butterflyfish feeding woes

[thenewguy997]

I recently got a heniochus chrysostomus from LA.

At first it didnt notice my frozen mysis. Now it chases them down, chews it up, spits it out, repeats 5x on same piece, then swallows none of it

What can i do? I tried garlic.this week i will get live and im sure itll eat that but why wont it swallow?

 

[SteelMastiff]

I have a longnose that does the same thing, but after watching closely, mine is simply consuming the meaty portion of the shrimp and spitting the rest out.

Myself and many others have had success getting the ball rolling with live black worms, its worth a try, especially if it hasn't been eating anything for you...

 

[Dmorty217]

Good news is the fish wants to eat, hence the eating and spitting out. This is the first step in getting fish to eat prepared foods. Keep trying and try other types of frozen to see if you get the same response

 

[caribfan]

Try a smaller sized food item. Perhaps a smaller mysis shrimp variety or even cyclopeeze.

You can also try grating a high quality uncooked shrimp (I like Florida hoppers) with a cheese grater. Also, there are few butterflies that can resist a fresh cracked little neck clam or oyster.

 

[SDguy]

You can also try grating a high quality uncooked shrimp (I like Florida hoppers) with a cheese grater.

^^ Definitely!

Also, besides shrimp, try scallop, or even very finely minced clam... neither of those will have the spiky texture of Mysis, which, IME, many newly imported butterflies have a tough time swallowing.

 

[moogoomoogoo]

mine have gone for frozen clams or mussels, thawed, with the shell opened

 

[zebrasoma17]

Often reluctant butterflies will take live blackworms. I know they're not readily available everywhere but here on Long Island we can usually get them.

 

[thenewguy997]

Ok guys, im gonna try some clams and live mysis and if no luck ill try the grater and blavkwormd

 

[rc1626]

+3 on blackworms if you can get them.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

How long have you had the fish?

I would try Hikari mysis (frozen version, but thaw completely before feeding), and grated shrimp and scallop as mentioned above. If those don't work, then the clam and live blackworms.

 

[thenewguy997]

4 days, been feeding thawed hikari, no dice

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Keep offering them a variety of food. It can take 1-2 weeks for fish to settle in and start eating.

 

[caribfan]

Try a little neck clam from the grocery store, cracked open.

Also, leave the lights off for a few days if they haven't all ready been left off.

 

[thenewguy997]

Update: no luck on frozen. After a,week i went and bought live mysis. Day one he still didnt eat them, day 2 of live he is eating them very well.

He also eats better with the lights off.

He is an omnivore tho, how do i get him to eat veggies??

 

[pktech]

Update: no luck on frozen. After a,week i went and bought live mysis. Day one he still didnt eat them, day 2 of live he is eating them very well.

He also eats better with the lights off.

He is an omnivore tho, how do i get him to eat veggies??

I recently had a pair or multibar angels that weren't eating. 10 days I was getting nervous & I was given some very solid advice - I added a non-threatening fish that as soon as he was introduced, ate everything! My finicky angels took immediate notice & joined in. From that point it was game in everyday. I added a small wrasse. Good luck w/ your guy...