Copperband

Lenth296 · Feb 10, 2016

I just picked up my copperband butterfly. I have a 60gallon with a blue tang and 2 clowns. What do I need to feed my butterfly to keep alive for more than a month. I've done some research and people say theirs starves in a month and dies. Also I have seen people have them successfully. I'm not exactly sure what I should feed him since after research he won't go after my pellets. I don't want him eating my coral so I'm all ears. I got him cheap so I couldn't pass him up. Any advise would be great. Thanks!!!

Lenth296 · Feb 10, 2016

I acclimated him well and after being in the tank for 10 min he's already going after my 5 polyps of aptasia.

conk123 · Feb 10, 2016

Hi, I had the same problem, mine wouldn't eat for a week, then I got some advice to use frozen mussels or clams and wedge the little pieces in the rock, he loved it and for some reason now he eats anything I put in the tank and can even eat out of my hand, hope this helps.

Diesel · Feb 10, 2016

The trick is to made him/her eat before all the other fish can get to the food.
I see that you didn't QT the butterfly as it's easier to made him/her eat while I QT as there aren't other fish around.
Try a mix of different frozen food and add a little garlic extreme to that.

MT. Reefer · Mar 4, 2016

Is there another thread on this subject of getting a Copperband to eat? I'm really surprised that the thread died so quickly. I am looking into the feeding part before jumping into a Copperband. I love the fish, but don't want to buy one just to have it die. I would love to hear from more owners if you would pipe in on the subject.

dbl · Mar 4, 2016

I would recommend having the place you buy the CBB from feed it in front of you. If it doesn't eat, pass on it. Then make sure it eats while you QT it. I actually fed mine frozen brine and mysis. After a couple weeks, I even gave it some pellets and flakes.

Once I put mine in the display, it took it a few days to eat because my yellow tang was none too happy. I'm convinced the CBB wouldn't have made it had I not introduced it to the variety of foods before going in to the display.

Another 3-4 weeks and it found it's appetite for aiptasia. Happy fish, happy fish owner. Obviously every fish is different as is every system. This is simply my experience.

MT. Reefer · Mar 4, 2016

dbl said:
I would recommend having the place you buy the CBB from feed it in front of you. If it doesn't eat, pass on it. Then make sure it eats while you QT it. I actually fed mine frozen brine and mysis. After a couple weeks, I even gave it some pellets and flakes.

Once I put mine in the display, it took it a few days to eat because my yellow tang was none too happy. I'm convinced the CBB wouldn't have made it had I not introduced it to the variety of foods before going in to the display.

Another 3-4 weeks and it found it's appetite for aiptasia. Happy fish, happy fish owner. Obviously every fish is different as is every system. This is simply my experience.

Thanks David. Everything you've said makes perfect sense. Problem I have is that I live in NW Montana. I have one LFS and a Petco. I have never seen a Copperband in this town. If I have them order one, I have to buy it so there goes the watch it eat first deal. Otherwise, I can buy on-line but then again, no watching it eat first. Maybe I'll see one on my next trip over to Spokane. They have two good LFS'S over there. It's a 4 hour drive back but they survive a lot longer than that to get to the U.S.
Thanks again!

dbl · Mar 5, 2016

@Larry Linne, I understand the dilemma. Short of being able to see it eat prior, then definitely put it in QT. I realize there are numerous philosophies regarding QT, but in this case, I'm suggesting mainly to give it a chance to adapt to eating prior to going in your display.

Just as @Diesel said above, you should find it much easier to get them to eat in isolation, thereby "teaching" it what our foods are prior to hitting the display.

Is the goal of the CBB in your case for aiptasia control?

E048 · Mar 5, 2016

This is going to be a long one:
I have two tanks and I've kept many copperbands in both successfully I had one die when it got stuck under a rock Avalanche I freaking loved that fish! The others got too big and I rehomed them.

Here's how to do it.
Make sure it's eating at the lfs if they can hold it for you for a few weeks even better. Check in often and make sure it's eating at the store.

Bring it home and qt it use parasite meds (paraguard I think) and treat for bacterial infections. Feed mysis mixed with live black worms and some pellets, craft a butterfly feeding device (pvc pipe with two end caps and holes drilled into it)
Once the treatment is done and it's eating place in your dt

Now if you have fast smart fish (damsels, tangs, clowns, wrasse) your butterfly may not eat his fair share. Make sure you use the pvc pipe with holes. Place food inside the pipe and place it on the rocks this will make it more natural for them to eat and keeps other smart aleck fish from eating all his food. Rinse and repeat.

