Copperband Butterflies :)

[JumpingFlea]

My LFS have offered me a copper. The copper is eating bits of mysis but that’s it. They are holding it still and have it in their QT which has been there for two weeks and a half. It has a SOLD but only for a week. So how can I “train” it to eat. What can I expect out of it in a reef tank? Is it too hard to care for? It’s a baby and would love to add it to my tank! Anybody have experience with them. Thank you

 

[Oldreefer44]

Unless you consider yourself an expert reefer, don't do it. I would hazard to guess that maybe 1 in 20 last more than a couple of months.

 

[JumpingFlea]

Unless you consider yourself an expert reefer, don't do it. I would hazard to guess that maybe 1 in 20 last more than a couple of months.

I don’t! Thanks for the reply

 

[Goaway]

I love mine. She copies the tank mates and zooms in on the food I offer. She did not take prepared food for 8 days.

Since the cbb in your lfs is eating mysis. Go for it. If you have lots of live rock, that's an added bonus for him to find hidden worms to eat.

 

[Goaway]

@ying yang made an extremely helpful thread for cbb lovers and those who want them. Paul b. Made an article on what to avoid. You do not need to be an expert to care for an already healthy cbb that is eating.

 

[JumpingFlea]

@ying yang made an extremely helpful thread for cbb lovers and those who want them. Paul b. Made an article on what to avoid. You do not need to be an expert to care for an already healthy cbb that is eating.

Thank you! I will take a look.

 

[Goaway]

Thank you! I will take a look.

Trying to find it. Will post here when I do.

 

[Goaway]

Thread 'Feeding clams and oysters to copperband?' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/feeding-clams-and-oysters-to-copperband.849434/
This thread gave me hope on trying a cbb. Im glad I got mine.

 

[PeterC99]

Love my Copperband. Great community fish with my tangs. He eats whatever I feed my other fish. The longer it survives at the LFS, the better the odds of success.

 

[JumpingFlea]

He looks beautiful! Luckily no tangs yet.

 

[Goaway]

I got my cbb and scopas to help my fox face feel more secure.

My coppeband makes snapping sounds when eating. It's hilarious.

 

[JumpingFlea]

Does your copper ever pick at your corals?

 

[Goaway]

Does your copper ever pick at your corals?

No, she demolishes tube worms and aiptasia. I bought an infested rock with aips and bulb anemones to see if she'd eat those. All gone in hours.

All can change when she gets bigger. Under 3 inches still.

 

[jdiefenbaugh]

Short video of the last one I feeder trained. I've kept maybe 20 of them in many tanks, and most important is getting them eating really well in QT. This is PVC glued to an old mag float, with holes drilled, and polished. I just put individual mysids sticking out, and eventually just baste them into the top hole of the feeder. It didn't take very long to learn how to use it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My LFS have offered me a copper. The copper is eating bits of mysis but that’s it. They are holding it still and have it in their QT which has been there for two weeks and a half. It has a SOLD but only for a week. So how can I “train” it to eat. What can I expect out of it in a reef tank? Is it too hard to care for? It’s a baby and would love to add it to my tank! Anybody have experience with them. Thank you

A fish wont necessarily be trained to eat something but rather enticed to eat something. Everyone will have a different niche to get a fish to eat. For me, my 5+" CBB ate from the onset and is a feeding machine- Never stops. Others I know had success with LRS herbivore diet. Clam on the shell by hikari is excellent as is spirulina brine shrimp and mysis shrimp

 

[JumpingFlea]

Thank you for all the advice! Maybe a Moorish Idol next. Lol

 

[Goaway]

Thank you for all the advice! Maybe a Moorish Idol next. Lol

Need to grow sponges for that one.

 

[Lasse]

This is my copperband feeding on small freshwater cyclops. when i get it - rather small - he/she was already eating mysis and frozen artemia. I let it be for two weeks in my refugium (with some pods) and when I introduce him/her to my DT - it already was a great eater. When this video was taken - it have been in the DT for 4 months


Sincerely Lasse

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

black worm, clams from the supermarket, and mysis... they will usually eat one or all three IME... Don't get one too small however.

 

[ying yang]

My LFS have offered me a copper. The copper is eating bits of mysis but that’s it. They are holding it still and have it in their QT which has been there for two weeks and a half. It has a SOLD but only for a week. So how can I “train” it to eat. What can I expect out of it in a reef tank? Is it too hard to care for? It’s a baby and would love to add it to my tank! Anybody have experience with them. Thank you

I got put off getting a cbb for long time due to all the stories of them not eating and such.im only early days at just over 2 months i believe it is but mine loves clams/oysters/scallops and even once bought cooked muscles i think it was,bought by mistake thinking was raw but still ate them,so my experience it eats little of frozen cubed mysis but not much tbh ( this what lfs showed me was eating at the lfs) but loves any kind shell food and he right in there in the action at feeding time.i mainly feed shell food to the tank now and add little quarter cube of 2- 3 different kinds frozen just to give the other fish some variety of foods plus algae sheets and very occasionally pellets but only because i have them but imo i would rather feed fresh shell food or freshly frozen shell food.as mibu stated paul b made a great article about copperbands.
After lights out in tank all my fish go in rocks or into sand except my cbb,he zooms around tank looking for worms and pods on the rocks and it seems i have quite a few different variety of pods including spider looking/ acting pods so he getting bit of that nutrition also and i have alot of rock in tank for cbb to pick from.
When choosing any fish i personally like to find out when they get the weekly fish deliverys and go in on that morning or day before so the fish i buy has been in tank at least 6- 7 days so dont buy a new fish from lfs that may die of all the transportation stress or parasites like velvet that usually makes fish die rather quickly and make sure fish looks healthy with fins up and erect and interest in food,swimming correctly and no spots or sores etc and i think this is half the battle picking a healthy fish to begin with as got better odds of survival.in the month before decided to buy the cbb and un last 2 months i researching them and more and more people these days are having more success with cbb than they used to i found out.
So i would say if its healthy looking,eating at lfs and got micro fauna on rocks to keep it busy and big enough tank size and can feed it properely and regulary as they very active fish and burn up energy and have fast metabolism compared to other fish i read ( maybe in paul b article) then go for it and get one.i will try find paul b article for you to have a read as i found very interesting.