I have a CBB in my reef. I did not QT, because my QT skills are terrible and I thought it was far more likely I'd kill it there than in the tank. I'm crazy, whatever.
When I put him in, he was super skittish. He would swim around picking at rocks all day, and wiped out the sizable aipstasia population in about 6 months. I have a foxface rabbit in the tank, who latched onto him, and would follow him around, always being close to him. When I would feed (always frozen) the copperband would hide until all the food was gone, would not come out at all until the last bit was gone from the water. He wasn't afraid of me, he would swim and look at me, it was the food that terrified him, or at least the other fishes response to it?
Around the 3 month mark, he stopped fleeing from food.
Somewhere around the 5 month mark, not sure where, when the aipstasia were becoming so scarce that I couldn't see them anymore, I noticed he would pick at frozen in the water column.
Now, it's been at least 9 months, and he eats frozen with gusto. He still spends all day picking at the rocks.
I think the transition from natural rock-food to frozen takes a *long* time. I don't think you can starve them into it, like you can with many fish. I think he has bonded with the foxface, and this has helped. I also don't have anything aggresive in the tank yet, just peaceful fish, so he was never assaulted by the tang army when the food went in. This is all just a sample size of one here, but these are my feelings on how it worked for me.
When I put him in, he was super skittish. He would swim around picking at rocks all day, and wiped out the sizable aipstasia population in about 6 months. I have a foxface rabbit in the tank, who latched onto him, and would follow him around, always being close to him. When I would feed (always frozen) the copperband would hide until all the food was gone, would not come out at all until the last bit was gone from the water. He wasn't afraid of me, he would swim and look at me, it was the food that terrified him, or at least the other fishes response to it?
Around the 3 month mark, he stopped fleeing from food.
Somewhere around the 5 month mark, not sure where, when the aipstasia were becoming so scarce that I couldn't see them anymore, I noticed he would pick at frozen in the water column.
Now, it's been at least 9 months, and he eats frozen with gusto. He still spends all day picking at the rocks.
I think the transition from natural rock-food to frozen takes a *long* time. I don't think you can starve them into it, like you can with many fish. I think he has bonded with the foxface, and this has helped. I also don't have anything aggresive in the tank yet, just peaceful fish, so he was never assaulted by the tang army when the food went in. This is all just a sample size of one here, but these are my feelings on how it worked for me.
