Ornate butterflyfish feeding

[Avadakedavra]

So I want to share some experience about training corallivorous butterflyfish. Below are the two techniques I use to get these fkers to eat, be noted that the younger the fish is the easier it is to wean them.
The first way and the way I’ve been having most success with is to tie a clam or an oyster to a piece/colony of dead sps coral. Idk why but clam on the half shell never works well for me in the beginning. The butterflies always run for their lives the moment I dropped a clam in. It works fine after the fish are weaned though. I was able to wean C. baronessa, C. plebeius, C. speculum using this method.
The second method is to use sacrificial corals, by sacrificial I mean you feed them live corals at the start, and then slowly wean them off. I can usually get a bunch of ugly lps for a very cheap price at the lfs since no one’s gonna buy them anyway. Then I give 1 to the fish to feed. The problem with these corallivores is that their feeding response is usually suppressed after collection. So we need to kick start it before trying to wean them off. When the fish nearly finish the coral, I then tie a clam to it (like method 1). They will eventually learn that the clam is food after nipping the remaining coral and taking up the scent of the clam inadvertently. This method works for the more difficult species like C. ornatissimus.
Another way for non-feeding individuals is to use bbs. Somehow really small corallivorous butterflies go crazy for those, I’ve had a C. lunulatus and octofasciatus nearing starvation resumed feeding by offering bbs. They went nuts the moment the bbs hit the water.
Here’s a video of my ornatissimus feeding on clam and corals.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thank you for sharing! I'm not seeing a video on my end

 

[DCR]

I am curious how long have been able to keep these butterflies alive. I have heard that even if you can get them to feed on prepared foods they still perish after a few months.

 

[Avadakedavra]

I am curious how long have been able to keep these butterflies alive. I have heard that even if you can get them to feed on prepared foods they still perish after a few months.

The longest is around 9 months. While I haven’t noticed any growth, it’s still fat and healthy. All of the lost with these have been disease related, not starvation. They’re prone to ich and I can’t use copper on them. As for diet, I feed them clam and a hamburger mix of pulverized shrimp and ocean nutrition pellets. Imo C. ornatissimus is the most difficult species to wean. The rest usually takes around a few days to a week to switch to prepared food. Weaning is just the first step though, the real challenge is to keep feeding them 4-5 times a day consistently. These jerks lose weight unbelievably fast if not fed often enough.
As for the myth of corallivores needing some kind of mysterious nutrients from coral, I don’t buy it. I was able to save some specimens that were skeletal, they gained weight and become plump again from just a normal diet. There’s no secret ingredient here. Just trials and errors, though I have the advantage of getting really tiny juveniles shipped to me the day they were caught. I think the time the fish spent before it gets to us plays a significant role here.

 

[Avadakedavra]

Thank you for sharing! I'm not seeing a video on my end

Idk why either. It said the video was successfully uploaded but I’m not seeing it as well.

 

[iReefer12]

Great write up. I’m trying the same thing right now with C.Larvatus & C.Melapterus. It’s such a challenge. Gone through several different foods, but came to the conclusion of using sacrificial coral, and I actually smeared mastick onto live coral, trying to trick them into eating prepared foods.

I like your method and I’m going to try it tomorrow.

 

[Avadakedavra]

I’d love to hear updates from you. It’s a nice thing that more people are attempting to keep these fish and having success with them. One day they might become like the Harlequin filefish. I haven’t had any experience with larvatus and melapterus cause they’re often unavailable here and when they are, they come in super large and cost a fortune. I’ve trained baronessa and lunulatus tho, the former was surprisingly easy to wean, but its mouth could only consume the finest piece of food initially, which was a pita in feeding time.

 

[iReefer12]

Definitely one of the hardest fish I’ve tried to keep. I’ve come to the conclusion that Larvatus is impossible to keep, and the same with Trifasciatus and Baronesa.. the Malepterus and Similarly shaped Ornatre I think can be done, they are a bit thicker and aren’t as delicate in comparison,

On my end, I have 1 out of 3 Malepterus eating everything in QT, even pellets, unfortunately, I had to leave town, and I made a judgement call before leaving to move the pair of Malepterus into the display tank, before I could fully train them.. so now they are just going to town on my SPS.. I was okay with it, as I was hoping they would start to try other foods, but they have shown no interest at all.. I may have to catch them and move them back into a separate tank to continue to try and train them.

I also moved the 3 Larvatus into the display, they seem like they are doing okay, they don’t seem to do as much damage to the SPS as the Malepterus, but I feel like all 3 will not survive, that’s just my gut feeling, they are just naturally thin like a Moorish Idol, so just too delicate.

