Copperband Barely Eating

[Biff0rz]

I make cbb feeders. Works great. I have a few tangs and he's always able to eat at his own pace.... Though he's a pretty aggressive eater without it.

USA - Copperband Butterfly (CBB) feeder

Want to ween your CBB off of live food/clams, or, teach him to feed out of this so he's not out-competed in the tank during feeding time (*cough* tangs *cough*)? Then you need this in your life, so does your CBB, hah. The 'inside' ends sit one over the other which is where you place your yummy...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Wen]

Wish I could find some live black worms, but no LFS near me carries them. Might order some online.

Yea, I ordered black worms/white worms on eBay, my little CBB wouldn’t eat them. Try clam first, speedier to get too.

 

[jtf74]

Since yours is eating out of the water column I would toss him in the sump if you have one and get him trained on mysis and then PE mysis. Unless you have a well established and well filtered quarantine tank it will likely not be able to process the excess waste from the fish and amount of food that needs to go in there. I would not feed him clams or get him trained on eating from clam shells if you ever plan to keep clams. Otherwise yes, clams are a great food to get them eating.

These fish are smart and can easily be taught to eat out of a net / your hand/ or any other device when they are isolated.

Like others have already mentioned I think the big issue people face with these fish is underestimating the amount of food they require. It's a lot more than any other fish I have and I believe more than most fish in general.

Mine is around 3-4 inches and gets a half a cube of PE mysis in the morning and half a cube of PE mysis in the evening all to himself, plus what ever he can get during the main broadcast feeding and anything else he can scavenge in the 120g rock work throughout the day. He grew from a couple inches to this size over maybe 6 months but seems to be stunted at this size and I am fairly certain it is lack of food. If I fed the other fish this much they would quickly outgrow the tank.

Good luck with this one!!

I read this earlier today decided I'd count as mine is of similar size. 45 mysis shrimp, a dozen blackworms, a medium sized aiptasia plucked from my fishless tank. Still hungry. These guys need to be eating well or will get out competed and really do eat a lot. What I do is drop some in the flow and let the fish chase then turn off and when my CBB pops out if it hasn't already I dunk the cup for him while the others chase the initial bunch it gets the first pick at the bulk.

 

[ReefHog]

I feed mine three times a day. All frozen. He’s the first one to the top of the glass as soon as I approach the tank. By the time I open the tank top he’s twitching in anticipation. I just dump a net full of food and he eats what he can right there and then chases what’s left all around the tank. He doesn’t get as much as the tangs or moorish idol because he zeros in on one piece at a time but he gets plenty.

 

[ApoIsland]

I make cbb feeders. Works great. I have a few tangs and he's always able to eat at his own pace.... Though he's a pretty aggressive eater without it.

USA - Copperband Butterfly (CBB) feeder

Want to ween your CBB off of live food/clams, or, teach him to feed out of this so he's not out-competed in the tank during feeding time (*cough* tangs *cough*)? Then you need this in your life, so does your CBB, hah. The 'inside' ends sit one over the other which is where you place your yummy...

www.reef2reef.com

This looks pretty awesome. Nice work Biff. Does anyone have any video of their CBB actually using it?

 

[Biff0rz]

This looks pretty awesome. Nice work Biff. Does anyone have any video of their CBB actually using it?

The 3 that have purchased from me said it works great for them!

 

[Adamantium]

Thank you, guys. This is way more responses than I expected. I don’t really have another tank of reasonable size for him, or sump room, so I guess I’ll just target feed more. I also built a feeder for him yesterday, but so far, he’s shown zero interest in it. I’ve tried the omega enriched brine he’s eating, as well as PE mysis.

 

[jtf74]

Thank you, guys. This is way more responses than I expected. I don’t really have another tank of reasonable size for him, or sump room, so I guess I’ll just target feed more. I also built a feeder for him yesterday, but so far, he’s shown zero interest in it. I’ve tried the omega enriched brine he’s eating, as well as PE mysis.

Even a 20 gallon would do. Probably can find one on craigslist for free. My CBB ate 57 mysis end of yesterday not including what it picked off rocks after I stopped watching, and was still looking for more. If you can get it eating out of a pvc device or something great, but I wouldn't wait very long if its not eating more than a few to get it out and into a stress free place where it can eat at its leisure.

 

[Adamantium]

Even a 20 gallon would do. Probably can find one on craigslist for free. My CBB ate 57 mysis end of yesterday not including what it picked off rocks after I stopped watching, and was still looking for more. If you can get it eating out of a pvc device or something great, but I wouldn't wait very long if its not eating more than a few to get it out and into a stress free place where it can eat at its leisure.

That’s... a lot of food.

The wife immediately vetoed the idea of another tank. So, this might be a terrible idea, but I have a bunch of 5 gallon buckets, and a 10 gallon bucket. He’s still really small (maybe an inch a and a half). Would it be a terrible idea to put him in one of those (probably the 10 gal) for a few days/weeks to fatten him up? I’m mostly worried about not getting the chemistry right, or stressing him out with the more sterile/vacant environment.

