Pearlscale Butterfly Diet?

PoggiPJ

PoggiPJ

Premium Member
Aside from corals, what would a Pearlscale Butterfly tend to eat in a FOWLR tank? I've got a healthy looking one who doesn't seem interested in live blackworms, aptasia, marine flake, live brine, or pellets.

Any ideas?
 
Not sure about the pearlscale specifically, but a lot of people seem to have luck getting butterflies to eat a fresh mussel or clam opened and put in the tank. Good luck.
 
I've kept these fish before. Mine weren't picky, but for one who is a bit shy, try some minced clam, mussel, squid, or other meaty foods. Mine also loved Marine Cuisine, Emerald entree, New Life Pellets and nori.
 
Thank you both - and Jerry, thank you for your service to our country. Today I put in a raw clam on one end, and a raw oyster on the opposite end (both in the sand) The shrimp went nuts. The "Pearl" ignored it - BUT - I did catch her eating 1 defrosted mysis. Hopefully we're turning a corner.
 
I think the difficulty with butterflies is that they are especially prone to go on hunger strikes if they don't feel secure or are being bullied in any way. The reason I mention this is I find it odd that your butterfly won't eat live blackworms as this is the food of choice for a picky butterfly in my experience. The cracked mussel trick often works.
Have you tried mysis shrimp?

Part of the issue with many butterflies and other fish like this is that they don't usually eat out of the water column. They are more inclined to pick and forage for food out of rocks and crevices. A trick I know that has helped me in the past with picky fish is to take a rock out of the tank, pat it dry and then take some frozen food on the rock and let it dry out in fridge. In a few hours the food will dry out and make a thick paste that should stay on once you resubmerge the rock. Hopefully this will help the butterfly be able to feed better and get time to develop a stronger feeding response.

Hope this helps.
 
Thank you - that's an interesting concept. He IS looking for food, and I did see him grab one defrosted mysis. I'll try the hiding trick today.
Update: The rock is drying in the fridge right now.
 
Last edited:
Tried 2 raw mussels, from Whole Foods- nothing but the best. Cracked them open with a nut cracker, and my copperband is picking at it. The pearlscale - he just looks at it.

Tried the rock in the refrig with the mysis paste, nothing.

Maybe it's time for a pearlscale butterfly burger - before he goes bad :hmm3:
 
PoggiPJ said:
Tried 2 raw mussels, from Whole Foods- nothing but the best. Cracked them open with a nut cracker, and my copperband is picking at it. The pearlscale - he just looks at it.
Click to expand...

Likely the copperband will be a great influence allowing the new pearlscale to see what a brother should be doing to eat in this new place.

Before you decide on the McPearl Sandwich ... just give it some time and I am sure it will come around. The fresh clams, mussels and oyster will eventually win him/her over.

Question, is this fish from a fellow reefer or from a LFS. If from LFS, which I will assume, what QT did you follow? From what I have read here is that Butterflys should be QT'd with Prazio-Pro as a rule of thumb. Hopefully some of the experts can pipe in here and offer some advice.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Bruce
 
IME with butterflies the fact that it is not eating after all of this something may not be right. Get a magnifying glass and take a good look at the fish. Look and see how it is breathing, see if you can look at its gills. Have you seen any feces from this fish?
Did you quarantine this fish? How long have you had it?

Also, with some skittish fish like butterflies your very presence in front of the tank can scare them away. I would make sure you feed them with only the tank light on so that they cannot see you as well.

What other kinds of fish do you have in your tank and how big is your tank?
 
As much as it shames me to admit it, this time I did not quarantine. I have not seen any feces, however, I have not seen feces from any of them. Unlike my old blue hippo tang who ... lets not get into that. I've only had the pearl almost a week Tuesday April 19th. He still seems very active, and he's no longer hiding. He swims alongside the Yellow Tang and Copperband, both who are slightly larger. I also have one pretty well behaved Striped Damsel, two False Perculas, an Engineer Goby, and two Catalina Gobies. Couple of cleaner shrimp, 4 peppermints. That's it - 180 gallons
 
They aren't very dificult to keep, mine eat all prepared food and I provide some corals such as euphyllias and gonioporas and also premium live rock for them to graze on.
 
I agree that the pearlscales aren't particularly difficult butterflyfish wise. Would keep an eye out on that yellow tang. They are pretty notorious for giving butteflyfish a hard time.
 
I would try a FW dip for 10 min to check for flukes as this fish should not be that shy to eat unless sick... and flukes should be present for sure...
If flukes start to drop, start Prazipro treatment asap.
 
Pearlscale Update

Pearlscale Update

It's been several days from my last post, and during that time she began eating. Either it was just time for her to eat, or it was the "magic formula" of a little bit of flake, a little bit of live blackworms and a squirt of Oyster Feast. I let the flake and worms soak in the oyster feast for about 5 minutes before putting it in the tank and she (and everyone else) went after it with zeal :-)

Thank you all for your help and suggestions! :)
 
Pretty much any seafood meats should be accepted. Eventually pellets will as well, IME. LRS fish frenzy is great too.
 
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