Copper banded butterfly eating help

[Grnorton]

Ok guys my CBB WILL eat pe mysis. But very little of and he is very skinny (in QT) he eats probably 5 or 6 full mysis shrimp a day. Obviously not enough. So I ventured into buying live black worms. Well I added some to his tank and he immediately ate 2 or 3.....then won't touch them. Anybody have this happen or have any advice? I've tried feeding brine, a live little neck clam, chopped clam, chopped squid and he won't touch anything except a little bit here and there of pe mysis

 

[skiwez]

That amount of food should be enough to maintain. If a new fish and he's eating like that you should have no worries

 

[Grnorton]

He went almost a month without eating before I got him to eat pe mysis so maintaining isn't good enough bc he needs to fatten up. He is very very skinny

 

[suta4242]

I'd persist with the live worms as they are close to his natural diet and should help him rapidly regain condition once he starts eating with gusto.

Usually when they haven't eaten for a long time the fish may start off feeding slowly. But if he is unwell then that complicates things...So...Has the tank got any meds in it, or is he showing any signs of gill infestation or flukes?

HTH
:wave:

 

[Grnorton]

He had lympho, and he stopped eating a month ago after I added prazipro for white stringy poop. But after 5 days I removed the prazipro and since then his poop is normal, yes other meds and he seems otherwise healthy. Lympho is rapidly going away, and he is breathing slow calm and collected. Looks like a very healthy fish except his girth

 

[Duke4life]

Tried some aiptasia?

 

[ThRoewer]

Tried some aiptasia?

They don't eat those and even if, it's hardly containing any nutrients.

Order some live California black worms - they will eat those or are already dead but haven't gotten the message yet.

 

[Duke4life]

They don't eat those and even if, it's hardly containing any nutrients.

Order some live California black worms - they will eat those or are already dead but haven't gotten the message yet.

My backing for suggesting aiptasia found on LA, not to mention I almost chose this over a file to control aiptasia when researching what helps control it.

It is best housed in very large reefs, or in peaceful community tanks. It should be kept singly, not with conspecifics or similar butterflyfish, and should not be kept with any stress-inducing fish. Caution should be exercised if housing these fish in a reef aquarium. They may pick on invertebrates, especially anemones and feather dusters. They are an excellent fish when used to control aiptasia, or glass anemones, in the reef aquarium.

 

[Grnorton]

I ordered live California black worms...which is exactly what my original post is about lol

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I normally use ROE and soak in garlic. It usually triggers some type of feeding response in hard to eat fish. I've gotten two moorish idols, a regal angel and a pencil wrasse all at least interested in it and eventually eating it. Not sure if they eat seaweed or not, but you could try the red seaweed if they do. All my fish see to prefer it much more over the green.

 

[MondoBongo]

i've had good results with live white worms, and soaking food in selcon.

my cbb loves myses, and aside from white worms, that's about it. i tried live baby brine, nutramar ova, cyclop-eeze, pellets, flakes, and reef frenzy. i'll probably try re-introducing him to some of them at some point later, but for now i'm sticking with what works.

was he in your tank before he stopped eating for a month, or was he a new addition that went right in to qt?

 

[Lucky Lefty]

They don't eat those and even if, it's hardly containing any nutrients.

Order some live California black worms - they will eat those or are already dead but haven't gotten the message yet.

I can 100% confirm that they definitely do eat aiptasia. I had a large amount in my 150, probably close to 100 including all the small ones in the sand. I'd say in 2 weeks time he ate every single one. They will pop up here and there and they are gone the same day I find them.
Sometimes if one pops up in an overflow, I'll pluck it out and drop it near him and he devours it.
Mine eats as much mysis as he can, PE and he really LOVES the Hikari mysis. He could down a whole cube and then some himself.
Black worms he hasn't taken a big liking to, he will eat just a couple and then start ignoring them.
If you have bristleworms he will munch in them too. Seen him pluck them right off the rocks.

He eats a lot, but can't say he is fat. His body is slughtly thicker than his squared off belly.
I posted a thread once with how fat a cbb looks when it's healthy and after eating and got no responses. It's my impression that they stay pretty lean and don't get fat like a tang would.

 

[Grnorton]

He has been in qt for about 6 weeks now. Just waiting to add him to DT once I get him eating

 

[DOGGIE750]

Manila clams tied on a rock should do the trick. Mine did well but stooopid meh, od him with copper.��������

 

[snorvich]

I can 100% confirm that they definitely do eat aiptasia.

Some times yes, some times no.

 

[laga77]

Besides his love of live worms, My CCB goes crazy for chopped oysters.

 

[Mussin]

Mine eats mysis but loves live black worms.

 

[fisher4d]

My behaved like that with mysis and live black worms, for some reason it loves the cheap tetra freeze dried bloodworms.

 

[64Ivy]

Besides blackworms, I've also had success with Littleneck (as they're known around these parts) Clams.

 

[e048]

Use the butterfly feeding apparatus

Take a 6in piece of pvc with two end caps drill holes in the pvc and the end cap just big enough for his "beak" place a cube of mysis or whatever food in there then place it in the bottom of the tank works wonders

Cbb are used to eating benthic things (on and in rocks) not out of the water column try that out I had a longnose that fattened up in a week with this method and you can train him on it so when he goes into the dt the other fish won't steal his food