pls help, butterfly not eating

[jacksin]

16 days ago I rec'd an auriga butterfly from live aquaria. Don't know how she is still living. She is in a 30 gal qt tank with 4-5 pcs of live rock from an established tank. Have tried feeding everything I can get my hands on. Frozen brine, mysis, bloodworms, marine supreme, plankton, squid. All foods have been offered plain as well as soaked in garlic. Even bought some clams and split them open, hoping she would pick at them. She approaches everything I put in the tank but at the most might eat a couple pcs of shrimp. Live brine isn't available here. She can't have much longer. thx

 

[JMM744]

Is it picking stuff off the rock? It’s kind of expensive but you might try live black worms. You can get them from California or the east coast. Another thing to try is mastic. If it takes to it you can eventually add mysis or blood worms etc.. to it when you mix it up.
You will be surprised how long they can last when it doesn’t seem they are eating. Try nori too. All my butterflies eat it. Good luck with it. Post a couple pics if you think of it.

 

[foxt]

Clams usually work, but you tried that. Live Black worms would be the next thing to try.

 

[Overboard]

Butterfly's can be tough. I tried a Copperband that never ate.

I now have a pyramid butterfly that probably went a month in quarantine without eating. Left for vacation, came back, and he is aggressively eating PE Pellets (2mm). Go figure. My only thought is the lack of activity around the quarantine tank while I was gone may have let it settle in and get comfortable.

If you can get them, maybe try the Reef Nutrition products like Tigger Pods (live food), ROE, and ArctiPods.

Good luck!

 

[ImNemo]

My longnose butterfly seems to do better with the powerheads turned off during feeding. It will mostly eat mysis but gets some of the nori that my tangs scatter all over the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nori seaweed sheet with garlic, live brine or black worm (place in a shallow bowl or cup, as if not eaten can go into bedding and decay) and 1/2 clam with garlic.

 

[icomplii]

How many times did you offer clams? In my experience, they usually don't start eating it the first time but keep offering it everyday. Good luck

 

[jacksin]

I do see her picking at the rocks a little. Tried clams 4 times, will get some more. have also tried nori. I guess its a positive that she is at least showing interest in a couple of the foods offered. Thanks for the responses

 

[Pbh-reef]

You can hatch baby brine shrimp pretty easily from eggs. There are helpful hatching dishes you can buy but you can also just get the eggs, put them in salt water in a shallow Tupperware dish in a warm place, and use a Pipette to get the hatched shrimp out. They are attracted to light so if you Can use a flashlight in a dark room to attract the bbs and then Pipette them out from that corner/side


Live worms are also a good idea.
Do you always turn the flow off? Sometime fish are more attracted to food in high flow, although butterflies are grazers so maybe not in this case.
Have you ever seen the fish poop? Any signs of internal parasites?

 

[JMM744]

Put some mastic or nori on the rock then and leave the room and see if that helps. Are there other fish in the tank. Sometimes seeing other fish eating gets them going. It can be frustrating for sure. Hang in there.
Jim

 

[jacksin]

Baby brine shrimp are to small right? How long does it take for them to reach a decent size? I never turn off the flow when feeding.

 

[foxt]

They will take a little while, maybe a week. That said, part of what the fresh baby brine might do is stimulate a feeding response - getting the butterfly eating anything will be progress, no matter how small.

 

[Pbh-reef]

Baby brine shrimp are to small right? How long does it take for them to reach a decent size? I never turn off the flow when feeding.

They're small, but if it starts eating from the water column you can start to mix in larger frozen foods. Eating anything regularly would be a start.

In terms of growing them out, you would need to feed them I think, there are explanations you can find online for how to grow BBS to larger sizes, but I'venever done it

 

[MrsBugmaster]

What kind of clam did you try? I've best luck with fresh little neck clams from grocery store and black worms as others have mentioned.

 

[JMM744]

Yep, it’s just getting the fish eating. Tiny as they are it’s better then nothing. You can buy brine shrimp eggs that have been de- capsulated( egg shell removed) and hatch them out and rinse in fresh water and add to the tank. You would probably only have to add them a couple times to get it going. Live aquaria has live brine for sale as well.

 

[InkedReefLady]

I agree with the comments on clams or even I'd try mussels. I soak frozen food in selcon or Brightwell Angellixer. I tried the Angellixer for our 2 Colins angels when they first came in from DD/LA. Whether or not that is what got them eating is up for debate, but it's worth a shot.

 

[jacksin]

It was the little neck clams that I tried. Will try them again today. Just ordered some mastic to try as well

 

[Pbh-reef]

another thing you can try - smash frozen food into a head of broccoli and put that into the tank,, the butterfly might take up the food as if it was picking it from a rock

 

[foxt]

How is your Fish?

 

[Biglurr54]

In my experience, I find butterfly's need darker calm areas to relax and calm down for a few days before eating. I have tanks that are painted black with only the front open. I use indirect light for illumination. Lastly, I will add meth blue or nfg. The meth blue assists with breathing and calms the fish down greatly. The nfg is a must and now I treat all new butterflies with it. Butterflies are extremely suspectable to bacteria infections and the first sign is them not eating. I treat all butterflies now just so I'm sure that they have a chance to fight off the bacteria.