Eventually with all my cpbb they learned that the pvc pipe meant food and would react to it in the tank. These fish are not easy and shouldn't be purchased if you're not well experienced in the hobby. They have a habit of just giving up and starving, I've never had that problem though

E048 · Mar 5, 2016

Also I've never had a copperband take pellets or flakes

I had one that would go nuts for freeze dried krill though the rest all are frozen food

E048 · Mar 5, 2016

Lenth296 said:
I just picked up my copperband butterfly. I have a 60gallon with a blue tang and 2 clowns. What do I need to feed my butterfly to keep alive for more than a month. I've done some research and people say theirs starves in a month and dies. Also I have seen people have them successfully. I'm not exactly sure what I should feed him since after research he won't go after my pellets. I don't want him eating my coral so I'm all ears. I got him cheap so I couldn't pass him up. Any advise would be great. Thanks!!!

What kind of blue tang is it? I'm curious... Since blue tang could apply to 3 different species of commonly kept fish

Goldenvue · Mar 5, 2016

I have two cbb in different tanks, feed them pe mysis and raw shrimp. They will destroy any aptasia in tank and fallow me when looking at the tank like a lil puppy waiting to be fed. Hope this helps good luck

Paul B · Mar 5, 2016

I don't see why a copperband would live only a month. We hear this all the time for many fish and it is a shame as a copperband should live 10 or 15 years and they will if you just feed them what they are supposed to eat. Pellets is not what they are supposed to eat and 99% of them won't eat that. If you have ever dove with copperbands you will see that they search for, and find worms all day long and that is their main diet. If you can't get live worms maybe you should not try to keep a copperband. They can also live on clams and Mysis but some live worms in their diet goes a long way to keeping this fish healthy. Mysis is a good, but not a great food because they are mostly shall and their shell is not calcium so they don't digest it and it is wasted. Live worms, besides being a fairly healthy food add live bacteria to a fishes diet and although this is often overlooked, that is the reason for so many of these types of fish dying an early death and also the reason for all the disease threads. Oddly enough copperbands were one of the first fish imported and I have been keeping them since the early 70s.
I wrote this about their care: http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/succeed-with-copperband-butterflyfish-chelmon-rostratus-2888/

Here is a video of mine eating some worms as my fish get every day along with clams. Every fish in this video, except the copperband is spawning.

abinder · Mar 5, 2016

How about feeding Copperbands thawed out bloodworms?

Paul B · Mar 5, 2016

As long as the bloodworms are real worms as most of the time things sold as bloodworms are beetle larvae and not a real worm. I personally have never seen real bloodworms sold as fish food but that doesn't mean there is no such thing. We here in New York can collect real, salt water bloodworms but they are real large and it is tough to get the small ones. But check if they are real worms. I would try for blackworms as they are farmed in California and not collected. I would use clams as their main diet and I am sure you can get clams where you live. Abalone should also work or any "whole" shellfish. Shrimp, squid, octopus, scallop and whale shark are not sold as whole creatures that you can feed a fish so they are not the best food as with those foods you are only feeding the muscle and fish need the guts of the prey. Most of us are not fish so we eat different parts of the prey than fish need.

MT. Reefer · Mar 5, 2016

dbl said:
@Larry Linne, I understand the dilemma. Short of being able to see it eat prior, then definitely put it in QT. I realize there are numerous philosophies regarding QT, but in this case, I'm suggesting mainly to give it a chance to adapt to eating prior to going in your display.

Just as @Diesel said above, you should find it much easier to get them to eat in isolation, thereby "teaching" it what our foods are prior to hitting the display.

Is the goal of the CBB in your case for aiptasia control?

I had a few aptasia show up a while back but a bought a couple peppermint shrimp that quickly eliminated the problem. I heard it was hit and miss with peppermints but they did the job. I just love the way the Copperband looks. Actually, I had one back in the 70's but it only lived for about 8 months from what I remember from back then.

abinder · Mar 6, 2016

Paul B said:
As long as the bloodworms are real worms as most of the time things sold as bloodworms are beetle larvae and not a real worm. I personally have never seen real bloodworms sold as fish food but that doesn't mean there is no such thing. We here in New York can collect real, salt water bloodworms but they are real large and it is tough to get the small ones. But check if they are real worms. I would try for blackworms as they are farmed in California and not collected. I would use clams as their main diet and I am sure you can get clams where you live. Abalone should also work or any "whole" shellfish. Shrimp, squid, octopus, scallop and whale shark are not sold as whole creatures that you can feed a fish so they are not the best food as with those foods you are only feeding the muscle and fish need the guts of the prey. Most of us are not fish so we eat different parts of the prey than fish need.

Thanks for the info !!!!

4FordFamily · Mar 6, 2016

Live blackworms and live brine all day. Works for almost all tough species.

jsbull · Mar 8, 2016

Paul B said:
I wrote this about their care: http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/succeed-with-copperband-butterflyfish-chelmon-rostratus-2888/

Thanks for this. I bought a copperband on Saturday (it's Tuesday now). He ate at the store, but hasn't eaten in my QT from what I can tell. I ordered live blackworms yesterday for delivery today, so I'm really glad to hear that's the best bet to get it to eat.

I am nervous that I have a live clam in my tank.