First and foremost, I must put this disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert in marine fish keeping nor do I have a degree in marine biology I have been a hobbyist for over 18 years). Please do your research, as the copper band is often considered for experts but is unfortunately readily available (due to its ability to remove pest aiptasia and nuisances worms). Its important to note copperbands have a high mortality rate and following these steps to do not guarantee success.
My intention is to share my experience in successfully acquiring and keeping Chelmon Rostratus healthy along with the pros and cons. Please feel free to add suggestions and success stories that can aid in improving mortality rates.
Let's start off with this great summary of what I always do when getting any new fish.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2578591&highlight=copperband
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EteeYHPuLz8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There is a ton of info including predatory, diet, population, demographics, husbandry, etc on google.
So back to the Ms Saltwater video, the thing she does not cover in depth is long term care (Hopefully she will in the future).
Let's start with the obvious vs Luck topic (A.K.A "œMy buddy got one and placed it in his tank and all was well last well"):
Obvious:
1. As Ms Saltwater mentioned the copperband she got was already feeding and most likely healthy. The one she got might have adopted already in a LFS, tank mates and LFS food. In some cases they are in display established tanks with readily available food source.
2. Success stories always include a good QT period in a separate friendly QT tank with plenty of space to hide (I use a 3" PVC 45 degree elbow) ***Vital .
3. Take note that we the hobbyist are substituting their natural diet so getting them to eat readlly vs a bit here in there is key.
4. Fish compatibly is vital as I often see copper bands swimming away from aggressive powder, purple and yellow tangs both in home tanks and LFS.
5. Disease management (Back to quarantine)
Luck:
1. Those that state fish was added with no QT and all was well are rare and extremely lucky
2. My copper band is healthy
3. I got mine from a fellow reefer and it was reef safe
4. No fish aggression
5. Mine would never nip at corals.
That out of the way these are the steps I have taken for the last 5 copper bands I have acclimated. The unhealthiest one I have gotten was less the 3 inches big and not very thick (The one in the picture). Took 4 months before he went to wage war on Mikes aiptasia.
Requirements before getting fish :
Patience:
TIME:
$$$ Optional
Stuff I use when getting new fish:
29 or 40 breeder gallon tank with established biomedia/LR and overflow filter/Skimmer
3 to 4inch PVC elbows
18 watt UV
Ammonia alert
Foods that I have been successful in getting them eating:
Live Blackworms / Bloodworms (San Fransico brand seems to be a winner), Clams, Aiptasia (If Available)
Getting ready:
1. Hypo dip with paraguard and slow drip acclimation with airstone again this is what I do (You can do your preferred acclamation that works for you).
2. I introduce with lights off into QT tank. I do not trouble feeding until the next day when lights turn on.
3. This part you might not agree with, I feed every food available to me (Including nori) on one dump. (So far blackworms and bloodworms seem to be a winner for all the ones I have had including a morish idol).
4. I then carefully watch behavior to see what they pick at (***I stop all water movement for 15 minutes to watch).
5. Now that I have a baseline food, I vacuum left overs and try again the next day at the same time 1 hour after lights turn on and you can confirm that is the chosen food again.** Please note I do not use any enticement products (Garlic , Selcon, etc) in this period .
6. After a week of repeat feeding of the preferred food and on schedule along with adding another feeding time before lights off. I no longer turn off water movement and let him chase the preferred food around. I have done this for over 2 weeks and in a rare case one a few days with twice a day feeding.
7. The first few weeks/days using same schedules observe if they notice lights on and your approach. They should be pretty plump and chase their preferred food around before moving proceeding to the next step.
8. I start to introduce other foods together but this time with your choice of long term foods on the first feeding. On the second cycle of feeding I would feed their preferred choice with a bit of your preferred food (I would leave pellets and nori for last and make sure to choose to types of hardy foods that will supplement their diet).
9. I do this part for a short period of time until I notice they start picking at your choice of food (Flake, Brime mysid, etc.) on those first feedings.
10. After a week of same schedule and of them picking (and/ or eating) your preferred food, I stop feeding their preferred food on the second cycle (Please clean up often and monitor parameters / maintenance).
11. *** This is the part that is a pain. Stick to the schedule and do not feed the worms or their preferred even if they continue to pick buy not eat it. At this time is when I do (If necessary) incorporate enticements selcon / garlic.
12. After they are eating your preferred food for a few days I would now incorporate an extra third feeding cycle. Before moving to the next step please make sure they are chasing you preferred food and not leaving much behind.
13. Now to keep him plump I would re-introduce his preferred as the third feeding in small amounts.
The following is up to you but at this point of converting food I would follow some of the steps again and introduce other foods and drop the enticement.
After the above steps are done I keep feeding the exact same time and food of my choice and cut back adding his preferred to once a week. As for introduction to display tank I highly suggest one final feeding of his preferred food and drip acclimate to DT and do a night transfer.
