they need to eat coral, they have evolved to eat coral and you must have it in their diet for them to thrive.Today I got my one of the most beautiful fish in my opinion- a triangle butterfly fish...he seems active and I'm looking forward to training him to eat traditional foods! I'm actually doing independent research into obligate corallivores like this guy...if anyone else shares that interest I'd be glad to hear from you!
I've done a good deal of research into these species and have come to the conclusion that they require the nutrition they get from the corals they eat which vary greatly between coral species and can be obtained through other sources than live coral (most corallivore butterflies...I won't say all)
Bumping this thread and curious on how he’s doing. Looks like he’s a beautiful fish!
It was so sad, after I few days I had a really bad feeling he just wasn't going to take to the prepared foods I was offering without being offered SPS and the one other small fish I was housing him with to try to train him onto traditional foods wouldn't even let him get close to the food sometimes so I just had a gut feeling to call it. Really disappointed tbh... I learned an important lesson though. These type of fish NEED a special QT protocol which I've been thinking through on how to design. I have a few ideas and I'm definitely not throwing in the towel yet!
