cb butterfly

[peseifert]

one month in to a cb butterfly "eating Mysis" from DD - not eating so much, getting the skinnies which as you all know precedes death. tried all of the following : brine, Mysis (enhanced, not-enhanced), reef cuisine, Rod"s, Limpit"s, flake, clams - just picks. can't tell for sure but his beak looks a bit off - ?shipping injury.
any suggestions - time may be short

 

[Marshall O]

What tank is it in (size, barebottom, live rock, other livestock)? Any signs of illness at all (besides malnourished)? Sounds like you are doing a good job trying to get it to eat a variety of foods. Hopefully someone who has successfully kept them will chime in.

 

[NewOne81]

I tried pretty much everything you have and more with my cb. After a week of not eating anything it finally decided it likes live black worms. I had to try feeding the black worms more than once before it went for it. Also to get it to eat, i target fed the black worms with one of those extendable turkey baster type things very slowly and patiently. Even now black worms are all it eats but they are a good solid food for them.

 

[peseifert]

cb struggled

cb struggled

thanks all, 5 weeks to the day, he gave it up. bad case of the progressive skinnies. a few picks at brine or small Mysis, not joy with reef cuisine, Rod's, Limpits, clams, black worms, flake, pods. no real bullying. never seemed to get the "cruise the reef" for food idea. too bad, pretty fish
becoming a bit suspicious of Diver's Den as this has happened before to a couple "eating regularly" fish - Atlantic Queen, anthias.
anyway, some of these are best left in the wild to be enjoyed.

 

[Neptune 555]

How did you obtain / grow black worms? Total newbie here to live feeding but am willing to learn as i am setting up a 75 g. I want a yellow long nose butterfly fish. Not as picky from what I have read as a cb. Please share.

Neptune

 

[goodtimes2]

I posted this in Southern California Reefer forum, good luck

http://reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=257230&d=1388084490

 

[goodtimes2]

Sorry not everything showed up on the first try:

Success with a copperband butterfly fish

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I thought I provide a few helpful tips on a few changes that increased my ablity to raise a copperband in my fish tank. Like most of us, my first attempt about a year ago didn't go as plan. The key for my success were:

1)Start with a quarantine tank to allow the CBB to adjust from it shipping experience and learn to eat new foods.
2) Definitely try live black worms as one of the first foods, Many of the LFS do have them. They provide a very enticing food that is easy for them to inhale with their long snouts.
3) I have found that live small clams , mussels and oysters all stimulate a great feeding response, leave them in the half shell and they will pick at it.
4) Mysis is another go to food.
5) Train the CBB to feed from an enclosed container, it will help the CBB to find enough food when you put him in your display tank. See a Picture of what I use.
6) Do not put 2 CBB in the same tank, as in most cases , they will fight to the death.
Hopefully this will lead to a success for you, I have tried this twice now and have two happy CBB in my 2 tanks

 

[fishfreak2009]

My copperband isn't exactly fat, but isn't pinched looking either. He doesn't really go crazy for anything but live brine. I've slowly been mixing frozen foods into the live brine and he occasionally grabs some of that. He'll eat the other foods, but normally only picks the stuff off the bottom of the tank or off the rocks. I keep clams on the half shell in the tank for him, and he occasionally picks at them, but the chocolate chip starfish and electric blue hermit normally show up and devour it in about a half hour. He also likes picking at the tube feet of the starfish and occasionally takes a nip of nori. He's the biggest fish in the tank at almost 5 inches. He came from quality marine, and had been at the store over a month eating nothing but live brine. The store I got him from also put him through a full cupramine/prazipro treatment, as well as freshwater dipping him upon arrival. He has no big tankmates to compete with, his only larger tankmates are a 2 inch long sailfin tang, a lemonpeel angel, a nox angel, and a potter's angel.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

In my opinion, if you get these fish you have to be prepared to quarantine them and to feed live blackworms, live brine (not good long term), frozen mysis (Hikari) and spirulina-enriched brine, and chopped scallop, shrimp and clam from your grocery store. In many (probably most) cases, you are going to have to provide 2-4 feedings per day of live blackworms and live brine, and then transition the fish to frozen mysis and brine and chopped seafood by adding some in with the live foods it is eating. You have to be prepared to feed live blackworms for a year or more before the fish eats enough other foods.

My cbb's preferred food is a seafood mix I make up and freeze (scallop, shrimp, clam and salmon), followed by mysis. Initially, it preferred live blackworms but I quit feeding them after a year as I transitioned the fish to other foods.

In your DT, feed something the cbb won't eat (e.g., flakes or pellets) to fill the other fish somewhat, and then feed the food the cbb eats so it gets enough to eat.

 

[fishfreak2009]

In my opinion, if you get these fish you have to be prepared to quarantine them and to feed live blackworms, live brine (not good long term), frozen mysis (Hikari) and spirulina-enriched brine, and chopped scallop, shrimp and clam from your grocery store. In many (probably most) cases, you are going to have to provide 2-4 feedings per day of live blackworms and live brine, and then transition the fish to frozen mysis and brine and chopped seafood by adding some in with the live foods it is eating. You have to be prepared to feed live blackworms for a year or more before the fish eats enough other foods.

My cbb's preferred food is a seafood mix I make up and freeze (scallop, shrimp, clam and salmon), followed by mysis. Initially, it preferred live blackworms but I quit feeding them after a year as I transitioned the fish to other foods.

In your DT, feed something the cbb won't eat (e.g., flakes or pellets) to fill the other fish somewhat, and then feed the food the cbb eats so it gets enough to eat.

That's exactly what I do. NLS Pellets, nori, and a wide variety of frozen foods (brine, mysis, marine cuisine, clams on the half shell, and squid) are fed 3 times per day. I also follow up those feedings with alternating feedings of live brine shrimp and live blackworms. I also recently purchased 2 cultures of copepods which I added to the display.