Copperband eating my Corals

[bruno3047]

Well, it happened. My prize copperband butterfly decided he’d like to taste my corals. Yesterday, as I was watching the tank I noticed that he was foraging for worms, as usual. Then I saw him pick at my corals. No good. So I quickly set up a quarantine tank to keep him while I decide what to do with him. Here’s a photo of the quickie quarantine tank I set up. 10 gallon tank.10 gallon air pump with sponge filter. Preset heater. Small powerhead with hose and spray bar for circulation. Some small rocks and 1 1/2 cups of sand out of my DT and three larger rocks out of my vat waiting to be used in my new tank. Whole operation took about an hour.

 

[ZoWhat]

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[bruno3047]

What corals?

CBB main diet is copepods from a mature tank that has thousands of copepods in the LR.

Not enough copepods, probably went after corals

Copperband’s main diet is worms. That’s why nature has evolved for them to have a long snout. To reach into crevices for worms. There’s no way to know why he decided to taste the corals. Don’t get me started.

 

[Goaway]

Cbb looks on the small side.

 

[Goaway]

Let me rephrase. Small, curious, wants a lot of food. Been there. They will nip everything. All I did was buy aiptasia rocks and several meals a day.

 

[bruno3047]

He’s about 3 1/2 inches from snout to tail, tip to tip. I’ve had him for a while. He’s grown about an inch since I’ve had him. I’m sure I noted the acquisition date on my excel spreadsheet.

 

[Goaway]

He’s about 3 1/2 inches from snout to tail, tip to tip. I’ve had him for a while.

I saw sick for awhile. Feeding was reduced to 1 to 2 times. Cbb, started nipping at my trachy. I had to resume feeding schedule. I'm not sure if you're able to entertain 5+ feeds a day. Or grazing rocks.

 

[ZoWhat]

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[bruno3047]

I saw sick for awhile. Feeding was reduced to 1 to 2 times. Cbb, started nipping at my trachy. I had to resume feeding schedule. I'm not sure if you're able to entertain 5+ feeds a day. Or grazing rocks.

I feed him about three or four times a day with live black worms. I’m sure that’s not the problem. Fish just do things that we can’t explain. And to try makes you look foolish. As if you were a fish whisperer.