Copperband Butterfly

[Seascapes]

My copperband butterfly is only eating pods and aphasia. He's been in my tank now for two days. I got a copperband butterfly feeder and put some frozen in there and he didn't go near it. Also put some mastick in one of the algae feeders that has holes in it. Didn't go near that either. When does try to wonder around in a different area of the tank my tangs bother him. Put up a mirror and the tangs fight themselves but he also looks in the mirror. He also goes up and down the side of the tank looking at his reflection. Should i put a scallop in the algae feeder with the holes or in the feeder i got from printed reef again. What to do?

 

[Maritimer]

Copperbands are ... not easy.

I've had many who never made it through QT and into my display.

I've had a few who made it to the display, but never ate anything other than 'pods, aiptasia and the featherdusters that came with 60# of Keys liverock.

Now, I have one who eats ... but other than 'pods, the only thing she eats is clams in the shell. Every morning, I use an algae-clip on a string to hang a whole, thawed clam or mussel (I get them at the local food market) in the middle of the water column. I clip one side of the shell, so that it hangs just slightly open. That gives the copperband an opportunity to stick her nose in there and grab breakfast - as long as I offer the angels and Zebrasoma tangs some distraction in the form of frozen or pellet food in the water column, nori on a clip and Masstick. Been going on like this for about six months now.

After my past experience with copperbands - I count myself lucky with this one.

Copperbands are ... not easy.

~B.

 

[reely989]

I've had three. First one just barely ate, clams only. Died. Second ate like a pig. I put a calico crab in the tank and it vanished. The one I have now will only eat frozen mysis. I think they are just very... Variable. If you get one that eats they are great. I've never been able to change the eating habits of the ones I have. What they eat to begin with seems to be all I can get them to eat. I've never been able to get their menu to open up.

 

[Jasonak]

Try and get some brine and or mysis blowing around in the water column. If you have access to live brine that would be great.
Mine would get excited when the other fish would start to feed and not really eat anything but eventually he caught on.

 

[Jasonak]

Butterflies can be pain in the but, they want to follow food along and then at last second nah im not eating it. SO feed heavy and often and plan on doing some water changes. If your other fish are full less likely to mess with him at feeding time. Doe she show any interest when everyone else is feeding ?

 

[Seascapes]

Try and get some brine and or mysis blowing around in the water column. If you have access to live brine that would be great.
Mine would get excited when the other fish would start to feed and not really eat anything but eventually he caught on.

Ok, I'll put some music in. I've been starving my vertimid snails and I think they are all dead now. So putting frozen back on the menu will be new again

 

[Seascapes]

Butterflies can be pain in the but, they want to follow food along and then at last second nah im not eating it. SO feed heavy and often and plan on doing some water changes. If your other fish are full less likely to mess with him at feeding time. Doe she show any interest when everyone else is feeding ?

Still eating pods. I'll put some frozen back on the menu. We been eating pellets, flakes and nori only to get rid of the vertimids for almost a year. They are not casting webs so I think they are dead. My last butterfly ate mastick , everything. When she see it floating she looks at it. I sold my last butterfly and the person who bought it killed it

 

[Jasonak]

My current copper eats everything now also and is right in the mix at feeding time along with my longnose. But at first would just follow stuff around on the outskirts of the feeding frenzy looking at it ,being a butterflyfish. Maybe bite it and then spit it out. Mastick has never been a helper for any of my hard to get going fish. It did get my yellowhead a little more interested in eating as I stuck it to a bunch of coral for first few days and he was picking at it. But after couple days he started eating brine and didnt care about the mastick anymore. I have no idea how it gets such a amazing reputation.

 

[Seascapes]

My current copper eats everything now also and is right in the mix at feeding time along with my longnose. But at first would just follow stuff around on the outskirts of the feeding frenzy looking at it ,being a butterflyfish. Maybe bite it and then spit it out. Mastick has never been a helper for any of my hard to get going fish. It did get my yellowhead a little more interested in eating as I stuck it to a bunch of coral for first few days and he was picking at it. But after couple days he started eating brine and didnt care about the mastick anymore. I have no idea how it gets such a amazing reputation.

Well he just tasted some mastick and I just put a scallop in the butterfly feeder. Still eating pods. At least he's eating something. Just not eating anything I provide. Hes not dying "yet" . Still picking at rocks. I fed the other fish pellets. He's observing not participating. Just got to give it time I guess (smile) Even my mandarin eats pellets sometimes

 

[Tamberav]

They generally never refuse white worms. They are also very easy to grow/culture yourself and will benefit all your fish. Ebay does sell large "feeding" portions but it's $$ vs a small starter culture to do your own.

 

[Jasonak]

Its good that he is showing intrest.

