Can a fish be "trained" not to eat coral?

[willhoward]

Why does certain fish keep on nipping at coral? Are they hungry or is it just in their nature? I've decided to get all the fish I want and then run the tank (FOWLR) before adding any coral. If all the fish eats well, will any of them switch over when I put in coral, like dwarf angels and YLB?

Thanx

[Jtsky]

You never know with fish. One day they might not bother coral, and the next they could be all over it.

[triggerfish1976]

Some hobbyists including me, have had success keeping possible coral eating fish like Angels and Butterflies in a QT-like tank setup for several weeks and weening them onto prepared foods before placing them in a reef tank. You can do the same thing in a F/O setup as well.

[jmaneyapanda]

I wholeheartedly say "NO". There is no conceivable way we could ever replicate the abundace and variety of diet these fish would find in the wild. If corals are part of that diet, we would need to saturate them with sustitute foods endlessly, to disuade them from eating the corals. In our tanks, this isn't possible.

[Philwd]

I got a declevis that was very small and eating prepared food at the LFS for 4 months and also then in my QT for 4 more weeks.

Within a week of getting into the tank started nipping. So it probably depends totally on the particular fish but IMO you are taking a big risk.

[nava405]

I have a friend with redsea regal angel, he had it for 3 years, but one day, the fish started to like his red brain coral which cost my friend $150 ...cuz the regal angel pretty much finished the nice red brain coral in less than 24 hours.