pbryant33

I have a long nose butterfly fish who seems healthy. He picks at the live rock but he only eats the frozen shrimp i give. I vary the type of shrimp and mix in live shrimp about twice a month. his bowel movements seem very healthy as are his color and general activity. Is this type of activity normal? Is it because of his very small mouth? any help would be appreciated. thanks

sgould

Pretty normal I think. Fish in nature will pick at algae as well as small animals from rocks. Butterfly are carnivores and like meaty foods, so shrimp is a good choice for him. As long as he is eating that, his color is good, and his activity level is normal, I think you are fine.

diver28

Yea, I just placed a Pebble Butterfly in my tank and he loves the shrimp and is now eating out of my hand. He also eats these frozen cubes of greens. Whenever I put my hand in the tank he swims right up to it and now pecks at my fingers even though I have no food sometimes. One thing I noticed is he rarely eats floating foods ... its either out of my hand or debris that settled on the live rock or fake corals.