Adding CBB to tank

[Gtinnel]

I have an aiptasia outbreak, which I tried treating chemicallly which made it so much worse, so I decided to try a Copperband butterflyfish since I wanted one anyway. I have had the fish in an observational qt for about two and a half months now. It aggressively eats live white worms but I haven’t been able to get it eating frozen or masstick. I was hoping to get it eating other foods before introducing it to the display but I am considering moving it over. Is it a mistake to transfer it over before it’s eating prepared foods?

Also, I have a purple tang in the tank that is agressive to new additions. I’m trying to decide if I use an acclimation box and/or the mirror trick what are my odds of getting the purple tang to not attack the CBB. I do have a newly cycled tank that I could put the purple in if it becomes necessary. I’m trying to avoid this if possible because it makes adding any fish to the new tank a hassle with the agressive tang, whereas my tank with aiptasia is fully stocked once I add the CBB.

 

[JJ440]

I have an aiptasia outbreak, which I tried treating chemicallly which made it so much worse, so I decided to try a Copperband butterflyfish since I wanted one anyway. I have had the fish in an observational qt for about two and a half months now. It aggressively eats live white worms but I haven’t been able to get it eating frozen or masstick. I was hoping to get it eating other foods before introducing it to the display but I am considering moving it over. Is it a mistake to transfer it over before it’s eating prepared foods?

Also, I have a purple tang in the tank that is agressive to new additions. I’m trying to decide if I use an acclimation box and/or the mirror trick what are my odds of getting the purple tang to not attack the CBB. I do have a newly cycled tank that I could put the purple in if it becomes necessary. I’m trying to avoid this if possible because it makes adding any fish to the new tank a hassle with the agressive tang, whereas my tank with aiptasia is fully stocked once I add the CBB.

I had a similar situation when adding a CBB to my tank. I used the mirror trick that worked somewhat but, still had some aggression from my tangs. They picked with him for a few weeks and then slowly started to ignore him. As far as food, I feed him reef frenzy and Rod’s food that he loves. More recently I’ve been able to feed him avast marine’s reef jerky out of the automatic feeder. Been in my system for 2 1/2 years

 

[JJ440]

 

[Gtinnel]

I had a similar situation when adding a CBB to my tank. I used the mirror trick that worked somewhat but, still had some aggression from my tangs. They picked with him for a few weeks and then slowly started to ignore him. As far as food, I feed him reef frenzy and Rod’s food that he loves. More recently I’ve been able to feed him avast marine’s reef jerky out of the automatic feeder. Been in my system for 2 1/2 years

My purple is usually only aggressive to new additions. I had to use the mirror trick when I added my foxface too, and now they are usually together in the tank with no issue.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I personally would not put the CBB into a tank until it is eating the food you feed the tank, especially if you have other fast/aggressive eaters (purple Tang)

Stress of introduction alone is enough to make a copper band Not want to eat for a few days. The chances of being able to target feed it white worms with other fish in the system is not great.

As far as introduction is concerned, I'm more of a fan of putting the aggressor on time out. I will usually catch my desjardini in the acrylic fishtrap and let it chill there while the newbie acclimates.

 

[Bucs20fan]

This is at best a roll of the dice. I dont believe the tang will kill the CBB but what will happen, is the CBB will stop eating. Even worse if its not eating yet, it may never eat. These fish are the most lightswitch fish ever brought into our tanks. Countless times they just up and stop eating for no apparent reason. And once that starts, we are on the clock to fix it. Now if its due to aggression, they are incredibly susceptible to infections. That in combo with not eating will kill a cbb inside 3 days.

 

[Gtinnel]

They’re a beautiful fish. When I try any frozen food he swims up to it as though he was going to eat, but he never does. I’ve tried masstick and mussle/clams and he ignores both of them completely.

 

[Gtinnel]

Does anyone have any tips on getting a CBB to eat frozen? I had always planned on getting it to eat frozen before moving it over, but I’m starting to question if I’m ever going to get it eating frozen. At least once it’s moved over it has enough aiptasia to feed it for a while. I did add aiptasia to my qt so I know he will eat them.

For the aggression I could catch the purple and move him over to the other tank temporarily to give the CBB plenty of time to acclimate and then move the purple tang back. I just know from experience that catching a fish is a pain.

