Copperband at surface?!

[garvin90]

My Copperband seems to be at the surface of the QT tank, and I cant quite tell if its trying to get air or what it is doing. My Fiji rabbitfish(same tank) seems to be fine. I'm not quite sure what this means in saltwater fish. I know from FW that it meant the fish weren't getting enough oxygen, does it hold true for salt aswell?

I've had the Copperband since last Thursday.

 

[marrone]

Are both fish in the same QT tank? The Rabbitfish maybe stressing out the Copperband causing it to stay up high in the tank. Copperband are usually hard to keep and do stress out easy. A lot of them just hang near the water surface in the corner of the tank staying out of the way of the other fish in the tank. Is your eating?

 

[garvin90]

Sorry, I should have clarified in the first post. Its not just at the surface, its sticking its beak up and out of the surface.

And yes like I said, they are both being QTed together.

 

[marrone]

I think it could be stressed out by the Rabbitfish, which can also be skiddish and some what aggressive at the same time. If you could seperate them it may stop the problem with the Copperband. Copperband are tough to keep and thye stress out very easily.

 

[garvin90]

Ok taking that thought a little further(the rabbit's aggression), should the Copperband be the first or last one of the 2 added to the main display?

 

[marrone]

I would add the Copperband first and give it time to settle in. More important is it eating right now? They are hard to get to start eating and some don't and just waste away.

 

[garvin90]

Not intially, it will wait for a bit and then pick at things that have settled. Which it was not doing at all in the LFS. It was right there grabbing it out of the water column.

 

[Freed]

When you're watching it or feeding it make no sudden moves at least until he knows you aren't there to harm it. That is what they will focus on and will be very weary of eating or moving at all. Very shy and skiddish little fellas.

 

[garvin90]

Well, I guess I can apply these tactics to the next copperband then since mine did not make it. I had decided to wait till this morning to move the fish and when I found it, it has laying on the bottom breathing extremely hard. Could the rabbitfish have poisoned the copperband? When I was watching them swim previously, the copper had a clumsy way of swimming OVER the rabbit by rolling to the side and up and over. When I inspected it this morning(it was dead in 5 minutes of my finding it)its scales on one side had a pink tone to them in somewhat of a line "----"

 

[Serioussnaps]

Dont get two fish in the same quarantine if one is a CBB. He will be punished by the other fish and will stray to the top as if wishing it could jump out and into the main tank. Trust me this will likely never work. Im not that big on quarintine for very delicate fish. I like to get very delicate fish into the cleanest, safest, optimum water quality and nutritious environment as soon as possible. If you must q. a cbb then do it by himself.

 

[gibbswagon]

why would you put two fish like that in the same qt at the same time anyway? that doesnt make sense! especially less hardy fish like a cbb, next time take it a little slower!

 

[garvin90]

Well yes I have realized that already the hard way. I have never owned a Copperband and did not realize how sensitive they actually were.