Eight Banded butterflyfish (Chaetodon Octofasciatus)

Mangodude

Mangodude

The Clown Tang Keeper!
Picked up two of these today, watched them eat pellets and mussel and they're both pretty fat. Got my fingers crossed that they'll live.

They're picking at my monti's polyps right now. But not enough to do serious damage. They're about 2" and 1.5" each. Hoping I can train them off of sps



Any help with anything related to them would be appreciated
 
GL. Unfortunately that fish in the pic is already quite skinny. The classic signs being the sunken in areas right above the forehead and right above the pelvic fins.
 
Thanks! I assure you, neither section is pinched, its a bad pic. I made sure to check both of those before I bought them. I'll put up a better pic later :)
 
They are awesome fish! One I wish I could keep, but those fish are pinched.. no denying it. Just because they are eating and their belly may not be pinched (like a tang that hasn't eaten in a while) does not mean they are not skinny.

That said, having coral for them to pick and knowing they are eating means you have a much better chance of keeping them alive. Hopefully you will post updates! I would like to see a success story.
 
Such a beautiful fish!
But yes... Seems to me too that the fish is a bit on the skinny side. Malnutrition before you got them, maybe? I hope you can fix them :)

It is absolutely important to always check how the fish looks above the anteroposterior axis.
Especially with Butterflies. If the fish has been poorly fed, or not eating at all the large kidney starts to shrink. This can be seen with Butterfly fishes especially, as they have deep, laterally narrow bodies. Well, I guess you know what I mean...
 
Out of curiosity, how much is this fish approx.

And does anyone know where I can get one in Canada, beautiful fish but no store around me knows what it is
 
After watching them for a while, I've determined that out of all the corals in there, they only "eat" my purple monti digi and my green cyphastrea. They seem particularly interested in the skin of the digi, not just the polyp.

They pick at rock/other sps but it just disturbs the coral. All my acros still have good polyp extension as do my monti caps and lps.

I'm putting shrimp on the monti digi's now to see if they'll pick at it. Couldn't find fresh mussels last night
 
Mangodude said:
Picked up two of these today, watched them eat pellets and mussel and they're both pretty fat. Got my fingers crossed that they'll live.

They're picking at my monti's polyps right now. But not enough to do serious damage. They're about 2" and 1.5" each. Hoping I can train them off of sps



Any help with anything related to them would be appreciated
Click to expand...

How do you plan to "train" a fish that has evolved to eat and get nutrition from basically nothing but live coral polyps to change?
 
MrTuskfish said:
How do you plan to "train" a fish that has evolved to eat and get nutrition from basically nothing but live coral polyps to change?
Click to expand...

I dont mean to get them to the point where they reject coral polyps, but get them to where its not their primary food source. If that helps.
 
Got them eating mussels again! and they're in the frag tank now. Still nibbling at my monti's but i'm less worried about them starving
 
That's good news... are they eating them off the half shell, or are you having to mince it up for them?
 
They finished the mussel and now look fatter then when I bought them :D

now I just need them to switch to pellets and I'll be set
 
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