Copperbands are plain stupid fish.

[HuduVudu]

I’ve always loved all butterflyfish .
the first impulse fish purchase was a blue spot ( impossible to keep in captivity )

Klein was infested with ich only a day after adding to my system .

red tail didn’t eat

raccoon hid behind the rocks and never ate

Fast forward to present day . If I ever choose to do a fish only system I would consider trying butterflyfish again

I didn't say this to @atoll cause I know his tank is super mature and with an oxidator, but for the rest of us impatient mortals gas exchange is key for butterflys. If you think you have enough gas exchange triple it and you may be close.

Also, I have come to the conclusion that gas exchange is for primarily CO2 exchange. This means your room CO2 needs to be low. Alternatively skimmer plus outside line. Pretty much everything you would do to try to raise your pH is what you need to get butterflys to go.

FWIW.

 

[HuduVudu]

Tried them.both live and frozen with the ine that wouldn't eat.

White worms?

My Pakastini looks down his nose at anything else. Now that he is feeding I can get away with a few blood worms but when he started it was white worms or the highway.

 

[WVNed]

I like mine and am about to get some more I think.

 

[atoll]

White worms?

My Pakastini looks down his nose at anything else. Now that he is feeding I can get away with a few blood worms but when he started it was white worms or the highway.

When I say I tried everything ...I mean.just about everything. I once got a copperband feeding on white worm but not the one that wouldnt eat.

 

[atoll]

I didn't say this to @atoll cause I know his tank is super mature and with an oxidator, but for the rest of us impatient mortals gas exchange is key for butterflys. If you think you have enough gas exchange triple it and you may be close.

Also, I have come to the conclusion that gas exchange is for primarily CO2 exchange. This means your room CO2 needs to be low. Alternatively skimmer plus outside line. Pretty much everything you would do to try to raise your pH is what you need to get butterflys to go.

FWIW.

Hmmm not super mature I wouldn't claim that for another couple of years. My kalk stirrer took my PH from around 7.8 at it lowest before my lights came on to between 8.3 to 8.4 now and my hard corals have responded nicely to the increase and it's more stable.

 

[skiwez]

Copperbands can certainly be tricky and I've had my share of challenges with them. I don't believe they are inherently difficult. I believe the issue is finding healthy specimens. They don't seem to have any fat reserves based on their body shapes. So if you find one that is eating aggressively at the lfs it most likely will do well for you. I think the difficult cbb's are already at deaths door because of the length of time it has taken to get them to the lfs and fed.

 

[bruno3047]

I’ve owned a few copperbands and I have one now. My recommendation would be to quarantine all copperbands in a healthy quarantine tank and establish an eating routine with them. They should be coming to greet you when they see you ready to feed them. This will make the introduction to the display tank and competing with other fish for food that much easier. In addition, in my experience, live black worms are irresistible to a healthy copperband. My guy: