Copper banded butterfly almost done in QT what now?

[m0jjen]

So as the titel says my copperbanded is almost done with the TTM. No signs of stress or anything so all fine there.

Problem is that i havent seen him eating, tried mysis, brine shrimp, mussle, cockle so far and he dont seem to interested. Its a really healthy, actually fattest specimen i ever seen. He ate brine shrimp at the shop so i know he gets it.

When he's done with the TTM on sunday i have 3 options.

Option #1: Drop him in my fragtank which share sump with the display. No live rock, got 1-2 aiptasia there but thats pretty much it. The pro vs cons fact about this is he's only competing for food with a sixline wrasse. Its also a con since that wrasse is banished to the fragtank for beeing a twat against newcommer in the DT.

Option #2 Drop him straight into the DT and let him fend for himself vs the current livestock (19 fish, 3 tangs). The major con here is the tangs. They might be agressive.

Option #3 Acclimationbox him in the DT and leave different types of food with him in there. Big con would be stress from beeing trapped in the box. Pro: tangs gets used to the new addition and i can still try different foods on him. If he's stressed he'll probably not eat any of them anyway.

Any tips?

 

[Awesome Dennis]

Can you put him in the display but separate him with some eggcrate?

 

[m0jjen]

Can you put him in the display but separate him with some eggcrate?

Dont have enough eggcrate, they are somewhat hard to comeby in Sweden and are quite costly :/

 

[EmdeReef]

Acclimation box is the best option if plan to keep it in your DT.

 

[m0jjen]

Acclimation box is the best option if plan to keep it in your DT.

yeah, was thinking so myself. I also can prove him with small rocks that has aiptasia on them to see if he's interested =)

 

[EmdeReef]

yeah, was thinking so myself. I also can prove him with small rocks that has aiptasia on them to see if he's interested =)

That works I usually put a pvc pipe the fish can hide in. Takes them some time not to get scared if they get charged by other fish even in an acclimation box.

 

[dealseer]

How did you conclude that QT is almost done when you haven’t yet seen him eat?

 

[norfolkgarden]

You can use live black worms or maastic or chopped up clams as your best bet to get them to eat.

Ours eats freeze dried black worms, but started on live wiggling black worms.

Do you have a sump or refugium?
Some people place new fish there for a week.

How big is the copperband?
I would use the largest acclamation box you have for the fish and make sure it is eating before it goes free in the display tank!
You may even want to leave it in the quarantine tank and add some live rock with aptasia and make sure it is eating in that tank. Make sure it is eating before it has to fight the tangs for food.

 

[RyanSweet]

I just went through almost the same issue. Got my copperband, qt’d (ate small amount but not well), then had to do something with him. I used an acclimation box in the display (scopas, and food aggressive other fish in display) and fed live black worms to start, moving to chopped fresh clams, then to LRS frozen. He’s now in the display and eating pretty much anything I put in there. Still not an aggressive eater, but holds his own when he’s hungry.

 

[m0jjen]

That works I usually put a pvc pipe the fish can hide in. Takes them some time not to get scared if they get charged by other fish even in an acclimation box.

My thought exactly!

How did you conclude that QT is almost done when you haven’t yet seen him eat?

The tank transfer method is primairly to get rid of ich. Once the 4 x 3 day periods are over so is that particular QT period. I could very well start a new QT tank where the fish would reside for a longer period of time to observe his eating behavior and train him to eat different foods. But i wont for a number of reasons. The main reason being that CBB dont fair well in QT's for extended periods of time, they are finckly fish that pick at live rock for worms and whatnot in the wild and a empty tank with some PVC wont provide that habitat for him and might even stress him even more making him less prone to eating. I might very well be wrong here but thats the collected information i've found when researching.

You can use live black worms or maastic or chopped up clams as your best bet to get them to eat.

Ours eats freeze dried black worms, but started on live wiggling black worms.

Do you have a sump or refugium?
Some people place new fish there for a week.

How big is the copperband?
I would use the largest acclamation box you have for the fish and make sure it is eating before it goes free in the display tank!
You may even want to leave it in the quarantine tank and add some live rock with aptasia and make sure it is eating in that tank. Make sure it is eating before it has to fight the tangs for food.

Blackworms is impossible / really hard to come by in Sweden, i did alot of searching before getting the fish in the first place. Hence the molluscs trials I got some masstick at hand but wont put it in a QT due the amount of pollution it would do to the smaller tank with little to no filtration.

