Captive reared angles and butterflies??

[Ironreef]

Dunno if this is the right place to post but I'm wondering if the success of captive angels and butterflies is good .My question is with they still go after corals as a natural food source or will they be conditioned to the foods they were raised on??@ Flameangels now are captive reared will there coral nipping be less with a captive on or is it still to early to tell? Just wondering if theres already other fish that have been out that i don't know about??

[eco-tropic]

A partner of mine was involved in quazi captive rearing of angels and butterflies. The reason I chose the word quazi is because hatcheries are scooping larvae from the sea at certain developmental stages and growing them out to post metamorphosis. There is some evidence that this form of rearing does in fact change the digestive tract and behavior of some obligate coral feeders. Whether the flame angle was part of the study is a question I can not answer. I'll see if I can not get some data on the topic from said friend in Vanuatu.

[Ironreef]

I would think if there were use to specific manmade foods it would help? Thanks for the reply. The futue will only tell?? But if i were to choose I would always pay alittle more and get captive reared /prop fish

[FMarini]

Guys;
great topic and one that i am(have been ) following over at our sister website
http://www.reefs.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=000063
Iron you pose an interesting question and one that is extreme difficult to address. My suspision is that these tank raised fish will eat their "native" innate foods, as well as NEW foods which they will be trained to eat and recognize as food. So my guess woul be they still won't be reefsafe. BUT I have no data suggesting this is true. AS you also read over at reefs.org the waikki aquarium has just accounced the spawning and raising of a rare angel fish, however they are feeding it its native foods, So beside the fantastic work no new info on feeding will be derived from this.
remember that obligate feeders only recognize certain food types as food, and even if your able to train one of them onto a new food, my guess is thereinnate self will also see the "old" food as food as well.
Time will tell---as you say
my opinion
frank

[Ironreef]

The article in the link is what made me think. I agree you maynot be able to change diets, but some what reef safe fish already like flame angels May become alittle safer?? Good to see more captive reared fish. =Good for the hobby