Need help with copper band butterfly feeding

PaxRoma

PaxRoma

New member
It has been 1 week since it is introduced to the tank. It has not yet eat anything and just swimming up and down along the back glass wall all day. I try live clam on half shelf for a couple of days now and it just swim pass it. Anything else I could try to get it to start feeding?
 
Live blackworms. If it won't eat fresh clam or live blackworms, it probably isn't destined to survive. You could also try live brine shrimp.

Is the fish in a separate quarantine tank? It is easier for the fish to adapt when it is alone. Also, does it have hiding places?

Unfortunately, many cbbs never eat and just die.
 
I bought 2 cbb (1 lg 1 sm) from a lfs and the larger one was eating and the smaller one wasn't eating at the lfs. In my QT the larger one ate mysis but didn't care for frozen chopped clam till a month later and would go for mysis first. The smaller one never ate much frozen and would nip on small mysis but did pick on the glass and rocks for pods. Unfortunately the smaller one was too pinched to start and didn't make it.

Hopefully your cbb will pull though but usually when a fish just swim up and down the tank and show no interest in live clam is not a good sign. If it's a small specimen you may have to chop up the mysis. I've 2 small yel longnose butterfly that can only nip on mysis and can't take a whole piece.
 
I feed both PE mysis and Hikari mysis. The Hikari is much smaller. Sometimes the fish seem to like one or the other, and fish with smaller mouths typically will eat only the Hikari until they get bigger. Ylns and cbbs tend to eat smaller meals in the wild and seem to prefer the Hikari mysis.
 
Try Hikari mysis, live black worms and fresh clam. Make sure no one is harrassing him.

For future reference, CBB are not the hardiest of fish and it can be difficult to get them eating. Don't purchase one unless it's eating at the LFS.

It's generally a good idea to put new fish in a QT tank by themselves - less stress, no food competition and you can fatten them up which they generally need.
 
Unfortunatly a lot of copper bands are still collected with iodine so buying one sometimes is a crap shoot if they will eat. That being said finding one that eats is great because it is a beautifull fish. Mine only eats mysis shrimp doesn't really eat anything else I feed.the tank.
 
The tank was divided into 2 and I let him stay on the "peaceful" side ( with the false percula and green chromis). 2 days ago I found him on the other side of the tank ( that house the rest of the fish which include 1 hippo, 1 yellow tang, 1 flame angel). He was being chased by the flame angel and the yellow tang so I tricked him back to the peaceful side. But then I notice he will swim up and down the divider tryin to slip through to the "aggressive" side again so I decided to take off the divider. Now the divider is off, and no one chase him anymore that I notice. He still not eating live clams or hikari mysis that I offer, and just scavenging (not sure what) in the live rock. The other fishes go crazy for live clam so I hope he will observe that and start eating?
 
I had trouble with my CB too. He would eat nothing! Food would fall right in his face...the other fish would "frenzy" all around him but he just would never get it. I though he was just stupid.

We named him Dumb Dumb.

One day I introduced PE Mysis to him through a turkey baster. The Turkey baster lets him stick his snout in for food.

He has been first to the dinner table ever since!
 
I was really hesitant to get a CBB. I know one guy who has gone through 6 and still doesn't have one. My tank has a lot of little brown tube/fan worms. Since I heard that a CBB would decimate them I decided to give it a try. I had the usual black worms and clams as a backup. The CBB started "hunting" as soon as I put it in the aquarium. If you have one you know what I mean (upside down under overhangs, looking in every crevice). It ignored the black worms, mysis and clams. I wasn't noticing any damage to the worm population either. By the fifth day I was noticing areas where the fan worms were missing their fans. The CBB was pooping lots of brown stuff. Still wouldn't eat anything I tried to feed. Funny thing is he doesn't seem to kill the worms, just scalp them. I quit feeding the black worms and mysis every day and went back to my twice a week routine. About 6 weeks in I fed some black worms and he suddenly became interested. Now he even fights over them with the bartletts and chromis. He does the Same with mysis. My theory is that you need to have enough pods and fan worms to keep them alive for quite some time when first introduced. It takes them a while to make the switch from wild food to what we feed our tanks. I also think that a lot of them have been held so long before we get them that they are doomed from the start. I have never seen one eat at the lfs. I have had this fish for about nine weeks now and between him and the six line wrass it is one of the two most interesting fish in my aquarium. Beautiful too.
 
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