How to train my Copperband to eat aiptasias

[williah]

I just purchased a young, nice looking Copperband butterfly for my 72 gallon bowfront tank. My main reason was to deal with a major aiptasia problem in my tank.

He's in a 10 gal hospital tank right now, along with a Dragonette. I'm training them to eat. I heavily fed the Copperband live brine hatchlings for many days, then I introduced frozen brine at the same time. I now have him eating the frozen food just fine.

My main goal is the aiptasias, though. I have a large rock in the 10 gal with plenty of small, med & large aiptasias for him to munch on. To date I haven't seen him pick at any. I figure to feed him safely for a little longer (it's been two weeks since arrival by mail) to make sure he's healthy and stress-relieved, and then cut back on how much I feed him. I figure a hungry Copperband will be more likely to try the aiptasias.

The problem is I don't like to do it this way. I don't like the idea of "starving" him unless I know it'll work.

Any ideas on this method? Any other ideas on how to get him to eat the pests? I know many people find them hit-or-miss with feeding habits, but I'm hoping to find people with some positive (or clearly negative) experiences I can use.

Thanks.

p.s. (any side ideas on getting the dragonette to eat formula I pellets will also be useful)

 

[nikon187]

not all copper bands will eat aiptaisa, some never touch it

 

[williah]

Thanks Nikon187, though very Sad news.

Anyone figure out a training technique? My mama taught me to eat oatmeal (disgusting stuff), hopefully I can teach him to eat Aip's (they've gotta taste better than oatmeal).

 

[davocean]

I would take a piece of LR from your tank that has aptasia, and place that in QT.
I have heard some won't eat apt, but more often I hear people say the other way around, CBB ONLY eats apt(or feathers) and harder thing is to train them to eat prep'd food.
That seems to be the greater challenge.

 

[williah]

Thanks, davocean,

Yes, I have an apparently uncommon case. Mine seemed to go for the frozen shrimp fairly quickly.

As for the rock, that's what I did. There's a nice sized LR in the QT, with many juicy aiptasias of different sizes on it, just begging to be eaten (the filthy creatures).

He just won't touch 'em. A few of them are pretty big. I half wonder if he's scared of them. I really don't want to do the partial-starve thing to get him to get them, but it's looking more and more like I'll have to.

NOTE READERS: I realize there are no proven/perfect rules for this question. What I'm actually looking for are some clever ideas that might work, "thinking outside the box" to use an over-used phrase, that I can experiment with to make this work.

Example, I'm considering scraping a couple of aiptasias off the rock, putting them into a large jar. Then I'll fill the jar with water full of freshly hatched brine shrip. Cover jar-lay in tank-uncover. Then see of he goes for the aips. (variation of Melev's Mandarin Diner)Yes, the shrimp probably will run out, yes, he may ignore the aips or not enter the jar at all, but I want to try it to see.

Any other ideas welcomed.

Cheers.

 

[jimroth]

My experiences are as follows.
My CBB didn't eat aips for several months. One day she decided they were food and ate every one accessible in the tank, big and small, overnight. Later she slacked off for some reason and didn't get as many for a while. Now (a year and a half later) she eats any small ones she finds and can get to. I grow aiptasia on disks in my frag section, which I give for treats. My majestic angel eats aiptasia now too.
Neithwer one will touch some really big aips that have been hanging on, maybe they don't taste good. There is also a patch protected by my tomato clown near his anemone, he won't let them eat those.

 

[davocean]

What I did was inject the larger apts w/ aptasia x.
It won't completely rid apt, usually the big one will disappear only to be replaced by a few baby apts, and that seems easier for the CBB to eat them, and once they start they may eat bigger ones later as well, or that's what mine did.

 

[williah]

Thanks, jimroth, davocean,

I was thinking, and hoping, that something like that might happen. I'm going to deal with the the larger ones in the QT and display, and see if I can make him (CBB) more comfortable with the smaller ones.

I am going to give the scraping into jar with brine idea a shot as well, with one of the smaller aips. I'll update after I try it.

Thanks again all.

 

[taithao35]

i got a copperband for almost a week. it's eating brine shrimp right now. However, it also started to nip on my sps. I saw it starting to pick on smaller aips. Let's hope for the best and good luck with your

 

[suta4242]

If the fish is eating frozen brine, teach it to feed from a turkey baster.

Once it associates the baster with food, only give it a little squirt. Now feed the aiptasia with the frozen. With any luck the hungry fish may try the aiptasia in an effort to extract the brine.

Hint: I wouldn't do this if you spot feed LPS in the butterfly's new tank, as it may encourage the fish to nip IMO.

 

[williah]

Thanks, taithao35, good luck with yours.

Thanks, suta4242, that's a good idea to try. Let's see where it goes.

 

[mayjong]

ya, get it to associate something with food (like the turkey baster) then, introduce aptasia with that source (of food) .once it gets a taste of them ,( if it is going to eat them at all) it will.

i have a sailfin tang. i tried to feed it my excess chaeto as a treat. i figured he would gobble it up. no luck, he wouldn't touch it.
i finally tried attaching it to the same rock i feed my fish nori with. he slurped it up like spagetti! now he'll eat it anywhere i put it.

i think, in a tank, fish get accustomed to eating a certain thing (or things) in a certain way, and place (because that is how we usually feed them). you just have to "teach" them if you want them to eat different stuff, in different ways or places.

i'm no expert, though...