CBB Not Eating Yet

[Reefering1]

Yea, it can be stressful.. should get better everyday. Is the aggression non stop, or they leave him alone in the corner until he wanders out? You can try holding the mirror horizontally to see if it is more effective(it should be) before figuring out how to mount it securely

 

[dkelley]

Problem solved.

I went out to my little woodworking shop here at the house and dug around and found a pice of plexiglass that I could cut down to size. Drilled some holes for some flow to get through and separated the tank up so they can see each other swimming in the same tank. Hopefully this helps and I can leave this be for a few days, a week, whatever. Pardon the blue lights, I didn't put the filter on but you get the idea of how the divider works.

 

[Reefering1]

Hows the copperband? Exploring and picking at rocks?

 

[dkelley]

Hows the copperband? Exploring and picking at rocks?

Yep, has the one side of the tank essentially all to itself. The blenny got stuck with the CBB plus some inverts. So far all good. I did order some masstick that’ll be here tomorrow just to try and stimulate some nutrition other than whatever rock bugs he’s eating.

I have my final addition to this tank coming from biota on Thursday. It’s a Pavo damsel. I’m thinking I’ll leave this barrier up until then, acclimate the damsel with the CBB and then remove the barrier. With two new fish then maybe that will help reduce the aggression.

 

[Goaway]

Yep, has the one side of the tank essentially all to itself. The blenny got stuck with the CBB plus some inverts. So far all good. I did order some masstick that’ll be here tomorrow just to try and stimulate some nutrition other than whatever rock bugs he’s eating.

I have my final addition to this tank coming from biota on Thursday. It’s a Pavo damsel. I’m thinking I’ll leave this barrier up until then, acclimate the damsel with the CBB and then remove the barrier. With two new fish then maybe that will help reduce the aggression.

Is the cbb grazing on the live rock?
I forgot that angelfish eat every life form on the rocks as well, except pest anemones.

 

[Reefering1]

Good. While working on getting it eating prepared foods, pay attention to how much attention he gets from the others on other side.. I got mine eating by broadcast feeding lrs, the aiptaisia would catch some and before you know it he is eating both.

 

[dkelley]

Is the cbb grazing on the live rock?
I forgot that angelfish eat every life form on the rocks as well, except pest anemones.

Yeah, cruising around pecking the rocks. Hasn’t touched the aptasia yet. Still won’t touch the black worms, lrs, or other food I drop in so I’ll get the masstick to try as well.

The side of the tank he’s on has a lot of spots to hide but he’s not really hiding on purpose and they see each other between the barrier. Hopefully this plan works. Adding the damsel will be a huge help I think because the damsel is captive bread so I’m positive it’ll be a good eater and as mean as those suckers are it should take the heat ok, deflecting from the more fragile CBB.

 

[Goaway]

damsel is captive bread so I’m positive it’ll be a good eater and as mean as those suckers are it should take the heat ok, deflecting from the more fragile CBB.

Thats a good plan. Once the damsel claims territory, she'll give the other fish something to worry about.

My cbb must be weird, he'll pick at overly large aips until there's no trace. Had that habbit since I got him.

I know one guy whos cbb took a month or more to get hus cbb eating. Haven’t seen him on in a year. His cbb took to pellets.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/from-snakes-to-fish.847823/post-10353908

 

[dkelley]

Thats a good plan. Once the damsel claims territory, she'll give the other fish something to worry about.

My cbb must be weird, he'll pick at overly large aips until there's no trace. Had that habbit since I got him.

I know one guy whos cbb took a month or more to get hus cbb eating. Haven’t seen him on in a year. His cbb took to pellets.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/from-snakes-to-fish.847823/post-10353908

I definitely have some really large aptasia on this side of the tank. Hoping the CBB starts at them. I imagine eventually that’ll happen if the CBB survives everything so I’m not worried. Haven’t tried pellets. I feel more like leaving everyone alone today after stressing the whole tank yesterday so I’ve just been an observer mostly except for frozen food this morning.

 

[Goaway]

I definitely have some really large aptasia on this side of the tank. Hoping the CBB starts at them. I imagine eventually that’ll happen if the CBB survives everything so I’m not worried. Haven’t tried pellets. I feel more like leaving everyone alone today after stressing the whole tank yesterday so I’ve just been an observer mostly except for frozen food this morning.

As long as the copperband is grazing, he'll be alright. It's best to let him get comfortable.

I was just trying to explain, as long as the live rocks are providing food. Eventually, the cbb will take to something.

 

[Reefering1]

As long as the copperband is grazing, he'll be alright. It's best to let him get comfortable.

I was just trying to explain, as long as the live rocks are providing food. Eventually, the cbb will take to something.

This... the entire point of putting straight in display is so that he can get comfortable and snack on something while you get him on prepared food. Mine took a week or 2. Once he starts showing interest seeing everybody else eating you're almost there

 

[waqas_01]

For future reference, eggcrate works great as a divider. You can get it locally at homedepot as a light diffuser. Cut it with a pair of side cutters and zip tie it to whatever shape you want.

I had to put my CBB into the display too after a day or so of watching it stress around the qt tank. It's been holding strong for a year.

As suggested before, try the masstick, clam, white worms. You can even try mixing in the previous foods you got with the masstick and smear it on a rock. Yours might be looking to pick at rocks instead of going at things in the water column. This is their natural feeding behaviour.

Don't give up on it.

 

[Gtinnel]

I tried a CBB a few years ago and was never able to get it eating. It would pick at the rocks non stop but at least for me that was not enough to sustain it. I tried all of the frozen foods that people recommended and mine never showed any interest in it. After a few weeks it finally found something in the tank that it would eat, hammer corals. I moved it to a qt tank and it died shortly after.

A year ago I got another CBB but this time I also had a culture of live white worms. I see several others in the thread have already mentioned live white worms and in my experience they are the best food to entice a copperband to eat. Mine was kept in qt for a few months until I could get him eating worms out of the water column, instead of only eating them once they landed on the rocks and bottom of the tank. Once I moved mine to my display tank he was chased by several of my fish (including a few normally docile fish). I used the mirror trick which at least kept the purple tang occupied. My CBB was confined to a corner but every day the aggression got slightly better. I would initially feed the fish their normal food on one side of the tank and then squirt some live white worms in front of the CBB on the other side so that he could eat. Eventually the aggression completely ended and the CBB is just as aggressive at getting food as any of my other fish. A year later and he will eat some of my diy frozen if he has to, but I still feed live white worms daily that I can see him looking for when I feed. Also I have/had a lot of aiptasia in my 125g display, and for a few weeks he wouldn’t eat them. Once he finally started eating them the tank went from over run to no aiptasia within a week.

All of that long winded reply was essentially to say don’t assume that picking at the rocks alone is enough to sustain them, it may be but it isn’t always. If/once he starts eating aiptasia it will probably be a short lived food supply. If you have a source to get white worms you should try them. Unfortunately mostly what you buy online is just a few for to start a culture and they usually don’t fair to well shipping during the hot part of the year.

Good luck I hope you get yours eating. They are an amazing fish and definitely worth the extra effort.

 

[dkelley]

For future reference, eggcrate works great as a divider. You can get it locally at homedepot as a light diffuser. Cut it with a pair of side cutters and zip tie it to whatever shape you want.

I had to put my CBB into the display too after a day or so of watching it stress around the qt tank. It's been holding strong for a year.

As suggested before, try the masstick, clam, white worms. You can even try mixing in the previous foods you got with the masstick and smear it on a rock. Yours might be looking to pick at rocks instead of going at things in the water column. This is their natural feeding behaviour.

Don't give up on it.