I just went through almost the same issue. Got my copperband, qt’d (ate small amount but not well), then had to do something with him. I used an acclimation box in the display (scopas, and food aggressive other fish in display) and fed live black worms to start, moving to chopped fresh clams, then to LRS frozen. He’s now in the display and eating pretty much anything I put in there. Still not an aggressive eater, but holds his own when he’s hungry.

Good to hear! We dont have LRS foods in Sweden nor blackworms so my best bet is molluscs or live brine and move from there.

 

[Lb71]

My thought exactly!



The tank transfer method is primairly to get rid of ich. Once the 4 x 3 day periods are over so is that particular QT period. I could very well start a new QT tank where the fish would reside for a longer period of time to observe his eating behavior and train him to eat different foods. But i wont for a number of reasons. The main reason being that CBB dont fair well in QT's for extended periods of time, they are finckly fish that pick at live rock for worms and whatnot in the wild and a empty tank with some PVC wont provide that habitat for him and might even stress him even more making him less prone to eating. I might very well be wrong here but thats the collected information i've found when researching.



Blackworms is impossible / really hard to come by in Sweden, i did alot of searching before getting the fish in the first place. Hence the molluscs trials I got some masstick at hand but wont put it in a QT due the amount of pollution it would do to the smaller tank with little to no filtration.



Good to hear! We dont have LRS foods in Sweden nor blackworms so my best bet is molluscs or live brine and move from there.

 

[Lb71]

Whatever option you use try clams on the half shell, also look into making a feeding station for your fish. They are real easy to make and use there natural instinct to use that long nose to probe for food.
Larry

 

[m0jjen]

Whatever option you use try clams on the half shell, also look into making a feeding station for your fish. They are real easy to make and use there natural instinct to use that long nose to probe for food.
Larry

Already have afew solutions including the PVC feeding station

 

[67chevellemalibu2]

So as the titel says my copperbanded is almost done with the TTM. No signs of stress or anything so all fine there.

Problem is that i havent seen him eating, tried mysis, brine shrimp, mussle, cockle so far and he dont seem to interested. Its a really healthy, actually fattest specimen i ever seen. He ate brine shrimp at the shop so i know he gets it.

When he's done with the TTM on sunday i have 3 options.

Option #1: Drop him in my fragtank which share sump with the display. No live rock, got 1-2 aiptasia there but thats pretty much it. The pro vs cons fact about this is he's only competing for food with a sixline wrasse. Its also a con since that wrasse is banished to the fragtank for beeing a twat against newcommer in the DT.

Option #2 Drop him straight into the DT and let him fend for himself vs the current livestock (19 fish, 3 tangs). The major con here is the tangs. They might be agressive.

Option #3 Acclimationbox him in the DT and leave different types of food with him in there. Big con would be stress from beeing trapped in the box. Pro: tangs gets used to the new addition and i can still try different foods on him. If he's stressed he'll probably not eat any of them anyway.

Any tips?

What’s cockle?

 

[m0jjen]

What’s cockle?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockle_(bivalve)

 

[67chevellemalibu2]

Got it. My CBB goes crazy for fresh clams in the shell, frozen bloodworms and live black worms

 

[m0jjen]

Quick update. Fish is released in the DT. Had him in the box for a couple of hours and noone in my tank seemed interested in him at all. He ate some brine so i released him afew hours before lights out. Noone chased him and the tangs didnt mind at all!

 

[Pbh-reef]

Quick update. Fish is released in the DT. Had him in the box for a couple of hours and noone in my tank seemed interested in him at all. He ate some brine so i released him afew hours before lights out. Noone chased him and the tangs didnt mind at all!

Glad he ate!

 

[Triggreef]

My experience with adding copper band after tangs ... Don't do it.

Had mine for years had 6 tangs in a 200g first Before cbb. Powder blue tried to kill him first,no others. Sold pbt. Then sailfin wanted him dead .Sold sailfin. Then next one wanted to kill cbb. So on and so forth until all tangs sold. Then cbb did well. Then added new small tangs ,convict and purple. and been fine.

Sorry about punctuation phone likes spaces where they don't belong.

Also live black worms to get them eating. Must use them usually

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Regarding black worms: I’m from Sweden as well and I buy live black worms from aquariatech in Stockholm, I believe they ship as well.

Funny enough I also just acquired a CBB, great fish! Had to do the mirror trick so that my purple tang would leave him alone.