Feeding a copperband

Aparker2005 · Sep 20, 2022

Hey everyone. We got a copperband 2 months ago and it has been one of our favorite dish we've ever had. It seems like it is the one that cleared our aiptasia takeover which is partially why we got it.

The only issue is, this fish will literally only eat frozen bloodworms. We've tried every other frozen food you can think of. It simply won't touch it, or it picks out any bloodworms it can find. If we skip a feeding of the bloodworms, it skips a meal too. I've never seen a fish so stubborn lol.

We also soaked the food in garlic. Clams it looks at and swims on.

Any ideas?

Tamberav · Sep 20, 2022

Have you tried LRS fish frenzy? Mine loves it. I put it in a mesh pouch so it can get its fill. It has black worms in it.

I had to mix it with other foods as it didn’t want to try it but once it accidentally took a few pecks, it was hooked.

Aparker2005 · Sep 20, 2022

Tamberav said:
Have you tried LRS fish frenzy? Mine loves it. I put it in a mesh pouch so it can get its fill. It has black worms in it.

No one around us has had it unfortunately. I got some Rods and.... Nothing still lol

Tamberav · Sep 20, 2022

Aparker2005 said:
No one around us has had it unfortunately. I got some Rods and.... Nothing still lol

Maybe consider ordering online and getting a nice variety of foods you can’t get local. If nothing else, your other fish will be happy!

Premium Aquatics packs with dry ice so I recommend them.

GarrettT · Sep 20, 2022

Mine refuses to eat anything. Very personable and not shy at all, just not interested in anything that I put in my tank. I have some black worms coming in the mail today and crossing my fingers. Mine won’t eat LRS fish frenzy, Arctic pods, or clams (on or off shell). I even got a clear pvc pipe with holes drilled in it that I can put food iside, but no luck.

I do think white worms might entice it, but I just started my culture and have at least a month before harvest : (

Good luck.

Aparker2005 · Sep 20, 2022

I have a small feeder for it as well. It goes absolutely nuts when bloodworms gets loaded for it

Gtinnel · Sep 20, 2022

GarrettT said:
Mine refuses to eat anything. Very personable and not shy at all, just not interested in anything that I put in my tank. I have some black worms coming in the mail today and crossing my fingers. Mine won’t eat LRS fish frenzy, Arctic pods, or clams (on or off shell). I even got a clear pvc pipe with holes drilled in it that I can put food iside, but no luck.

I do think white worms might entice it, but I just started my culture and have at least a month before harvest : (

Good luck.

Mine absolutely loves live white worms but not interested in any other food. I bet yours will eat white worms, if you can get them to a big enough culture before it’s too late. Obviously the key is getting them to eat something so that you have time to get them eating other foods. My CBB is starting to get chubby eating white worms while I try to transition him over to any other frozen food.

dennis romano · Sep 20, 2022

My CBB goes crazy over live black worms. When mine sees me coming with the cup of worms, he is like a puppy begging for food.

WVNed · Sep 20, 2022

Mine only ate live white worms for months. Then he figured it out.

Bucs20fan · Sep 20, 2022

Here is what has worked for me twice to get them onto frozen:

I will tell you what has worked for me both times Ive had a CBB to get it eating.

Step one. You have its interest in food, now you have to convince it to eat. They love wiggly food worms are part of their natural diet, along with anemones of course. Blood worms are a good place to start, with high flow going to push them around. If you HAVE to get it to eat something Live Brine almost always works.

Step two. Once it is actually eating something, even live brine shrimp, you are getting somewhere. Start to mix in some bloodworms or even better, mysis shrimp with live brine. This will help getting it to attempt to peck at mysis. This could take several days. A community feeding response is best to get it to eat the mysis. CBB are voracious eaters when they are comfy and happy, and they legit get jealous when the see all the other fish eating what you put in. This feeding response has been crucial in my experience.

Step two and a half.
If it still will not eat mysis, try frozen angel and butterfly food. That also helped mixed with Live brine. Also take a clam on the halfshell and rubberband or wedge it into a rock, this will let them peck at something naturally.

Step three. you can buy live or frozen black worms to mix into whatever food you desire, this ususally works. After the above steps with mixing live brine into frozen it usually take only a day or two and they will eat frozen.

Now if there is aggression going on at feeding time, then the feeding response part is null and void, and I believe this is the single most important part.

Some things you can try right off the bat if you have access, just to get it to eat, beside live brine are live black worms or white worms, both will do. Also you can take masstick and stuff it into a rock crevice.