Copperband butterfly ONLY eats blackworms

[Miami Reef]

I wanted to make this thread to confirm this with you guys.

I purchased my copperband from the LFS. He was eating mysis and frozen foods, and even ate them in my QT tank.

Ever since I started feeding live blackworms, my copperband refuses to eat anything else.

I’m fine with feeding blackworms. The “problems” is that I’m worried these foods are not completely nutritious. Especially since they are a freshwater worm with less fat and protein than the whiteworms.

My copperband voraciously eats the worms from the water column. I will attempt to take a video for your entertainment, but…is this fish going to last long term if blackworms is all he eats?

PS: I have 2 deresa clams (tridacna) and the copperband doesn’t touch either of them. I feed LRS (which contains clams) but the copperband won’t touch them either. He exclusively lives off worms.

 

[Brymac1]

I would try feeding only frozen shrimp and worms for a while to see if you can get him back onto them.

 

[Miami Reef]

 

[Miami Reef]

And this is the nutrition info:

Product FAQ

 

[SDK]

I went through the same issue with my CBB. it took some time, but it eventually went back to eating mysis, then even started taking pellets from the auto feeder. I accomplished this by light evening feeds of the worms and feeding the other foods in the morning.

Having said that, I am almost certain that I have read about long term success with this fish feeding almost only worms…

 

[bitwise]

How many days are you going before giving up on feeding the LRS?

 

[Miami Reef]

I went through the same issue with my CBB. it took some time, but it eventually went back to eating mysis, then even started taking pellets from the auto feeder. I accomplished this by light evening feeds of the worms and feeding the other foods in the morning.

Having said that, I am almost certain that I have read about long term success with this fish feeding almost only worms…

Wow. What pellets do you feed?

 

[Miami Reef]

How many days are you going before giving up on feeding the LRS?

I’m never giving up on LRS. I have many other fish that live off that food.

 

[Miami Reef]

If it helps, I just ordered masstick because I read it’s good for finicky eaters, especially copperbands who like to pick off rocks and glass.

I did forget to mention that my copperband picks at rocks as well, but I do not believe that it is sufficient enough to keep him alive.

 

[SDK]

Wow. What pellets do you feed?

I feed NLS and TDO Chromaboost in an auto feeder. It would take the TDO pellets….

 

[Beau_B]

Mine gets fussy occasionally too, definitely prefers frozen (#1 is minced scallop), but will eat NLS 1mm pellets once they sink to the bottom. Goes around pecking them off the sand… assuming everything else doesn’t eat them before they hit the bottom! Doesn’t care for flake.

 

[ying yang]

Tried clams ?
Mine ate mysis at lfs but lost interest once in my tank so from advice from threads if Paul b I started feeding clams and other shellfish oysters and the such and cbb loves it

Feeding clams and oysters to copperband?

Hi there,ive read about feeding fish and inparticular copperband butterflies, So i read about buying fresh clams and then freezing them,i live in big city in england but cant for life off me find a fishmongers lol. So found a fishmonger section in a not so local supermarket,so i bought these raw...

www.reef2reef.com

Here a thread I started few months back.few articles/threads from Paul b about clams and shellfish and some videos/ pictures of feeders and alot helpful information from alot peeps in here

 

[DrZoidburg]

I can agree with clams. Trick with those superglue the shell partly closed so he is only one that can eat it. Only problem sometimes if you decide to keep a maxima, others, and he gets to like clam meat. In past I think ones I had where all brackish caught. All they would eat was mosquito larvae, fw clams or mussels.

 

[Miami Reef]

Yea…I’m not gonna feed clams. I have 2 clams in my tank already and if he hasn’t picked at them then I doubt he’d pick at others. And I don’t want to encourage that behavior if he will eat clams.

I am awaiting the masstick and I received WHITEWORMS that are much higher in protein and fat than blackworms.

 

[WallyB]

If it helps, I just ordered masstick because I read it’s good for finicky eaters, especially copperbands who like to pick off rocks and glass.

I did forget to mention that my copperband picks at rocks as well, but I do not believe that it is sufficient enough to keep him alive.

I just picked up another Copperband today, and it's time to train him to eat in QT. Done it at least 5 times successfully.

I never tried blackworms, however from what you mention, I won't. I want my Copperband to eat the same food my other DT fish eat (Brine Shrimp, Mysis, etc).

I've never ever seen any of my copperbands eat pellets, after having copperbands for years. Sounds too good to be true. I actually don't belive that statement somebody posted. would love to see video proof it true.

My newbie so far isn't eatting anything. At least he tries frozen brineshrimp and then spits it out.

In my past attempt at training my copperbands they wouldn't eat anything for a week or two.

Masstick (for me) worked every time. It takes patience.
At least your's is picking at rocks and that's part of the problem. Then need to learn to catch food in the water column since that's their nature. So trying mysis floating in the water column doesn't work till later in training. Once they learn how to catch food they get better and better. It does help for the tank to have slow water flow so they catch up to the food and learn to target it (before other tank mates snatch the food first)

The way I trained my copperbands on Masstick is to place them mastic on a feeding station. (So they can pick at it, just like picking at a rock). You need to make a feeder plate with holes to put the masstick inside, otherwise the masstick disssinegrates before he get to it. Also to make it easier for yourself, design the feeder plate so you can place it in the same spot, and easily remove it for a refill.

I made a couple videos the last few times I trained my copperbands on Masstic.

.

.

.

Usually my next step after masstick is to feed small portions of clams. To fatten them up before going into DT.
The transition from QT to DT is another stage of training. I actually bring the same feeding station to DT since they recognize it.


.

I used this product since it's less messy than getting fresh clams from the grocery store.

https://www.aquariumdepot.ca/hikari-bio-pure-frozen-clam-on-a-half-shell-flat-pack-4oz.html

Hope things go well for you.

Wish me all the best since my new Copperband (day 0) isn't too happy in QT. He is swimming around very upset, back and forth. Hopefully will calm down. I had a choice of two copperbands at the store. I pick the more active one thinking he was healther. Now I kind of regret it. Wish I took the more calmer one.

 

[Miami Reef]

I stick my masstick to the glass and other copperband shows extreme interest. However, it has not picked at it yet.

It’s only been 2 days so I will keep trying. At least it’s a hit with all my other fish!

 

[WallyB]

And this is the nutrition info:

Product FAQ

That nutrition fact is Freeze Dried worms, not fresh. Not sure if they loose any nutritional content after freeze drying.

 

[WallyB]

Nice. Your copperband does eat well from the Water Column.

 

[Tamberav]

How long have you had it? In time they tend to eventually take other foods.

I am pretty sure mine would eat hot pepper flakes at this point.

 

[Beau_B]

You don’t believe CBB eats pellets and need proof? Is that a serious statement?