Longnose butterfly eating sps?

[superhero]

So I went downstairs and looked at my tank this morning to find that on 2 of my sps frags had been damaged. One looked like it had a bite taken out of it exposing the white skeleton and the other just had a tip broken off. Now the question is in my longnose butterfly that I just moved into my main tank. I have never had any issues like this before he was added and I thought they only picked on lps and tube inverts. Anyone out there had a similar situation?
-Tony

 

[ajroc31]

You can't predict fish behavior. Nobody ever told me that my Naso would eat feather dusters, and she sure did. Only butterfly that I would even attempt in a reef would be a copperband.

 

[superhero]

I tried a copperband I think 3 times over the past few years with no luck whatsoever! So i thought why not try a different family member and saw the longnose At my LFS. I was told he had been there for 2 and a half weeks and after watching him eat like a pig and observing the pricetag of only 33 bucks I couldn't pass him up. I knew he might nip at some corals here and there but thought my sps were off the menu!

 

[ajroc31]

I guess with a copperband, larger or medium size do better. I got lucky, my LFS had one in a tank with frags for over a month, when they moved him I jumped all over that. Great fish, fearless, although my won't let me feed my sun coral, waits for me to drop the food, and takes it right away. I can't chase him away, because he is not afraid at all. It sucks when you have a deal you can't beat, and it does not work out. All I could say, take him back. Sorry. Maybe try to keep him nice and fat with lots of small feedings, but from what I see my CB do, is they pretty much pick at things all day long.

 

[superhero]

Yeah I think I'm gonna give it another week or two because this fish is quickly becoming my favorite. I feed my fish a lot of food and hopefully that might curb his taste for coral. And as far as your copperband stealing from your sun coral, I know how that goes. I have a little stinking cleaner wrasse who will pick food from any of my corals just to pick the food out. He doesn't even bother eating it sometimes! But despite that flaw he has got one hell of a personality!