Any melannotus- black back butterfly owners here?

[pktech]

Sometimes a title like that indicates an impulse purchase has been made, LOL .... So the little guy is in qt (alone) under a rock cave staring out at me & of course not eaten since this past thursday. After a bunch of different preparations including live brine - it has not eaten. So I pulled out old reliable (little neck clam) & still no go. Belly isn't pinched yet & eyes are clear.

I used to have a collare & it ate nothing but live clam, so I figured that would give me a starting point, but not this time. So does anyone own one & or have experience (good or not so good) with this species in particular? When did yours begin to eat or did it ever eat?

Fenner did rate it as one of the "good" ones .. but maybe guy is different ... anyway any & all thoughts are appreciated

 

[SDguy]

Mine ate everything including flake and pellet. Also loved any small polyp... softie or sps. I sold it to a friend due to aggression.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I had one years ago, ate anything and lived for years. I think they are just typical Chaetodon genus BBF and you just get one that won't eat (yet). This can happen with any fish. Just a "maybe": many of these BBF come from Indonesia and I avoid fish from there if at all possible. Their zillion islands make policing good collection laws impossible. Before Katrina; I kept a log on all of my fish for years. At least 75% of fish that died in a random time span that I labeled "too soon"; were from Indonesia or the Philippines. They accounted for less than 25% of the fish I owned during that period.

 

[jjk_reef00]

I had tried one of these a while ago and it never ate, which is consistent with what is described by Mr. Tuskfish. I have one in my tank now that will not eat dry goods but eats a wide variety of frozen. If I remember correctly mine first took to either clam or live blackworms.

 

[morgan58]

I have one for 6 months now. I started it with mussel then followed by frozen minced shrimps and then pellets. Now I only feed it with pellets. This is one of the fastest growing butterfly I have. It grew from 30mm to about 60mm within this period.

 

[jjk_reef00]

What kind and size of pellets do you guys feed yours?

 

[SDguy]

Small Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 are his favorite, but he also ate NLS.

 

[pktech]

Did everyones start eating right away or did it take some time? Was it shy & housed with other fish? Would you consider adding a smaller peacful tankmate to induce the feeding response? Today is day 7 refused another clam - this time I suffed it w/ frozen brine & nothing as far as I can see. hmmm

 

[morgan58]

Mine started eating the next day and it was not mixed with other fishes because of it's small size and might not be able to complete.
Is the fish actively swimming looking for food or just hanging mid water. If it is looking for food then can try put some frozen seafood thru a blender and try feeding.

 

[SDguy]

I agree with the above... while being picky isn't abnormal or a cause for concern, if it's not picking at anything and completely ignoring food, or inactive or sulking in any way, you may have a disease issue or other problem.

 

[stuifbol]

+1....almost all BF's that come in have some kind off disease or flukes or something else.....

I agree with the above... while being picky isn't abnormal or a cause for concern, if it's not picking at anything and completely ignoring food, or inactive or sulking in any way, you may have a disease issue or other problem.