 

[Premium]

All I can share is what worked for me. Couldn't get mine to eat the first few days either. Tried the butterfly feeder problem was that all the other fish hovered around it and the CB is a very tentative fish. Eventually all the food floats out and she never got any. Saw a video of a guy feeding mussels he purchased from the grocery store (they are still alive). I cracked open the shell just enough that only the CB could get it. The other fish had never seen this sort of food and were uninterested in it so she had the thing all to herself. Second day the other fish figured out that it was food but muscles are tough and she got a fair bit of it when the other fish were not around. The next morning I noticed when the other fish were sleeping she was combing the rocks. So I started putting Mastik in the muscle shell she sits there and eats the whole cube. I'm not sure if they all are active at night or early morning when the lights are off but mine is. If yours is too I'd try to feed it during these times as there is much less competition & I believe this is the key. They almost have to sit and think about eating before taking a bite. I see her thinking about trying mysis shrimp but some other fish gets it before she decides to go for it. Been feeding her several hrs before the lights come on for months now and seems to work. Hopefully this helps. They are beautiful fish

 

[exnisstech]

IMO CBB should be kept alone in an observation tank until they are eating from the water column. I would never expect success just dropping one into a display with tangs and expecting them to compete for food. At the very least put it in an acclimation box and feed it in there. There is some good info below. I piggybacked on the thread and added my method toward the end. This is my pair now with the tangs.


This is the thread with some info

Copperband Butterflyfish - A beautiful but hard to keep species.

Chelmon rostratus, one of the most iconic reef fish but one of the worst to attempt. If this wasn’t one of the first “unusual” fish to catch your eye then I’ll be surprised as many people will walk into an LFS for the first time and there will usually be one, two or in some cases four of this...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Seascapes]

All I can share is what worked for me. Couldn't get mine to eat the first few days either. Tried the butterfly feeder problem was that all the other fish hovered around it and the CB is a very tentative fish. Eventually all the food floats out and she never got any. Saw a video of a guy feeding mussels he purchased from the grocery store (they are still alive). I cracked open the shell just enough that only the CB could get it. The other fish had never seen this sort of food and were uninterested in it so she had the thing all to herself. Second day the other fish figured out that it was food but muscles are tough and she got a fair bit of it when the other fish were not around. The next morning I noticed when the other fish were sleeping she was combing the rocks. So I started putting Mastik in the muscle shell she sits there and eats the whole cube. I'm not sure if they all are active at night or early morning when the lights are off but mine is. If yours is too I'd try to feed it during these times as there is much less competition & I believe this is the key. They almost have to sit and think about eating before taking a bite. I see her thinking about trying mysis shrimp but some other fish gets it before she decides to go for it. Been feeding her several hrs before the lights come on for months now and seems to work. Hopefully this helps. They are beautiful fish

Interesting!! Last night I did see her/him looking at the rocks. Now she's moving further away from the feeder, go figure, still picking around. I think I can take the mirror down, tangs don't care that much about her now. Beautiful fish, at least eating something.

 

[Username:Required]

Muscles and clams is what mine eats

 

[Reefering1]

How about a picture of the fish and another of the tank. Just trying to guage how urgent this is based on his current health/ available microfauna in tank..

 

[ReefEco]

Hey there - stop everything you are trying right now and get the CB into its own small tank, then order live black worms here: https://easternaquatics.com/ (A 1/4 pound will last a month if you change the water daily. Don't use RODI as it will kill the worms - used filtered tap (think Brita) or dechlorinated tap by leaving it out for 24 hours+) Your copperband will likely never change feeding behavior, or be stress-free enough to put on the needed caloric buffer to learn how to eat while in a new display among other fish the same size. It will likely slowly starve to death like many do. Not a certainty, but likely. Live black worms are a sure thing - it will put on weight and live. I tried everything else under the sun - clams, mussels, mastick, other frozen, tubifex, blood worms, the list goes on - it ate nothing but the live black worms. Once it is eating them, slowly introduce a small amount of mysis (Hikari brand are smaller than PE Mysis, and a better starting point). The CB will ignore them for a while, then eventually try one. Once you observe it eating the mysis, you can slowly flip the percentage and wean it off worms. This transition took more than a month for mine. I've had my CB for close to 5 years and it eats all the meaty foods I put in the tank (now a DIY seafood mix of mussels, tuna, nori for tangs, etc.) Some may get lucky, but mine has never touched pellet or flake. For ease of feeding, you really want to train it to eat what you are feeding everything else if possible. I can't imagine having to feed a mussel on the half shell everyday - but my respect to those that do. You can fart around and hope and pray and toy with the fishes life, or you can just separate it and order live black worms and have it live. Sorry to be so delineating, but it is my favorite fish, and too many are lost because people simply hope for the best...

 

[ReefEco]

IMO CBB should be kept alone in an observation tank until they are eating from the water column. I would never expect success just dropping one into a display with tangs and expecting them to compete for food.

This.

 

[Uncle99]

Mine ate at the store.
Ate in Isolation 15 days.
Was chased here and there for a week, by a Desjardin and yellow, But then settled what seemed overnight. 5 months now. Just one of the crew.