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View Full Version : Copperband Butterfly wont eat. Suggestions ?


Goby1Knoby
01/03/2002, 05:51 PM
Hi All


Ok could do with some help.

Have had a Copperband B.fish for last four weeks, but he is not eating properly.

Originally put him in main 6 foot tank, but Y.Tang beat up on him so had to move him to second only four month old 4 & 1/2 foot tank.

Prob, is he will not take any of the frozen fare offered to him. IE: Mysis/Brine/Bloodworms/Mussell/Squid.

Even tried to get him to eat fresh Oyster !!! Yes !! but to no avail.

Have put some Aiptasia covered main Tank L.Rock into the second tank but only ever saw him peck at the smaller ones, larger ones are still there weeks later.


Any suggestions ????????


DO NOT want to see him slowly waste away.




Thanks


Brian.

Greatreefer
01/17/2002, 12:12 PM
Have you tried live Brine shrimp at all?

Tderasa
01/17/2002, 12:20 PM
a friend has told me that his copperband loves live black worms.
problem is where do you find them for sale.

igottagetalife
01/18/2002, 09:59 PM
Two words and a couple of suggestions...
I had a CopperBanded Butterfly and after being beaten up I isolated him for a while ..eating was optional...re-phrase...impossible but while in the quarantine tank I did give live brine as a last resort.... it worked. Then I took out the offending critter and switched them..... until the butterfly was thouroughly comfortable...

then re-integrated the entire kitten kaboodle.
It worked but the live brine were the savours

PetConnection
01/18/2002, 11:30 PM
Don't ever buy one again...they only have a 50% survivablity at best. The only reason anyone buys them is their reputation of being aiptasia eaters. Live foods are the best way to tempt a timid eater, then if it eats these, you can usually wean it frozen, vitamin soaked food.

JohnL
01/19/2002, 01:21 AM
You could try fresh mussels or clams.

Gary Majchrzak
01/19/2002, 04:18 PM
Personal experience: Some tangs take offense to adding a copperband,but the butterflyfish are MUCH more agile,and IF they have the room,they can easily avoid the surgeonfish.Copperbands love worms.Whether in the DSB or rockwork.Frozen or live.Brine or mysid shrimp followed by frozen shrimp from your seafood store are next on the preferred menu .Aiptasia are eaten intermittently,yet effectively. Mine eats Vibra-gro,picking the small sized pellets from the macro-rubble.See my website for a pic of this beautiful fish,going on 18 months in my 220.

Acro
02/18/2002, 01:29 PM
Brian,
I have a copperband that took 2 months before eating preped foods. I had a large feather duster pop to keep him going for a while and I believe he also ate small pod life. Everytime I put in preped foods he would run and hide because of the high action caused from the others feeding. I did notice though after lights out that he came out more and hunted freely. So I decided to put some food in the tank after lights out and wola he ate. I did this for a couple days then he started eating with the others during the day and now he is doing great and is an aggressive eater.
Jamie

jciaccio
02/18/2002, 10:07 PM
I had one for awhile and agree about the worms. Mine took right to the tankk and would constantly peck around for food eating of the rocks. He also started eating the flakes that I regularly feed the other fish but mostly liked to peck away.

They are beautiful fish and I hope yours does well.

Lobster
02/20/2002, 07:45 PM
What I do with all of my fish is first get them hooked on live brine shrimp, often while they are in the bag acclimating. Over the first week I start adding in frozen food with the live brine, and try to chop it up to be the same size as the brine. Eventually I cut out the live brine all together. This has worked with all my fish so far, including my CB.

nazgul
03/02/2002, 12:37 AM
I'm no expert in keeping them but here are some thoughts I have from when I did own one (more on that in a minute)...

As mentioned above from another poster, tangs can sometimes be an issue. I had a rather large Purple Tang that did not take kindly to the CB's addition. Fight after fight, I ended up getting rid of the Purple Tang :( - to be fair, it was getting too big for my tank anyway - so it was for the best.

