Copperband Barely Eating

[Adamantium]

Hi guys and gals, does anyone have a trick to get a copperband a to be a more aggressive eater?

I have a really tiny one, about an inch and a half. I absolutely dump food into the tank 2 or 3 times a day, but he’s such an unaggressive eater that he gets maybe 2 or 3 bites of omega enriched brine shrimp each time, if I’m lucky.

I’m glad he (seemingly) won’t starve to death, but he is very skinny, and I don’t think he’ll be fattening up at this rate.

Does anyone have a trick to get him eating more? I’m thinking about building a copperband feeder out of PVC. Anyone have success with those?

Thanks so much.

 

[Wen]

Hi guys and gals, does anyone have a trick to get a copperband a to be a more aggressive eater?

I have a really tiny one, about an inch and a half. I absolutely dump food into the tank 2 or 3 times a day, but he’s such an unaggressive eater that he gets maybe 2 or 3 bites of omega enriched brine shrimp each time, if I’m lucky.

I’m glad he (seemingly) won’t starve to death, but he is very skinny, and I don’t think he’ll be fattening up at this rate.

Does anyone have a trick to get him eating more? I’m thinking about building a copperband feeder out of PVC. Anyone have success with those?

Thanks so much.

Hello,
I started out with a tiny CBB as well. It went through Qt alone and that’s where I was able to fatten it up in preparation for the display tank.
Any chance you would separate it out to let it fatten up? (Temporary tank, refugium, or partition off part of your display)
It’s great the little one is eating, you should be able to fatten it up with clams.
Buy fresh, freeze it, thaw clam in RODI, now pry open clam and very important using scissors cut tiny mouth sized slivers leaving meat attached to shell, so the little guy can slurp the clam down easy and fast.
Put clam in tank and let CBB pick from the shell. Remove any uneaten clam, although your other fish will polish it off.
Nutritious food source, especially for CBB.
I hang the clam on a veggie clip. Now mine is 5” in 2 years.

 

[shred5]

They are very hard to keep fish.
Some have had success with Masstick or 1/2 clam shells.
They do not do very well with allot of aggressive eaters and will be out competed.
Try using masstick in a few places or feeding some fish in one place and adding food to another place.

​

 

[dedragon]

try using a mesh bag with big pe mysis shrimp. his long mouth is the only one in my tank able to pick out the food and is able to get his fill

 

[dedragon]

just cut this bag and used the magnet to hold it, mine had zero interest in clam

 

[jtf74]

Hi guys and gals, does anyone have a trick to get a copperband a to be a more aggressive eater?

I have a really tiny one, about an inch and a half. I absolutely dump food into the tank 2 or 3 times a day, but he’s such an unaggressive eater that he gets maybe 2 or 3 bites of omega enriched brine shrimp each time, if I’m lucky.

I’m glad he (seemingly) won’t starve to death, but he is very skinny, and I don’t think he’ll be fattening up at this rate.

Does anyone have a trick to get him eating more? I’m thinking about building a copperband feeder out of PVC. Anyone have success with those?

Thanks so much.

Would strongly consider separating until he is eating well. Blackworms or whiteworms will help fatten and a favorite of CBB's. Mine won't touch clams though others have had success. Most won't turn away from live blackworms.

 

[Adamantium]

just cut this bag and used the magnet to hold it, mine had zero interest in clam

Aren’t the holes in that bag a bit too small?

 

[Adamantium]

Would strongly consider separating until he is eating well. Blackworms or whiteworms will help fatten and a favorite of CBB's. Mine won't touch clams though others have had success. Most won't turn away from live blackworms.

Wish I could find some live black worms, but no LFS near me carries them. Might order some online.

 

[jtf74]

Wish I could find some live black worms, but no LFS near me carries them. Might order some online.

Eastern aquatics or ebay. Mine will also eat small earthworms but not sure if theres a risk of parasites there.

 

[ApoIsland]

try using a mesh bag with big pe mysis shrimp. his long mouth is the only one in my tank able to pick out the food and is able to get his fill

I'm surprised that worked well for you with that wrasse. I tried the same thing and it didn't work well at all for me. Most pieces could be grabbed slightly by my potters wrasse. Plus every time the CBB would snatch a piece and only half eat it the other fish would bite at his mouth. Got really aggressive.

