CCB feeding

Try feeding Hikari mysis as there are more shrimp per cube so the cbb will have a better chance to get some.

Get a scallop or two and freeze it, slice off a couple of small pieces, and put them in the clam for the cbb. Also do the same with some shrimp and fish. Although seafood from the grocery store isn't cheap, it lasts a long time and ends up being cheaper than prepared fish food.

Your tank should easily take a full cube of mysis as a feeding without any problem. Try increasing the amount you feed and see whether it affects your water parameters. It may have no impact.

Your cbb is eating, which is good. You just need to make sure it eats enough.

Some of the responses weren't too diplomatic, but they are well-intentioned and are just trying to make sure you provide proper care for the fish.
 
thanks everyone for their suggestion. the responses were fine, its my fault that i need to explain my situation a little more clear. i will try to hikari brand and try to feed the fish more without having to worry about all the other crap.
 
You can even search this site for a thread I remember seeing about an owner having the same concern regarding a longsnout species not getting enough to eat, so the guy got a plastic tube, drilled holes in it & packed it w/ mysis so only the cbb / longnose could get to it, eliminating competition. Genius!
 
Update! Well my CB is eating great. He loves clams, hates mussels and white clams. Never seen such a skinny fish put away so much food.

Bad news, both my powder blue and clown has come down with ich. It's been like this for a week. He and the clown are very active still and eating. Powder blue loves clam as well.

Also having lighting issues. Salt creep somehow got to my inventronics led driver and caused a fire. Luckily, I was there to put it out. So only half my aquarium is lit.

Also, I am feeding relentlessly now. I never saw my skimmer work this well before. I've been running bio pellets for a yr now, this is the first time I seen it low. I was always afraid of over feeding, but never realized my equipment is more than capable of handling it.
 
Glad to hear you're feeding more. We spend so much money on filtration so that we can keep our animals fat and happy.

I just bought my first CBB the other day. Very scary pulling the trigger on one of these. It was a good size and enthusiastically eating both Hikari and PE mysis in the store so I went for it.

I made a PVC container out of an endcap and a plug (two pieces that screw together with a hollow center), drilled some holes in it and attached it to an old powerhead magnet. The CBB figured it out right away - he sticks his snout in there, tears out some mysis and eats to his heart's content.

I bought some clams yesterday - how do you put them in the tank? Do you freeze them first so they're hard?
 
Update on my CBB. While most other fish have either jumped out or got ich and died, my CBB has been very healthy. Eats 1-2 clams a day. Completely took care of my aiptasia problem. Negative, i think it took care of my snails as I can't find any. I love this fish. I am so happy I didn't sell this fish.
 
Never really made an attempt. He main diet is clam and snails. I am ok with it. The fish is happy and so am I. My wife hates all fish but likes the CBB. She actually told me to buy some clam for the fish when I was running low. She will never admit it though.
 
Included is a container that CBB can be fed while your other fish have a harder time getting to the clams, mysis or other food. You need to play with the right size hole which is small enough to get food out for the CBB but not large enough that any tangs ect can suck out the food quickly, it also keeps your snails away from the food suorce. Good luck
 
OK, My CBB is doing great and he loves his clams. I went to a LFS and found a beautiful LNB. I heard there might be some problems with aggression, but took my chances anyways. However, the LFS quarantines their fish for 2 weeks prior to sale. They actually had a pyramid butterfly i wanted as well, but they wouldn't sell it. The fish had already been in quarantine for 2 weeks and was feeding fine, but it had a very small lesion on the mouth so they wouldn't sell it until the fish healed.
So i was fairly comfortable buying the LNB as it looked fat and was going crazy on pe mysis.

took the fish home and acclimated it. Got the LNB in the tank and my CBB went crazy. Darting all around the tank. After 10 minutes or so, they became best friends. Where ever one went, the other followed. I went ahead and threw a clam in there and my CBB like usually attacked it greedily. The LNB didn't know what to do and just stared at it. Same thing happened the following day. So I had some PE mysis and threw it in there. The LNB went nuts and the CBB was a bit confused and didn't eat any. Several hours later, I feed them some more mysis and this time the CBB took several bites but was still confused and slow to react to the food. 2 days later, the CBB now attacks the mysis. Both the LNB and CBB swim up to my finger for the mysis. I am so happy that i don't have to buy clams no more!

