Feeding a Cooperband

zbar · Oct 9, 2019

just bought a cooper band 5 days ago, beautiful fish! have not seen him feeding when i put pmysis,what else can i feed him,don"t want to loose him! looks healthy, see him constantly "nipping" into the sand bed and rocks

reef lover · Oct 9, 2019

I think its @Paul B who has a healthy speciman eating worm cultures and bbs from a diy feeder.

ReefHog · Oct 9, 2019

I find live black worms to be the best to get finicky fish to start eating.

C. Eymann · Oct 9, 2019

ReefHog said:
I find live black worms to be the best to get finicky fish to start eating.

+1 if you can't find those try frozen bloodworms.

Whipples · Oct 9, 2019

I used live black worms to get mine feeding and he now happily feeds from my spot-feeder. I could probably feed him by hand now. Don’t give up!

I would skip the blood worms as they are a bit large for their mouths and aren’t a native food for their diet.

Bubbythebull · Oct 9, 2019

Always do research before buying...to my knowledge, they don't eat mysis...live black worms **may work...I had one eating cyclopeeze.., pretty heartily...and still didn't make it past a month. Generally a super tough fish to keep.

ArmyReefer · Oct 9, 2019

I have one that will eat anything I put in the tank. She likes reef frenzy the best, but bloodworms gets gobbled up to.

foxt · Oct 9, 2019

In addition to live blackworms (which work almost every time!), I have gotten CBBs to eat by splitting open little neck clams and putting them in the tank.

Cment · Oct 9, 2019

Yep try live black worms. Masstick has worked for me, even rocks with some tube worms on them along with a healthy pod population. You can even try clam on half shell but the pieces may be too big for its mouth. Make sure to not leave the clam in the tank for too long, it can foul water quality pretty quick in a QT tank.

Humblefish · Oct 9, 2019

Cment said:
Yep try live black worms. Masstick has worked for me, even rocks with some tube worms on them along with a healthy pod population. You can even try clam on half shell but the pieces may be too big for its mouth. Make sure to not leave in the clam in the tank for too long, it can foul water quality pretty quick in a QT tank.

+1 You can also try oyster on the half shell if you can find it. Sometimes they will eat that one day, a clam on the half shell the next.

Pods + aiptasia would be more natural food for them.

LobsterOfJustice · Oct 9, 2019

Clams and mussels in the shell from the grocery store.

zbar · Oct 9, 2019

Cment said:
Yep try live black worms. Masstick has worked for me, even rocks with some tube worms on them along with a healthy pod population. You can even try clam on half shell but the pieces may be too big for its mouth. Make sure to not leave the clam in the tank for too long, it can foul water quality pretty quick in a QT tank.

Spanky05 · Oct 9, 2019

Mine ate mysis and Masstick reliably.

Good luck! Beautiful fish!

JCOLE · Oct 9, 2019

Whipples said:
I used live black worms to get mine feeding and he now happily feeds from my spot-feeder. I could probably feed him by hand now. Don’t give up!

I would skip the blood worms as they are a bit large for their mouths and aren’t a native food for their diet.

Where do you find live blackworms? I am trying to feed mine as well.

Justfebreezeit · Oct 9, 2019

My old man had one for about 9 years before a tank crash, sounds crazy but it would eat if the cube was still frozenish and he could pick what he wanted off it.

Granted the tank was old and had plenty of live natural food as well.

Whipples · Oct 10, 2019

I order from Aquatic Foods, called California Blackworms. Their ordering process is a bit dated but their product is fantastic. Recommend ordering their keepers if you don’t have any, makes cleaning them a breeze.

h2oh2o said:
Where do you find live blackworms? I am trying to feed mine as well.

afuel · Oct 10, 2019

Mine loves reef frenzy

Whipples · Oct 10, 2019

They are incredibly smart fish once they get established. Mine eats direct from the feeding tube with his beak which prevents other fish from eating his portion and breaks up smaller particles to feed my anthias and corals. I have seen other folks use a small pvc pipe with caps and holes drilled in them to allow them to “hunt” for the food in their natural way.

here is mine, 2 years old now.

Justfebreezeit said:
My old man had one for about 9 years before a tank crash, sounds crazy but it would eat if the cube was still frozenish and he could pick what he wanted off it.

Granted the tank was old and had plenty of live natural food as well.

Xclusive Reef · Feb 5, 2020

can i see the feeding tube you have?i have noticed this morning with lights off he was looking around a rock i guess hunting. but he is not eating anything off the QT bottom.

Scubabum · Feb 5, 2020

Xclusive Reef said:
can i see the feeding tube you have?i have noticed this morning with lights off he was looking around a rock i guess hunting. but he is not eating anything off the QT bottom.

Hey X I saw your post and wanted to share what feeding tube I used. I put in some LRS reef frenzy and mysis and they started picking right away. Was also able to get my Copperband to eat Masstick. The tube came from an AquaMedic fish trap.