and tail with a silver mid portion, while the polylepis has the yellow head (some had darker head than others) and tail with silver mid portion. Both are model citizens of the reef top since they are primarily planktivores.
The yellow pyramid butterflyfish. Depends on mood, physical condition, and geographic origin, some may have darker face than others.
I first fell in love with this fish when I snorkeled in Hawaii. In my opinion, the pyramid butterflyfish is the #3 symbolic Hawaiian reef fish behind the yellow tang and potter’s angelfish. They are slick in body shape, beautifully bright, has great personality and can be kept in groups in aquarium. They are peaceful. Most fishes will ignore them and they will not start wars with others. Easy to feed and maintain. And like I said, reef safe in my personal experience. As you can see in my video, I have two currently living in my sps farm tank.
OK maybe they aren’t 100% reef safe depends on what kind of coral. The truth is, my intention of getting them in the first place was hoping they’d clear up my pulsing xenia in the tank. I have heard legends of pyramid butterflyfish eating pulsing xenia (but won’t touch anything else). Turns out, the ones I have won’t even touch xenia. (If you know of another fish that won’t touch SPS, LPS, but will happily devour xenia, please leave comment and let me know).
One caveat about these fish- I have had multiple pyramid buterflyfish shipments arriving with damaged head/mouth area. And unfortunately once there is damage around their mouth it seems to be a one way ticket to the graveyard with nothing to remedy it. I am not certain if they just don’t ship well, or perhaps some kind of disease (fortunately I quarantine all my fish). But if you have similar experience with your fish on rotten mouth/head from shipment, please leave a comment and share your wisdom.
So are pyramid butterflyfish right for your tank? Personally I would highly recommend them. For as long as you have enough room in your tank. I won’t comment what size I think is enough for them because I don’t want to start wars, but I will urge everyone to use best judgement from the humane stand point of view. And in case you don’t already have a cover for your tank, won’t be a bad idea to get one because they can and will jump when startled (which is easily). Once I simply sat up from my chair and even that movement was enough to make them jump.
I have also heard some fellow reefers raised the issue of internal parasites with these fish. Personally I quarantine my fish so I have not encountered that issue. But if you have had experience dealing with it and believe they are more prone to parasite than others, please leave a comments to share your thoughts.
They eat like pigs and really aren’t picky at all. They are peaceful, for the most part reef safe, and can be kept in groups. If room allows, you should definitely consider getting multiples as multiples of fish in this size aren’t usually common (you can’t do that with most angels or tangs, unless you have a massive tank).
Happy to hear everyone’s opinion and experiences with this gorgeous fish!
did you get a one? I am in the same boat with a LPS dom. system and really thinking about this fish for a while now.
I’ve never owned a pyramid in a Reef (Just in a FOWLR). My closest “experiment” was with a CBB in a reef and it is loving it, thrives off of the aiptasia that grows from the large specimen in the back.
I would say the key to butterflies in a reef is giving them some of that natural diet, feed them the odd polyp or two if it’s a corallivorous butterfly, feed it a pest anemone if it’s a CBB or Long Nose (Forcipiger).
