I have had this butterfly in QT for 3 months trying to get him on clams, I gave up finally and started thinking about a feeder that only he could get the food out of. I tried several tube styles off of Reefcentral and even modified some with slots instead of holes and they all had some issues I didn't like, mainly to do with the current in the tank flowing through and blowing the mysis out. So I started thinking of a different way and have come up with this. It works so good I should patent it, except it probably ain't worth it. I used a 1 1/2" pvc external glue on cap and cut a slot in it about half way down, 3/4 of the way across, and trimmed the material to fit and left a little overhang to grab hold of. It works great, just slide the screen out and drop a frozen cube in, slide it back in and drop in the tank and it floats down to the sandbed. Leave the cube frozen so the mysis don't float out while the feeder is sinking. There are some issues, the sreen material is from NSA and I think they use it for Koi ponds, I'm not sure, but well find out and post it. It is about I would say atleast a 1/16" thick so it doesn't sag in the middle and it is plastic. I was thinking if this stuff is hard to get a guy could use regular metal farmers cloth since you can take it out after the feeding frenzie is over in about 5 - 10 mins., it wouldn't hurt anything in that short of time, and rinse it with tap water and dry. NSA has the plastic stuff though, it has like 3/16" sqare openings. I put the slot about halfway down so it would help shield the flow going past. It works great and even the proto type which uses a rubberband and has the screen on top had very little issues with flow. If the metal farmers cloth idea freaks you out you can use the other method and buy some large nylon window screen and cut out the openings to be larger and rubberband it over the top. I was wondering about using say 1/8" plexiglass with 3/16"-1/4" holes drilled in it and shaped for the slider also could be a possibility. Anyway it works great and let me know if you have any suggestions to improve it.
Actually the slot idea was Sams when he saw my first one, I was going to hinge the lid with a platic hinge for one of my radio controled airplanes. I did give my tangs to Norman because they were big and kept the CBB from getting to the feeder, as you can see by the pics, it causes quite a happening. I have since figured out that if you feed him when it is dark in the tank after lights go out or early in the morning, while the others are sleeping in the reef, he can eat in peace. Norman I want my tangs back, no just kidding. Try using Hykari frozen mysis and PE frozen cube mysis [the flat sheets of PE mysis are to large if I remember right] and see what you like best. He can eat the Hykari easier [smaller] but they tend to be blown out easier from turmoil over the feeder, but can eat easier without having to reposition the piece, where as the PE is a little larger and stays in the feeder better, but he has to learn what he gets in his mouth he can't spit out to reposition or it is gone in a flash, which he has learned, but feeding when the lights out doesn't make much diff because he has time to eat either in peace. I just fed him here during the day for the pics. Let me know what happens.
Also, I would think that the bigger the CBB the better as they have a bigger mouth and can eat bigger mysis without having to spit it out to reposition it.
I bought some of that plastic mesh type stuff at Lowes that might work as well. It was in the roofing section and is used as leaf guards for gutters but I can't remember if the holes are the same size. It comes in 20 foot sections and 6 inches wide.
I went to Lowe's tonight to buy some gutter guard material. I found the gutter guard and felt it was kind of thin, or at least thinner than I thought it should be. I then went back to the pvc plumbing section looking around. I came up with this idea: I am going to machine down the height some so their little beak will be able to get to the bottom easier. I will post more pics once I get that done.
Ralph I tried that and unless you found one smaller then I did it is 2" dia.. The problem was the dia allows to many fish to get over it, and their finning action from being in a feeding frenzy just blew all the food out and especially when I had the 2 tangs in the tank. The feeder I have in the pic is 11/2" and I am going to try maybe 1" as this one still allows to much action above it. The other issue was also as I stated above was having no wall above the screen caused the current to flow through more and the smaller mysis like Hykari would blow out. That is what I liked about the slot idea and I put it half way down so as to act as a shield and it also helps keep the fishes finning action from effecting it quite as much. I to cut my first one down lower as you can see in the 2 pics and it made it really easy for the food to be effected. I want to make a point here though and I don't want to offend anyone. This does not mean we can just make one of these and keep CBBs in any ole tank. Like I said above I gave my tangs to Norman as they would go crazy over the feeder and the CBB couldn't even hardly get to the feeder and if he did any food brought out was taken from his mouth if it was sticking out at all. Even now with just little fish in the tank, they too well take the food right out of his mouth if he come out with it, especially the 2 little blue damsels and the orange spotted gobie. These fish still need to be in a setting still to where they can have some peace when they eat. I am not a expert at this hobby, but I have had a few of these fish over 30 years and know what is required to keep them. The best situation is a tank with plenty of pods and a refug with him being the only fish, or atleast the dominent one. The next best is to get them onto clams and they the CBB need to be a decent size so they can actually tear into the clam with gusto and this takes a QT and time to train him. Alot of people get these fish to control aptasia and then they starve to death, kinda like a lawnmower bleeny and hair algae. I saw it up north happen more then I care to have seen and in established tanks loaded with pods, but they had wrasses and others that scoured the rocks and the CBB would starve in 6 months to a year. The one I gave to a friend when I moved down here, I had had for 10 years and he put it in a 8 year old 125 reef tank and he was the only fish that was going to be in there, he is still doing fine. Ralph I see in the tank shots you added one to the new tank. That surprises me as you said you thought they were a dumb fish the other day here. I thought you had one in the other tank??? You once told me that the first one only lived like 6 months and that was in the older established tank, but full of wrasses. Now you have 2 to take care of. I very nuch doubt that he well make it in that new tank as there is not much rock and I can guarantee that with those fish in the tank he well not get any food from that feeder, they well blow it all out. The only hope you have is to feed him after the tank is dark and he is still out roaming, either early in the morning or in the evening and that has to be done atleast once a day everyday. I was afraid this was going to happen when I posted that feeder. These guys still require a special setup and the special care by us to where they well get enough food to live for years to come. These are like Norman said, one of the fish that ought not to be taken off the reef and sold in stores. I have always loved these fish and am willing to do what is needed to cater to his needs, whatever that takes. Well hell now that I've pissed everyone off, I'll get off my soap box and go away, but making this feeder doesn't really mean much other then it contains the food instead of it blowing all over, but the other fish and the tank situation still have to be right.
