Copperband Butterfly eating situation...

aLucidDream · #1 10/20/2006, 11:28 PM

Well I have this guy alittle over a week....from what I see he isn't eating anything I put in there. I have tried squid, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, plankton, bloodworms and frozen forumula 1&2. He actually gets along great in the tank, doesn't pick at any corals, does touch my feather dusters and mainly hides out still behind and in the rock work. Is there anything else I could try feeding him that perhaps I'm missing? Just give it time? Anyone else have success with a copperband?

SDguy · #2 10/20/2006, 11:45 PM

Very difficult fish to get eating prepared foods. Live blackworms can sometimes get them eating. Soak the worms in selcon for added nutrition. Live brine shrimp can also help. Cracked open live clams or mussels can also work. Good luck...odds are somewhat against you though.

Chaloupa · #3 10/20/2006, 11:46 PM

Mine LOVES fresh clams from the local seafood shop...crack them open and let her feast! Mine eats almost anything now...was tough at first to get it to eat well.

Bebo77 · #4 10/20/2006, 11:50 PM

have you tried cyclopeeze?

aLucidDream · #5 10/20/2006, 11:57 PM

have yet to try cyclopeeze, would have to order that. I have heard they will almost always accept live blackworms. I might have to go with that....thanks for the tips on the clams as well. I will try that also and see if I can get him to eat some of that stuff.

aLucidDream · #6 10/20/2006, 11:59 PM

on another note, cracking open a clam or mussel and throwing into the tank....does that not do a number on your water quality? Just curious...or how exactly do you feed like that?

xcreonx · #7 10/21/2006, 12:15 AM

yes live clams are great. i buy about 6 each week and throw them right in the freezer. I then crack one open, run it under some water to thaw a bit then into the tank. My copperband destroys the clam in minutes. whatever he misses, the crabs and snails get. Sometimes the other fish partake too. The only other food my CB will eat is frozen mysis and feather dusters. He definitely LOVES the clams though.

Chaloupa · #8 10/21/2006, 01:13 AM

I agree with xcreonx....I throw in a couple of clams and they are destroyed within minutes. I have a great clean up crew and awesome skimmer so my water quality seems to remain ok. If it means that I have to change water a bit more often I really don't mind as I love the Butterfly! Such a beautiful fish!

And yep, just crack it open (I also rinse with water) and throw it in...you might have to watch closely in case it doesn't eat it...you don't want rotting clam in your tank. Mine are purchased live and kept cool for a couple of days...

I did throw in a few that I didn't open to see what they would do and amazingly enough 10 days later when we were doing some tank maintenance we found a live clam living quite happily in our sandbed!!! We were curious to see how intent the fish would be in trying to open the clam! The Copperband is able to eat the clam when it is just open slightly too as their nose is so long...sure made the triggers and Rabbit fish mad!

Flatlander · #9 10/21/2006, 09:01 AM

We had some good threads lately on copperband feedings, some with pics. I had some pics of mine eating its clam from a veggie clip, on a length of 1/2in. pvc pipe. Thats so I could retrive the half shell.

I have noticed the skimmer, {when its in use}, increase skimming when the clam is introduced. Mine eats a clam/day but all my other fish eat some also. They all get excited when they see me get th clip out to hook the clam to and look through the end of the glass with anticipation.

Go figure.

Paul B · #10 10/21/2006, 09:26 AM

Fish like a copperband should be eating before you buy them but it is what it is. Since he is picking at tube worms as that is their natural food I would feed him live black worms. Mine gets that every day along with other things. I have had about a dozen copperbands and they all ate blackworms. As was said, feed the blackworms Selcon. There is an easy way to keep blackworms alive as long as you like. Just put them in a small container of fresh water with a little airation and add some Selcon every day but the trick is, don't clean the sides of the container. In a few days there will be a bacteria slime that forms on the sides. Leave that there as the bacteria will keep the water clear and eliminate the waste from the worms. You can change the water every week or so but do not clean the container. I have a culture going for years and I feed them to my tank every day.
My copperband also loves bananas but I doubt yours will eat anything but worms for now. If he does not eat the worms he will probably die as they are notorous for being very stubborn eaters at first.
Good Luck.
paul

Chaloupa · #11 10/21/2006, 11:45 AM

Hey Paul....BANANAS???? what made you decide to offer bananas to it? You mean the fruit right?!

Psst...I got the clam idea from Flatlanders thread! Thanks Doug!

aLucidDream · #12 10/21/2006, 12:09 PM

Woah, seems like quite a few people have or have had a copperband. thanks so much for all the suggestions and I'm going to try pretty much all of them. Paul, you might have misunderstood what I wrote, my guy isn't going for the feather dusters and I have two fairly large ones in the tank. He is also healthy, I would say about 6inches and pretty fat also. I got him from drsfostersmith and have emailed them to see if they could tell me exactly what they might have been feeding him. I'm going to get a bunch of clams today and also see if my lfs has any blackworms i can get also. Hope something works. Thanks again everyone.

squiddly · #13 10/21/2006, 12:14 PM

Good luck! Before I bought the one I have, I watched him eating mysis shrimp at the shop. When I brought him home he didn't eat for about 5 days. I soaked some silverside in entice (of all things...I mean the silverside, not the entice) and chomp. Then he started eating the mysis again, but really loves cyclops shrimp. I'm watching him picking algae off rocks as we speak.

Flatlander · #14 10/21/2006, 12:27 PM

Your welcome Sarah.

Here is one of the threads we had. Some fairly good info in there.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...d&pagenumber=1

Paul B · #15 10/21/2006, 01:59 PM

Sarah I feed all of my fish bananas, the fruit. Yellow squishy things. It is my Moorish Idols favorite food. I have always fed my fish bananas because many years ago I used to keep batfish and they also loved them.

Bananas are also easy to mash to add vitamins or other suppliments. I freeze the bananas and slice off small pieces.
Of course it is not all I feed. It is not really a marine food just a suppliment.
Paul

jimbo045 · #16 10/21/2006, 03:08 PM

Mine ate live brine for a few days and gave up and past away!