Raccoon Butterfly compatibility

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HappyHooligan

Aquarium Advice Freak
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Apr 26, 2009
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Minnesota
I like the look of them and one is available but charts state they are fish only and could eat inverts.
Live aqauria states-
It should not be kept in a reef tank since it will eat invertebrates and is deemed unsafe with corals.

Would this include crabs, cleaner shrimp, and CUC's?
 
I'm not sure about the CUC munching, but they will definitely munch on corals and clam mantles, I believe. They are also known to eat aptasia.
 
I agree with Ray that most likely they mean inverts like corals, anenomes and clams.
 
Pacific Raccoon butterfly will definitely eat some (not all) corals. My specific juvenile 3" Pacific Raccoon eats apistasia polyps which is awesome since they are one of the most prolific nuisance polyps that overcome a reef tank.

However it ate most of my mushrooms corals and nips at the base of hard LPS corals. They don't seem to bother larger healthy colonies and settles on eating very small colonies of corals. For example the large 18" Kenya tree soft coral and my 12" toadstool has lots of similar polyps when extended but I have never seen it touch it unless there is pellet food lodged on it.

It hasn't bothered my Fire Shrimp or cleaner shrimp, but they are known to attack small crustaceans too when larger.
So its definitely not for smaller reefs or nano tanks with corals, where they are forced to spend a lot of time near small territory. Like all butterfly fish, they seem to need a lot of space to swim. My Raccoon will swim the length of my 8ft tank all day long and is a beautiful yellow fish to observe, and is one of my guest favorites for being so active.
 
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