Copperband Butterfly Primer

[tasandkrs]

I had this guy for over two years until I took down my tank. I never had any problems with it.

 

[plancton]

So CBB likes red worms?, frozen, dried or what?

 

[tasandkrs]

Mine seemed to like frozen mysis shrimp

 

[Laddy]

As PaulB pointed out, they eat worms in the wild.

Some people have had success feeding them black worms. I cannot say, both CBBs never made it out of my QT. But I'm going to attempt another when LA gets in the ones from Australia.

 

[plancton]

And if its blackworms what presentation?, I can´t get live ones

 

[Paul B]

I only get live worms, I don't know if they come frozen or any other way. Bloodworms are not worms. The fish may eat them but I doubt they have much nutrition being beetle larvae and not really salt water fish food. They would be lacking in oils

 

[sunfish11]

I have tried feeding mine live blackworms but it doesn't eat them. Only mysis, brine, tubeworms, aiptasia,and pods.

Lisa

 

[Laddy]

But the most important thing is getting one which eats anything.

I really believe if you make the CBB the center of the universe in the tank, the poor history of this fish will start to improve.

 

[plancton]

I bought one that eats sweet water´s zooplankton, but I´m keeping it in the fuge, as I don´t know how difficult would it be for it to get its food in the 175gal, that´s why I designed the feeder, it hasn´t eaten from it yet though.

 

[mflamb]

I'm not sure you will find one that eats anything, but if you find one that eats agressively, you can train it to eat other stuff. I food train all of my fish in QT before they make it to the display.

If you soak pellets, flakes or whatever in something that the CBB already eats, such as mysis, and feed about 10 of the small pellets soaked with only a few mysis, the CBB will start eating the pellets. Be patient and don't starve the CBB if he is slow to start on the pellets.

 

[Laddy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14374888#post14374888 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mflamb
I'm not sure you will find one that eats anything, but if you find one that eats agressively, you can train it to eat other stuff. I food train all of my fish in QT before they make it to the display.

No, I mean if you can find a CBB which eats AT LEAST one thing, then you are way ahead of the game. Then you can attempt to wean them off of hard to get items such as black worms.

 

[mflamb]

Oh, I understand. Yeah I agree.

 

[plancton]

MY CBB has stopped eating, ever since I bought it I never really saw him go for the zooplankton that was eating at the store, I saw it with my own eyes.

I see he´s rather looking in the rockwork, its a bit of worry, I think it will die, but why?, I saw him eating zooplankton, I bought the same brand and knew from other people that saw it at the store that he was eating it.

 

[michellejy]

You need to try feeding it something else. There are a lot of great suggestions in this thread for getting them to eat, even if it's not the food you prefer to feed him right now. There is no reason the fish has to starve without attempting some other options like live clam, oyster, mysis, etc.

 

[DJBoy98]

Got my CBB to eat live black worms after 2 days of him grazing the rocks when I first got him. He doesn't seem to eat anything else besides the worms and atapsia. Any good suggestions to ween him to mysis? I tried mini-mysis but he only targets the worms still. I have 2 LFS that sells it but are they good for them?

 

[mflamb]

 

[Brandon M]

Here is my Copperband...I have had her for about 1 month. She is around 4"-5" and eats PE mysis like a champ!

 

[Laddy]

Nice vid mflamb. Beautiful fish.

Brandon, where did you get the CBB?

 

[hawkfishman]

best left in ocean more than 1/2 collected die!!

 

[michellejy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14432127#post14432127 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hawkfishman
best left in ocean more than 1/2 collected die!!

Unfortunately, I believe a lot more saltwater fish than we realize die, and I don't specifically mean the copperband butterfly. How many people watched Finding Nemo and put a baby clown in an uncycled tank? How many fish do you think die in transport before they ever make it to a retail store? How many people have you read posts from here on RC who talk about how their new fish is starving/sick/getting attacked by another fish? Even the fish that aren't considered difficult to keep can fall in the hands of an irresponsible reef keeper. It's awful, and it really does bother me every time I consider that a fish was removed from the ocean only to die a week or two later.

I think the copperband can be successfully kept, if people are willing to put the time and effort into it. That's the purpose of this thread, not to say they are easy and everyone should have one.

Oh, and although they all look pretty much the same, here is mine. My husband calls him Thong because he is skinny and likes to go in cracks. :rolleye1: