badstorm48
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2015
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I was sitting here looking at my tank and thought it would be cool to document my adventure with my copperband butterfly. They are known to be hard to care for and keep successfully for some time. Now I've only had mine for almost two months and he's a little piggy. Eats a good bit of what I put in the tank. Though, he doesn't like pellets or flakes I make sure he gets his nutrition with blood worms and mysis shrimp as well as baby feather dusters.
This is my very first butterfly and either I got lucky and got a good one or did a good darn job of enticing him to eat. When I first got him he was very timid. If I walked up to the tank he would run away until I disappeared. When it came to feeding he didn't touch a thing for the first couple or few days which worried me. Then on that magical day he ate his first blood worm. I was ecstatic! I felt Successful. Though, I found the secret for me was when I fed I would squirt a little bit of blood worms mixed with mysis and then I would have to run to the other side of the room where he couldn't see me. He would come out eat and then I would put some more in and repeat until the little bit that I prepared was gone. As time went on he got comfortable with me and messing with the tank. He's now a little camera hog and is always steeling the lime light.
The one thing that I never really thought of was feeding baby feather dusters until today and to be honest I think that would be the best thing to start them on. It's a natural food source for them and makes them want to eat because the feather duster is enticing to them. I picked up what seems like a hundred of them from my lfs. He just had them growing on his sump wall for his tanks which is like a 200 gallon Rubbermaid with a protein skimmer. On the walls they are literally covered in baby feather dusters. So, he gave me a handful of them and I put a big pinch in the tank and tried to tuck them into the rocks but didn't work so they are sort of all over the place, but the butterfly hasn't stopped hunting them since I've put them in the tank.
The clump I put in the sump
A few that are in the tank
Copperband butterflies love worms. It's what they eat in the ocean. Feather duster are in the ocean and is a natural food source for them. They recognize it as food. The awesome part of it is since the feather dusters are sort of a pest for him he gave them away for free.
I think the key with them is be patient. Take the time to try and get them to eat and they are hard to keep fish some are hit and miss. I honestly think if you have access to little feather dusters utilize them I think it will make getting them to eat a lot easier than with prepared foods right off the bat. Blood worms are also an easier way to get them to eat and since baby feather dusters look very similar to feather dusters it will make it easier to transition them to prepared foods. After all these are my thoughts and opinions and what works for me may not work for everyone.
This is my very first butterfly and either I got lucky and got a good one or did a good darn job of enticing him to eat. When I first got him he was very timid. If I walked up to the tank he would run away until I disappeared. When it came to feeding he didn't touch a thing for the first couple or few days which worried me. Then on that magical day he ate his first blood worm. I was ecstatic! I felt Successful. Though, I found the secret for me was when I fed I would squirt a little bit of blood worms mixed with mysis and then I would have to run to the other side of the room where he couldn't see me. He would come out eat and then I would put some more in and repeat until the little bit that I prepared was gone. As time went on he got comfortable with me and messing with the tank. He's now a little camera hog and is always steeling the lime light.
The one thing that I never really thought of was feeding baby feather dusters until today and to be honest I think that would be the best thing to start them on. It's a natural food source for them and makes them want to eat because the feather duster is enticing to them. I picked up what seems like a hundred of them from my lfs. He just had them growing on his sump wall for his tanks which is like a 200 gallon Rubbermaid with a protein skimmer. On the walls they are literally covered in baby feather dusters. So, he gave me a handful of them and I put a big pinch in the tank and tried to tuck them into the rocks but didn't work so they are sort of all over the place, but the butterfly hasn't stopped hunting them since I've put them in the tank.
The clump I put in the sump
A few that are in the tank
Copperband butterflies love worms. It's what they eat in the ocean. Feather duster are in the ocean and is a natural food source for them. They recognize it as food. The awesome part of it is since the feather dusters are sort of a pest for him he gave them away for free.
I think the key with them is be patient. Take the time to try and get them to eat and they are hard to keep fish some are hit and miss. I honestly think if you have access to little feather dusters utilize them I think it will make getting them to eat a lot easier than with prepared foods right off the bat. Blood worms are also an easier way to get them to eat and since baby feather dusters look very similar to feather dusters it will make it easier to transition them to prepared foods. After all these are my thoughts and opinions and what works for me may not work for everyone.