After I cleared up that mess - the CB pretty much hovered around the rock work. Eating all my feather dusters, fan worms, etc. I mean, it left nothing behind and cleared them all, I mean all, out. This was a nice site. Now, this is going on the CB's first week in the display tank.

It was during the second week that I would try to get it to eat prepared foods like the rest of the creatures in the tank. I'd feed the other fish first leaving a few drops of food for the CB. Tank mates are:

5 green chromis
6-line wrass
Pair true percs/clowns
2 anthasis - bartletts(sp - sorry)
Kole Tang
2 skunk cleaner shrimp

As his tank mates are rather fast swimmers and gobble up the food, I tended to feed them first then focus on the CB. The CB was always alert and came up to the glass when I'd feed them. That being said, after everyone was done eating, I'd try and direct food directly to the CB. I tried:

enriched brine (also added selcon)
red worms
mysis shrimp
formula 1
nori (added selcon and garlic)

My CB would pick at the above listed food but not really pay much attention. Always going back to the rockwork to hunt. I read a post somewhere on this forum were someone mentioned getting a mussel or clam shell and stuff food in it, then toss it in the tank. I tried that and he found it. Ate it right up.

After that, he started to hang out with the rest of the fish and eat from the water column like the rest of them. The only problem here is that he is a slower swimmer than his buddies. So - they'd gobble it up first, and he wouldn't get much. So, I'd have to feed by hand or again. Only problem with this is my skimmer at that time sucked - so I always had extra nutrients... :(

So - what I know is this.

1. Tank mates - if they are fast swimmers and eaters, make sure your CB gets food. Target feed, feed by hand if he allows you to. Also try stuffing shells with food. He'll love you for it. That nose is long for a reason :)

2. Buy only healthy fish. Do not purchase a CB with a sunken belly. That is a sure sign of death. Also, make sure they are alert and come to you. These are very friendly fish I've found and are always alert. Every time I walk by the tank, mine would come to the front.

3. Mysis and brine shrimp. Add selcon. Red worms work too. Nori and formula 1 flake.

4. Most important - mine cleared up my aptaisa problem real quick. One trick that I wanted to try but ran out of time was to put a rock in my sump. Let the feather dusters grow on it, then move it to the display tank for him to eat off. Once the rock is clean, toss it back in the sump. Think of it as a treat. You can also do that with aptasia :)

Lastly - how I lost mine :( - true story.

I came home one night after work and noticed something on his mouth/snout. To my surprise, he had a small clam type thing covering it. Try as hard as he could to get it off, he couldn't.

I'm guessing he tried to eat a small clam that was on my live rock. It closed on his snout/mouth. As he fought to get free the CB finally broke it free. I knew there was a fight as sand was everywhere on that side of the tank.

Anyway - I was able to net him and after a few minutes, got the clam shell off. However, the damage was already done. There was a huge gash on the side of his mouth. I thought he would heal - as he still ate. But, he didn't make it. The wound never fully healed and I did not put him in a q-tank (I don't own one...). After that night he slowly stopped eating. I'm guessing that his mouth never fully healed and he could not open it to eat. My lack of exp in curing something like that ended up killing it.

I've always wanted to get another one but have yet to do so. Very pretty fish. Maybe I got lucky with mine eating and all, but I believe they are possible to keep. Just need to pay attention to it's needs and surround tank mates. I feel it is a slower moving type fish and should it compete for food, it will lose and starve.

Hope this helps. YMMV.
Regards,

sculpin
03/09/2002, 02:56 PM
I'm not sure if they are available where you are, but I've found that my CBB loves ghost/glass shrimp (the freshwater variety). These shrimp can be moved into salt water (they actually tolerate a wide range of conditions) by drip acclimation. Upon dumping them into the tnk the CBB goes nuts, ripping them into small pieces and gobbling them down. I was actually quite suprised the first time this happened, as I was adding the shrimp as a potential infauna addition.

Mike