I could get an aquaclear and put some media I keep in my sump into it for an insta-cycle, but it still makes me really nervous.

Any thoughts?

 

[jtf74]

That’s... a lot of food.

The wife immediately vetoed the idea of another tank. So, this might be a terrible idea, but I have a bunch of 5 gallon buckets, and a 10 gallon bucket. He’s still really small (maybe an inch a and a half). Would it be a terrible idea to put him in one of those (probably the 10 gal) for a few days/weeks to fatten him up? I’m mostly worried about not getting the chemistry right, or stressing him out with the more sterile/vacant environment.

I could get an aquaclear and put some media I keep in my sump into it for an insta-cycle, but it still makes me really nervous.

Any thoughts?

You need something that can sustain for weeks. A few days isn't doing much good. I'd try the pvc route before that, and consider rehoming if he doesn't take to the pvc soon if you can't setup a separate tank.

 

[Adamantium]

You need something that can sustain for weeks. A few days isn't doing much good. I'd try the pvc route before that, and consider rehoming if he doesn't take to the pvc soon if you can't setup a separate tank.

You don’t think a 10 gallon bucket would be sustainable for a few weeks? It’s about 16” wide by 18” high. Little small, but he’s really a pretty tiny guy.

 

[Adamantium]

I’m very pleased to say I found an LFS that sells live black worms! I pulled the trigger, and they’ll be here Thursday. Now I just have to hope he can hang on until then. And that he actually goes for them like so many people say they do.

 

[ReefHog]

CBBs in general don’t seem to do well in small sterile environments. Can you just get a rubber made 15 or 20 gallon storage bin. Put some sand and rocks from your display so he has things to pick at. Will also help with the filtration. Then add a heater and hob filter with a poly filter.

 

[Fish man]

I started mine on live black worms if you can get them. He would take them right out of the end of a turkey baster so the other fish couldn't get them. Yes to clams on the half shell. I cover them with a screen rubber banded to the clam so other fish can't steal it. If he's shy and stays in the back during feeding try turning of all pumps and target feed him in the back with a turkey baster with mysis. First distract your other fish by feeding them in the front of the tank. I've had mine for 2 1/2 years. The key I found to keeping them successfully is to get them eating well on frozen before introducing them the the display tank.

 

[Adamantium]

CBBs in general don’t seem to do well in small sterile environments. Can you just get a rubber made 15 or 20 gallon storage bin. Put some sand and rocks from your display so he has things to pick at. Will also help with the filtration. Then add a heater and hob filter with a poly filter.

I actually just found a source of live black worms, which I’ll be picking up Thursday, so I’m hoping to avoid this altogether. Thanks for the idea, though!

 

[Adamantium]

I started mine on live black worms if you can get them. He would take them right out of the end of a turkey baster so the other fish couldn't get them. Yes to clams on the half shell. I cover them with a screen rubber banded to the clam so other fish can't steal it. If he's shy and stays in the back during feeding try turning of all pumps and target feed him in the back with a turkey baster with mysis. First distract your other fish by feeding them in the front of the tank. I've had mine for 2 1/2 years. The key I found to keeping them successfully is to get them eating well on frozen before introducing them the the display tank.

Much appreciated. I just found a local source of live black worms, which I will pick up Thursday. I’m just hoping he can sustain himself on a handful of brine shrimp daily until then.

I tried the exact clam trick you mentioned, but he doesn’t seem interested.

 

[Adamantium]

I started mine on live black worms if you can get them. He would take them right out of the end of a turkey baster so the other fish couldn't get them. Yes to clams on the half shell. I cover them with a screen rubber banded to the clam so other fish can't steal it. If he's shy and stays in the back during feeding try turning of all pumps and target feed him in the back with a turkey baster with mysis. First distract your other fish by feeding them in the front of the tank. I've had mine for 2 1/2 years. The key I found to keeping them successfully is to get them eating well on frozen before introducing them the the display tank.

Do you have experience with/recommend those feeders that are conical with many little holes? Or would you say just turkey baste them in?

 

[Fish man]

I made one once out of a piece of pvc pipe. Drilled a bunch of holes in it and a couple of end caps but I don't think it helped. Try the turkey baster or anything you can think of to get food in front of him.

 

[Nicoseth]

Anybody have any luck with freeze dried blackworms? I've had my CBB for about 11 days now, still haven't actually seen him eat. I'm giving him mysis, brine and clams but not sure if he's eating. He's swimming around and looks good, maybe a bit thin. After this amount of time he has to have been eating something, right? Or could he last this long without eating?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Anybody have any luck with freeze dried blackworms? I've had my CBB for about 11 days now, still haven't actually seen him eat. I'm giving him mysis, brine and clams but not sure if he's eating. He's swimming around and looks good, maybe a bit thin. After this amount of time he has to have been eating something, right? Or could he last this long without eating?

Freeze dried no good. They prefer live or meaty. Be careful trying to force feed it as your parameter levels will become elevated will will cause further problems. If it is grazing- thats a good start. These are not instant feeders and are often busy grazing while also watching persons at the tank. Try walking away and see if it will attempt to eat.
Mine started slow and will is a 5" eating machine.