Ralph I knew that post was probably going to ghet your dander up a little. You have a very successful tank and I don't doubt your experience, Iposted this feeder as an idea in developement and tried to make the point that there was still limits about it and that there had to be tank and animal concerns for the CBB enviroment still. I tried to make that point when I mentioned the giving of my tangs to Norman. You can do what you want, I just don't want this thread on the feeder to look like one can put this fish in that enviroment to everyone, that was not my intent and as I stated I tried to make that clear in the original post. As for your idea with those parts in the pic, go for it, I wasn't saying anything other then that I had tried it and it didn't seem to work as good as keeping it smaller in dia. . I started the thread to banter about ideas, sorry about that. The one thing I do disagree with is putting this fish in a new tank and in a tank with fish that well scour the tank for his food source and pretty much wipe it out. I have never lost one that I can remember, because I read what was required for their enviroment and tried to make sure it was there. Most people I know have kept them by themselves or have gotten them onto clams. The feeder is an Idea I thought about trying since I couldnot get this one on clams,the fishes enviroment, I am finding out still has to be of a large concern, and hence the giving away of the tangs. I don't believe I'm over the top on this fish as you put it. Have I studied its needs over the years and conditions that others have told me about that it requires, you bet and I have listened and I cannot remember ever losing one of them. I guess I disagree with you also that this fish requires us to see what it takes to keep them. It pretty much is known out there what it takes. Just a thought. As for the lost fish, you know what shape he was in when he was purchased and he never made it out of the bag and another reefer had the same issues from that tank source and we both knew it when we got the fish, and they well be replaced by the source of supply. AS for 3 salts, that is the first change I have made in 12 years and it was because the salt had gotten wayyyy to expensive and it was already one of the most expensive and after 12 years it just got to high for my boss, and you know you have to keep the boss happy. The salt I switched to seemed to be causing some issues with a few corals even doing just 5 gal water changes in a 240 per week to start with, and I'm still not sure it was the salt as I was very sick for 6 weeks and let the salinity get a little low, but changed to another brand and things have really gotten better then before with the original brand. Geeeeze talk about bringing up stuff that has nothing to do with the thread, I guess I'll have to watch what I tell you. Ralph, as I stated above I just don't want people to get the wrong impression on this feeder is why I even said anything, these fish still require certain enviroments and that is a given and I just don't want people to think otherwise. I really thought long about the post, as I consider you and Cindy very good friends, but I was sorry for starting the thread and the impression it might make. I wish you guys were coming to the meeting, but give me a call or I'll call you shortly.
Ralph I am way to old to be PC about stuff, I say whats on my mind. I just don't want people looking at those pics to think that keeping a CBB in a enviroment like that, that he is going to make it for very long with a feeder or not. We have alot of inexperienced readers here and they well get the wrong impression from those pics. I hate the fact that people get these fish for aiptasia problems and then they starve, I wish these guys cost $200, then maybe they would be fewer sold. That is all I'm trying to convey. My way of doing it as you put it has been knowledge from alot of reading and talking to alot of fellow keepers of these guys over the years and in Seattle I had alot of people to talk with on these guys over the years. I guess my point is that it is not my opinion, it is alot of others as well that has turned into my knowledge over several years. You and Jason can do what you want, I didn't tell you you couldn't anywhere in my statements, I just said that the fish well not last long in those enviroments and I want others to know that. There is no if ands or butts about it. The knowledge to keep these guys is not a great mystery, it is there for the taking, we just have to be willing to do it. The perc was a oscellaris and he died after having him for better then a year and had a bloated stomach, I figure he ate something that got jammed and he couldn't pass it. Things die in our tanks enough under ideal conditions as they do in the wild, we should all strive for those conditions to exist. The meeting was great and a good time was had by all and there were alot of people there for this one. The acan frags were very nice 4 headed ones and I picked up somemore chaeto to go with what Sam gave me, so the refug is full pretty much now. I'm to old for WWF. PS the banter is what these forums are about in my opinion, as long as it stays halfway civilized. A phone call doesn't enlighten anyone but the people on the phone. Keep us posted how using the feeder in that tank works, I am curious to find out.
As promised a few pics of the first mod. I am still waiting for my other caps that I have being cut like John's. Thought this would be fun to try meanwhile. In the 3rd picture you can see another type of feeder we tried. It worked well, and the CB kept looking at it to see if food was in there. John was right about the larger fish finning/fanning the food out of the feeder, but the CB is still able to get the food that comes out too. I am going to try one more mod on this one as I like the pvc cover vs the gutter guard look.
Ralph try feeding after lights out for 1/2 hr., see what happens??? Your fish are too big to go into the reef but maybe they well stay wherever they go to sleep and he can get more of it to eat. The one I did like that I just left the grate openings original, harder for the food to blow out, but still pretty bad when the others come around. I see the mesh you mentioned, how did that work?
I really did not get the chance to see it , as Cindy fed while I was at work. You can see in that picture the CB keeps looking to it for food. She seemed to think it worked pretty well. I am putting blood worms, mysis, and angel and butterfly fish cubes in the feeder.