I have a question, I have 2 cleaner shrimp, 6 line wrasse, a CBB and LNB and some brittle stars. How many of those cubes of PE mysis should i feed a day? Right now, I am giving them about a cube per feeding 3x a day. Is this too much or not enough? I don't want to undernoursish or overfeed the fish. I also have some sps and lps.
 
Sleepingtiger - Just notice that you are from Murphy Tx. What LFS do you normally go to?

I don't normally go to any LFS. But there are several I do recommend.

I got my CBB from Rift to Reef. Dane is cool

Fish2morrow is where i got my LNB. They actually quarantine their fish. Price is kinda high, but you know your getting a fish that will eat and is somewhat healthy. :beer:

For used equipment, I would try Dallas North Aquarium. They have many rich accounts that always upgrade.

I heard good things about True Perc, but never been there
 
Thanks! I was just wondering what LFS quarantine their fish. I have been to most if not all of the LFS in DFW except for Rift 2 Reef. I should check it out one day. You should really check out Ocean Avenue in Arlington. Their price is very good and they have very good customer service.

Good look with your CBB. One of my favorite fish that I can not manage to keep alive. Tried twice.
 
Thanks! I was just wondering what LFS quarantine their fish. I have been to most if not all of the LFS in DFW except for Rift 2 Reef. I should check it out one day. You should really check out Ocean Avenue in Arlington. Their price is very good and they have very good customer service.

Good look with your CBB. One of my favorite fish that I can not manage to keep alive. Tried twice.

you should definitely go to fish2morrow, they have an excellent looking CBB. It eats like crazy and fat. It is also huge. Quite a nice looking specimen.
 
I have a question, I have 2 cleaner shrimp, 6 line wrasse, a CBB and LNB and some brittle stars. How many of those cubes of PE mysis should i feed a day? Right now, I am giving them about a cube per feeding 3x a day. Is this too much or not enough? I don't want to undernoursish or overfeed the fish. I also have some sps and lps.

This is plenty of food for 3 fish. It is ok so long as the fish are eating all of it and your water quality is ok. You won't hurt the fish by cutting back to 3/4 of a cube at each feeding.

You might substitute some chopped scallop, shrimp and fish instead of the mysis for one of the feedings. I buy 1/3 - 1/2 lb of each at the store, chop them up with a knife, freeze the mix in a ziploc bag, and use a paring knife to cut some thin slices for the morning meal. This amount lasts 4-6 months. I use salmon, but any white fish will do.

A variety of foods are better for the fish.
 
Try pressing some pellets into the flesh of the clam. Do that for a few days. Then try soaking the pellets in clam juice and present them on an empty if possible. Then move to just soaked pellets and then to plain pellets. Good luck.
 
Try pressing some pellets into the flesh of the clam. Do that for a few days. Then try soaking the pellets in clam juice and present them on an empty if possible. Then move to just soaked pellets and then to plain pellets. Good luck.

good info, is that what you did with your CBB?

I soak my mysis in marine vitamins, cyclopeeze and reef chili. so when i feed the fish, i feed my coral as well.
 
It took my CBB which was advertised as "eating mysis" a couple weeks to eat mysis. He did the eat and spit it out routine for a couple of weeks before I noticed he was eating and swallowing most of the mysis. He always acted excited about the mysis when I put them in the QT. I noticed that if I left the pumps off for 20-30 minutes he would eat more from around the pvc and off the bottom than from the water column. It is also a good idea to QT the fish for conditioning so that slow eaters like these have a chance to learn to eat faster.

The problem I have now is mine is getting skinny even though he eats like a pig. I even have a small HOB filter with no media that I put a chunk of frozen mysis in and have a timer turn it on middle of the day so it feeds him when I am not home.
 
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