Gotcha!

So i had/have a little aiptasia issue. Nothing to bad but wanted to take care of it before it got bad. I decided id get a little raccoon butterfly and have him take care of the issue. I know that these fish have a better track record of survival than a copperband so when i saw this little guy in one of the lfs in my area i decided id give him a go.....Acclimated him, got him in the tank and all was grand in That Guy's reef!!!!
Fast forwarding a week......I begin to notice my zoanthids arent fully open and i have very little polyp extension on all of my acros and montis. Couldn't figue out what was going on. I tested my water and everything was spot on. I was lost!! So in my frustration i brewed a pot of coffee and just stared at my tank for a good hour with my forehead pressed against the glass when i noticed that little raccoon butterfly, which is no bigger than the size of a quarter just swimming around from one coral to the next picking polyp after polyp. Wouldnt touch the aiptasia!!! Something had to be done.
I spent pretty much all day and all night trying to catch this fish...he was my "ace in a reef" i tried netting him with one net, tried it with two nets,, tried the old soda bottle trick, i even tried taking a BBQ scewer to scare him out from behind the rock while my girlfriend was waiting with the net. All with no luck! So i took a short break and went over to tangsters to borrow a trap that he had made. Got home and threw the trap in the tank and baited it with the zoanthid colony he was so happily making his breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Well 3 in the morning rolls around and in my finest George Bush impression...
"Ladies and gentleman, we got him!"

 

Thats what was happening to me too! But in my case, it was my Foxface(FF) So I traded hin in. Thinking that my zoas would start to look better, that wasnt the case. Well I mean, they looked a little better but not like before. I suspect the villain now is the Yellow Tang. I think that the FF taught him his evil ways. Now Im toren between keeping him and getting rid of him. Luna

 

well he has been in the trap all night and low and behold this morning all my acros and montis are back to normal!

 

I learned my lesson with Angels a few yrs back. I had bought a Key Hole Angel thinking it was ok. BOY was I wrong, my family used to call him Osma Bin Ladin b/c he was terrorizing all my corals. Needless to say, it took almost 3 weeks to catch that MF. I will never get an Angel or butterfly fish for my reef again. Luna

 

Woo hoo!!! Well, that didn't take too long did it? Should I expect to see a little butterfly fish swimming around in our nano tank when I get home from work?

 

yes ma'am

 

Tank's gonna have to be topped off first and somebody (Roger) needs to clean the glass

 

Hey I might need to borrow that butterfly to clean off some frag racks that have zoa's growing on them, lol.


I once saw an ad on a forum advertising for a Regal Angel saying "FREE to a good home to help rid your tank of those pesky zoanthids!"

 

YES! I watched my little guy pick at anything and everything coral in the tank. Luckily I'm no good at keeping coral so I guess he can stay.

 

O NO YOU Dent'ent !!!!!! This boy don't do no windows !!!! I had to use this icon as there where none with a wiggling head and a pointed waving finger !