 

[Bucs20fan]

So what you are witnessing is as far as alot of CBB owners get.

 

[JJ440]

They’re a beautiful fish. When I try any frozen food he swims up to it as though he was going to eat, but he never does. I’ve tried masstick and mussle/clams and he ignores both of them completely.

I specifically had luck with reef frenzy and Rod’s food. I couldn’t get him to eat anything else but, he would eat it aggressively. I can’t promise it will be the same outcome but worked well when I tried. I also agree with Lost in the Sauce. I made sure he was eating well before I introduced it into my system

 

[Gtinnel]

So what you are witnessing is as far as alot of CBB owners get.

Yeah I had tried before. I was prepared enough to know that I need a live food source. He eats the live worms very well and he is starting to get plump but only off the worms.

 

[Gtinnel]

I specifically had luck with reef frenzy and Rod’s food. I couldn’t get him to eat anything else but, he would eat it aggressively. I can’t promise it will be the same outcome but worked well when I tried. I also agree with Lost in the Sauce. I made sure he was eating well before I introduced it into my system

Unfortunately I don’t have a lfs so for my frozen food I usually rely on what can be bought from a PetCo/Petsmart. I will try to order those two online if I can find somewhere that won’t charge a fortune for shipping.

 

[Bucs20fan]

I will tell you what has worked for me both times Ive had a CBB to get it eating.

Step one. You have its interest in food, now you have to convince it to eat. They love wiggly food worms are part of their natural diet, along with anemones of course. Blood worms are a good place to start, with high flow going to push them around. If you HAVE to get it to eat something Live Brine almost always works.

Step two. Once it is actually eating something, even live brine shrimp, you are getting somewhere. Start to mix in some bloodworm or even better, mysis shrimp with live brine. This will help getting it to attempt to peck at mysis. This could take several days. A community feeding response is best to get it to eat the mysis. CBB are voracious eaters when they are comfy and happy, and they legit get jealous when the see all the other fish eating what you put in. This feeding response has been crucial in my experience.

Step two and a half.
If it still will not eat mysis, try frozen angel and butterfly food. That also helped mixed with Live brine. Also take a clam on the halfshell and rubberband or wedge it into a rock, this will let them peck at something naturally.

Step three. you can buy live or frozen black worms to mix into whatever food you desire, this ususally works. After the above steps with mixing live brine into frozen it usually take only a day or two and they will eat frozen.

Now if there is aggression going on at feeding time, then the feeding response part is null and void, and I believe this is the single most important part.

Some things you can try right off the bat if you have access, just to get it to eat, beside live brine are live black worms or white worms, both will do. Also you can take masstick and stuff it into a rock crevice.

 

[Bucs20fan]

All the frozen foods I used, even though I buy them at my LFS, you can find versions at any petco or petsmart in the frozen cooler.

 

[Bucs20fan]

Here is a picture of my little guy being a photobomb, also so you can believe I have one lol.

 

[Gtinnel]

All the frozen foods I used, even though I buy them at my LFS, you can find versions at any petco or petsmart in the frozen cooler.

Maybe It’s based on region, or possibly I’ve just overlooked them. I will double check.

 

[Gtinnel]

Here is a picture of my little guy being a photobomb, also so you can believe I have one lol.

I love seeing pics, but you didn’t need to prove it to me. Lol.

 

[Tamberav]

Buy some LRS. All your fish will thank you for it. Just buy it online and get a bunch to make overnight shipping worth it.

My CBB won’t eat pecto crap either but will tear into LRS. He knows what tastes good.

I put mine into a mesh pouch so he can pick it out easily till full although he will eat out of water column… he gets more out of the pouch with so many competing fish.

 

[JJ440]

All the frozen foods I used, even though I buy them at my LFS, you can find versions at any petco or petsmart in the frozen cooler.

Going along the lines of what’s available, you should be able to see what’s in the foods I mentioned and possibly make your own or something similar and everything Bucs20fan mentioned is definitely worth a shot

 

[JJ440]

Buy some LRS. All your fi will thank you for it.

My CBB won’t eat pecto crap either but will tear into LRS. He knows what tastes good.

I put mine into a mesh pouch so he can pick it out easily till full although he will eat out of water column… he gets more out of the pouch with so many competing fish.

This is exactly what I do and works great