Orange faced butterfly

[saltykisses]

Just been reading up on chaetodon larvitus .. These fish are gorgeous ...
Had anyone ever kept one??

 

[Eckolancer]

Very nice looking one. I wonder if anyone has had one with sps

 

[ReefFrenzy]

I'm not sure if Peter has kept one of those but you can feel free to post a comment on this video or send him a PM via youtube. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to rare and delicate species. His collection is one of the most diverse I have seen under one roof.

[video=youtube_share;_xBgYepf3hw]http://youtu.be/_xBgYepf3hw[/video]

 

[saltykisses]

Some amazing butterfly fish...

 

[SDguy]

Thanks! I will admit I tried one once. They are obligate coralivores, meaning they only eat coral polyps. And in this case, very specific acro polys. This is true of their closely related cousins, C. baronessa, and C. triangulum. I got mine off LiveAquarias Diver's Den. I tried every food imaginable (though truth be told I don't think Larry's food was around yet, so I didn't try that). The only thing it would eat was very tiny pieces of minced clam, and only a little at a time. If I worked from home, and could feed hourly, I think maybe I could have had success.

I know a couple success stories with this fish, or similar species. They always involve daily, multiple feeding, in an environment where the fish doesn't have to compete for food. While this sounds doable, short term, when you really think about it, the long term commitment (years) is enormous!

Here's one example of success: http://glassbox-design.com/2010/obligate-corallivore-captivity/

 

[saltykisses]

Ah shinri takama ... I'd love to have a link to that guy just to ask for advice....

 

[MattL22]

Sd guy have u tried adding any butterflies to a reef?

 

[SDguy]

Sd guy have u tried adding any butterflies to a reef?

I had a zoster for a while. Ate gorgonians... otherwise, no issues. Tried a saddleback. Disaster! Yellow longnoses didn't work well either... they learned to stick their noses into large LPS mouths to eat the contents. Fine with SPS.

 

[saltykisses]

I have a copperband ... But he likes to vacum the snails on my cuc out of their shells and munch them... Apart from that he's a model citizen.