Copperband success (finally)

cee

cee

New member
I've been wanting to get one of these for some time, but everytime I do, my desjardini tang always harasses it to the point where I get worried about it's success in acclimating to my tank. That, or I get one that was caught with cyanide and doesn't survive for long. Finally, Dave at the CR said he had a smaller one that was eating well and appeared fairly outgoing after watching it for awhile. I tried again, and after a few day of being harassed, he has finally started coming out of the corner and integrating nicely with the other inhabitants and picking at the rockwork. Thanks again to the CR for the excellent CB; I couldn't be happier.
 
Sweet... :)

You know this thread is useless without any pics... ;)

Glad you finally got one that has worked out for you... This is your 3rd I think you've tried??? One of them might not have been a copperband, but that other kind that looks like a copperband... At least since I've known you... I guess 3rd times a charm... :D
 
4 actually. First was supposed to be a mulleri but was accidently shipped a altavelis (rare and behavior unknown). 2nd was a cyanide-caught CB who didn't make it. 3rd was a CB who got really beat up by the desjardini and was returned after a day. This last one looks promising. I guess the body shape, vertical striping, and mouth shape is too similar between the CB and the tang, and Zebrasomas can be aggressive anyways. Pictures later, but a CB is a fairly common sight.

Dave
 
I did just get one - think it went in my tank around the same time as Dave's (after two weeks in my QT). Verdict is still out on how it's going to do. It's not dead of starvation yet after three weeks, so it's eating something, but it doesn't feed out of the water column with the other fish yet. I've noticed it has started paying some curious attention to the other fish when they feed, though, so maybe it'll get a clue. For now, it seems to be obtaining food by picking at the LR. I think my Christmas wrasse may perceive it as competition for food supply because he's chased the CB around a fair bit. No fin nips so far, though.

One good thing - all the aipstasia-covered rubble I had in my QT tank is now aipstasia-free... That's the job I got it for in my display, so we'll see what happens.

Jeff
 
Mine is eating lots of tube worms and a bit out of the water column. Today he's swimming right beside the same tang who tried to chase him to submission 2 days ago. He coexists with 3 wrasses, 2 of which are in the same family as the Xmas wrasse, with no tension there. We call him Beaker, one of my wife's favorites.

Dave
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12774564#post12774564 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cee
Mine is eating lots of tube worms and a bit out of the water column. Today he's swimming right beside the same tang who tried to chase him to submission 2 days ago.
Click to expand...
When I first put mine in, my Regal Angel was chasing him around, but I'm seeing the same thing now - the Regal will happily swim side-by-side with the CB now that they have the pecking order straightened out. It's really only the Christmas wrasse. But that fish also goes after my Hawaiian flame wrasse, so maybe he's just mean. Fortunately, the Christmas wrasse buries himself for the night around 5pm, and I don't usually feed until later, so both the CB and the flame aren't getting harassed at dinner time.

Come to think of it, maybe the reason the Christmas wrasse is always in such a foul mood with those two is that he's always missing dinner... but he looks fat, so he must be foraging from somewhere.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12774564#post12774564 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cee
We call him Beaker, one of my wife's favorites.
Click to expand...
Sarah names the fish, and she has a rule: No fish gets a name until we're reasonably sure it's gonna survive long term. Once it has a name, it's a bonafide pet, which makes it tragic when it goes belly-up. So for now, our CB is just a CB.

Jeff
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12776646#post12776646 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vol_reefer
But that fish also goes after my Hawaiian flame wrasse, so maybe he's just mean.
Click to expand...


When did you pick up the Flame wrasse??? Thats another really nice fish... :)


Dave~ How's your wrasse trio doing???
 
Here's Beaker, not the greatest picture, but gives you a general idea:

P6200188.jpg


Dave
 
Randy - got the flame wrasse from DFS/LA about two months ago. He's a neat little fish - my tank has a deficit of red things in it, so that's his job - to be red. Unfortunately, he spends a lot of his time peeking out from the rockwork during the day... maybe because of the xmas wrasse, maybe because flames are deeper-water fish and my lights are so bright. But when it's feeding time, he's not shy at all - looks like a flaming meteor streaking around the tank!

Dave - you mentioned that your earlier CB was a cyanide casualty. How did you know? I'm a little worried about mine. I've had him for three weeks now, so he's got to be eating something, and I see him picking at the rocks, but he's looking a bit pinched, and I see very subtle discoloration on the middle of his side. Cyanide used to be a really big problem when I was into this hobby as a kid, but I confess I don't remember the details of how to identify the effects.

Jeff
 
Obviously, I can't be certain it was cyanide poisoning, but it exhibited lack of interest in food stimulus, twitching, hovering in a small corner of the tank and never venturing out, and occasional strange swimming behavior. There was no evidence of external parasites or other damage, so I generally ruled out the more obvious afflictions. Yours sounds like a lack of an appetite response, which is (unfortunately) fairly common in these guys. My purple queen anthias exhibited the same symptoms you're describing for over a month, but he eventually came around and ate frozen food, although to this day he will only take brine (no mysis or other planktonic foods). I once had a squareback anthias who did the same thing and he never survived. Some fish are just harder than others.

Dave
 
FWIW cyanide fish (or fish that I have suspected of being caught with cyanide) that I have had either ate well and looked healthy but died suddenly several months after I got them for no reason or ate well and never absorbed many nutrients. You can tell the latter by muscle atrophy at the top of the head. Maybe that's what you are referring to as "pinched"? Of course some of them just die suddenly fairly soon after you get them, never eat etc.....

Chris
 
Word came from our housesitter that our CB went to the big reef in the sky a couple days ago. Good thing Sarah never named him! I had warned the housesitter this could happen, so he was right on top of the situation - had the body out of the tank soon thereafter.

Sarah doesn't want me to get another CB as a replacement because of their reputation for doing this. But I'm hoping I can find one that is already feeding well like Dave's. I was at the Genoa acquarium yesterday (largest in Europe) and they had three fat, very healthy-looking CBs in two of their smaller reef tanks... so it can be done!

The reef displays at the Genoa aquarium were actually somewhat disappointing - mostly just hardy, common varieties of softies. I have yet to see a public aquarium display of a healthy, colorful SPS tank. Is it possible the hobbiests are ahead of the pros in this area?

Jeff
 
There is a thread in the CRC forum about the TN Aquarium lack of a good reef display as well... I think it comes down to economics... Most people come to see the fish and not the coral...
 
Sorry to hear about your CB, Jeff. They can be difficult to acclimate as I can attest to. However, I apparently now have a survivor. He's feeding aggressively and not taking sh!t from the others.

Dave
 
Dave,

Hello sapient, excellent title!

I bought mine (Australian) to decimate the aips, and as advertised s/he did just that along with every other Polychaete.

I fell in love with the behavior and looks of the fish and hand fed it for weeks to insure health.

They are beautiful but stupid. Once they overcome the initial shock and stress, keep your eye on them. Both my healthy ones succumbed to the same fate - intake vortices from powerheads.

Healthily one day, bruised the next, then sadness...I'd really like to believe it was not due to caloric intake.
 
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