 

[iReefer12]

 

[Jasonc15]

So I want to share some experience about training corallivorous butterflyfish. Below are the two techniques I use to get these fkers to eat, be noted that the younger the fish is the easier it is to wean them.
The first way and the way I’ve been having most success with is to tie a clam or an oyster to a piece/colony of dead sps coral. Idk why but clam on the half shell never works well for me in the beginning. The butterflies always run for their lives the moment I dropped a clam in. It works fine after the fish are weaned though. I was able to wean C. baronessa, C. plebeius, C. speculum using this method.
The second method is to use sacrificial corals, by sacrificial I mean you feed them live corals at the start, and then slowly wean them off. I can usually get a bunch of ugly lps for a very cheap price at the lfs since no one’s gonna buy them anyway. Then I give 1 to the fish to feed. The problem with these corallivores is that their feeding response is usually suppressed after collection. So we need to kick start it before trying to wean them off. When the fish nearly finish the coral, I then tie a clam to it (like method 1). They will eventually learn that the clam is food after nipping the remaining coral and taking up the scent of the clam inadvertently. This method works for the more difficult species like C. ornatissimus.
Another way for non-feeding individuals is to use bbs. Somehow really small corallivorous butterflies go crazy for those, I’ve had a C. lunulatus and octofasciatus nearing starvation resumed feeding by offering bbs. They went nuts the moment the bbs hit the water.
Here’s a video of my ornatissimus feeding on clam and corals.

Love this. I’ve dabbled in these butterflyfish and love them. Have a good supplier for ornate these days?

 

[iReefer12]

Maybe this video now works..

 

[Raul-7]

Gorgeous!

 

[Avadakedavra]

Love this. I’ve dabbled in these butterflyfish and love them. Have a good supplier for ornate these days?

I’m in SE Asia. It takes virtually no time for me to get ornates shipped to me where I live. They’re caught and shipped on the same day and I receive them in the morning. Right now they’re in season and tiny juveniles are very common. A few months later they’d disappear until next year. Ornates are a hit or miss imo. Some never adjusts to captivity and just wither away. Those would twitch and never exit their stress coloration.

 

[Jasonc15]

Love this. I’ve dabbled in these butterflyfish and love them. Have a good supplier for ornate these days?

I’m in SE Asia. It takes virtually no time for me to get ornates shipped to me where I live. They’re caught and shipped on the same day and I receive them in the morning. Right now they’re in season and tiny juveniles are very common. A few months later they’d disappear until next year. Ornates are a hit or miss imo. Some never adjusts to captivity and just wither away. Those would twitch and never exit their stress coloration.

Very nice. That short supply chain is KEY. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Seansea]

Dude. Thats the craziest collection of unreefsafe fish ever. Some real beauties in there but i noticed they are having at your sps something feirce.

 

[iReefer12]

Thank you! Haha yes, I’m more about the fish than the coral, the coral still is important, but fish first. You can actually keep quite a few different types of coral with even the most un-reef-safe fish. However, I did have to remove the Melapterus pair, they were causing too much damage to the SPS. It was a combination of not having enough SPS to spread out the damage, and a pair was too much for my tank.

They are back in a quarantine tank and they are eating frozen bloodworms now, so that’s a really positive development.

 

[Seansea]

Wow grats. Maybe they can get back to display and not be so naughty. Im setting up a 180 and gonna expirriment like you with easy sps like pocillipora and porites and see if the corals can outgrow there munching.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

Part of the problem is that the foods they eat play integral roles, not only in providing nutrients, but also in how their internal microbiome functions. Maybe thats why they keep getting sick and so young.

 

[the weird one]

I feed them clam and a hamburger mix of pulverized shrimp and ocean nutrition pellets

That's it??? it's that simple? just dry shrimp powder and pellet mixed together and done? wow thank you a lot man. I too think i'm quite okay at keeping copperband butterfly now and looking for new goal which is this. Well thank you for the information i hope i can make good use of it.

As for the myth of corallivores needing some kind of mysterious nutrients from coral, I don’t buy it. I was able to save some specimens that were skeletal, they gained weight and become plump again from just a normal diet. There’s no secret ingredient here. Just trials and errors, though I have the advantage of getting really tiny juveniles shipped to me the day they were caught. I think the time the fish spent before it gets to us plays a significant role here.

yeah i don't buy that either . Let cook this fish.

waittttt you're from Vietnam broooo. Who are you bồ ơi, teach me some of your wisdom too please :')))

 

[the weird one]

I’m in SE Asia. It takes virtually no time for me to get ornates shipped to me where I live. They’re caught and shipped on the same day and I receive them in the morning. Right now they’re in season and tiny juveniles are very common. A few months later they’d disappear until next year. Ornates are a hit or miss imo. Some never adjusts to captivity and just wither away. Those would twitch and never exit their stress coloration.

huhu cho mình xin chỗ mua với :')))) ship trong ngày nghe đã quá