Selecting Butterflyfish

[falconut]

I've got a 180 gallon FOWLR. I've got a Bluestriped BF (about 2-1/2" - 3") that I've had for about 1-1/2 years. He's been doing great. I'd like to add another BF. There are a few species that I like, so next is to find a healthy one.

My LFS is only about 5 minutes from my house. A few weeks ago they got in a few: Pakistan (3"-3-1/2"), Racoon (3") & a couple Pearlscale (2-1/2" - 4"). I stopped in early last week to see if the Pakistan would eat, but wasn't even interested. Some of the food (mysis) floated into the Racoon tank, but it wouldn't eat either. Neither even looked at the food. This was about a week after both fish came in.

This weekend I stopped in to see if the larger Pearlscale would eat. They tried frozen mysis and live blackworms, but it didn't even seem interested. It was twitching, so the employee suggested not to purchase, which I wasn't anyway. He also said he was going to FW dip it later than day.

I have a fully cycled QT, that I'll be treating with PraziPro & Cupramine during the minimum 30 day QT period. But a few questions on finding a healthy BF:

1. Should a healthy BF be eating with gustso or does it take time with BFs? I won't buy any unless they're eating, but do they need to be eating great or just picking at the food?
2. None of them have any redish areas around the fins or mouth or look thin in the body. Both Pearlscales and Pakistan look good above the eye, but not sure about the racoon, it might be thin, but not sure how thin is too thin?
3. If a BF has a few white spots on pectoral fins (probably crypto) and/or twitching (both Pearlscales), should they be avoided? Or if eating and looking good, it'd be OK to buy and treat?

Any help on this from BF keepers would be appreciated.

 

[Old Fritz]

I actually order butterflies a lot for my store and I personally keep them. Sometimes butterflies won't eat for sometimes up to a week, however I've noticed this most with aurigas and sometimes Pakistan's. However they typically come around

I'm a little worried about you adding new butterflies however your butterfly isn't that large so it shouldn't be too much of a concern.

I mostly look for diet when getting my butterflies. Because whether or not it's diseased it goes into a qt tank to be treated. The twitching could be caused by irritation meaning there could be an underlying disease like ich.

 

[falconut]

Yeah, the current BF is a little boisterous, that's why I'm looking at larger ones. I've seen smaller ones, but wouldn't even attempt with him in the tank.

It's good to know that they don't necessarily need to be eating great at first, but I'll make sure they are definitely eating before taking one home.

I believe the twitching is from ich, since the one is showning a couple spots on it's fins. I've had luck with other fish and ridding ich, so I'm not too worried about treating that, unless BFs have a poor success rate of curing.