Fingers crossed - If I remember correctly benettis and Peppereds are very low aggression species unlike the ones in chelmon.
Oh the Peppered butterflies are really easy...they're facultative corallivores not obligate corallivores...they'll eat inverts as well as coral in the wild
And I don't mean keep them together
The primary goal of my project/research is to hopefully shed light upon the husbandry requirements of these obligate corallivore species. Simply getting them to take alternative foods isn't all that difficult with a lot of species in this category but many of them are particularly delicate fish that have needs most other fish don't and we really don't know much about proper care for them. In fact I recall reading that Bennetti Butterflyfish rarely make it past 3 months in captivity. I want to contribute to the hobby by making it possible for hobbyists to keep these amazing species happy and healthy while also learning a great deal myself is a bonus as well as enjoying the challenge. My motivation definitely doesn't stem from simply thinking they're pretty or anything like that.
I am sorry I meant to ask with what food instead of good
Haha oh ok...that changes the question a good bit! Well, as you could see in some of the pics I posted there are plenty of aiptasia and Manjano anemones around and that's not by accident. I know from experience with other butterfly species that they'll nip at anemones due to the mucus content which is similar to mucus fr coral. A lot of butterflies absolutely love oysters after they get the courage to give them a taste so oysters will be offered along with Masstick and one other food that I'd like to test the effectiveness of before listing it as a primary food offered but I do see a lot of possibility for it to be a really important part of the diet. Absolutely no flake food or anything like that.
Sounds good! thank you for the reply.
Are you trying to do something similar?
No not for the time being. I was once considering keeping harlequin filefish , even though it has been already done and people found alternative foods that it would eat beside coral polyps.
I see...it's pretty difficult to find most of these corallivore species in America isn't it? A lot of times they import very few
I don’t live in America I live in the Middle East (UAE). Fish Here are pretty cheap so are corals. A harlequin here costs 30 bucks and I see them often, but of course you can imagine that you will need to start from 0 in order to get them to eat. Coral wise we have all types of stuff but there is a shortage in the market in acros, nems and macro algae. I seem to not get the chance to get my hands on the more “rare” types of corals, people will snatch them before I get the chance to.
I'm here in Thailand.... sorry I assumed your nationality. Fish are pretty cheap here as well...for example the Bennetti butterfly was about $20 USD and is relatively rare even here depending on a number of factors...btw, any questions you have for me don't hesitate to ask
It’s fine no need to apologize, I can’t say that I ever saw a bennetti butterfly here. However I saw some pretty nice wrasses.
I'm sure you guys have those nice orange Arabian Butterflies...we get them every so often but they're pricey. But I'm interested in wrasses too and feel free to ask me anything about them as well...I'd love to help out!
I just have to say, those arabian butterflyfish are beautiful - one of my favorite butterflies. I kept getting ads from one of the big name vendors here in the states with pictures of that species in the ad, but they didn’t actually carry the fish so it took me a while to figure out what they were. They’re definitely harder to come by here, but there are a couple of places that sell them.Hey I know a couple of you guys said you're not the biggest fans of Somme of the flashy corallivore butterflies but I'd like to work with them if this experience with my new Bennetti is rewarding...here are a couple that rarely make it to America but we sometimes get here...
Yeah I'm sure there are a few that get imported every year but after arriving in America on the brink of starvation and really stressed out, it's even more difficult to get a healthy fish that'll show some diet flexibility
Sad, but true.
Just from top of my head I can tell you that I never saw any. For one; we are not allowed to collect local fish and we don’t import fish from other middle eastern countries or the red sea. Even if we get them very few people are welling to go into the journey of trying to properly feed them.
They're some beautiful fish!...like I said, if I make good progress with Bennetti I'd love to work with them and keep making progress into what they need in regards to husbandry as well as trying to find a dietary substitute that makes them able to be kept...same goes for the wrasses you mentioned