Please feel free to make suggestions and share your experience. Obviously results may vary and following this is at your discretion. Please excuse any spell errors as it's a pain to write this much on a ipad. I hope this helps.
My intention is to share my experience in successfully acquiring and keeping Chelmon Rostratus healthy along with the pros and cons. Please feel free to add suggestions and success stories that can aid in improving mortality rates.
Let's start off with this great summary of what I always do when getting any new fish.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2578591&highlight=copperband
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EteeYHPuLz8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There is a ton of info including predatory, diet, population, demographics, husbandry, etc on google.
So back to the Ms Saltwater video, the thing she does not cover in depth is long term care (Hopefully she will in the future).
Let's start with the obvious vs Luck topic (A.K.A "œMy buddy got one and placed it in his tank and all was well last well"):
Obvious:
1. As Ms Saltwater mentioned the copperband she got was already feeding and most likely healthy. The one she got might have adopted already in a LFS, tank mates and LFS food. In some cases they are in display established tanks with readily available food source.
2. Success stories always include a good QT period in a separate friendly QT tank with plenty of space to hide (I use a 3" PVC 45 degree elbow) ***Vital .
3. Take note that we the hobbyist are substituting their natural diet so getting them to eat readlly vs a bit here in there is key.
4. Fish compatibly is vital as I often see copper bands swimming away from aggressive powder, purple and yellow tangs both in home tanks and LFS.
5. Disease management (Back to quarantine)
Luck:
1. Those that state fish was added with no QT and all was well are rare and extremely lucky
2. My copper band is healthy
3. I got mine from a fellow reefer and it was reef safe
4. No fish aggression
5. Mine would never nip at corals.
That out of the way these are the steps I have taken for the last 5 copper bands I have acclimated. The unhealthiest one I have gotten was less the 3 inches big and not very thick (The one in the picture). Took 4 months before he went to wage war on Mikes aiptasia.
Requirements before getting fish :
Patience:
TIME:
$$$ Optional
Stuff I use when getting new fish:
29 or 40 breeder gallon tank with established biomedia/LR and overflow filter/Skimmer
3 to 4inch PVC elbows
18 watt UV
Ammonia alert
Foods that I have been successful in getting them eating:
Live Blackworms / Bloodworms (San Fransico brand seems to be a winner), Clams, Aiptasia (If Available)
Getting ready:
1. Hypo dip with paraguard and slow drip acclimation with airstone again this is what I do (You can do your preferred acclamation that works for you).
2. I introduce with lights off into QT tank. I do not trouble feeding until the next day when lights turn on.
3. This part you might not agree with, I feed every food available to me (Including nori) on one dump. (So far blackworms and bloodworms seem to be a winner for all the ones I have had including a morish idol).
4. I then carefully watch behavior to see what they pick at (***I stop all water movement for 15 minutes to watch).
5. Now that I have a baseline food, I vacuum left overs and try again the next day at the same time 1 hour after lights turn on and you can confirm that is the chosen food again.** Please note I do not use any enticement products (Garlic , Selcon, etc) in this period .
6. After a week of repeat feeding of the preferred food and on schedule along with adding another feeding time before lights off. I no longer turn off water movement and let him chase the preferred food around. I have done this for over 2 weeks and in a rare case one a few days with twice a day feeding.
7. The first few weeks/days using same schedules observe if they notice lights on and your approach. They should be pretty plump and chase their preferred food around before moving proceeding to the next step.
8. I start to introduce other foods together but this time with your choice of long term foods on the first feeding. On the second cycle of feeding I would feed their preferred choice with a bit of your preferred food (I would leave pellets and nori for last and make sure to choose to types of hardy foods that will supplement their diet).
9. I do this part for a short period of time until I notice they start picking at your choice of food (Flake, Brime mysid, etc.) on those first feedings.
10. After a week of same schedule and of them picking (and/ or eating) your preferred food, I stop feeding their preferred food on the second cycle (Please clean up often and monitor parameters / maintenance).
11. *** This is the part that is a pain. Stick to the schedule and do not feed the worms or their preferred even if they continue to pick buy not eat it. At this time is when I do (If necessary) incorporate enticements selcon / garlic.
12. After they are eating your preferred food for a few days I would now incorporate an extra third feeding cycle. Before moving to the next step please make sure they are chasing you preferred food and not leaving much behind.
13. Now to keep him plump I would re-introduce his preferred as the third feeding in small amounts.
The following is up to you but at this point of converting food I would follow some of the steps again and introduce other foods and drop the enticement.
After the above steps are done I keep feeding the exact same time and food of my choice and cut back adding his preferred to once a week. As for introduction to display tank I highly suggest one final feeding of his preferred food and drip acclimate to DT and do a night transfer.
Please feel free to make suggestions and share your experience. Obviously results may vary and following this is at your discretion. Please excuse any spell errors as it's a pain to write this much on a ipad. I hope this helps.
. Hopefully others have the same success.
