Need help with WA copperband butterfly!

T

Themilkman248

New member
I have just recently purchased a smallish butterfly fish from Western Australia he has been in the tank for 3-4 days approximately he is very shy and skittish but currently picks at the rocks for pods or whatever he is eating I haven't seen what but he still is scouring I went to the ocean to collect an abundance of free floating pods but he wouldn't touch any of them I have tried feeding cyclopeeze brine shrimp and Mysis shrimp he seems healthy still and hasn't got any sickness that I can notice but im afraid if he doesn't start to eat to a captive diet he will soon perish I have a 100gl display with a 100gl sump that has been able to support 3 mandarins for over a year(still currently has 2) does anyone know of a way I can try entice it to eat frozen foods or atleast planktonic foods?
 
With mine , I have had luck using a live store bought mussel or clam, I crack open the shell and put in a quarter size piece that is still stuck to the shell. Another good choice is live black worms which is mentioned on this site quite a few times as well as frozen mysis. I have found that keeping them alone in a quarantine works great as they are quite spooky to acclimate to a tank system. Good luck
 
I read that they shouldn't be quarantined in small tanks as there a very shy fish? mine is slowly just getting used to people been around the tank he is still picking at the rocks but his poo is pretty inconsistent when people say live clams from the store do you just mean fresh?
 
I feed a live clam every other day. All my fish love it, especially the CBB he devours it. I crack it open with a knife and place it in whole and they take turns eating. The fish get so fat they look like they are going to explode afterwards. You can get live clams or "littlenecks" up here in New England at any supermarket.
 
would this make them more susceptible to eating say a maxima but if I had one in the tank? also when you say live do you just mean fresh? or does your supermarkets sell them alive?
 
The clams are live clams bought at most seafood markets. I have quite a few clams and my CBB does not touch the clams that are not cracked opened.
 
ok thankyou I looked them up I didn't think that they would sell clams still alive out of water little own make it to the store, if I cant find any locally should fresh clams or mussels do the trick?
 
well for those of you who may be interested I couldn't find any live clams or clams that weren't canned so I got half shells of fresh scallops and soaked them in ro water before putting in the tank, after leaving it in there for about an hour to 2 hours he started to show interest in it picking on it for the next 45 minutes. also he decided to pick on my open brain but I guess anythings better then nothing until he starts eating prepared foods
 
Put him in a QT tank with Apitasia rock. Looking at all the post on how to kill it there should be an ample supply?
 
nah my tank is completely apitasia free and he's only starting to gain confidence to eat I don't want to catch him again plus he has plenty of pods in the tank to feed on as well as various worms if he stops eating I will quarantine him but all my tanks are apitasia free there are only 2 3 small majanos and a tiny bubble tip anemone that's been shrinking for the past 3 years
 
Not quiet success yet he loves picking at my purple open brain though and I think to start them on prepared you just need to trick them into eating by putting in small amounts of prepared food in cracks and holes, I do wonder could hitchhiker crabs be a danger to him if he puts his mouth in the wrong gap?
 
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