Thanks! I have masstick coming today. I’ve tried everything everyone suggested other than white worms and the masstick. CBB is still doing fine so far picking at rocks but it has to need more I’m thinking so I’ll try the masstick when it shows up.

I appreciate all of the responses.

 

[dkelley]

I tried a CBB a few years ago and was never able to get it eating. It would pick at the rocks non stop but at least for me that was not enough to sustain it. I tried all of the frozen foods that people recommended and mine never showed any interest in it. After a few weeks it finally found something in the tank that it would eat, hammer corals. I moved it to a qt tank and it died shortly after.

A year ago I got another CBB but this time I also had a culture of live white worms. I see several others in the thread have already mentioned live white worms and in my experience they are the best food to entice a copperband to eat. Mine was kept in qt for a few months until I could get him eating worms out of the water column, instead of only eating them once they landed on the rocks and bottom of the tank. Once I moved mine to my display tank he was chased by several of my fish (including a few normally docile fish). I used the mirror trick which at least kept the purple tang occupied. My CBB was confined to a corner but every day the aggression got slightly better. I would initially feed the fish their normal food on one side of the tank and then squirt some live white worms in front of the CBB on the other side so that he could eat. Eventually the aggression completely ended and the CBB is just as aggressive at getting food as any of my other fish. A year later and he will eat some of my diy frozen if he has to, but I still feed live white worms daily that I can see him looking for when I feed. Also I have/had a lot of aiptasia in my 125g display, and for a few weeks he wouldn’t eat them. Once he finally started eating them the tank went from over run to no aiptasia within a week.

All of that long winded reply was essentially to say don’t assume that picking at the rocks alone is enough to sustain them, it may be but it isn’t always. If/once he starts eating aiptasia it will probably be a short lived food supply. If you have a source to get white worms you should try them. Unfortunately mostly what you buy online is just a few for to start a culture and they usually don’t fair to well shipping during the hot part of the year.

Good luck I hope you get yours eating. They are an amazing fish and definitely worth the extra effort.

White worms are the only thing I haven’t tried and don’t have access to. I’ve posted in the local Facebook groups as well for a lead on them.

I agree that the rocks aren’t going to cut it. Will be trying masstick today and see how it goes.

 

[Gtinnel]

White worms are the only thing I haven’t tried and don’t have access to. I’ve posted in the local Facebook groups as well for a lead on them.

I agree that the rocks aren’t going to cut it. Will be trying masstick today and see how it goes.

Masstick didn’t work for either of mine, but I know some have success because it is closer to how they naturally eat. Hopefully it works out for you.

 

[dkelley]

Update:

Masstick was a no go which is great because it's stupid spendy for what you get. It also sucks because I'm running out of options here. I put a message out on a Facebook group looking for live white worms so we will see. I will also go pickup a garlic dip tonight and go back through the options and see if it helps.

Not sure I have any other options beyond this except flakes/pellets which I really doubting that'll work to start off. I haven't tried it on the CBB yet.

The CBB is still cruising around pecking rock non stop.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

Turn off your flow and try blowing different types of food into the rock crevices where he can reach. Have you tried clam on half shell? You can position that so it’s “in” the rock as well

 

[dkelley]

Turn off your flow and try blowing different types of food into the rock crevices where he can reach. Have you tried clam on half shell? You can position that so it’s “in” the rock as well

I've been swapping the food up each feeding just to see if I get a reaction but doing several kinds of food at one time doesn't help because I won't know what if anything the CBB grabs. I have tried clams on a half shell, I forgot to mention that but it's generally something I've fed in the mornings or as a treat long before the CBB made it to this house.

 

[christwendt]

White worms are the only thing I haven’t tried and don’t have access to. I’ve posted in the local Facebook groups as well for a lead on them.

I agree that the rocks aren’t going to cut it. Will be trying masstick today and see how it goes.

White worms you can get on eBay. I was growing some for my Cbb.