How MUCH should my CB butterfly be eating?

[i3oosted]

I have a CB that is eating frozen Mysis and picks at frozen brine. I always read posts about them withering away and dying of malnutrition. So I was wondering HOW MUCH should the fish be eating? I'm feeding about 3 times a day from my usual once or twice a day to make sure it's getting plenty of food. Each time it picks at a few Mysis shrimp, is this enough for it? It's about 3" to 3.5" in size and the biggest fish in the tank so far so it gets plenty of food presented to it without being bullied.

I was thinking about getting a live FW clam and rubberband it to a rock to see if it will eat that.

 

[MrTuskfish]

He should be eating enough to have a nice plump and rounded belly. I have no idea how to "measure'' food intake. IMO & IME; once acclimated to the DT (the tough part of CBBs); more CBBs are lost to inappropriate conditions than diet.

CBBs don't do well with bullies, or ever highly active fish in their face all the time. They need plenty of space too, LA suggests 125 gal minimum. My CBB is almost 5" and in my 240 "quiet/wussy" fish tank. . He does very well there,

If your CBB is from Indonesia or The Phillipiines, acclimation is vital; many fish from those places just don't make it and I blame the impossibility of policing capture practices in the countless islands that make up the two Countries. Once past the first few months, that isn't a problem, though.

 

[orangegoby]

+1, my rule of thumb is seeing a rounded plump belly.

 

[SDguy]

IMO/E the best way to know if a butterfly is getting enough food is by looking at their overall body appearance. You should not be able to see any sign of the skull, especially around the forehead area above the eyes. Also, no spine should be visible, and of course, as mentioned, a nice belly. Here are some google images I found of skinny fish...

 

[MrTuskfish]

^^^^A picture is worth a thousand words!^^^^