When I feed the CBB out of a net he gets plenty full on just 1/2 cube PE mysis. When I used the mesh it took almost 2 cubes before he stopped looking for more as most went to the wrasse and tangs.

 

[Mono]

Fwiw, as others have said, it's definitely a good idea to get him on his own till he grows/fattens up. Sump? Frag tank? Eggcrate divider?

Mussels and a pvc feeder stuffed with home made frozen food. Take 3" of 1/2" pvc and drill some holes.

 

[jtf74]

Wish I could find some live black worms, but no LFS near me carries them. Might order some online.

I got mine eating from lfs and put in a 55 gallon QT that was full of aiptasia and pods. It got used to hand feeding after a few months and i separated it in display from tangs at first. Now its the most aggressive eater I have and the only fish I have that will eat right out of the cup I pour from.

 

[ReefHog]

He will starve if all hes getting are a few brine shrimps daily. Frozen Mysis would be a better choice. Try feeding him clam slices with plastic feeding tweezers. CBBs are typically curious fish so wiggling the clam slice should get his attention. Hopefully before the other fish stop being afraid of it.

 

[jtf74]

I got mine eating from lfs and put in a 55 gallon QT that was full of aiptasia and pods. It got used to hand feeding mysis and black worms after a few months and fattened up. I separated it in display from tangs at first. Now its the most aggressive eater I have and the only fish I have that will eat right out of the cup I pour from.

 

[jtf74]

He will starve if all hes getting are a few brine shrimps daily. Frozen Mysis would be a better choice. Try feeding him clam slices with plastic feeding tweezers. CBBs are typically curious fish so wiggling the clam slice should get his attention. Hopefully before the other fish stop being afraid of it.

He's right. My 4" CBB eats at least half or more of a cube every day. Maybe 2 or 3 dozen mysis daily plus black worms and aiptasia a few timess a week on top of that.

 

[josvanmeer]

What exactly do you feed? Like what is in your freezer right now?

Selcon might be your best friend. Get Hikari Angel & Butterfly frozen, PE Mysis, Easy Masstick.

 

[ApoIsland]

Hi guys and gals, does anyone have a trick to get a copperband a to be a more aggressive eater?

I have a really tiny one, about an inch and a half. I absolutely dump food into the tank 2 or 3 times a day, but he’s such an unaggressive eater that he gets maybe 2 or 3 bites of omega enriched brine shrimp each time, if I’m lucky.

I’m glad he (seemingly) won’t starve to death, but he is very skinny, and I don’t think he’ll be fattening up at this rate.

Does anyone have a trick to get him eating more? I’m thinking about building a copperband feeder out of PVC. Anyone have success with those?

Thanks so much.

Since yours is eating out of the water column I would toss him in the sump if you have one and get him trained on mysis and then PE mysis. Unless you have a well established and well filtered quarantine tank it will likely not be able to process the excess waste from the fish and amount of food that needs to go in there. I would not feed him clams or get him trained on eating from clam shells if you ever plan to keep clams. Otherwise yes, clams are a great food to get them eating.

These fish are smart and can easily be taught to eat out of a net / your hand/ or any other device when they are isolated.

Like others have already mentioned I think the big issue people face with these fish is underestimating the amount of food they require. It's a lot more than any other fish I have and I believe more than most fish in general.

Mine is around 3-4 inches and gets a half a cube of PE mysis in the morning and half a cube of PE mysis in the evening all to himself, plus what ever he can get during the main broadcast feeding and anything else he can scavenge in the 120g rock work throughout the day. He grew from a couple inches to this size over maybe 6 months but seems to be stunted at this size and I am fairly certain it is lack of food. If I fed the other fish this much they would quickly outgrow the tank.

Good luck with this one!!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

They are very hard to keep fish.
Some have had success with Masstick or 1/2 clam shells.
They do not do very well with allot of aggressive eaters and will be out competed.
Try using masstick in a few places or feeding some fish in one place and adding food to another place.

​

looks like something i'd smoke haha

 

[dedragon]

idk the tang tries to grab it but cant. It does bang on it and sometimes a couple pieces come out, i think it has to do with the specific net size and pe mysis size

 

[dedragon]

blackworms are still a hassle to find rn