butterfly id plz

[sly fox]

trying to work out what this butterfly is..is this a chelmon muelleri... ?

 

[marc price]

Parachaetodon ocellatus

 

[sly fox]

thansk for the id... damn am i in trouble now??? is it a coral eater?

 

[Terra Ferma]

They are very difficult to keep. You need to work on your butterfly IDs!

 

[sly fox]

i do need to work on my ids... hmm i was worried about that

any pointers suggestions... ? do i need to start a pod culture, or try and feed something else?

 

[Terra Ferma]

I would try feeding him various sizes of Mysis in one of those FW blood worm feeder cones. I dont think moving food is what these guys want so much as something stringy and delicious looking that resembles a coral polyp. If you have small worms and feather dusters on your rocks he may go a while living off of those. People can and do feed certain butterflies live coral to keep them going but this seems counterproductive to me.

Might also be worth trying the Hikari frozen angel food - this seems to have a bunch of stuff in it although I have never found an angel that enjoyed eating it.

Best of luck and let us know how it works out.

 

[sly fox]

thanks, i do have worms and dusters all over my rocks...got about 300lbs of rocks in there... i might try and take it back or see if someone with more experience with butterflys locally that are harder to feed want him so he has more of a chance than in my hands

i feel a bit of a dope, but want him to have the best chance he can

 

[snorvich]

I commend you on your attitude of being willing to take him back. There are some butterflies that are very hardy but unfortunately they eat things most people want to keep in addition to those they want to feed. If you are going with a FOWLR tank, I can recommend mitratus and red sea racoon butterflies.

 

[sly fox]

thanks, I actually was worried the fish store would offload him on someone who wouldnt be able to give him the best shot, so i found someone with a lot of experience who is going to take him..

 

[sly fox]

one thing i forgot to mention is that he has definately been feeding on the fan worms on my rock,there were loads of bright red ones which are no more... also i had a few aptasia that ive been battling and had seen a couple i needed to take care of which had disappeared this morning...